Startup National Championship In Lithuania

Teams - winners of the Startup National Championship In Lithuania

First place SIFE
"Organic planting cups"
Vytenis Jurgelionis, 9 years old
Curator: Marina Kiriuchina

Second place SIFE
"Sorting waste box"
Monika Kregzdaite, 13 years old
Curator: Marina Kiriuchina

Third place SIFE
"QR codes"
Kipras Simkevicius, 11 years old, Adomas Vaitkevicius, 11 years old, Ugnius Paukste, 11 years old
Curator: Marina Kiriuchina

The question we should ask kids instead of “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“Congratulations! The job you wanted to have when you were five [years old] is now yours. What do you do now for a living?”

This prompt from music publicist and radio host Eric Alper prompted a lively discussion on Twitter back in January, as social-media users chimed in to share their youthful dreams. Some had successfully realized their aspirations of becoming a teacher or paleontologist or, in the case of singer Donny Osmond, the goal of becoming none other than … singer Donny Osmond. Others had veered from their original visions of finding gainful employment as ballerinas or astronauts or hairdressers. A not-insignificant number of people had planned on metamorphosing into birds or cats or dogs, a worthy ambition indeed.

The point of the prompt, insofar as any Twitter prompt has a point, was to get people to ponder whether, and how, their dreams had changed as they grew up. But according to organizational psychologist and Wharton management professor Adam Grant, we really shouldn’t be asking kids what they want to be when they grow up in the first place.

In a recent essay for the New York Times, Grant suggests the mere question is problematic in at least three ways. First, he notes, “it forces kids to define themselves in terms of work.” There are big dangers to identifying too closely with your job, from the risk of burnout to losing your sense of purpose when layoffs or changing industries take your job away, as anyone who’s ever dealt with depression that often accompanies unemployment can attest.

The second problem with asking kids what they want to be when they grow up, according to Grant, is that it reifies the idea that we all should have one true passion in life. In fact, there are plenty of people who aren’t particularly drawn to one career, but wind up leading perfectly happy (and varied) lives anyway. And lastly, as Grant notes, “careers rarely live up to your childhood dreams.” There’s no point in urging kids to focus their energy on how amazing and fulfilling it would be to become a veterinarian or a pediatrician, only to have them encounter crushing disappointment when it turns out they feel faint around the sight of blood.

So what’s a better way to get kids thinking about the kinds of lives they want to lead? Quartz at Work editor Heather Landy says that her sister, a former elementary-school teacher who now works in administration, recommends a simple alternative question: “What problems do you want to solve?”

This question sets kids up to have a far more open-ended—and ultimately more exciting—discussion about what their values are, and the many ways in which they might someday try to bring positive change to the world, whether through a traditional job, volunteer work, art, homemaking, and beyond.

Case in point, Landy recalls how her own daughter, Izzy, responded to the two variations on the question. Asked by her mom what she wanted to be when she grew up, Izzy, nine years old at the time, shrugged and said she didn’t know. But asked by her aunt what problem she wanted to solve someday, an answer came immediately: climate change. “And then,” Landy says, “we talked about all the ways she could do that, as a scientist, a lawyer, or a journalist.”

It’s a smart way to get kids’ imaginations churning—and a helpful question for adults who are pondering a career change, too.

A source

5 Startup Branding Trends to Watch for in 2019

When it comes to starting a new business, all entrepreneurs want to be ahead of the game and up to date on the latest trends. Still, it can be hard to predict what is changing in the complex and intricate world of branding.

Illustrating, for engagement

Brands are constantly searching for new ways to engage audiences, and many of them are discovering that art and illustration is a good way to go about this.

Jennifer Hom, an illustrator working for Airbnb, noted that brands are realizing the power of illustration. “Companies are starting to understand its value -- that the images can inform and delight their audience,” Hom wrote in a recent case study.

More and more businesses are incorporating art and artists into their branding arcs. With Google incorporating art and illustration into its own onboarding processes and Facebook adding illustrations to its branding, companies are using art to connect to audiences, to become more personable, and easier to connect with.

Whether it is the use of animation in marketing videos, partnerships with artists for new product lines or illustrations for websites, art has emerged as a popular way to engage audiences. In 2019, in fact, it's a branding trend precisely because of its ability to humanize and differentiate brands while deepening consumers' brand connections and maybe their brand loyalty, too.

Incorporating minimalism to the max

Connected to the art trend is the minimalist trend; in fact, we've seen a sharp uptick in minimalist branding, and it seems likely to stay a while. With Marie Kondo’s hit books (and her Netflix show, Tidying Up), brands are going to start asking themselves, “Does it spark joy?” just the way Kondo counsels her clients to do before they throw something out, as they rid their homes of clutter.

Minimalism makes sense because it's visually appealing. It may especially be helpful in the case of B2B companies simplifying processes through tools like Intercom and Salesforce.

Back-to-basics minimalism is also resonating with customer-facing businesses like Brandless, which focuses on being straightforward and essential.Minimalism is essentially a bare-bones, pared-down approach that applies clean colors, simple graphics and easy-to-understand processes and interfaces.

Reflecting millennials' influence

Millennials are gaining buying power, and more decision-making power because, well, they’re now adults with jobs and incomes. Because of this, we are continually seeing branding trends shift to up their appeal to millennial tastes.

While proclamations are subsiding about "the latest industry the millennials have killed," it is true that this age cohort holds sway over the future of many industries.

Another thing to remember about millennials is that they are known to be more politically driven than baby boomers, and that they shop with brands that appeal to their moral standards. As such, brands are catching on to this trend and marketing themselves towards young people's changing perceptions.

In this light, we recently saw Gillette reap mixed responses from its user base for its ad critiquing toxic masculinity. While some customers balked at the ad and called it accusatory, others praised the shaving company for its bold, progressive stance.

Regardless of the various opinions the ad prompted, it did make Gillette relevant again, something the company direly needed, what with smaller competitors like Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s positioning themselves to become industry pillars.

The Gillette ad was a good example of a brand trying to appeal to younger age groups. Gillette has faced millennial criticism for its pricing disparity between male- and female-use razors. So, the ad campaign apparently aimed to overwrite the bad rap Gillette had gotten.

On the other hand, Abercrombie & Fitch took a hit from millennials for not being inclusive enough back in 2013. Alleged discriminatory hiring and branding made the company fall out of ideological favor that year.

Planet Fitness, meanwhile, is a gym that appeals to millennial values by fronting affordability and its policy of being a judgment-free zone. As such, the franchise chain has seen rapid growth and success.

Many brands are similarly trying to make the shift from baby boomer-focused brands to millennial-forward ones. As the latter group continues to gain more and more buying power, its members are controlling more branding trends, leading to an increasingly political slant in brand campaigns (witness the "girl power" themes of this year's Super Bowl ads).

All of this, of course, is also a run-up to Generation Z’s introduction as a moving force of consumer sway. In 2019, look to see more talk about Generation Z. Its young members are graduating and entering the workforce, meaning that their buying power is now going to hold more sway.

Gen Z, in fact, is turning up the dial on millennial buying habits. Gen-Zers have an even shorter attention span and greater unrest when it comes to social issues.

Using social issues to connect to younger age cohorts has become a popular branding strategy; after all, brands should always try to resonate with their audiences.

Getting more personal, not corporate

"Personal" is hot: Having named over 20,000 companies, we have noticed a lot of first name businesses like Oscar and Edgar. This is a micro-trend meant to attract millennials and gen-Z-ers, who tend to distrust corporations. They like to engage with people they know and trust.

We see many brands using real people in their branding, but what if the company could be the person? That comes across as young, edgy and cool.

Still, you shouldn't just jump on this just because it’s cool. A name can align your business with audience values the way Greenpeace does, or set you apart from the competition as a fresh, innovative company the way Apple did. So, choose your name carefully -- it can set up a solid brand foundation and concretely boost your business.

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Infographic: How to Look and Sound More Confident

Confidence is an integral part of success. Of course, there’s a difference between confidence and ego, and it’s important you don’t develop the latter.






A source

TED: Jason Shen - Looking for a Job? Highlight Your Ability, Not Your Experience

College majors might be on the way out -- at least when it comes to hiring, according to TED resident Jason Shen.

Shen studied biology in college but, after being rejected by Google and other companies, went on to land a job as product manager at Etsy. What convinced the company to hire him? He showcased his ability rather than his experience: he read the company’s IPO filings in their entirety, built a website analyzing the company’s business model and suggested four ideas for new features.



"At this rate, we should all be expecting to do jobs we’ve never done before for the rest of our careers," says Shen, who adds that hiring managers should expand their searches beyond traditional candidates and look in unlikely places. If you’re pursuing a new opportunity, Shen recommends seeking out ways to showcase your unique skills outside the traditional resume and cover letter - even if that’s not part of the application or interview.

The 5 Mental Traps Every Founder Falls Into And How To Avoid Them

 

1. Saying, "I’ll just do it" if you see a teammate moving too slowly and you feel like you can do the work faster yourself.

This is the mistake I find myself making most often.

It’s especially prevalent among founders of early-stage startups, in those situations when you’ve hired a new team member to take over some part of your job for you. The truth is, a new hire will need time to ramp up, to learn the job — and of course, during that learning period, they won’t be able to complete the tasks you used to do as fast as you can.



But that doesn’t matter. Taking over their workload is the opposite of what you want to do, because it will prevent them from ever being able to run their domain autonomously. That will, in turn, prevent you from ever being able to scale your company.

And it’ll have other side effects, too. Stepping on your new teammate’s toes damages their morale — especially if they’re already suffering from a bit of Imposter Syndrome. And it wastes money in opportunity cost, mostly in the long run.

Let your new hires struggle so they grow - at least for the first few weeks.

2. Measuring hours, not progress

In the startup world, it’s annoyingly common to overhear people bragging about how often they get to the office early or stay there late.

That literally means nothing.

Unlike in Corporate America, that facetime doesn’t matter here. All that matters is progress.

Here’s what I’ve learned: I would rather have my team sleep later and leave earlier if that means they are sharper and more productive when they’re in the office. What matters are deliverables. To measure someone’s contribution to a growing company or cause, you need only look at things like:

• What they accomplish

• If they hit roadmap goals or deadlines

• If they’re a reliable and respected team member

Of course, founders often behave in ways which prop up this fallacy, too. I try and avoid doing that by creating daily checklists for myself, and measuring my day in accordance with what manageable tasks I’ve accomplished or made progress on during the day.

Ultimately, being goal-oriented — as opposed to hours-oriented — is how you align conceptions of “productivity” with success, for both yourself and your team.

 

3. Feeling like you can’t take a break

Many founders routinely push themselves to the point of exhaustion in running their company — mentally sprinting 18 straight hours a day, never allowing themselves to stop, sleep, or take a vacation. They feel it’s what they need to do. I’ve even seen founders post about their “work ethic” on Instagram or Twitter as a way to get some social validation that what they are doing is “extra-ordinary”. Nothing gives you motivation these days like that late night “like” or “retweet.”

But in reality, that’s unproductive. Burning yourself out makes you less effective. The startup life is a marathon — not a sprint. And despite some of the very strange and very brilliant people you’ll meet along the way, we aren’t all robots (or cyborgs)…yet.

If you find yourself constantly inundated with tasks or action items that seem to force you to work without ever taking a break, take a step back and reflect. Often, you’ll find that you’re taking longer than you likely need completing certain tasks because you are:

• Distracted (not all emails need to be answered right away)

• Mismanaging your time

• Not giving yourself enough “deep work” time

It’s about being purposeful. The old adage really does ring true: work smarter, not harder.

That also means allowing yourself to take breaks.

 

4. Trying to be the "cool boss"

There’s a fine line between being the “boss” and being a friend. When you’re running an early-stage startup — beholden to your team, investors, and to yourself — it’s always better to be the former.

It’s good to be friendly, but feigning honesty will have drastic consequences, both personally and company-wide. Among other things, it will:

• Promote an overtly political company atmosphere in which your team is competing not to be productive or valuable, but to be a member of some founder “inner circle.”

• Eat away at you personally, since the problems you fail to call out are never being remedied. This will eventually cause you to resent that person to the point of wanting to fire them.

• Cripple your product, since the feedback loop is broken.

• Prevent your company culture from growing into one of honesty, transparency and constant feedback, which is what you need.

When you need to have hard conversations, just rip the band-aid off. Be direct and say what you need to say. It’s the only way things will improve. And, truly, as long as you remain professional with your feedback, nobody will fault you.

The truth is, your team will — and should — fault you if you’re not doing your job.

 

5. Thinking you need to tell everybody things are going great all the time

Founders might be more guilty of this mental trap than any of the others. Talk to a friend or colleague who’s starting a company right now, and ask them how it’s going. 99% of the time, you’ll hear: “It’s going great.”

Not only is this often dishonest, but it has other unforeseen consequences, too. It can:

• Piss people off, since most of the time it comes off as disingenuous or as you stroking your own ego.

• Preclude you from receiving what might be very valuable advice or help, since those who could give it to you won’t think you need it.

• Decrease your credibility — especially after people find out things actually aren’t going great, even though you told them the opposite just a short while ago.

Personally, I push myself — at this stage in my career — to be completely honest when answering this question. “You know what? Shit’s hard right now.” Saying that to people at the very least is honest, and better yet, might help me form bonds with others who’ve gone through the same struggle.

At the end of the day, everyone involved in the startup grind makes mistakes. That’s to be expected. What’s important is that you don’t make the mistakes you can avoid.

That starts with avoiding these mental traps.

Origin

MiniBoss Franchisee Summit Takes Place in Dubai

The summit of leaders of business education MiniBoss Global takes place in Dubai. Franchisees and trainers from UAE, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine take part in it.







Franchisees will get all the necessary materials to introduce a new education in their countries. Teachers in practice train skills of innovative MiniBoss methods. Training takes place in an interactive format.











After training, franchisee will receive certificates and open branches of a business school in their countries. Now there is a lot of work ahead.

5 Benefits of Teaching Young Children About Entrepreneurship

Think for a moment how much you would have benefited from being exposed to entrepreneurship at a younger age. If you actually were exposed to it, think about how much it has shaped your life. There can be tremendous value in being involved in entrepreneurial activities during your formative years, so you’d be doing your children a favor to bring them in. Here are a few potential benefits they could garner from the experience.

 1. A better work ethic

It should come as no surprise that young children develop a better work ethic when they’re surrounded by entrepreneurship. This happens in two ways. First, they experience business operations first hand. Whether they’re filing papers and stuffing envelopes or cutting grass and pressure-washing driveways, you quickly understand the value of hard work if you’re thrown into the middle of it.

Second, and perhaps more important, children develop a positive work ethic when they’re exposed to yours. There’s something powerful about seeing a parent - the most influential person in your life - treat hard work as a normal state of affairs, and that’s seriously lacking in today’s culture.

2. Stronger appreciation for money

One of the biggest benefits of teaching your children about entrepreneurship is that you’re able to give them a stronger respect for money. Some children might believe you if you told them money grows on trees, but kids who are exposed to business operations know better.

“What helped me most is that I was always making my own money somehow, pretty much since I was 10,” says Fiona Kirkpatrick Parsons, a marketing professional who benefited from being exposed to entrepreneurship from a young age. “The message I received as a kid was, if you want something, you have to get busy and figure out how to do it for yourself. I never expected my parents to provide more than the basics, really. Learning self-reliance, trusting in your creativity and developing courage is a great gift.”

 

3. Creative thinking

Starting and expanding a business isn’t easy. Problems inevitably arise, and it’s up to you to fix them, and keep the firm moving in the right direction.

Instead of hiding challenges and even setbacks from your kids, you should expose them directly to what’s happening. Not only will their unique input help, but you’ll show them what it looks like to think creatively.

 

4. Improved people skills

Certain kids are outgoing and gregarious, but most young children tend to fall toward the shy end of the spectrum when faced with interacting with adults or people with whom they aren’t familiar.

The beauty of working in a small business is that you’re forced to interact with unfamiliar individuals on a daily basis. This will significantly foster a child’s people skills and, in most cases, turn him or her into a better salesperson down the road.

 

5. Better goal setting

The value of setting and achieving goals isn’t something that easily registers with many children. Kids are notorious for starting something and then moving on without finishing it. Somewhere between the excitement of embarking on an adventure and the pleasure of arriving at the finished product, the average child gets bored and loses his or her sense of purpose. Fortunately, research shows that regular conversation and interaction between parents and children actually helps to shape a child’s “academic socialization.”

As a result, they’re better able to draw connections between their current behaviors and future goals. So if you spend extra time with your children in an entrepreneurial setting, where goals are clear and courses of action are constantly being developed and pursued in order to reach those goals, you can accelerate the rate of academic socialization and give your child a head start.

The challenge many entrepreneurs encounter is finding age-appropriate ways to involve their children. Very young children obviously can’t be handed many complex and constructive tasks, but they can benefit from just being near you and feeling as if they’re involved.

As they get older, you can give them more responsibility and even begin to prepare them to enter the business -- if that’s something you and they desire. You don’t need some master plan, though. The best education you can provide your children simply entails exposing them to the duties you handle on a daily basis. This will provide them with life skills their peers won’t encounter for years to come.

Teach them about entrepreneurship, and they’ll make you proud.

Original

MINIBOSS ADMISSION STARTED IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

Knowledge Day MiniBoss in different countries

The new academic year started in the branches of the international network of the MiniBoss Business School.

Look how friends meet in different countries.
These are the first photos.
To be continued...

 

MiniBoss Odessa, Ukraine

MiniBoss Kiev, Ukraine

MiniBoss Chernivtsi, Ukraine

MiniBoss Lithuania: Vilnius, Klaipeda, Kaunas

MiniBoss Asia: Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia

Photo: Facebook MiniBoss Business School International