Tag: Business

Various and Sundry

A Cold War that’ll Give You an Ice Cream Headache

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Running contrary to the New Year’s notion of doing better for several years running is the McDonald’s Ice Cream machine, a notoriously finicky piece of equipment that has its own online dashboard of failure. And if the efficiency experts in your life don’t gnash their teeth at that, they likely will when they read Andy Greenberg’s article in Wired. It’s really infuriating to see miserable experiences be standardized, but to see the lengths to which…

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Various and Sundry

Circle Back on Jargon and Put a Pin in It

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Last Wednesday, I was in more meetings than not, so when it came to figuring out a good “wonky Wednesday post,” this article by Olga Khazan in The Atlantic resonated with me. Basically, the article points out how much of the jargon is not only used in business and office settings a form of the office culture, but that it’s also, shall we say, an act. Both from my background in theater and anthropology, I…

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Producing Various and Sundry

Business, Heal Thyself

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I know a lot of self-employed and small business folk who are hurting during this pandemic. And for my own business, we’ve needed to rethink how and what we’re doing. One of those entrepreneurial, self-employed friends, Russell Nohelty, wrote a post about how he retools his business… as he has done many times. It’s a non-trivial amount of time –especially if you haven’t done it before– and figuring out how to best attribute the costs…

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Various and Sundry Writing

The Judicious Use of the Word that Rhymes with ‘Duck’

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Many a creative doesn’t want to wear the business hat. I know, that’s me too a lot of days. But it helps to be confident in wearing the hat when it’s needed and when to bring in the hired gun (e.g., a lawyer) for the right situations. A legal eagle I use, Seth Polansky, posted this in a thread related to a particularly ridiculous film festival. I’ve seen it before, but in a sense, this about-40-minute…

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Producing Various and Sundry

The Different Audiences of a Business Plan

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

The folks over at Entrepreneur created an article outlining the different types of audiences you may have for your business plan. I love this, because so many people like to harp on “your business plan” as if it’s this One Holy Thing your business needs — without defining it beyond the black box of the buzzword term “business plan.” (See also vision statement, mission statement, term du jour that boils down to knowing what you’re trying to…

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Various and Sundry

Recommended Reading: The Profit vs. Purpose Debate Continues

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Jokes from my previous post about cheerleaders’ souls aside, it’s good to note that the debate about whether a business should seek profit to the exclusion of all else, or join it with purpose has raged for years, as explored in this article from Inc. by Bill Saporito. Personally, I like it when businesses are profit-minded, but purpose-driven. (At some point when I’m not feeling swamped with deadlines, I’ll elaborate on that phrase.)

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Various and Sundry

Recommended Reading: The Battle for Cheerleaders’ Souls -er- Sequins

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I’m always interested in learning about a particular business industry’s ecosystem. How do some businesses become the major player? How do they fall? How do new companies displace them? So with that in mind, take a look at Leigh Buchanan’s piece in Inc. on Rebel Athletic and the surprisingly pitched battle in the cheerleader apparel industry. Put another way: Come for the glitter, stay for the reflections on what makes a “Challenger Brand.”

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