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Hurricane Helene hit Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds. So far, 33 fatalities have been reported. And while there has been widespread flooding, including the heavily populated cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, Tampa General Hospital, situated right along Tampa Bay, has managed to stay dry.

That’s due to a 5- to 10-foot high barrier known as an AquaFence, which is going viral on several platforms because of how it seems to have protected the region’s only Level 1 trauma center.

As #HurricaneHelene continues, the AquaFence at TGH stands firm. The water-impermeable barrier is designed to withstand storm surge up to 15 feet. It has worked through multiple rain events to prevent storm waters from impacting hospital operations. #WeAreTGH #StormWatch pic.twitter.com/papsd6oPg2

— Tampa General Hospital (@TGHCares) September 27, 2024

AquaFence was founded in 1999 and has offices in Norway and New Jersey. According to the company’s website, its systems are “protecting more than $30 billion worth of real estate in the United States alone,” including everything from hotels to gas stations to a Shake Shack.

The product is designed to be installed quickly and (fairly) easily. In 2023, AquaFence USA President Thomas Briedis told local outlet, WTSP Tampa 10, that 100 feet of AquaFence can be installed in 30 minutes.

“They come folded together, kind of like a laptop,” he said. “You take them out of the crate, put them down and they fold open.”

Briedis also said that the company is working on a line of residential AquaFences, which would cost around $20,000. The barriers are designed to protect in a Category 5 hurricane.

“We are very confident in the system. It was been thoroughly tested,” Briedis told the outlet.

The Jetsons, a popular TV show from the 1960s, foreshadowed the rise of AI chatbots, video calls, robotic vacuum cleaners — and now holograms.

U.S. startup Proto is making waves as the first platform to allow for communication through holograms. The company’s products are physical boxes that display 3D images from pre-recorded videos, live feeds, phones, and cameras. They can also be used for video calls and interviews. The images appear to be 3D because of shadowing and reflective effects.

^{Comedian Howie Mandel in a Proto device talking to a reporter. Photo Credit: Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images}

Proto has two real-size hologram boxes available that cost anywhere from $29,000 to $65,000: the Proto Epic, which over 100 companies are using, and the Proto Luma, which the company has newly introduced, according to a Friday CNN Business report.

Related: What You Need to Know About ‘AI Agents’ and Why We Are One Step Closer to The Jetsons

The cheapest option is the $5,900 Proto M, a tabletop version less than 3 feet tall.

Holograms aren’t just science fiction anymore. Jetsons promised it and Proto delivered it. pic.twitter.com/A2NHfVhThk

— Proto Hologram (@ProtoHologram) September 22, 2024

Since launching in 2018, Proto has sold close to 1,000 hologram boxes, founder David Nussbaum told CNN Business. The company’s technology appeared on America’s Got Talent in 2022. Jon Bon Jovi’s bar in Nashville, Tennessee added a permanent Proto hologram unit to the premises in June.

Proto is steadily making its mark on communication with Amazon using it in an AI hub in San Francisco in August. Also last month, a healthcare facility in West Tennessee became the first to use Proto holograms to bring cancer specialists to patients, so they don’t have to travel far for specialized care.

I visited @west_cancer in Henry County to see their new telemedicine device, the Proto Epic, which is the first of its kind in the US. This device projects a realistic life-sized image that allows patients to meet with cancer specialists in Memphis or any other location without… pic.twitter.com/JFOb8lT97O

— Rep. David Kustoff (@RepDavidKustoff) September 3, 2024

Proto exists at a time when big tech companies are taking an interest in hologram technology. Earlier this week, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg offered a first glance at Orion, Meta’s holographic glasses. The glasses overlap holograms and digital communication with the physical world.

Zuckerberg said the glasses were best thought of as “a time machine” and that they needed some fine-tuning before being released to the public.

Related: ‘The Jetsons’ World Is Becoming Reality. Innovators, Start Your Engines.

You may now see AI-generated images of yourself on your Facebook or Instagram feeds as Meta tests new content.

Meta told Axios on Friday that users can opt out of a new “Imagined for You” test that creates AI content based on a user’s interests, even incorporating their likenesses. For example, users can imagine themselves in new settings, as royalty, or as an astronaut, and share the images that Meta AI creates of them with their network.

You “can be the star of your own story,” Meta stated.

The generated images seem to rely on photos uploaded by users, noted The Verge.

^{Credit: Meta}

Meta is also testing adding other AI images on newsfeeds that may not feature users’ faces but are still personalized to them. One example image Meta shared shows an enchanted realm with moonbeams.

Meta is experimenting with the changes across Facebook and Instagram. The new feature is in its testing stages and it’s unclear how many accounts it affects.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke about its AI efforts earlier this week at Connect, stating that Meta AI has 500 million monthly active users and is slated to become the most-used AI assistant by the end of the year.

^{Meta AI moonbeams. Credit: Meta}

Related: Mark Zuckerberg Revealed His Vision for Smart Glasses at Meta Connect — and It Involves Holograms: ‘Beginning of a Big Thing’

I have had the pleasure of working with many leading search engine optimization (SEO) specialists in my nearly decade-long career as an SEO expert. But one stood out for her ambitious goal to think like a human and a bot at the same time.

Sharing this philosophy, this is something I admit to doing myself. Why? Because advances in natural language processing (NLP) require a forward-thinking approach to content optimization.

In this article, I dive into some of the key fundamentals of NLP, offering a simple analogy to how it works. I then focus on optimizing content using NLP in a way that both bots and your readers will love. Let’s get started.

Related: How to Leverage AI to Boost Your SEO Efforts and Stay Ahead of the Competition

Fundamentals of NLP

At the risk of oversimplifying, imagine a bridge over a river connecting two pieces of land. On the left side are people with literally thousands of search queries. And on the right side are search engines like Google, containing possibly the world’s largest library of information accessible at one’s fingertips.

So, how do people get their searches answered? The answer lies in algorithms. For example, Google’s algorithms crawl millions of content pieces each day and organize and structure them to meet search queries.

But where does NLP fit into the picture? As part of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, it bridges the gap between real people’s search queries and what search engines have to offer.

Wondering how this is done? Basically, highly sophisticated computer systems take language found in sentences and break them down into words, phrases, symbols and other meaningful elements. This process is called tokenization.

There is also “stemming,” which reduces words to their root form. Lemmatization, on the other hand, groups together different forms of a word that are then analyzed as a single unit. But there’s more.

Other ways NLP kicks into high gear include through syntax analysis, named entity recognition, sentiment analysis, topic segmentation and others. And to add a cherry on top, NLP also carries out tasks that include speech-to-text recognition, grammatical tagging, disambiguation, coreference resolution and others.

With so much intelligence and sophistication in NLP, it’s becoming clearer that SEO experts need to rethink their strategies for optimizing content. Today, this task is as much about enabling bots to semantically understand content as it is about understanding the user’s intent behind a search query.

While I won’t go into the complexities of the BERT algorithm rollout or the statistical measure called frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF), if there’s one thing you will want to walk away from knowing, it is that catering to user intent on Google has never been this important.

Gone are the days of happily stuffing keywords to get a high keyword density score just to boost the rankings of your content. Today, Google is much smarter and is prioritizing the user experience over anything else.

That’s why its NLP technology is so sophisticated and is worth paying attention to. Therefore, whether you’re aiming to revive your content strategy or embark on a totally new route, you can’t afford to ignore NLP.

Applying NLP to keyword research

Having covered the importance of NLP, let’s explore some ways in which you can apply it to keyword research. Firstly, I need to mention that comprehensive keyword research should be the backbone of your content optimization efforts.

Without quality keywords, you risk your content piece never seeing daylight on the first page of the search engine results. Secondly, you need to identify relevant, high-traffic keywords which are accompanied by an in-depth user intent analysis.

To achieve all this, you need NLP-powered tools to streamline your keyword research process. While the choice of tool is up to you, ensure you make the right investment because this will pay off in the long run.

Related: How AI Is Transforming Keyword Research (and Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore It)

Optimizing content with NLP

A few tips worth sharing when optimizing content with NLP tools include the following:

• Use it for both content ideation and generation

• Optimize your content structure and flow based on NLP insights

• Refine content for improved readability and engagement

To do this, focus on creating keyword-rich but not keyword-stuffed metadata. Use the right structuring in your content with appropriate H1s, H2s, H3s and bullet points or numbering to match the user’s journey. Add semantically related keywords in your text, ensuring they flow naturally. However, keep the use of stop words in SEO to a minimum.

Write short and unambiguous sentences with each sentence conveying one main idea. Avoid jargon and colloquial language. Lastly, get to the point by providing answers to questions quickly, followed by indicating the subtle nuances in your answers in more detail later.

Measuring NLP-driven content performance

Every SEO expert worth their salt knows that measuring content performance is a big deal. Ignoring the metrics is done at your own peril. Constantly monitoring your metrics is critical for your content optimization success.

That’s because they allow you to refine and tweak the content based on user engagement and data for even better results. To better understand and improve your users’ experience with your content after applying NLP strategies to it, a couple of metrics you will want to keep an eye on are:

• Search engine results rankings

• Website traffic

• User behavior data such as time on page, conversions, etc.

Related: Revive Your Content Strategy With These 7 Powerful Techniques

Case study — boosting SEO with NLP

At InBound Blogging, we use NeuronWriter to assist us with our content optimization through the power of NLP. It’s as simple as creating a new project and typing in your primary keyword. Once you’ve done this, you can select a list of top-ranking competitors whose keywords will be extracted and which you can use in your article.

There are options to optimize your meta title and description, either manually or through the help of AI magic. Once you’ve taken these steps, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can paste in your blog article. You’ll get a numerical score for your article’s current performance.

You’ll also see which keywords you should include naturally in your text so that you boost your score, outperforming the highest-performing article for this keyword. By using NeuronWriter, we managed to drive organic traffic up to 49,000 in the space of just six months, while incorporating 1,623 keywords.

Another article that performed well during the same period saw traffic of 16,020 with 8,082 keywords.

Future trends in NLP-powered content optimization

A few trends that I foresee taking center stage with NLP in the near future must be mentioned, too. Among the prominent ones that will make a splash in the world of SEO are:

• Optimization for mobile searches

• Catering to voice search queries which usually use long-tail keywords

• Using generative AI

• Data and insight-driven strategies

• Hyper-personalized content

Ultimately, if you’re in SEO, you constantly need to stay ahead of the curve with NLP adoption and refinement.

If you haven’t tried using NLP-driven tools and techniques to optimize your content, I strongly encourage you to do so. NLP is powerful, and as Google’s algorithms get smarter and more effective at understanding the nuances of human language, you’ll need to stay at the very top of your SEO and content game to make a mark in the industry.

When the beer brand Modelo launched its “Mark of a Fighter” marketing campaign in March of 2023, it was not only an intriguing concept that appealed to the underdogs of America, but it was also an indicator that this beer brand had a fierce and competitive spirit — something sorely needed if you’re going to take on Anheuser-Busch, the brewer behind Bud Light and “the King of Beers,” Budweiser.

In fact, Bud Light reigned as America’s No. 1 beer for more than two decades (since 2001). It seemed that Bud Light was as American as the Fourth of July. Meanwhile, Modelo wasn’t even on a top-10 beer a decade ago, according to reports.

But Modelo fought its way to the very top and is now the most popular beer in the country.

You might be even more surprised by Modelo’s secret weapon: marketing. Here are three lessons we can all learn from Modelo’s marketing strategy that will help you reach the number-one spot on your industry’s list, too.

Related: 5 Marketing Strategies From Major Brands: What You Can Learn From Their Mistakes and Successes

Lesson 1: Spend crazy amounts on your marketing — far more than your competition.

If Modelo was “brewed with a fighting spirit,” it definitely shows. They fought so hard to get to the top that they spent crazy amounts of money on advertising. In fact, they have had the biggest TV advertising bill since the second quarter of 2020, research shows.

Last year, Modelo spent $155 million on TV commercials, and they say they plan to spend even more in 2024. As of July, they have invested $65 million in TV ads — that’s about 75% more than Bud Light has spent this year, and 35% more than Michelob Ultra, which just dethroned Bud Light in July as America’s second favorite beer.

You might notice a trend here: The more you spend, the more business you generate.

This is actually my most effective — and most hated — piece of marketing advice for business owners: Spend more on your marketing than you think is rational or sane. This is the hardest thing for me to get across to my clients.

Here’s a story that sums up what I mean: I have a very successful friend. In his whole career, he’s never needed marketing because he’s a money manager and that’s growth through word of mouth in his circles. He recently decided to try his hand at real estate development and built eight gorgeous townhomes in Hiawassee, GA, right on the water, and he got himself a realtor. Simple real estate investment, right?

Unfortunately, no! None of his townhomes have sold yet, and only one is in contract. He honestly thought, “If I build them, they will come.” But it doesn’t work that way! He finally realized he has to market these homes, and he’s about to do a large integrated campaign with direct mail and online ads.

The point is this: A very smart, very successful man had no clue! He wanted to do a tiny little campaign, and I had to really spend time educating him on this principle — you have to market more than you think is sane or rational!

This applies to all types of businesses, but here are three great examples of companies that grew from increasing their marketing budgets:

• American manufacturer Proctor & Gamble’s marketing budget of 9.84% revenue led to 5.9% revenue growth in fiscal year 2023

• SaaS company Atlassian’s marketing budget of 15-16% of revenue led to 26% revenue growth in fiscal year 2023

• Another SaaS company Asana’s marketing budget of 78.3% of revenue led to 45% year-over-year revenue growth in 2023

Related: The Growth Hack My Clients Hate the Most Is the One That Promises the Biggest Financial Rewards — Here’s What You Should Know

Lesson 2: Defy trendy and popular marketing tactics to truly dominate

Fighting off competitors isn’t always a frontline battle. Sometimes a smarter approach will help you win. It may feel counterintuitive, but it’s the hidden spaces that can help you get ahead, kind of like taking a shortcut to the front that no one else is paying attention to.

For example, between 2019 and 2023, total linear TV ad spend declined 20%, falling more than $183 million. Going with the flow, competitors Budweiser and Bud Light pulled back on their TV budgets. Research shows that, between 2018 and 2023, Budweiser reduced their TV ad spend by 77%, and Bud Light reduced theirs by 38%. Meanwhile, Modelo continued to outspend them — by a lot.

Despite linear TV’s waning popularity, Modelo heavily invested, and this helped them take over this area of advertising when other brands like Bud Light were spending more on social media and influencers.

Similarly, my company PostcardMania has taken a lesser-traveled path. Direct mail, once the most common form of advertising, has also declined. Marketing mail decreased by 26% between 2014 to 2023.

But not us — we’ve increased and now mail 232,000 postcards every single week advertising our own services.

Postcard marketing takes up the largest majority of our budget, and it pays off. As of 2023, mail delivers six times more revenue per lead than digital ads. We figured this out by analyzing 114,373 leads that converted to sales in 2023 and found that we made $229.41 for every postcard lead versus $37.09 for every pay-per-click lead.

Meanwhile, digital and social media remains a trendy space for ad dollars as spending on digital platforms like Meta and TikTok continues to rise steadily. In fact: More than half of U.S. advertising dollars are set to be spent on digital platforms such as Google and Facebook for the first time ever, reports show.

So, would you rather be a big fish in a smaller pond, or fight for space in an overcrowded ocean? I know which one I would pick.

Related: Don’t Copy. Be Different. And Your Marketing Will Win.

Lesson 3: Fine-tune your strategy by tracking your marketing

Failure is often the best teacher, and it can set us up for success in the future. By tracking all of your marketing, you can see which avenues are lacking and which ones are succeeding. Just like a boxer in a ring, you can use hard blows as a learning experience and come back stronger and harder.

In Modelo’s case, they noticed traditional TV advertising was working for them and kept investing in it. Of course, don’t throw all of your money into one tactic; diversify your marketing budget as well. But let the data determine the percentage of money going into one particular marketing form or another. We do spend a pretty penny on digital ads as well!

One of my clients, a dentist in Charlotte, NC, at one point, equated spending money on direct mail to a “money pit.” But his marketing manager insisted on a direct mail campaign, and once his practice started seeing an 87.5% increase in new patients thanks to those postcards, he had to admit he had been wrong — and his practice was all the better for it!

And of course, never give up the fight. The hard times and the losses I’ve experienced only fueled my fire even more to succeed. Let it do the same for you!

Last week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees that they would have to return to in-person work, five days a week, by January 2. Now, a new survey of 2,585 Amazon employees by Blind found that 91% are “dissatisfied” with the new return-to-office mandate.

Are they dissatisfied enough to take action, though? Nearly three out of four (73%) say yes — and are already considering looking for other jobs.

Related: I Work at Amazon and I Plan on ‘Coffee Badging’ Instead of Working From the Office 5 Days a Week

In the memo, Jassy noted that “strengthening our culture remains a top priority” and that he “[thinks] about it all the time.”

“Teams tend to be better connected to one another,” Jassy added.

Blind’s survey, however, found that the new RTO policy is having the opposite effect. A majority of corporate Amazon employees reported not wanting to return to the office five days a week and about 80% already knew people looking for other jobs.

“My morale for this job is gone, gonna totally check out till PIP,” a verified Amazon professional wrote on Blind.

Related: Amazon CEO Mandates Employees Work in the Office 5 Days Per Week Starting January

According to the report, Amazon hiring managers anonymously also said candidates are dropping out of job interviews in response to the new mandate.

“RTO blanket policy is crazy, particularly for those of us who were hired remotely and far from an office. I have kids and family here so unwilling to relocate,” a verified Amazon professional who identifies as a parent said. “Even if I didn’t there’s too great a risk I’d be laid off in 6 months anyway so why risk a move?”

Amazon has not yet commented on the Blind report. The survey was conducted from Sept. 17 to 19, 2024, and focused on U.S. verified employees.

For the full report, click here.

Kevin O’Leary once had a photography lab in his basement.

As a teenager, he did all he could to follow his dreams of becoming a photographer. There was one issue — his father didn’t approve.

“He said you’re not good enough and you’ll starve to death,” O’Leary said in a video posted to X. “He said you should go to college and get a degree and I went on to do an MBA which ended up being a very important tool for me later.”

Related: Kevin O’Leary Says This Is the One Skill He Looks For in a Leader — But It’s ‘Almost Impossible to Find’

O’Leary has previously explained why he thinks an MBA, which can cost $231,420 on average for a top 10 program in the U.S., was worth it.

In a 2021 Facebook post, he wrote that the degree gave him “a head start” and taught him “discipline,” turning him from a 20-something with poor study habits to someone who knew how to make money, defend his ideas, and focus on his strengths.

O’Leary graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1980, which now costs $83,250 per year for domestic students.

Photography still played a key role in his life: After graduating, the first company he started, Special Event Television, was a production company focused on sports entertainment.

Related: Kevin O’Leary Is Launching a New Agency With the Founder of Shazam

“It was my attempt to get back to the thing I loved, which was photography and production, and make money doing it,” O’Leary said in the X video. “There was that science and that art coming together in my life.”

When I first wanted to be a photographer, My dad told me I wasn’t good enough—I’d starve. So, I got an MBA and ended up building and selling a company for $4.2 billion. It all came together—business, creativity, and the drive to win. I wouldn’t change a thing. pic.twitter.com/Xv8ttJFk2V

— Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) September 17, 2024

O’Leary sold the company and then used the proceeds to start SoftKey, which sold education and entertainment software, in 1986. He and his two business partners sold SoftKey to Mattel in 1999 for $4.2 billion.

Looking back, he has no regrets.

“All of that stuff made me what I am today, the good, the bad, and the ugly,” O’Leary said in the video. “And I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Related: Kevin O’Leary Says ‘Right to Disconnect’ Laws Are ‘Crazy’

Real estate prices have been soaring, making it challenging for many people to afford homes. However, the push for affordable housing has been gaining traction. More and more stakeholders believe that addressing the affordable housing crisis could not only meet urgent societal needs but also propel the growth of the real estate sector.

Affordable housing can attract a large pool of buyers, stimulate construction activities and create job opportunities — all of which contribute to the growth of the real estate market.

Additionally, more and more organizations and thought leaders affirm that housing is a basic human right, akin to clean water and food.

The demand for affordable housing drives not just social impact but also yields substantial investment opportunities. Experts believe with conviction that investing in affordable housing offers attractive financial returns, supported by stable cash flows, tax incentives and reduced vacancy rates.

Related: Property Tech Is Creating An Incredible Real Estate Opportunity for Entrepreneurs

PropTech — conduit for community and collaboration

Needs arise, and people increasingly require communities where they can collaborate seamlessly. This is where PropTech steps in. By integrating technology with real estate, PropTech companies enable easy access to community facilities, making neighborhood collaborations simpler and more inclusive.

Space for new entrepreneurs:

The field of PropTech is expansive and constantly evolving. While many businesses are already making significant headway in this space, there remains ample room for new entrepreneurs to bring unique value propositions.

PropTech is poised for a transformative evolution. Emerging trends like artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) are continuing to shape this field. As these technologies mature, they will offer unprecedented opportunities for innovation within the real estate sector.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI can optimize property management and enhance customer experiences through predictive analytics and chatbots. Entrepreneurs can develop AI-driven platforms that help property managers anticipate maintenance needs, streamline tenant communications and even predict market trends.

Virtual Reality (VR): VR offers immersive property tours, which are crucial in today’s digital-first world. Entrepreneurs can leverage VR to provide potential buyers or renters with a virtual walkthrough of properties, making it easier to make informed decisions without visiting multiple locations physically.

Blockchain: Blockchain technology ensures transparency and security in real estate transactions. Entrepreneurs can capitalize on blockchain to develop smart contracts that simplify property sales and lease agreements as well as reduce fraud.

Internet of Things (IoT): IoT devices can enhance property management by automating lighting, heating and security systems. Entrepreneurs can create smart home solutions that offer residents convenience and security while providing property managers with valuable data to improve operational efficiency.

Related: How This New and Innovative Technology Is Disrupting the Real Estate Industry

Strategic entry points for entrepreneurs

Affordable housing solutions: With the call for affordable housing growing louder, entrepreneurs can focus on developing cost-effective construction technologies and materials. Solutions that reduce construction time and cost can make affordable housing projects more viable.

Sustainable living: The push for eco-friendly living solutions is stronger than ever. Entrepreneurs can invest in sustainable property technologies — solar power systems, rainwater harvesting solutions and green building materials — that not only reduce operational costs but also appeal to an environmentally conscious market.

Community-centric platforms: Platforms that facilitate community engagement and collaboration are increasingly in demand. Entrepreneurs can develop apps or platforms that allow residents to connect with local services, organize community events or even share resources.

Data analytics and marketplaces: Data is the new oil in real estate. Entrepreneurs can create data analytics platforms that offer insights into property values, market trends and investment opportunities. Similarly, online marketplaces that connect buyers, sellers and renters can streamline transactions and enhance market liquidity.

Capitalizing on PropTech — practical steps

1. Identify market gaps: Start by identifying unmet needs in the real estate market. Conduct thorough market research to understand existing solutions, and pinpoint gaps where your innovative idea could thrive.

2. Build a robust business model: Develop a business model that outlines your value proposition, revenue streams and growth strategy. Ensure that your model is scalable and adaptable to changing market dynamics.

3. Leverage technology: Embrace cutting-edge technologies to differentiate your solution. Collaborate with tech experts to ensure your platform or product is user-friendly, secure and efficient.

4. Engage with stakeholders: Build relationships with key stakeholders in the real estate industry, including property developers, investors and community leaders. Their insights and support can be invaluable in refining your product and scaling your business.

5. Secure funding: Funding is crucial for turning your PropTech idea into reality. Explore various funding options, including venture capital, angel investors and government grants. Present a compelling case for your business’s potential impact and profitability.

Related: Future of Proptech: The Next Billion-dollar Opportunities

The future of PropTech is bright, filled with opportunities for entrepreneurs to innovate and thrive. By focusing on affordability, sustainability, community engagement and leveraging advanced technologies, you can carve out a lucrative niche in this dynamic industry.

As the real estate market continues to evolve, those who are willing to embrace change and drive innovation will find themselves at the forefront of this profitable sector. Stay tuned as we further explore practical strategies and inspirational success stories within the PropTech arena.

Climate change is causing more frequent and intense extreme weather events, resulting in widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature, structures, people, and businesses alike. Risks of severe weather and the resulting economic impacts are making business leaders’ decisions about where they locate their business and its resources critical.

But what can entrepreneurs and other business leaders do? Thankfully, we have some answers. Join us for a free webinar, How Business Leaders Can Prepare for Climate Change Other Costly Risks, produced by Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Entrepreneur.

Moderator and Entrepreneur Expert-in-Residence Terry Rice will lead a lively discussion with Hilary Doe, the state of Michigan’s Chief Growth Officer. Doe will outline some of the biggest threats businesses face from climate change and other costly location-based risks, while offering tips, tools, strategies business leaders can take to help mitigate those risks.

Attendees of this webinar will:

• Understand how climate change affects business operations and the economic consequences it brings.
• Discover the key factors for assessing and managing risks at your business locations to minimize environmental and economic threats.
• Learn strategies to develop and implement plans that protect your business from climate-related disruptions.
• Explore how to collaborate with government and industry partners to access resources and funding that help reduce climate risks.
• Recognize the importance of purpose-driven work in attracting and retaining younger talent.

Join us for the How Business Leaders Can Prepare for Climate Change Other Costly Risks webinar, which will take place live on Wednesday, October 16 at 3:30 p.m. ET | 12:30 p.m. PT.

In this episode of Reclaim + Advance, we’ll hear from Jess Ekstrom. Jess is the founder of Headbands of Hope and Mic Drop Workshop. She also invests in women-owned businesses, is a two-time bestselling author, a top-rated speaker, and a new mom. Jess and her companies have been featured on Today, Good Morning America, 17 magazine, Vanity Fair, Forbes, People, and more importantly, they’ve helped millions of women and girls around the world.

For years Jess Ekstrom avoided speaking about a formative event in her family life — her family getting swindled out of money by her uncle, Bernie Madoff. But on the show, she explains what spurred her to start speaking about formative challenges, and how true optimism isn’t naive.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How Jess turned a family scandal into fuel for her entrepreneurial journey.
• The shocking pay gap revelation that inspired Jess to champion women speakers.
• Why simplifying complex ideas is key to connecting with your audience.
• How embracing vulnerability can amplify your impact as a speaker and leader.

I’ll share a few of my favorite quotes from my conversation with Jess below:

On Authentic Expertise:

“A lot of [the] time, the thing that you teach to others is the thing that didn’t come naturally to you. It’s the thing that you had to will yourself to learn and to practice.”

The Power of Simplicity:

“I like to simplify the complex for people. We make things too complicated, whether that be entrepreneurship or speaking or writing. I like to make things feel attainable to someone.”

Embracing Struggle in Storytelling:

“No one wants to learn from someone who’s just naturally good at something. Sometimes the greatest lessons that you have to share with others come from your worst moments.”

Click here to listen on your platform of choice, or tune in below.