FULL TIME VS. SIDE HUSTLEÂ ENTREPRENEURS + THE AGE GAP SPEAKING OF SOCIAL MEDIA
SPRING 2018
ISSUE 1
SUMMER OF GROWTH
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CONTRIBUTORS Laura Gibbons has mastered juggling a full-time career, a business partnership with her husband, and being a mom to two adorable girls. Over the last decade, she has learned many tips and tricks for achieving success while maintaining work/life balance. She is a book nerd at heart. When Laura is home alone, she loves snuggling up on the couch with a warm blanket, a glass of wine and a new book but her favorite activity is spending quality time with her family. She currently lives in MA with her husband and two daughters.
Courtney Ross Escobar is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and New England Law Boston. Prior to becoming an attorney, Courtney spent eight years at Public Consulting Group, Inc. as a compliance and operations management consultant for state and local governments. In 2010, Courtney established her own business law practice focused on assisting entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses with legal needs from conception to compliance. In 2016, Courtney merged her Ross Escobar Group practice with Doucette & LaRose where she continues to provide small to medium-sized businesses with legal counseling and operations support. Courtney is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and New York.
Giselle Rivera-Flores is a serial entrepreneur and digital media strategist. Appearing as a public speaker in several entrepreneurial forums, Giselle has been named as WBJ's 40 under 40 and awarded the Entrepreneur and Small Business award from Women in Action. Founder of the Learning Hub - the Most Loved STEAM program award recipient for 2017 and 2018 - and co-founder of Be Studios, - a photography cowork studio - Giselle maintains a fresh perspective on all things digital media and marketing.
www.IgWorcesterMA.life Publisher Giselle Rivera-Flores Jaime Flores Editor Laura Gibbons
Photography Jaime Flores
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Videography Claudia Snell
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Publisher's Note Here's the most important lesson you can learn as an entrepreneur. "There are no quick wins in business - it takes years to become an overnight success" - Richard Branson I attended a recent social networking event and I was sucked into a conversation that left me wondering: "Do most entrepreneurs feel this way?" The shared sentiment in the room was false. It seemed that everyone thought and probably still thinks - the term "entrepreneur" only applies to those who have reached success. In other words, if you are grinding, working hard every day and barely staying above water, then you are not worthy of the title. At first, the conversation turned me off. I mean, how could anyone think entrepreneurship is only valuable at the finish line? The debate was toxic but I soon realized that the debate only existed because of the recent glamorization of entrepreneurship. Society has constructed a picture-perfect image of what it means to be an entrepreneur. Between the lifestyle, the achievable wealth and the "Instagram-only entrepreneurs," the term is slowly taking on a bad reputation and we, at Elevate Magazine, want to fix that. We seek to inform, embrace and inspire entrepreneurs. and we want to be the voice of informative reason. We want entrepreneurs to understand that this journey will never be easy, however, it will always be rewarding and most importantly, that the term "entrepreneur" refers to anyone that has taken it upon themselves to follow their passions and change the world, despite financial success.
era-Flores Giselle Riv Giselle Rivera-Flores Co-founder
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There are no quick wins
IN BUSINESS - IT TAKES YEARS TO BECOME AN OVERNIGHT
SUCCESS
Richard Branson
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CONTENTS
Table of Contents 08
05
05
Social Media in 2018 KEEP UP IN 2018 WITH THESE TOP 10 SOCIAL MEDIA STATS.
14
Elevate Magazine seeks to inform, embrace and inspire entrepreneurs. We offer tips, tools, and insider news to
08
Full Time vs Side Hustle 5 TIPS TO BALANCE A FULL-TIME JOB
entrepreneurs to help along the journey of building and growing a business, including maintaining the entrepreneurial lifestyle.
AND A SIDE HUSTLE.
14
Entrepreneur's Role in the Age Gap IN 2018 WE STILL HAVE A WAGE GAP.
17
5 'S' Words for Mixed Reality 5 S WORDS TO CONSIDER WHEN DESIGNING FOR MIXED REALITY THAT PRIORITIZE THE END USER.
02 03 12
Editor's Note Issue Quote Elevate Book List
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GLOBAL USERS
3.196
BILLION IN 2018, EQUALING 42% PENETRATION
PEOPLE THAT DISCUSS BRANDS ONLINE DO NOT FOLLOW THOSE BRANDS' OWNED PROFILES AT
96%
SOCIAL MEDIA IN 2018
SOCIAL MEDIA IS A VITAL PART OF DIGITAL MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIES. DELIVERING MEASURABLE RESULTS IN SALES, LEADS, AND BRANDING, SOCIAL MEDIA REACHES A LARGE TARGET MARKET AT A LOW COST BUT THAT LOW COST COMES WITH AN EVERCHANGING SET OF RULES PER PLATFORM.
BY GISELLE RIVERA-FLORES
SPEAKING OF SOCIAL MEDIA // @IGWORCESTERMA
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KEEP UP IN 2018 WITH THESE TOP 10 SOCIAL MEDIA STATS 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others Top brands on Instagram are seeing a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21% which is 58 times higher than Facebook and 120 times higher than Twitter Instagram has become the social media network for targeting millennials. 32% of teenagers consider Instagram to be the most important social network. Female internet users are more likely to use Instagram than men, at 38% vs. 26%. (Source: ScienceDaily) Posts tagged with another user (56%) or location (79%) have significantly higher engagement rates (Source: SimplyMeasured) More than 33,000 chatbots are active on Facebook
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PAGE 10
Of the top brands using Instagram, 60% use the same filter for all content. Mondays are the strongest day to post to Instagram for engagement. Instagram posts using at least one hashtag receive 12.6% more engagement than posts excluding them. Instagram Stories raced to 100 million daily active users within two months of launch, and as of November this year that figure had soared to 300 million. That’s almost 150 million more than Snapchat’s entire daily userbase.
"BRANDS SEEM TO PREFER INSTAGRAM’S STORIES OVER SNAPCHAT."
Always check the stats Social media is constantly evolving and online marketers, brands, and local businesses tend to overlook the changes and the statistics.
The stats can be vital to the growth of a brand's online presence and it can even influence an entire marketing strategy. Between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Youtube, there are a widerange of platforms providing direct consumer interaction.
Full-Time Job vs. Side Hustle BY LAURA GIBBONS Ever wish that you could start your own
They decide that right now is not the right
business, be your own boss, and create
time and they put their goals on hold for
financial stability for yourself and your loved
some future date when they hope to have
ones? People often dream big but are
fewer responsibilities. Most of these
afraid to take that first step towards
people never actually get started on their
reaching their business goals. They have
business ideas. Instead of waiting for that
bills, family, and other responsibilities
perfect time to arrive just get started now.
holding them back from quitting their day
You can keep your day job and get started
job and jumping head first into starting a
on your business idea.
new business. Here are 5 tips to balance a full-time job and a side hustle.
9 TO 5 + ENTREPRENEURSHIP
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Make small daily goals to keep your business on track.
Large goals can seem overwhelming and may take too long to accomplish. People tend to lose motivation if they don’t see results right away or don’t feel as though they are making progress. Create a list of tasks that you need to accomplish for your business. Take this list and break each task down to smaller tasks. For example, building a website may be the first task on the list that will need to be accomplished. This is a large project that will need to be broken down into multiple steps such as choosing/purchasing a domain name and determining your website host, etc. By breaking these large tasks into small daily goals, you will always feel as though you are accomplishing something and moving one step closer to your end goal.
CREATE A SEPARATE SPACE DEDICATED TO YOUR SIDE BUSINESS.
Create a separate space in your home dedicated to your side business. You’ll want to keep this
area as free from other distractions as possible and separate from where you would work on your full-time job. Decorate this space with pictures, quotes, or anything that makes you feel motivated. If you're starting a side hustle so that you can eventually travel more than hang photos of all the places that you would like to visit. If you are starting this business so that you can afford a new car than hang photos of your dream car. It’s important to surround yourself with images or sayings that will keep you on track, focused, and with your end-goal in mind.
Schedule some “me time”so you don’t burn out. Don’t
neglect yourself in the rush to get your side hustle up and running. It is important to take care of yourself and spend time with your family and friends while working on the business. People that ignore themselves or their friends/family are more likely to quit their side hustle. They end up feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and completely burnt out. Schedule time each week to connect with your friends and family or to focus on yourself. It is important to take care of yourself even when you are balancing a full-time job and a side business.
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CELEBRATE THE SMALL WINS
Work on the side business every day.
It is important to keep the momentum going by working on your business every day. Obviously, not every day is created equal. You may have a lot of time available to work one day and very little time available the next. Schedule your daily goals to reflect the amount of time that you have available but make sure you are working on at least one thing every day. For example, you may only have 30 mins available on Monday but two hours available on Tuesday. Review your list of tasks that need to be accomplished. Schedule small projects such as a phone call or two on Monday and save a larger project such as SEO for your website on Tuesday. People that don’t work on their business consistently often find that the one day off actually turned into 3 days off or a week. It is extremely difficult to reach your business goals if you don’t consistently work on your business.
Celebrate the small wins.
Did you schedule your first meeting with a potential client or sell your first product online? Take the time to acknowledge and celebrate these victories in your business. These small celebrations will help keep you feeling motivated and dedicated to your business. With each small win, you will feel as though you are moving one step closer to achieving your business goals.
ELEVATE YOUR BOOK LIST
3 MUST READ BOOKS FOR ENTREPRENEURS + CREATIVES You are what you read and it is time to elevate your book list. Entrepreneurs + creatives need inspiration, motivation and perspective. The most successful people swear by their reading lists and often times, the most inspiring leaders like Bill Gates share their lists with the rest of us in hopes of sharing the secrets to building a business. But why wait for Gates to release his list?
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ELEVATE YOUR BOOK LIST BIG MAGIC By Elizabeth Gilbert Big Magic is about finding your creative voice and taking control of your courage by living beyond the boundaries of fear. Focusing on courage, enchantment, permission and persistence, Gilbert embraces the empowerment of the creative spirit.
HIGH PERFORMANCE HABITS
ORIGINALS
By Brendon Burchard
Breaking down how "nonconformists move the world," Adam Grant explores how innovators see the world differently and bring others into their success. Using some of the greats like Steve Jobs as an example throughout the book, Grant demonstrates a clear understanding of nonconforming innovators.
In High Performance Habits, Brendon Burchard answers the question about the balance between success and happiness. Laying out the groundwork to become more successful and fulfilled, Burchard proves it is possible.
By Adam Grant
ELEVATE YOUR BOOK LIST
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Entrepreneur's Role in Closing the Age Group By Courtney Ross Escobar
April 10th is Equal Pay Day. We have a day devoted to equal pay for women because in 2018 we still have a wage gap. Women earn 20% less than their male counterparts. More specifically, white women earn 20% less than men, while black women and Latina women earn 38% and 46% less than men, respectively.
The wage gap has an everlasting effect on households, as well as society as a whole. In nearly two-thirds of families led by single mothers or two parent households, women are the primary or co-breadwinner. This means the household suffers an ongoing financial loss of at least 20% of the woman’s income throughout her career.
DEVELOP // INSIGHT FOR ENTREPRENEURS
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Further, women and their families will see a reduction in pensions, Social Security benefits, and an overall inability to contribute fully to other retirement or economic planning accounts, such as 401k’s and IRA’s, and a loss in opportunity to invest in real estate, personal savings, and the stock market, among other financial realities. This ripple effect produces long-term financial burdens and monetary shortcomings for women, their partners, and families. Less economic security for women carries impacts throughout her career and into retirement and perpetuates wealth inequality. This all translates into less economic security for women and their families.
Entrepreneurs play a significant role in closing the wage gap. 2017 saw an increase in start-ups launched by entrepreneurs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported the number of self-employed people in the U.S. has grown by nearly 150,000 since 2014, bringing the number up to 8,751,000 by the end of 2016. New companies create new jobs, and new jobs are ground zero for closing the wage gap.
WOMEN EARN 20% LESS THAN THEIR MALE COUNTERPARTS Employees whose rights to fair pay have been violated have three years from the date of an alleged violation to bring an action in court. Violations under MEPA occur when a discriminatory compensation decision is made or other discriminatory pay practice is adopted, and each time an employee is subjected to or affected by such decisions or practices, including each time wages are paid. Creating an organization from nothing is both
Entrepreneurs need to commit to educating themselves about the wage gap, proper pay policies, and the potential risk faced if they decide to underpay their female employees. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 reversed the Supreme Court decision that held that people subject to pay discrimination have only 180 days from the date the employer first decided to pay them less to file a discrimination claim. Instead, the Act reinstates the long-standing interpretation of the laws that treat each paycheck as a separate discriminatory act that starts a new clock in order for a claim to be filed.
In Massachusetts, an updated equal pay law will go into effect on July 1, 2018. An Act to Establish Pay Equity, amends the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act,
§ 105A, (“MEPA”) and provides more
M.G.L. c. 149
clarity as to what constitutes unlawful wage discrimination and adds protections to ensure greater fairness and equity in the workplace.
challenging and exhilarating and requires sacrifice and dedication in order to succeed. Being an entrepreneur carries a lot of risk and reward. But, most importantly, it carries an obligation to value your employees and to contribute positively to the workforce you rely on and to change societal norms that do not support these obligations.
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THE 5 'S' WORDS OF DESIGNING FOR MIXED REALITY by Joshua Croke
From opening your refrigerator in the morning, to notifications of food expiration dates, to your bike ride to work paved with AR navigation indicators, (check out Solos Smart Glasses) to your job in whatever field you work in (Some examples; AR assisted surgery, diagnostic displays, AR construction site walkthroughs of architectural models, the list continues..); mixed reality is going to transform the way we interact with information and each other.
Many people can’t imagine a world without smartphones because of how much they currently play a part in our lives, but this was a topic discussed by multiple speakers at ARIA’s first day and raised the question
Mixed reality is fast-evolving with new technologies that will vastly change the landscape of industry and people’s everyday experiences. ARIA, hosted at the MIT Media Lab, brought together individuals working with augmented reality across various sectors to discuss new products, emerging trends, and the impact mixed reality could have on our society.
of how we design moving into a mixed reality world. MIT Media Lab academic head and professor Pattie Maes envisions access to information that currently exists online and in our phones becoming more integrated into our environments so we are
From a human experience vantage point, our lives and how we engage are going to change significantly when augmented reality becomes more accessible, enabling widespread consumer adoption.
not as easily pulled from in-person interactions; where you don’t have to look down to recall information or send a message.
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When considering user experience design and building for the people who are going to use these products, we need to reassess the inputs and indicators we use in AR. For a long time, technology has distracted people
SENSATION
from experiencing the “real world” because of the interfaces that currently exist to engage with the technology. With mixed reality, many people are eliminating the in-the-box constraints of the smartphone and thinking of new and innovative ways to store, process, and present information.
For anyone who has used a smartphone, haptic feedback is a fundamental characteristic of mobile design. The duration and pulse of a vibration down to microseconds can be interpreted by the user to mean different things. So, what does sensory feedback look like if there is no more screen? No more device? For the
Here are 5 S words to consider when designing for mixed reality that prioritize the end user. After all, we are building these products for people. Right? (there’s a whole different post opportunity for that conversation):
SIGHT
innovative and futurist readers out there, should we include taste as a part of this category? What other sensory indicators could be used as an anchor when designing for mixed reality?
SCENT
Sight is probably the first sense that comes to mind when designing an interface. Visual cues and indicators are key factors to consider when developing applications in augmented reality. Color and vibrancy are also important to take into account when building interfaces that overlay on complex and changing environments. Rui Pereira teaches a class called Magic Windows and Mixed Up Realities at ITP-NYU and is a creative technologist at Google. At ARIA, he spoke about his students work to help you navigate your way through a city guided by Alice and Wonderland’s white rabbit, animating brands by bringing logos to life, and more. Augmented reality opens up an entirely new dimension for visual experiences that excite, aid, and empower.
SOUND Neil Gupta, a partner at Indicator Ventures and founder of nonprofit BostonAR, gave a lightning talk at ARIA that discussed the opportunities for AR and AI to
Scent has been shown to enhance and influence people’s memories of past events and have bodyaltering effects such as reducing anxiety. Pattie Maes referenced “emotional regulation” as an activity AR will play a role in (check out the student project Essence, the first olfactory computational necklace). For readers who watch Black Mirror, she did say that she makes her students watch the show to consider the implications of some of these technologies and how they could have negative effects on society.
SEQUENCE One of the projects mentioned at the MIT Media Lab is called NeverMind. This “memory palace memorization method with augmented reality” helps support longterm memory recall using sequenced items as the user moves through different environments. The factor of time and sequence is a significant consideration in the advancement of mixed reality products.
consider sound, pattern, and pulse to support indicators in mixed reality interfaces and theorized Apple may be placing a strong focus on this for development of new technologies in the augmented reality space.
CREATING SMART COMMUNITIES
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MOVING INTO THE FUTURE As you consider these 5 S words of designing for mixed reality environments, consider how people may hack your product and take time to explore the moral and societal impact of your creation. And, as the AR in Research panel agreed, designing for failure is a great way to build impactful products and help you stay innovative. As always, integrate your end user into the design process as early as you can and prioritize understanding what experience they want and how to deliver that to them.
Reflecting on today, I would like there to be a larger philosophical dialogue around “if we can build it, should we?” Rather, “since it’s going to be built, how do we handle it?” Mixed reality can pave the way for incredible advancements in society; from medicine to infrastructure to education, but it could also expand the doorway to invasion of privacy, lack of control, unequal access, and other factors where the technology could be abused.
Joshua Croke is a guest writer for Elevate Magazine and designer and strategist working at the intersection of design, technology, and society to create inclusive communities, sustainable cities, and prosperous economies. // @JoshuaCroke
Action! by Design is a project design studio that works with people who are motivated to make a difference in their industry and have an impact on our world. // ActionByDesign.co
"ELEVATE MAGAZINE SEEKS TO INFORM, EMBRACE AND INSPIRE ENTREPRENEURS. WE OFFER TIPS, TOOLS, AND INSIDER NEWS TO ENTREPRENEURS TO HELP ALONG THE JOURNEY OF BUILDING AND GROWING A BUSINESS, INCLUDING MAINTAINING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL LIFESTYLE."
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