Mother knows best says Shark Tank’s Daymond John, a multimillionaire entrepreneur and one of the investor’s on the popular TV series. In an interview with Entrepreneur magazine, John credits his mother with teaching him, “It takes the same energy to think small as it does to think big. So dream big and think bigger.” He also believes in the importance of setting goals. “Five days a week, I read my goals before I go to sleep and when I wake up. There are 10 goals around health, family and business with expiration dates and I update them every six months. I believe the last thing I read at night will likely manifest when I’m sleeping. You become what you think about the most.”

Interested in finding new ways to increase your intelligence and learn more? According to Inc’s Kevin Daum, there are “5 Things That Really Smart People Do”:

• Quiet your inner voice

• Argue with yourself

• Act like you are curious

• Find the kernel of truth

• Focus on the message and not the messenger

Increasing your intelligence doesn’t guarantee success but according to Jody Coughlin, the CMO and co-owner of Chic CEO – a free resource for female entrepreneurs, in “Why Failure Is So Important To Success” for Forbes, failure might. “Failure and more importantly studying others’ misfortunes is one of the most important educational tools we have. In fact there is an entire convention in the Bay Area for technology entrepreneurs, investors, developers and designers to study their own and others’ failures and prepare for success, thefailcon.com.” Have you studied other businesses failures to make sure your business succeeds?

By the Way, the Facebook Notice is Fake

Facebook has been chipping away at its users’ privacy again. So, a number of Facebook users are up in arms over Facebook’s decision to eliminate users’ voting rights that only 1 in every 2,600 users had exercised. That caused quite an uproar and as Mashable reports  “A ‘privacy notice’ that’s been virally spreading on Facebook, supposedly protecting one’s personal details and data from unauthorized copying, is fake.” What’s a Facebook user to do? According to Mashable, Simply put, Facebook and its users are still bound to the same terms and conditions that are accepted by users when they sign up for the service, and posting a legal “talisman” of this kind on your profile does nothing to change that.

Have you checked out your LinkedIn profile lately? Maybe it’s also time you audited how you are using LinkedIn. “Businesses that navigate LinkedIn properly engage customers, generate sales leads, and swap internal information among employees,” reports Alyson Shontell in her Business Insider article “13 Mistakes Your Business is Making on LinkedIn.” The biggest mistake companies make is neglecting to list their companies on LinkedIn writes Shontell. Another common mistake is your employees haven’t put much effort into their LinkedIn profiles and it shows.

Gift Ideas

Fast Company has just compiled and published a list of “The Best Business Books Of 2012: Find Fulfillment, Get Productive, And Create Healthy Habits”. Drake Baer reports, “These 12 books have shaped not only the way we work this year, but how we think and the conversations we’re having. Authored by luminaries like Nate Silver, Clay Christensen, and Susan Cain, these delightful-to-read tomes offer insight into the power of vulnerability, habit, social media, and more.” This list might be a good place to start for stocking stuffers or for your 2013 resolutions. Added tip, check out the comments section for even more for your reading list. Still not sure what to get your loved one this holiday season? If so, the Business Insider has compiled a “Holiday Buyer’s Guide: Here Are The Best Gifts In Tech This Year”. The list is chalk full of tablets, smart phones, Apps, cameras, and other electronics to review. What gift do you recommend?

The post Thinking Big, Why Failure is So Important, By the Way, Gift Guides appeared first on TEQlease Capital.

The Shark Tank is back this Fall on ABC and if you have a small business, startup or an idea there may be a lot you can learn about building your business and securing financing. The Business Insider ran a profile on the “23 Year Old Who Turned Down Mark Cuban” on Shark Tank. So, why exactly did Derek Pacque turn down Cuban’s $200,000 investment offer for 33% equity? Pacque explained, “At this early stage I just can’t give that much equity to someone who’s not going to be there day-to-day to test this thing with me. Cuban has places I can put CoatChex, but my problem isn’t finding opportunities for the service, it’s scaling the business.”

Four out of the eleven Shark Tank success stories profiled by Entrepreneur magazine in their article The Shark Tank Effect: Top Success Stories from the First 3 Seasons” are owned by women which isn’t so surprising considering women owned business have grown over 54% over the last 15 years , employ 7.7 million people, and generate over $1.3 trillion in revenues according to Mashable’s article “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Women Owned Businesses”. Although many women owned businesses are thriving, they are receiving 80% less capital than men. Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming and North Dakota are the top states for women owned businesses.

Looking for another way to take your company to the next level? Consider “Starting a LinkedIn Group to Grow Your Network,” advises Ted Prodromou. “LinkedIn Groups are an easy way for you to start an online community for your company. If you already have a lot of customers and prospects who are LinkedIn members, starting a LinkedIn Group for them is a smart thing to do,” says Promromou.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Finds 386,000 Jobs, Really

The last month has shown promising economic news with MarketWatch reporting “median prices for new homes in August climbed the fastest monthly percentage ever, an 11.2% surge.” September also saw the Federal Reserve Board bumped up its forecast for U.S. economic growth “real 2013 GDP growth to 2.5-3.0 percent from 2.2-2.8 percent.  For 2014, the Fed raised growth estimates to 3.0-3.8 percent from 3.0-3.5 percent,” Business Insider reported.  More good news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics who found that they had under reported their private job creation numbers and that “ 386,000 jobs were created during the 12-month period, a 20 percent jump over its previous estimate that employment increased by about 1.94 million jobs.” And in other encouraging economic news, Equifax’s quarterly Small Business Bankruptcy Report found that “small business bankruptcies shrank by nearly 17% in the past three months.”

Should Your Company Drop “Dropbox”, Switching Phone Carriers

Along with the rise in mobile devices and cloud based file sharing also comes the danger of leaking sensitive or confidential information. According to the Ponemon Institute, 90% of businesses “experienced leakage or loss of sensitive or confidential documents over the past 12-month period.” So, the question is should your company drop “Dropbox” and other services like it? Not necessarily, however “organizations need to give their employees a secure way of sharing files or every mobile device will continue to be a potential sieve for confidential data,” explained Yorgen Edholm, CEO of Accellion. Speaking of security issues, All Things Digital reported that smartphone owners outside of the U.S. are far more likely to have their phones infected with malware.

With all the iPhone 5 chatter, if you haven’t taken the plunge with a smart phone yet and are getting interested you might check out “How to Switch Cell Phone Carriers Without Paying a Fortune” and Smart Money’s “Picking the Right iPhone 5 Plan.”

How to Stop Facebook from Tracking You

Business Insider recently pointed out, “Most people don’t realize that Facebook can continue to monitor their internet activity, even if they are no longer logged into the site.” If you don’t want to be one of Facebook’s statistics check out “How to Stop Facebook from Tracking You”. While you are at it you should also read Kashmir Hill’s article for Forbes “10 Incredibly Simple Things You Should Be Doing to Protect Your Privacy.”

The post The Shark Tank, Just Say No, Stop Facebook? appeared first on TEQlease Capital.