The Black Cloud: Tariffs

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After President Donald Trump made good on his threat to levy tariffs on Canada and Mexico, US stock whipsawed, paving the way for a global trade war as leaders of both trading partners threatened retaliation.

So I guess one would say it's time to buy the dips.  

According to CNN's Fear and Greed Index, “Extreme fear” was the sentiment driving markets on Tuesday (3/4/25) for the sixth day in a row. 

The Mother of all Mixups: The Global Oscars 2017

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In case you missed the global Oscar ceremony 2017, here's BBC's take on it and Time magazine's.

• Oscars error shouldn't overshadow a groundbreaking victory
• Oscars 2017 recap:  Surprise Mistake, Moonlight, La La Land
• Watch the best picture mixup on video

"Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty presented "La La Land" as the winner of the best picture award, and the celebration began on stage but was quickly ended when one of the "La La Land" winners pointed out that in fact "Moonlight" had won the award." Source: CNN

Why the Dollar Is a 98-lb. Weakling

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Spend some time in the hotels, restaurants and even newsstands of Western Europe these days, and as an American you understand pretty quickly that you're poorer than you once were. To be precise, you're 40% poorer--to go by the dollar-euro exchange rate--than you were six years ago.

Read more here.

Doing Business Across Time Zones

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Low-cost technologies help an entrepreneur run businesses on two continents - and still get some sleep.

When I tell friends that I run businesses in both the United Arab Emirates and California, they assume that I never sleep. But technology makes it easy to bridge the time zones.

I run two public relations agencies - an eight-year-old firm called NettResults based in Dubai and an offshoot with different clients, headquartered in Irvine, Calif. I also own a consulting business in Irvine that specializes in change management.

Interesting ... on NettResults, the only inkling of globalization shows up in the pictures, not the words. The entire site is in English.

Read the article here.

On The Rise: Small Businesses with BIG Innovations

I had the great honor to serve as a panelist at the "On the Rise Small Business Conference" on Thursday, November 9 at the Timer Warner Center in New York. The event was hosted by CNN and sponsored by UPS with topics ranging from how to market your business on the Web to global expansion. The purpose of the event was to recognize innovation in small business.

Ali Velshi, one of CNN's top business anchors and a seasoned business and financial news reporter, moderated the evening's discussion and did a fabulous job keeping it lively and on track . Velshi currently provides his signature report "Vested Interest" on American Morning and Prime News with Erica Hill.

Here are a couple of pictures from the event (courtesy of UPS and with permission to use):

Mary Wayman, Founder, Application2Graduation
(A2G) and Kurt Kuehn, Senior Vice President,
Worldwide Sales and Marketing, UPS.

Panel experts (L-R): Eileen O'Brien, Vice President, Small & Medium Business, Hewlett-Packard Company, Laurel Delaney, Founder and President, Global TradeSource, Ltd. (Globetrade.com), David Young, Founder & CEO, BMI Gaming, Rieva Lesonsky, Editorial Director, Entrepreneur Media Inc.,Kurt Kuehn, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing, UPS, Ali Velshi, CNN anchor and reporter and Helen Morley, Founder and CEO, Helen Morley Designs.

Kurt Kuehn (center), Senior Vice President, Worldwide

Sales and Marketing, UPS is surrounded by the proud winners.

The Alzheimer's Store winners Mark and Ellen Warner with

Kurt Kuehn (center), Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing, UPS

Money Savvy Generation winners Michael and Susan Beacham

with Kurt Kuehn (right), Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing, UPS

All the winners in a very happy pose!

Panelist's company websites:

Helen Morley's
Laurel Delaney's
David Young's
Eileen O'Brien's
Rieva Lesonsky's

Winner fact sheets, videos and websites:

1st place: Application 2 Graduation

2nd place: Money Savvy Generation

3rd place: The Alzheimer's Store

Read more about the 2006 contest here.

Read more about the 2006 winners here.

Read the press release here.

And one shameless plug for UPS that will enable you to take on the world.