What You Need to Know Today: April 17

Good evening, Early Risers!

 

Tech

The single-person social network. Instead of racking up 500+ of his closest friends on Facebook and Instagram, Vlad Savov has taken the solo approach to social networking and uses the apps mainly for features most of us take for granted. Vlad uses popular social networking apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to archive photos, make memos, and collect news. His reason why is interesting.

Take your Wi-Fi to go. If you pay Comcast or Time Warner Cable for internet access each month, you’re more than likely entitled to connect to their network of Wi-Fi hotspots at no charge (Fast Company). Xfinity Wi-Fi and TWC Wi-Fi Finder apps find and auto-connect to the millions of nearby hotspots these providers have.

Career

Why Kevin O’Leary had to ask his mother for money. “Back when I was first starting SoftKey Software Products Inc., I found myself in a financial predicament after an investor who’d promised $250,000 pulled the plug at the eleventh hour,” said O’Leary to Business Insider. O’Leary confessed he had to ask his mother to write him a cheque for $10,000 to finance SoftKey (sold for $4 billion). O’Leary leaves us with an important lesson, “In high finance, things change in a second. But I’ll tell you what: I have never been caught out like that again. Today, it’s imperative for my companies to have at least four people on the hook for financing whenever I’m looking for investors.”

 

The biggest lie in business. You’ve probably heard “It takes money, to make money.” That’s a lie. The truth is you need two things to make money: 1. A great idea 2. To roll up your sleeves and make it happen. Here are two entrepreneurs  who prove this formula works.

Personal Development

This year consider doing one of these. If you ever find yourself saying “just this once” or “YOLO,” you might consider what James Clear has done and create an Integrity Report for this year. The purpose of this report is to hold myself accountable to those small errors, avoid the tiny lapses in judgment, and force myself to raise the bar and lead through action, says James. Have a look at James’ 2015 Integrity Report for some ideas.

 

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