The question of ‘next trends’ isn’t whether a trend exists, but whether you’ll be the first to spot it. Interest in trends across search engines and social media can grow by 65% to 143% over five years, with some driving exponential sales growth within months.

In response, 75% of business leaders have increased their focus on innovation, recognising that speed and smart trend selection set market leaders apart.

Here are five principles to help you cut through the noise, test ideas fast and turn the right trends into growth.

1. Catch the signal before everyone else

Early responses to emerging trends can boost sales by 15–20% and increase customer loyalty. One of the first signs of a growing trend is a surge in search queries — the sweet spot is acting while interest is rising, but before the market gets crowded.

Use tools like Google Trends, Wordstat, Ahrefs, SEMrush or Exploding Topics for regular keyword monitoring. Watch for 5–10x spikes in search volume over one to two months, but don’t stop at raw numbers.

Pay attention to velocity, long-tail queries and unusual seasonal patterns that may signal changing consumer priorities. In 2024 and early 2025, online searches for Dubai chocolate spiked after viral TikTok videos. Sensing the momentum, retailers like Marks & Spencer and Waitrose introduced limited-edition products recreating the aesthetic and flavour of the original. It’s a clear example of how microtrends can leap from niche content into mainstream retail almost overnight.

2. Test trend viability — is it built to last?

More and more trends hold consumer interest for months or even years. What sets them apart? A stabilisation phase after the initial spike and a ripple effect across related categories.

A single burst of attention isn’t enough: a viable trend should show consistent interest for two to three months, signalling durable demand. Track trends over time in a simple table using Excel or Notion. Update data every two to four weeks and compare growth. Check if related products or adjacent search terms gain traction too — that’s often where long-term potential lies.

Amazon treated sustainability as a long-term shift, not a seasonal campaign. With 74% of U.S. consumers looking to shop more sustainably, and 68% willing to pay more, it launched a Sustainable Products Programme and “Climate Pledge Friendly” labels, boosting eco-conscious sales and brand reputation.

Related: How to Move Fast and Not Break Things — 5 Lessons in Innovation From an Industry With Zero Room for Error

3. Test fast, spend small

Trending products often start with spikes in searches and social buzz: top categories can grow quarterly sales by anywhere from several hundred to more than 6,000%. But many trends are short-lived, making big investments risky.

Treat every trend as a hypothesis: Will it convert, scale and fit your business model? Instead of going all in, run quick tests to explore the idea. Start with a simple MVP, like an SEO-optimized landing page, and track key signals such as CTR, add-to-cart actions and retention. If it performs, scale it up; if not, move on quickly with minimal cost. This flexible, data-led approach turns trend-chasing into a controlled, low-risk practice.

Hiut Denim, a Welsh jeans maker, tapped into the barrel fit jeans trend, which saw a 500% surge in interest. The brand ran multi-channel digital campaigns and achieved a 600% increase in paid social sales with lower acquisition costs. Last year, they leaned into SEO with optimised category pages, boosting organic traffic and brand visibility.

4. Bring trends to life through cross-team collaboration

Without cross-team alignment, even the best trend insights go nowhere. While 75% of employers say collaboration is key to success, 39% of employees feel their companies aren’t effective enough. Moreover, 86% of employees and executives agree that poor teamwork causes most project failures.

You can’t bring a trend to market alone. Success depends on fast, coordinated action across teams, allowing companies to make the most of trend-driven opportunities.

Set up a clear, step-by-step process for managing trends: capture new signals, conduct a quick analysis, then hold regular team discussions to evaluate their potential value and fit. From there, decide whether to run a test or set the idea aside. Working in the gifting industry, our team monitors trends across key markets every two weeks. We also build a shortlist of two to three hypotheses and commit to testing at least one. This structured approach helps avoid chaotic trend-chasing and keeps focus on the most promising opportunities.

Nuuly, a fashion rental brand, grew its subscriber base by 51% by betting on the rise of sustainable fashion and circular shopping. While marketing tracked growing interest, product and logistics teams built relevant collections and accelerated delivery. The tech team improved personalisation and UX, raising conversions and retention, leading to double-digit revenue growth.

Related: Are You Chasing Trends or Building a Lasting Business?

5. Don’t chase every trend

By the end of 2024, 67% of consumers reported marketing fatigue, especially when brands jumped on every trend. 33% view this approach as inauthentic or even “embarrassing,” and only 27% believe it’s effective in the short term.

Not every trend is worth pursuing. Some ideas simply aren’t right for your brand, even if they’re generating a lot of noise. Learning to say no is just as important as knowing when to move fast. Ask yourself: does this trend align with your brand values, audience, production and logistics? Do the average order value, margin and LTV make sense?

Talk to marketing and PR: could this hurt your brand image? Run small-scale tests before you commit. In 2025, several beauty brands tried to ride TikTok trends with viral ingredients and nearly identical product releases. Instead of a boost, they got a sales decline. According to Beauty Independent, consumers now prefer minimalism, science-backed formulas and brand authenticity. If a trend doesn’t align with your DNA, it’s better to walk away.

Trends aren’t just about fashion — they’re signals of changing behaviors and needs. Rather than guessing, they help businesses understand where the market is headed. The key is to look beyond the noise and use trends as a tool to test your strategy, identify growth opportunities and adapt to what’s next.

Goldman Sachs is planning to ask junior analysts to verify every three months that they don’t have a job lined up elsewhere, in a periodic pledge of loyalty, Bloomberg reports.

The loyalty oaths are meant to get ahead of private equity firms, which can offer candidates jobs up to two years before a potential start date. These firms have been extending offers to junior bankers at the start of their job training at Goldman Sachs, or before they even begin training, in a process known as on-cycle recruitment.

Related: Here Are the Odds of Landing a Summer Internship at Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan

Goldman Sachs isn’t the only bank on Wall Street to crack down on poaching from private equity firms. Last month, JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S. with $3.9 trillion in assets, warned incoming analysts in a leaked email that they would be fired if they accepted a future-dated job offer before joining the bank or within the first 18 months of their employment.

JPMorgan said that the policy was meant to prevent any possible conflicts of interest.

^{Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon. Photographer: Naina Helén Jåma/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, 69, previously said that the practice of losing talent to private equity was “unethical.” At a talk at Georgetown University in September, Dimon said that moving to private equity puts JPMorgan “in a conflicted position” because staff are already pledged to another firm while they handle confidential information at JPMorgan.

“I think that’s unethical,” Dimon said at the talk. “I don’t like it.”

Major private equity firm Apollo Global Management announced last month that it would not conduct formal interviews or extend job offers to the class of 2027 in response to criticism about the private equity hiring process beginning too early.

Related: Goldman Sachs Asks Some Managers to Move From Major Hubs Like New York City to Emerging Regions Like Dallas — Or Quit

Apollo CEO Marc Rowan told Bloomberg in an emailed statement last month that “asking students to make career decisions before they truly understand their options doesn’t serve them or our industry.”

Apollo and Goldman Sachs offer comparable compensation packages. According to federal filings pulled by Business Insider, Apollo pays analysts a base salary of $115,000 to $150,000. Associates make anywhere from $125,000 to $200,000.

In comparison, Goldman Sachs pays first-year analysts $110,000 and first-year associates $150,000. Second-year analysts make $125,000.

Fresh out of an unfulfilling finance career, Neil Hershman was looking for something different — something he could build with his own hands. That search led him to 16 Handles, a New York-based froyo brand he frequented as a customer.

Astrophysics degree in one hand, finance resume in the other, Hershman found himself behind the counter of his first 16 Handles franchise, sleeves rolled up and running the store from open to close.

What started as a side project quickly spiraled into something bigger. “Open and close, every single shift I was working,” Hershman says. “I was able to advance the business [and] bring in additional revenue to the point where the profit was so great that I decided to leave all my other projects and just focus on 16 Handles.”

At a time when other entrepreneurs were retreating, Hershman expanded. He started building new stores across New York City during Covid-19, when retail leases were cheap and competitors were shuttering. “Instead of getting scared, I was the one coming in and building,” he says.

Related: He Started a Business and Ended Up on the Brink of Bankruptcy. He Fixed His Mistakes – and Now Teaches Entrepreneurs What He Wishes He Knew When Starting Out.

Soon, he wasn’t just running locations. He was leading the entire company.

Since acquiring the brand from founder Solomon Choi in 2022, Hershman has led a nationwide expansion of the froyo chain from 30 to 150-plus locations. His unexpected journey from customer to franchisee to CEO gives him a unique edge in today’s crowded dessert market.

Hershman is behind some of the brand’s wildest flavors, ranging from Harry Potter references to “french fry frozen yogurt” (a play on McDonald’s frequently broken ice cream machines). “I am part of the customer base,” he says. “My family, my friends, everyone is part of the customer base. So it’s just ideas that we have.”

The results speak for themselves. “Our sales growth has been phenomenal, like when we launched french fry, or the Squid Games-inspired flavor, or the butter beer out of Harry Potter,” he says. “Our sales are up like 30-40% the week that we launched compared to prior years. So it really does make a difference.”

But building a thriving brand takes more than flavor. It takes trust, consistency and loyalty — not just from customers, but from the team. That’s why the first person Hershman hired was Lisa Mallon, who co-owned the Fairfield, Connecticut, location with her husband for 13 years.

“Who knows the brand better and believes in the brand more than people who have been successful with the brand?” Hershman says. “Somebody who’s got 13 years of running a store open to close and knows customer interactions and [what] customers want, how to make the best bang for your buck on this business.”

Related: Her Show Was Canceled – But the Setback Taught Busy Philipps a Powerful Lesson for Creators and Entrepreneurs

This strategy helps the brand stay consistent, which are the callouts Hershman appreciates most in customer reviews.

“We used to have one girl who ordered every single day, and it would always come through around the same time, to the point where when you heard the printer printing at that time, we knew it was her order and what to do,” he says.

One day, she left a five-star review with a picture of her froyo on her coffee table. “Love this place, great chocolate,” she wrote.

For Hershman, these few words were a source of encouragement. “Even though it feels monotonous that we’re packing the same order every single day, there’s somebody at the other end who all day is probably looking forward to this moment of opening up this bag,” he says.

Hershman stressed the importance of paying close attention to reviews, whether positive or critical.

“[Loyal customers] know what to look for best,” he says. “Those are really important for us as a franchisor to know what’s going on with our locations, and for store operators to know what’s going on in the customer’s mind.”

Related: This Local Bakery Has Lines Out the Door. Here Are the Secrets to Its Success.

Hershman and his team keep a close eye on review platforms like Yelp to help refine operations and build trust while keeping in mind that not every critique is a call to action.

For example, one of the challenges Hershman identified is not getting the full picture of a customer’s experience based on their review. “You just get the edges, so it makes it a little hard to use those reviews as a long-term decision maker,” he says.

Nevertheless, critical reviews can provide clarity, and good reviews can build credibility. Both are opportunities to grow as a business.

Hershman’s story is about seeing potential where others see plateaus and making truly special moments for customers, who will return for the consistent experience again and again.

After taking over as CEO and reimagining 16 Handles for a new generation, Hershman’s advice to entrepreneurs is simple but powerful:

• Obsess over the customer experience. From staple products to add-on services, everything can be improved to build trust and cultivate repeat business.
• Build customer loyalty at every turn. Reading and responding to customer feedback lets customers know their voices are heard.
• Innovate with purpose. Not every business idea will see the light of day, but focusing on constant improvement will keep your business competitive.
• See your business through the eyes of a customer. Spending time on the front lines can give you a fresh perspective on what’s working and what needs to be improved.

Listen to the episode to hear directly from Neil Hershman, and subscribe to Behind the Review for more from new business owners and reviewers every Tuesday.

Editorial contributions by Jiah Choe and Kristi Lindahl

Nvidia has flown past Microsoft and Apple to hit a record $4 trillion in market value, the latest sign of the AI boom.

On Wednesday morning, the AI chipmaker became the world’s first company to be worth $4 trillion, ahead of the previous $3.9 trillion market value record set by Apple in December. (Though it has come down from its $4 trillion high, its share price was $163.25 for a market cap of $3.97 trillion at the time of writing.) Nvidia shares soared by as much as 2.5% on Wednesday to an intraday high of $164.42.

Related: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Will Make Nearly $1 Billion This Year Just from Selling Stock

Nvidia stock is up over 21% year-to-date, and up more than 1,450% over the past five years.

CNBC notes that two years ago, Nvidia was worth $500 billion. Since then, the AI chipmaker reached $1 trillion in value in June 2023, $2 trillion in February 2024, and $3 trillion in June 2024.

Tech analyst Dan Ives posted on X on Wednesday that Nvidia reaching a $4 trillion market cap, even momentarily, marked a “huge historical moment for [the] U.S. tech sector.” In a research note last month, Ives wrote, “There is one company in the world that is the foundation for the AI Revolution and that is Nvidia.”

The Godfather of AI Jensen and Nvidia hit $4 trillion market cap. AI Revolution and huge historical moment for US Tech sector ????

— Dan Ives (@DivesTech) July 9, 2025

Nvidia’s record market value is due to its unique position as the leading provider of AI chips; the company commands 70% to 95% of the market. Tech giants, including Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, are using Nvidia’s chips to power their AI offerings (and spending billions of dollars in the process).

Nvidia’s revenue has skyrocketed in response. In a recent May earnings report for the first quarter of the year, Nvidia recorded that quarterly revenue was $44.1 billion, up 69% from a year ago and ahead of Wall Street expectations. Nvidia expects another $45 billion in revenue in the current quarter.

“Global demand for Nvidia’s AI infrastructure is incredibly strong,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement accompanying the earnings report. “Countries around the world are recognizing AI as essential infrastructure — just like electricity and the internet — and Nvidia stands at the center of this profound transformation.”

Nvidia first surpassed Microsoft in mid-June as the most valuable public company in the world, a position it still holds. In April, Nvidia announced plans to build AI chips and supercomputers in the U.S. for the first time.

Related: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says ChatGPT Needs ‘100 Times More’ of His Company’s AI Chips

I’ve seen thousands of impressive resumes over the years, and one important lesson I’ve learned is that smarts and brainpower without emotional intelligence are worse than unproductive. Give me the sharpest investment analyst or portfolio manager in town, but if they can’t hold a calm conversation when a client is panicked or concerned or can’t read the room, they’re more of a liability than an asset.

My wake-up call was letting go of our brilliant portfolio analyst, whose zero-empathy style turned status update calls into cage matches of who is smarter. Showing that intellectual talent the way out the door definitely was difficult, but the damage they would’ve kept causing would’ve been worse. That realization pushed emotional intelligence — or emotional quotient — to the top of my hiring checklist. If you’re building a company and still betting on raw intellect alone, you’re quietly inviting trouble inside the culture of your organization.

Related: ‘Seeing People I Helped Succeed Is My Greatest Thrill’: Baseball Star Dexter Fowler and Restaurateur Michael Tanha Outline a Playbook for Success

The reflexes that keep a deal from dying

Running a small business is more like a street market at rush hour. Things move fast, and emotional intelligence matters a lot. When a deadline jumps from next week to tomorrow, you need teammates who keep their heads high, read the room and steady the ship. High-EQ people do exactly that.

They notice a teammate’s shoulders tense and ask what’s up before the blow-up. They catch a client’s hesitation in the first five seconds and course-correct. They think before they fire off the snarky Slack or Teams reply. Those reflexes keep collaboration flowing. Minus them, tension multiplies faster than any spreadsheet can track — and the smartest ideas drown in the noise.

The ROI of prioritizing EQ

Stress is part of the founder’s job description, so the real question is who you want beside you when things go sideways. I’ve watched high-EQ employees turn a Friday meltdown into a Monday morning win simply by listening first, framing the options and keeping everyone’s dignity intact. It’s important to note that talent is only part of the equation.

Regardless of how “genius” they may be, a teammate with a low EQ can flip the script on a project’s success. They become a bottleneck for progress and drain the team with unnecessary conflict. Lost clients, burnt-out teams, endless mediation calls: that hidden overhead will sink margins faster than any market downturn. Once you tally those silent costs, betting on EQ looks less like a soft option and more like bulletproof risk management for your business.

Related: 5 Reasons Why Emotional Intelligence Is the Future of Work

Hire for EQ, train for skill

Don’t get me wrong, I still want smart people on the payroll. I’m still running a company. But here’s the hard lesson you should learn from my experience: hard skills sit on the lowest shelf because they’re easy to reach. Let’s say a motivated new hire can easily binge-watch tutorials at twice the speed, shadow a colleague for a sprint and hit baseline proficiency even before the quarter closes.

On the contrary, EQ lives on a higher shelf. It’s forged over the years from handling feedback that stings, defusing tension at the exact moment it peaks and communicating bad news without lighting a fuse. Those instincts come from experience and an honest self-audit, not from a two-day certification. For example, I can easily walk someone through our CRM logic, but I can never walk them through the emotional mechanics of pausing before they speak when a client’s tone turns frosty. That muscle either shows up toned or it doesn’t.

So when a candidate walks in already steady under pressure, I’ll gladly sponsor any technical training they need. Any entrepreneur can spend the money on a coding boot camp, a finance master class or a niche compliance seminar just because that’s a fixed, predictable cost. But if you try reversing the equation where you pour months into coaching someone who bristles at basic feedback, you’ll discover the bill never stops growing, and neither does the headache.

Related: 6 Steps to Building a Strong Company Culture

How to screen for EQ from the job post to the first 90 days

Making EQ the north star starts before a single resume lands in your inbox. Write job posts that clearly outline collaboration efforts, adaptability and client care right next to the technical asks. Be extremely clear so you attract (and detract) the right people.

When interview time rolls around, refrain from asking questions as if they’re trivia quizzes. Ask about the last time a project blew up in their face and how they kept the team together. Listen for ownership, empathy and a game plan — not finger-pointing. Run multiple rounds so the mask slips (not that we’re setting them up for failure, just that fatigue is a great truth serum).

Call references and skip the polite small talk. Ask how the candidate handled tension and whether their previous employer would rehire them when the chips were down. After the offer, give your new hires a culture buddy and real-time feedback in the first ninety days. See how they handle the small storms before you put them in front of your biggest accounts.

No line item captures the relief of ending a tough call with a client who says, “Thanks for getting where I’m coming from.” That’s EQ paying dividends, and the compound interest is wild. When you make emotional intelligence the first filter, you’ll spend less time refereeing squabbles and more time building something worth the late nights. Hire humans who can handle humans, and the numbers will take care of themselves.

Canola oil, a seed oil made by crushing canola seeds, is used in several Starbucks food items in the U.S., from the popular egg white and roasted red pepper bites to its sandwiches. But that may soon change.

Bloomberg is reporting that the coffeehouse is exploring how to remove seed oils, including canola, from its lineup. A Starbucks spokesperson told the outlet that the company is also adding a new egg bite option to its menu made with avocado oil.

Related: Starbucks Is Hiring a ‘Global Content Creator’ to Travel, Drink Coffee, and Get Paid Six Figures

Last month, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol met with the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to discuss health and the company’s menu. Seed oils are a top talking point for Kennedy, which he says are ultra-processed and linked to chronic diseases. His administration suggests using beef tallow, or rendered beef fat, instead of seed oils.

Salad chain Sweetgreen and burger chain Steak ‘n Shake have already made the switch.

“We have made a commitment to remove seed oils from our restaurants,” Steak ‘n Shake wrote on its website. “Our fries, onion rings and chicken tenders are now cooked in 100% beef tallow in our restaurants.”

Yesterday, I met with @Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, who shared the company’s plans to further MAHA its menu. I was pleased to learn that Starbucks’ food and beverages already avoid artificial dyes, artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and other… pic.twitter.com/F2O9wHpVFW

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) June 18, 2025

Still, scientists say seed oils are safe for consumption in moderation, and the FDA says that when substituted for fats or oils high in saturated fat, like beef tallow, using canola oil may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

There have also been a number of analyses that indicate seed oils do not impact inflammation, Bloomberg notes.

Related: It’s Pay-to-Stay at Starbucks as the Coffeehouse Reverses Open Door Policy

Barbara Corcoran, the 76-year-old founder of the real estate firm The Corcoran Group, claims to have created a work environment where there was “no turnover.”

In an Instagram post shared with her 1.2 million followers on Monday, Corcoran outlined the “crazy things” she would do to keep her staff happy. For example, Corcoran would bus hundreds of agents to the country for midweek picnics, each with its own memorable feature, like a 60-foot-tall hot air balloon or a 5,000-pound elephant offering safari rides.

Related: Barbara Corcoran Needed to Make Job Cuts. Here’s Why She Fired Her Mom First.

She would also provide babysitters for employees who wanted to bring their kids to work and offered plenty of office perks, like yoga classes, free lunches, and massages.

Corcoran recognized top performers by giving gold ribbons to anyone who closed a million-dollar sale, and gave one of her top brokers a Bentley with the license plate “SOLD1” to highlight her stellar performance in front of the whole company.

She additionally claims to have thrown “the wildest parties in town” for her employees, complete with their own “wacky” themes — and dressing up was mandatory.

The end result of these initiatives? People were “lining up” for jobs at The Corcoran Group, and Corcoran didn’t have to advertise new job openings. There was also zero turnover; employees chose to stay.

Related: ‘Do You Know What a First Class Ticket Costs?’ Why Barbara Corcoran Flies Coach

“People are most creative when they’re having fun, and we had more of that than anyone else,” Corcoran wrote in the post. “I stopped advertising to hire because people were lining up to work at The Corcoran Group! Fun builds loyalty, and we had no turnover.”

Corcoran founded The Corcoran Group in 1973 with just $1,000 and seven agents. By the time she sold the brokerage firm for close to $70 million in 2001, the team had grown to encompass 700 employees.

Corcoran also noted in an Instagram video in March that she is “the best boss” she has ever met because she follows a simple principle: She works for whoever works for her. In other words, she works for her employees, and her perspective is always tied to what she can do for them.

“I shower my people with anything they need selflessly,” Corcoran said in the video, adding later that, “I don’t think anyone could be a better boss than me.”

Corcoran is now an original cast member of “Shark Tank.” She has appeared on the show for 16 seasons and made more than 650 deals. She makes about $4.5 million a year from her investments, including profits from deals from the show.

According to a recent Bankrate survey, fewer than half of Americans plan to travel this summer. Among those staying home, most cite cost as the main reason.

That’s a missed opportunity.

Travel isn’t just a luxury — it’s a strategic tool. For entrepreneurs, stepping outside the day-to-day grind creates space to think creatively, meet new people and gain the fresh perspective that fuels innovation. One good conversation or idea sparked on the road could become your next big business move.

Here’s the best part: if you’re strategic, you can align your travel with your business goals — and potentially write off a portion of the cost. The IRS allows business owners to deduct legitimate business-related travel expenses. With the right planning, your summer getaway can double as a business trip that moves your company forward.

Related: A Business Owner’s Guide to Maximizing Summer Profits

Travel with purpose

Making the primary purpose of your trip business-related doesn’t mean you have to spend your days in meetings. For travel within the U.S., the IRS allows deductions as long as more than half of a standard workday (four or more hours) is spent on qualified business activities.

That could include meeting with clients, scouting investment properties, researching a new market, or connecting with potential partners. The key is intention and documentation.

If you’re in the 32% tax bracket, treating your travel as a legitimate business expense can result in a 32% “discount” via tax savings. That’s not a loophole—it’s a smart use of existing tax code designed to support business growth.

Take one of my clients, for example. He built a vacation around scouting real estate deals in New Mexico, a place he already loved visiting. The trip saved him around $3,000 in taxes—and even better, it led to a property deal that eventually earned him over $1 million in profit.

What qualifies as deductible business travel?

The IRS has clear rules on what counts as a deductible business expense. Common eligible expenses include:

• Airfare, train fare, or mileage to and from your destination
• Hotel or lodging costs
• Ground transportation (Uber, taxis, car rentals, airport transfers)
• Baggage fees
• Laundry or dry cleaning during the trip
• 50% of non-entertainment meal costs

To qualify, expenses must meet four basic criteria:

1. Business purpose: There must be a clear business reason for the trip.
2. Ordinary and necessary: It should be a typical and reasonable expense in your line of work.
3. Directly related to business: The activity must advance or support your business.
4. Properly documented: Keep records—receipts, dates, contacts, meeting notes, and outcomes.

If your spouse or children are active in the business and perform meaningful work during the trip, their expenses may also be deductible. For example, if your spouse is a co-owner or your children help with content creation, marketing or research, their travel may be part of your business plan — if documented correctly.

Related: How Smart Entrepreneurs Turn Mid-Year Tax Reviews Into Long-Term Financial Wins

Work with a trusted advisor

Blending business and personal expenses adds complexity to your tax situation. A tax advisor who specializes in entrepreneurs can help ensure your strategy is sound and legally compliant. The goal isn’t just to deduct travel. It’s to structure your business in a way that supports growth and lowers your tax liability year-round.

Final thoughts

Before you book your next trip, ask: How could this support my business?

Maybe it’s an investment scouting trip. Maybe it’s reconnecting with a client in a new market. Maybe it’s simply taking space to think clearly and plan your next move.

When you approach travel with intention, the possibilities multiply. That break you’ve been craving could be the catalyst for your next revenue stream or expansion play—and with a smart tax strategy, the IRS could help fund it.

If you love where you’re traveling, why not plant business roots there? You’ll have a reason to return—on another deductible trip—with even more upside next time.

Because when travel helps you grow your business and lower your tax bill, the real question isn’t whether you can afford to travel—
It’s whether you can afford not to.

Jon Taffer isn’t just a TV personality. He’s a walking, talking, table-flipping force in hospitality.

For more than a decade, he’s been shouting people into shape on Bar Rescue, building brands and turning dysfunction into multimillion-dollar operations.

So when it came time to grow his own concept, Taffer’s Tavern, he didn’t just make a move. He made a statement. That statement? Team up with Gregg Majewski and Craveworthy Brands.

In just a few years, Majewski has grown Craveworthy Brands from concept to industry powerhouse. The company now has more than 300 restaurants, 19 brands and more than $300 million in system-wide sales — and it’s still growing.

Taffer took notice.

Related: Jon Taffer’s 10% Rule Is the Productivity Hack That Could Change Your Life

“I did my homework,” Taffer said on the Restaurant Influencers podcast, seated with Majewski and host Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ Media. “I looked at the company, I looked at the culture, and I saw the way Gregg leads. He knows every employee’s name. He’s the real deal.”

This wasn’t just a handshake and a headline. Taffer owned 100% of his brand. No investors. No committee. Just instinct — and his instinct told him Craveworthy was different. So they teamed up on the joint venture.

It helped that Taffer wasn’t the first big name to buy into Majewski’s company. Before Taffer’s Tavern, Craveworthy struck a deal with Shaquille O’Neal to bring his Big Chicken restaurants into the fold. That move made Taffer pay closer attention.

“Gregg is quality oriented, top of game,” Taffer says. “He took the time to understand my brand. I don’t worry with him.”

Majewski is clear about the mission. “The goal has never changed,” he says. “We want to build the best fricking restaurant company in the world. And we do that by building the best team in the world.”

He’s not chasing hype. He’s building infrastructure. Taffer’s Tavern and Big Chicken aren’t trophies. They’re strategic plays in a much bigger game.

To understand what makes this partnership powerful, you have to go back to where their values formed.

Related: Gregg Majewski of Craveworthy Brands on the Advantages of Being #2

The people business

Before Craveworthy Brands ever existed, Majewski made a promise to Dave Thomas.

Yes, that Dave Thomas — the founder of Wendy’s and one of Majewski’s earliest mentors. The deal was simple: if Thomas poured into Majewski, Majewski would pour back into the industry when it was his turn.

Now that Craveworthy is thriving, Majewski is keeping that promise. He tells stories not for the spotlight but to elevate the people who make restaurants run. His podcast, Room for Seconds, is dedicated to exactly that: sharing lessons in leadership and shining a light on the dishwashers, line cooks and unsung workers chasing the American dream.

“It’s not about me,” he says. “They’re why we do this.”

Taffer would agree. His most powerful moment in hospitality didn’t happen on television or during a big deal. It happened in a hotel meeting room with a former dishwasher named Theo.

Theo had just been promoted to prep cook. Taffer asked him to help open a new restaurant. At the team meeting, Theo stood in front of 80 employees. “I was a dishwasher six months ago,” he said. “Look at me now.”

Taffer cried. “We’re in the people business,” he says. “When our employees feel that proud, everything else falls into place.”

That belief shows up in everything Taffer does — from the way he builds teams to how he thinks about hospitality itself. Bar Rescue made him famous for tough love. But underneath the yelling is a core value he never strays from: authenticity.

“You don’t fool the audience,” he says. “You serve them. You connect with them. You create reactions. That’s the business we’re in.”

Now entering its tenth season, Bar Rescue is still going strong. Taffer is also reviving his podcast, this time with a sharper focus on the real issues facing the industry — and the people trying to fix them.

Because for both Taffer and Majewski, legacy isn’t something you inherit. It’s something you build. And you build it by showing up for the people who matter most.

Related: A Conversation About AI With Sam Altman Blew Their Minds — So They Wrote the Playbook for Businesses That Want to Use the Tech

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In the early days of building my company, before team retreats, company values or anything resembling structure — I landed a client I thought would change everything. A household name. A generous budget. Access to rooms I’d only dreamed of.

They were charming, urgent and eager to move fast. “We’ll work out the specifics later,” they said. And I — ambitious, energized, hungry — said yes.

That was my first mistake.

By saying yes to being nice, I said no to setting boundaries. Scope ballooned. Expectations multiplied. Instead of leading the relationship, I chased it — reactive, overextended and increasingly misaligned. When the contract ended, they vanished. No thank-you. No follow-up. No second thought.

The work was fine. The experience? A costly lesson.

The problem with “nice”

Nice is easy. Nice is polite. Nice doesn’t rock the boat. But when nice replaces clarity, it becomes dangerous.

Nice masks the truth in soft language. It dulls useful tension. It delays discomfort and multiplies damage.

We once worked with a DEI compliance firm that brought in a celebrity spokesperson and rolled out a complete rebrand, without looping us in. When they asked for feedback, we smiled and nodded. It wasn’t good. But they were proud, and we didn’t want to kill the momentum.

A few weeks later, they hired a consultant who told them the exact truths we didn’t. They listened. They acted. They pivoted — without us. Not because we failed, but because we stayed quiet.

Here’s the irony: they wanted the truth. Most clients do.

Related: Why Empathy Is a Crucial Entrepreneurial Skill (and How to Develop Yours)

What silence costs you

In a business landscape where 89% of consumers are more likely to engage with companies that respond to all reviews, silence doesn’t read as professionalism — it reads as disinterest.

In digital marketing, sugarcoating isn’t kindness — it’s negligence. It prevents the honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversations that actually move the work forward.

Another client came to us with a brand-new website from another firm. It was clunky, templated, and, frankly, looked like a scam. I could’ve softened the feedback. Instead, I called out the red flags, shared competitor benchmarks and outlined the risks. That moment of honesty saved them tens of thousands — and earned us their long-term trust.

Truth: a strategic advantage

Honesty isn’t just moral — it’s strategic.

We once worked with a board game company whose leadership resisted every suggestion. We accommodated them, afraid to overstep. The result? The campaign flopped.

So we reset the relationship. “You hired us for our expertise,” we told them. “Let us lead — or let us go.”

That moment changed everything. Trust replaced tension. Strategy started to click. Results followed. Because that’s what truth does: it realigns, refocuses and rebuilds.

Why we stay quiet (and how to stop)

Most of us were raised on: “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” But in business? A better rule is:

“If you don’t have something productive to say, wait until you do—and then say it clearly.”

Honesty without empathy is blunt. Empathy without honesty is manipulation. But together, they create influence — the kind that earns trust, drives change, and builds resilient teams.

You don’t have to be aggressive to be direct. But you do have to be brave.

Building a culture where truth isn’t taboo

This isn’t just about client service — it’s about internal culture. At my agency, we lead with candor. Not because it’s easy, but because it builds stronger teams. Teams that feel heard, respected, and empowered to speak up.

One time, a client gave feedback that stung. Before the next call, I told my team: “Watch how we address this — head-on, respectfully, without compromising our values.” On the call, I told the client their comments had landed poorly. Not to shame. Just to inform.

“Our team loves working with you,” I said. “Let’s make sure they continue to feel respected.” The result? An apology, a cookie bouquet, and a client who now leads with the same transparency.

Want to get better at telling the truth? Start here:

• Bake it in: Build feedback loops into your process. Don’t wait for disaster.
• Teach it: Direct, constructive communication is a skill. Train your team like it matters — because it does.
• Model it: If leadership isn’t honest, no one else will be.

Final thought

Being nice might win a smile. But being honest earns results.

Lead with empathy. Tell the truth. And build client relationships that aren’t afraid of friction, but built to grow through it.

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