Author: Victor Varma

While not typical, sons that decide to start a business in the same field as their fathers tend to fare much better than those striking out in their own direction, according to a study published by Germany’s Institute of Labor Economics. In it, they analyzed the data from Norwegian firms between 1999 and 2007 to discover that while only four percent of new entrepreneurs decided to start their own business this way, they were found to perform much better than their peers in a variety of metrics. Results were the same whether the father had started a business himself or had just worked as an employee in the field.

Survival during a business’ first four years is often a very telling sign of its future success and the sons in the study were able to achieve a six percent increase over similar firms that did not have a family influence. Most remarkable, however, is that sales, total assets, and the number of employees in these companies was around double their peers which landed them in the top five percent of their industry for those respective categories.

Although there is no direct, measurable cause for the advantage, the study identifies the edge as ‘dinner table human capital’ as many interviewed participants said that they learned much of what they knew from simply listening to their fathers around the dinner table at night. They would recount stories of success and failure as well as discuss problems that they were facing within their walls and as an industry as a whole. The children were also likely to have a head start on building relationships in the marketplace and were able to use their father’s name to establish trust.

Homeowners can use renovations to improve their quality of living, but not all improvements will provide the same return on investment at sale, according to USA Today.

Often, the best returns will come from bringing a substandard home in line with other homes in the area rather than making further improvements to ones that are already the biggest and best.

Basic projects like attic insulation can recoup 116 percent of the cost and more expensive ones like installing a new HVAC, water heater, or windows could be strong choices as well. Importantly, current homeowners will also enjoy the benefits of lower heating and cooling bills before selling the house.

Refreshing the exterior of a home is one of the best ways to improve the curb appeal for a potential buyer. Inexpensive pressure washing and painting projects can remove the aging effects of dirt and mold and make focal areas like the front door shine.

Landscaping, meanwhile, carries over 100 percent return on its cost and can include planting seasonal flowers as well as trimming shrubs and mulching beds. Adding stone veneer or replacing the garage door will both demand over 90 percent return as well.

Inside the home, painting is one of the best bang-for-your-buck improvements that a home seller can make with an estimated 109 percent return. Choose neutral colors that will go with anything, such as gray, to appeal to a broader group of prospective buyers.

Minor updates to bathrooms can have a 102 percent return and can be as simple as regrouting tile, replacing toilets, updating sinks and fixtures, and recaulking the shower. These projects are often simple enough to do without professionals for an even more significant return.

Nearly every business experiences some ups and downs throughout the year but truly seasonal businesses, such as those at ski resorts or beaches, often require a year-round strategy to ensure that they are running effectively, according to Entrepreneur Magazine. For these businesses, the bulk of their yearly income could come from only a handful of months, and it is necessary for them to budget well and spend their time wisely during the offseason to prepare for the next busy time.

Using the Winter Sports School in Harbor Springs, Michigan as an example of a business that actually closes their doors during the offseason, the family-owned business knows exactly how long they will be open during the year, and they understand that the money will stop coming in once they close their doors in April. Rather than taking a long break and scrambling to re-open in November, the family gets to work updating calendars, brochures, and the website so that potential customers will always have the most up-to-date information about booking. They also maintain a broad network of ski instructors during the summer to ensure that they remain well staffed.

Rather than closing up shop, some seasonal businesses find ways to either extend their season or pivot into a related field during downtime so that they can generate income all year. Delphinium Designs, a landscaping business, used this strategy to open a separate business during the winter months centered around holiday decorations. Their landscaping clients made natural prospects for the decorating, and it allowed the owner to split her year into different planning and execution phases around both businesses. Another concept, a Christmas store, began completely transforming their store for each major season to bring in new customers all year without losing sight of their original idea.

Amazon’s meteoric growth over the past two decades can likely be attributed to its CEO Jeff Bezos and his culture of consistently high standards, according to Forbes.

In fact, his most recent annual letter to shareholders centered around his ideas about how he thinks companies should be run and how he lives his life. He believes that these standards are contagious and that bringing a lot of high performers together will create a self-sustaining effect that quickly spreads to new hires. Meanwhile, the opposite is true, and companies with cultures of low performance will have a difficult time changing.

Honesty with one’s self is a big part of his next two ideas: eliminating blind spots and recognizing how hard a project is likely to be. During the early years, he admitted that he was not good at finding problems in the process, eliminating defects, and keeping issues fixed for the long-term. Asking for help and learning from his colleagues allowed him to correct his deficiencies instead of pridefully ignoring them. Similarly, when a person underestimates the difficulty of an obstacle ahead, they are more likely to give up early than to succeed in the future. An accurate assessment of the task at hand means that the right assets will be used to tackle it and the timeframe will be realistic.

His last point brings his company’s performance around full circle by emphasizing his ‘Day 1’ mentality. He continually reminds himself why he initially started Amazon and uses that focus to stay disciplined every day. He firmly believes that it is easy to be satisfied, but greatness requires a person to handle risk and remain hungry for more.

High-performing employees are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs than low performers but one in five are still apt to leave within the next six months and more than half aren’t content with their position, according to recent research by the Harvard Business Review.

The study revealed that two criteria are essential to keeping high performers happy and many are not getting these from their current managers and companies.

The single biggest contributing factor for high-performing employees’ satisfaction is base pay and bonuses. It was important that yearly raises and bonuses be measured against the individual’s or team’s performance rather than tenure. The range of a typical annual raise of 2 to 6 percent, for instance, was not significant enough to keep people in place who had other options in the workforce. Adding more variation to the bonus structure, such as removing the cap on the best performers, was found to be an indicator of success for the overall company along with better retainment.

After compensation, the strongest employees want more feedback and options for company-led development and training. Respondents wanted at least one monthly conversation with their boss to discuss performance and goals, but only about half of the group were able to do so, and as a result, they showed symptoms of under-appreciation. Similarly, two-thirds said that they weren’t supported in formal training by their manager despite already being willing to learn and grow on their own.

There are likely many reasons for this lack of engagement around retaining high-value employees and sometimes they are merely a victim of their own success, according to Forbes. For example, managing superstars can be more stressful for a boss and can lead to resentment if employees are seen as a threat to their own job.

At the next open house you attend, Rex the Real Estate Robot might be the one answering your questions.

Robotics are just beginning to enter the real estate industry, but they are already showing homes to prospective buyers.

REX the Bot looks a bit like a rolling kiosk topped with an interactive touch screen. It is one example of robotics that can save agents time in showing homes, answering questions and collecting data. Instead of making multiple trips to homes they list, agents can talk to potential buyers through the robot’s screen. The robot can answer up to 70 questions about the property. Buyers even get access to the homes through a pin number texted to them when they arrive at the property.

It’s already in use in California, where busy agents with high-end listings are using it to save time on crowded freeways.

Another player in the real estate robot world is VirtualAPT. These robots do not greet customers and, in fact, customers never see them. Instead they are deployed inside homes before the listing at 50 cents per square foot. The robots take measurements, create floor plans and shoot 3-D video, according to The Wall Street Journal.

But will meet-and-greet robots play well in an industry in which the human touch means everything?

Time will tell, but REX robots don’t work for free. They charge a 2 percent commission on sales.