millennial worker reading

For those who love reading, there are plenty of jobs that require a lot of research and writing.
Luckily, many of these positions are also high-paying — ranging from unsurprising jobs such as English professors to perhaps more unexpected careers, such as physicians.
Using data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), a US Department of Labor database, we looked at positions with a median annual salary of over $65,000 where reading comprehension is very important to the job.
Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

Are you a self-proclaimed bookworm? Can you read quickly and comprehend every sentence you consume?

Good news: your passion for books and excellent reading skills may help land you a lucrative job. Turns out there are a lot of high-paying professions out there that require strong reading comprehension skills.

Business Insider recently combed through the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), a US Department of Labor database that compiles detailed information on hundreds of jobs, and looked at salary data on the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' website to find positions with a median annual salary of over $65,000 where reading comprehension is very important to the job.

O*NET ranks how important "understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents" is in any job, assigning each a reading comprehension importance score between 1 and 100.

Here are 27 high-paying positions with a score of 80 or higher, in order of lowest to highest pay:

NOW READ: From secretaries to substitute teachers, these are the fastest-dying jobs in every US state

English language and literature professors

They research, analyze, interpret, and present the past by studying historical documents and sources.

Reading comprehension importance score: 94
Median salary: $78,150

Labor Relations Specialists

According to O*NET, labor relations specialists may have to "resolve disputes between workers and managers, negotiate collective bargaining agreements, or coordinate grievance procedures to handle employee complaints."

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $67,790

Social Work Teachers, Postsecondary

Social work professors instruct college students in the subject matter. Many also conduct research in addition to teaching classes.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $68,300

Epidemiologists

Epidemiologists study patterns and preventions of diseases.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $69,660

Climate Change Analysts

These analysts are charged with researching and analyzing policies and legislations, along with campaigning and fundraising relative to climate change.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $71,130

Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary

These professors instruct college students in philosophy and religion courses.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $71,890

Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary

According to O*NET, these instructors "teach courses pertaining to the culture and development of an area, an ethnic group, or any other group" in addition to researching.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $74,440

History Teachers, Postsecondary

These professors instruct college students in history courses.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $74,590

Logistics Engineers

According to O*NET, these engineers are charged with designing and analyzing operational solutions for projects ranging from transportation to shipment optimization.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $74,600

School Psychologists

School psychologists work in educational environments and help maintain student records as apart of their job. They also interpret test results and report pertinent information.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $76,990

Molecular and cellular biologists

Molecular and cellular biologists research and study cellular molecules and organelles to understand cell function and organization.

Reading comprehension importance score: 85
Median salary: $79,590

Geneticists

Geneticists research inherited traits (ranging from molecular to population level).

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $79,590

Financial Examiners

Financial examiners investigate institutions to ensure legal transactions.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $80,180

Intelligence Analysts

These analysts gather intelligence from sources such as law enforcement databases or surveillance.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $81,920

Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary

These professors instruct college students in anthropological and archeological studies.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $83,940

Environmental Engineers

According to O*Net, "Work may include waste treatment, site remediation, or pollution control technology." Additionally, research and designing fall under environmental engineering duties.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $87,620

Informatics Nurse Specialists

Informatics nurse specialists assist with the ongoing development of computerized health care systems." According to O*NET, "[Informatics nurse specialists] may educate staff and assist in problem-solving to promote the implementation of the health care system."

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $88,740

Education administrators (elementary and secondary school)

Education administrators plan, direct, or coordinate the academic or administrative activities of public or private elementary or secondary level schools.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $95,310

Industrial-Organizational Psychologists

According to O*NET, these psychologists "apply principles of psychology to human resources, administration, management, sales, and marketing problems." Additionally, they often help devise training programs.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $97,260

Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers

These positions deal with nearly all governmental matters, claims, settlements, and trial activities, along with researching and analyzing laws.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $99,850

Neuropsychologists and clinical neuropsychologists

Neuropsychologists apply theories and principles of neuropsychology to diagnose and treat disorders of higher cerebral functioning.

Reading comprehension importance score: 91
Median salary: $100,770

Law professors

Law professors teach courses in law and engage in research.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $111,140

Lawyers

Lawyers represent clients in criminal and civil litigation and other legal proceedings, draw up legal documents, or manage or advise clients on legal transactions. They may specialize in a single area or may practice broadly in many areas of law.

Reading comprehension importance score: 85
Median salary: $120,910

Preventive medicine physicians

These physicians apply knowledge of general preventive medicine and public health issues to promote health care to groups or individuals, and aid in the prevention or reduction of risk of disease, injury, disability, or death.

Reading comprehension importance score: 85
Median salary: $200,890

Allergists and immunologists

Allergists and immunologists diagnose, treat, and help prevent allergic diseases and disease processes affecting the immune system.

Reading comprehension importance score: 88
Median salary: $200,890

Sports medicine physicians

Sports medicine physicians diagnose, treat, and help prevent injuries that occur during sporting events, athletic training, and physical activities.

Reading comprehension importance score: 88
Median salary: $200,890

NOW READ:

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Urologists

These doctors treat patients with genitourinary system disorders.

Reading comprehension importance score: 81
Median salary: $200,890

Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio is the co-CIO and chairman of Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund.
He's a voracious reader, disclosing book recommendations for everyone from recent college graduates to people trying to understand the world.
Here's a list of the 15 books Dalio has recommended throughout the years.
Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The billionaire investor Ray Dalio is known for his "principles" on everything from power dynamics to running an office with radical transparency. He recently published a best-selling book, "Principles: Life and Work," which elaborates on what he's learned in a career that's now spanned more than 40 years.

Dalio draws inspiration from more than just his own ruminations. He's fond of reading and scouring through interviews — and even the pages of "Principles" yield a number of book recommendations from Dalio himself.

Whether you're a college student trying to figure out your next steps or an experienced investor looking for a career boost, you're sure to glean meaning from the following 15 book recommendations from Ray Dalio.

“The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” by Paul Kennedy

In a July 2019 interview with Business Insider, Dalio called this book the best thing he'd read in the past year. The book tracks the arc of world powers since 1500. Dalio is of the opinion that the US is in a position of decline while China is on the rise. He found this book the most interesting out of the many he read to understand where we are in history.

"That dynamic has happened many, many times in history," he said, "and understanding that well, I think is very important."

Find it here »

“The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell

Campbell melds psychology with mythology in this book that outlines the phases of a hero's journey.

Dalio's son Paul gave him this book in 2014, and he immediately identified with it. He used Campbell's roadmap of a hero's journey to understand where he is along that path, and what he should do next.

Dalio even writes in "Principles" that he gave this book to China's vice president Wang Qishan "because he is a classic hero."

Find it here »

"The Lessons of History” by Will and Ariel Durant

This is another book that Dalio gave Qishan, and he describes it in "Principles" as "a 104-page distillation of the major forces through history." The book was published in 1968 by a Pulitzer Prize-winning husband-and-wife duo that studied thousands of years of Western history.

This work tracks the cycles of history, and Dalio writes that it shows "how the same things happened over and over again throughout history."

Find it here »

“An Unquiet Mind” by Kay Redfield Jamison

Dalio's son Paul struggled to manage his bipolar disorder for three years, and his worried father soon realized it was no fault of Paul's: It was simply the way his brain chemistry worked. Dalio's experience taught him that many mental differences are physiological.

"The experience not only taught me a lot about how brains work but why creative genius often exists at the edge of insanity," Dalio writes in "Principles." He then lists creative, productive people who have bipolar disorder, including Kay Jamison, the author of this book.

Jamison "has written frankly about her own experiences with the disease in her book 'An Unquiet Mind,'" Dalio writes.

Find it here »

“River Out of Eden” by Richard Dawkins

Dalio gave Qishan this book as well. It describes how evolution works, and as Dalio told Tim Ferriss on an episode of Ferriss' podcast, he thinks evolution is "the greatest force in the universe."

"I think the purpose of everything is to evolve," he said. "I think individuals are just vessels for our DNA evolving."

Find it here »

“Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World” by Adam Grant

Adam Grant of the Wharton School has written extensively about Bridgewater, and the unique way Dalio runs it. Dalio writes that this was necessary because the way he operated "was so unusual." Grant was one of a number of behavioral psychologists who came to Bridgewater to evaluate their operational style.

Dalio urges people to read their evaluations, which he describes as "overwhelmingly favorable."

Find it here »

“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman

This New York Times best-seller was written by a Nobel Prize winner in economics, and is helpful in understanding the way people think. Kahneman draws upon psychological research to show when we can and can't trust intuition, and how we can make the best choices professionally and personally.

The book won the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Find it here »

“Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World” by the Dalai Lama

Dalio had a conversation with the Dalai Lama in which they discussed the overlap between spirituality and religion.

"His view was that prayer and meditation seemed to have similar effects on the brain in producing feelings of spirituality (the rising above oneself to feel a greater connection to the whole)," Dalio writes, "but that each religion adds its own different superstitions on top of that common feeling of spirituality."

Find it here »

“Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life” by Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt

This is the first book listed in Dalio's bibliography in "Principles" and in it, neurologists Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang outline the truth about our minds. They address common questions we've probably all thought of, like "Can a head injury make us forget our own names?" and dispel myths, like the idea that we only use 10% of our brains.

Find it here »

“Einstein's Mistakes: The Human Failings of Genius” by Hans C. Ohanian

Dalio read this book in 2011, and it offers an analysis of Albert Einstein's failures.

The pitfall with genius, according to Ohanian, is that people gifted with it naturally have a more difficult time believing or accepting that they're wrong. They become blind to their mistakes, and if they are stubborn, cling to a mistake forever without correcting it.

Find it here »

“Leadership the Outward Bound Way: Becoming a Better Leader in the Workplace, in the Wilderness, and in Your Community”

Dalio practiced different leadership strategies before choosing "radical transparency" for Bridgewater. This book communicates the leadership principles at Outward Bound USA to a larger audience through real-life events, case studies, and key principles current or future leaders can take away.

Find it here »

“My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey” by Jill Taylor

This New York Times best-seller was within the bibliography of "Principles" and with good reason: It describes how a brain scientist's stroke led to enlightenment. It took the author eight years to fully recover, but she considers the stroke a blessing.

Find it here »

“The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds” by Michael Lewis

Lewis delves into the partnership between Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, who were pioneers in the field of behavioral economics.

The friendship between Kahneman and Tversky revolutionized science, and Lewis explores it in this 369-page volume.

Find it here »

“Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith” by J. Anderson Thomson

This is another book referred to in Dalio's "Principles," and it aligns with his exploration of belief and its link to physiology. Thomson investigates belief as a natural effect of human physiology and presents the idea that gods were created by man.

Find it here »

“The Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class” by Edward Conard

Dalio has voiced his concern about the state of America, and said that inequality is an urgent problem. According to Dalio, inequality should be treated as a "national emergency," and this book explores the nuances of inequality as it relates to the middle class.

Find it here »

female bartender

Restaurants employ more minimum-wage workers than any other industry.
With the movement to increase wages across the country, economists worried the policies would kill jobs and raise prices.
So far, five cities that have raised wages had little change in employment after the policies went into effect.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The restaurant industry employs the greatest share of minimum-wage workers in America — meaning the "Fight for $15" impacts food service workers a great deal.

There were about 10.7 million Americans employed in the restaurant industry in May 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics program. Grocery stores employ the next highest number of low-wage workers at under 1 million.

The federal minimum wage is currently at $7.25, but some individual states and cities have enacted higher pay. As of this year, 29 states and two dozen major cities have minimum wages above $7.50, according to the Pew Research Center.

Many economists and restaurant owners worried a higher minimum wage would kill jobs and raise prices, but cities like New York and San Francisco haven't seen much impact yet. A new report from the New School recently found the restaurant industry had thrived in NYC years after passing higher wages.

Here's how increased minimum wages have impacted the restaurant industries of New York City, Seattle, the Bay Area, Chicago, and Washington DC.

New York City's restaurant industry outperformed the rest of the US in job growth and expansion since it began raising wages in 2013.

New York City voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 this year, which represented a pay increase in 20% to 28% for the area's restaurant workers. The pay hike had little impact on the city's restaurant growth, according to a recent report out of The New School.

While some restaurants told The Wall Street Journal they had to cut staff this year, James Parrott, a director of economic and fiscal policies at The New School and an author of the study, attributes this to the city's competitive food industry, as well as the rise of delivery apps.

"It seems disingenuous to attribute any change, any decline in employment of restaurants in Manhattan to the minimum wage because there are these other things going on at the same time," Parrott told Business Insider.

Seattle voted to raise minimum wages to $15 an hour back in 2015. The hike had little impact on restaurant closures, but led to higher prices and shorter workdays.

Vox reported that while many restaurant owners threatened to move shop after the $15 wage passed, few of them followed through on their threats. In fact, restaurant jobs in Seattle have been steadily rising since 2015, according to the Federal Reserve.

Yet businesses did raise prices and reduce employee work hours after the wage hike, Vox's Matthew Zeitlin reported. Even with the shorter workdays, some research indicated workers still saw their pay go up.

The rising minimum wage had little to no effect on the restaurant industry in the Bay Area.

The Bay Area has some of the highest minimum wages in the country (in part due to the area's high cost of living). San Francisco and San Jose currently have $15 minimum wages, and Oakland pays these workers $13.80.

While the impacts of the $15 is still yet to be understood, a 2018 study released by the University of California-Berkeley analyzed minimum wages in these cities in 2016, when they were all above $10.

The study could not find negative employment effects after minimum wages increased in the Bay Area's restaurant industry. The researchers separated restaurants into full-service and limited-service (or "fast-casual" Chipotle-style chains), and could not find significant employment effects on either type of eatery.

"Our findings suggest that the low-wage community as a whole clearly benefited from minimum wage policies in the $10 to $13 range, particularly if labor-labor substitution effects are minimal," Sylvia Allegretto, labor economist at University of California-Berkeley and lead author of the report, stated.

Washington, DC, voted to raise the minimum wage for restaurant workers, but city lawmakers stopped it from ever happening.

Despite the fact that DC voted to raise the minimum wage for tipped restaurant workers in June 2018, lawmakers repealed the referendum — called Initiative 77— in October of that year.

The initiative would have ensured restaurant workers get minimum wage regardless of how much they make in tips. Restaurants can pay tipped workers less than $14 if they make up for the difference. Labor groups say this policy still does not ensure workers make enough money.

National Restaurant Association and the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington opposed the wage increase, saying restaurants would lay off workers and raise prices to offset higher wages.

Economists at the liberal Economic Policy Institute say paying tipped workers the minimum wage increases earnings and reduces poverty among these employees. Since the law was never enacted, it's impossible to know how the increased wage would have impacted employment.

Five years ago, Chicago voted to raise minimum wages to $13 by 2019. After increasing wages from $10 to $10.50, the city saw little change in employment.

Earlier this year, Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill to increase the state's minimum wage to $15 by 2025. Back in 2014, the city of Chicago voted to raise the city's minimum wage to $13 by 2019.

Since the city government began raising pay for low-wage workers five years ago, there were no changes to employment or the growth of private businesses as of 2016, according to a report out of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.

While Chicago's wage hike boosted incomes for workers in transportation, maintenance, and administrative services, restaurant employees did not see higher annual incomes due to the policy.

"The Chicago Minimum Wage Ordinance has been associated with positive impacts on incomes with little to no effect on employment," the report stated. "Though the minimum wage should be expanded and enforcement should be improved, the minimum wage hikes – by raising standards in the local labor market – have been good for workers in the city."

Farnoosh Torabi is a financial expert, bestselling author, TV personality, and host of the So Money podcast.
She's interviewed over 600 celebrities, athletes, inventors, entrepreneurs, and millionaires on her podcast.
She's spoken with six of the country's top real estate experts, all of whom offered helpful tips for first-time buyers.
The right time to buy is when it's the right life stage for you. But if you are planning on making an offer, do it at the start of the week.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

By age 15, I'd probably been to more open houses than school field trips. My parents moved multiple times when I was growing up and always took me along the house hunting ride with Eileen, our esteemed realtor (and fancy lady) from Century 21.

That experience introduced me to the value of walk-in closets and eat-in kitchens and how to rough estimate the price of a home based on square footage and comparative sales in the neighborhood.

As I grew older, my interest (read: obsession) in real estate furthered. I bought my first home in my early 20s and subscribed to the weekend New York Times, mainly so I could receive the Real Estate section hot off the presses each Saturday morning.

It's no surprise then that when I began my personal finance podcast So Money, I invited a number of real estate pros onto the show to offer their insights. Over the years, their advice has helped listeners (and me) with real estate transactions and strategizing our next moves.

Here are some of the highlights from my guest conversations that I think are especially useful for first-time buyers.

1. Get your financial ‘passport’ in order

Kathy Braddock, a managing director at William Raveis NYC, urges all first-time buyers to have all their financial ducks in a row before making an offer. "Get your financial passport in order — talking to a bank, talking to a mortgage provider and really figuring out what you can afford," she says. "Be careful, because you have to take into account all of your lifestyle expenses."

Sometimes a bank will pre-qualify you for a mortgage that is more than you can afford, Braddock cautions. "If there's something special you're saving up for, you need to put those numbers into the equation because the bank or the mortgage company is not going to do that. And you never want to end up being 'house poor,' where you don't have enough money left over to do the things that kind of make your life more interesting or that are special for you."

2.. Focus on your life stage

When is the best time to buy? For home buyers who are looking to settle down in a particular region or area, a recent guest explained that it has less to do with season or whether it's a "buyer's market" and more about your current life stage, what you can afford, and your needs.

"I work in strategy for a real estate company and swim every day in the data of what's going on in the real estate market across the country with mortgage rates and inventory and home prices. My advice to homebuyers is to ignore all of that," says Eric Chesin, Head of Strategy for Realogy, which owns big real estate brands such as Century 21, Coldwell Banker, and Sotheby's International Realty, among others.

I recently partnered with the company in its announcement of a new home buying program in collaboration with Amazon called TurnKey. It matches home buyers with top agents who are affiliated with one of Realogy's trusted real estate brands and upon closing on their home, Amazon delivers a complimentary Amazon Move-In Benefit, which includes $1,000 to $5,000 of Amazon Home Services and fully-installed smart home products.

Adds Chesin, "No matter what economist's advice you get, there's no macro answer that will tell you the right answer [of when to buy] locally. And, I just think that, personally, you don't time life choices by trying to time the market, whether it's real estate, stocks or anything else. The best thing you can do as a homebuyer is to get the support and advice of a really great real estate agent that knows your local market and can understand what's right for you."

3. Follow job growth

If you are interested in a home in the next "hot" part of the country, keep your eyes peeled to job market news, says Tami Halton Pardee, CEO and founder of Los Angeles' #1 real estate company. She's sold over $3 billion worth of real estate in her career.

An uptick in employment is a sign of vitality and an increasing population in the area, which tends to fuel the real estate market and long-term price growth. Many cities in Texas, including San Antonio-New Braunfels and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are among the fastest-growing in the country on this list.

"I try to read everything to see what companies are moving in. If there's any big tech companies moving in [to the town or city]. I just do a ton of research. I read, read, read, read, read, and see what companies are going in, because the jobs are going to bring in the people, right? I think it's important to have a leg up on that."

4. Target the sweet spot

Location can be, as we just read, very important to a home's value, but Sidney Torres, a real estate entrepreneur and host of CNBC's The Deed, says buyers are best off targeting areas that are a few miles away from the nicest section of town.

"Sometimes to get a better deal, you want to go a little bit further away from the super nice neighborhood. You've got the hot spot and the fringe, and you always want to be right in the middle — in the sweet spot," he told me. "You have so much more opportunity for your equity to grow within your asset ... within your first home purchase, if you buy in an area that's in between that really hot spot and not too close to the fringe."

5. Make your offer earlier in the week

While trying to time your purchase right can be a tough move, making an offer earlier in the week can sometimes earn you a better deal, says Scott MicGillivray, Host of HGTV's Income Property.

"Go shopping on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. If you're shopping for real estate on a Saturday and Sunday, you're not getting deals," he says. "A seller is much more difficult to negotiate with on a weekend than they are on a weekday. During the week, they're distracted with work, the kid's routines, and they're probably not getting a lot of other offers on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesdays. Chances are, they'll very quickly and efficiently entertain your offer."

6. Have an exit strategy

If you're interested in making a real-estate investment, as opposed to a long-term purchase that you will primarily live in, know that there are risks involved and have a plan in place in case you need to offload the property sooner than later. Josh Altman, star of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles told me that, "In good markets or bad markets, you always have to look at what your exit strategy is in a worst case scenario."

He adds, "When I buy a property now to develop, I don't go off of the number of what everybody else's saying it will be worth. I go off of the number that I know that I can literally get rid of this property tomorrow for this price if I fire sale it. And I need to be okay with that."

Farnoosh Torabi is a financial expert, hooked on helping Americans live their richest, happiest lives. She is a bestselling author, sought-after speaker, and television personality. Her podcast So Money has been downloaded over 10 million times.

Steve Jobs

A third of all meetings in America are unproductive, according to a 2013 study.
Unproductive meetings are usually caused by having too many people in the room, not having an agenda, or simply meeting too often.
Successful executives like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Steve Jobs developed techniques to combat bad meetings — for example, Steve Jobs liked to have meetings with the fewest number of people possible.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Americans sit through some 11 million meetings every day. A third of those meetings are unproductive, costing companies $37 billion a year, according to a 2013 study.

When meetings go horribly wrong, it's usually due to sloppy agendas, un-articulated ground rules, and having too many participants, among other basic structural mistakes.

Some of the most effective executives in history — from GM czar Alfred Sloan to Apple's Steve Jobs to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg — have personally run the meetings that invariably filled their calendars.

Here are the tips and tricks they've used to make meetings more productive.

DON'T MISS: Billionaire Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio once received a memo from his employees saying he 'belittled' and 'humiliated' them, and it turned out to be great for everyone

Legendary GM CEO Alfred Sloan said little — then made follow-ups.

Alfred Sloan ran GM from the 1920s to the '50s. During that time he led GM to become the world's largest corporation— in the '50s, GM held 46% of the US auto market and employed over 600,000 Americans.

Sloan is also credited with inventing modern corporate structure.

According to leadership guru Peter Drucker, the follow-up memo was one of Sloan's go-to tools.

After any formal meeting — in which he simply announced the purpose, listened to what people had to say, and then left — Sloan would send a follow-up memo with a plan of action.

Drucker's take:

[Sloan] immediately wrote a short memo addressed to one attendee of the meeting. In that note, he summarized the discussion and its conclusions and spelled out any work assignment decided upon in the meeting (including a decision to hold another meeting on the subject or to study an issue). He specified the deadline and the executive who was to be accountable for the assignment. He sent a copy of the memo to everyone who'd been present at the meeting.

These memos made Sloan an "outstandingly effective executive," Drucker argues, and you might say they were a key to GM's dominance of the 20th century.

Former Opsware CEO and Andreessen Horowitz cofounder Ben Horowitz likes to have one-to-one meetings.

Back when he was a CEO, Ben Horowitz led Opsware to a $1.6 billion sale to HP in 2007.

Two years later, he cofounded Andreessen Horowitz, probably the most sought-after firm in venture capital.

Horowitz, who spends much of his time mentoring young leaders, says that most important job for a CEO is to architect the way people communicate in a company.

The one-to-one meeting is essential to that process, he says, as it's the best place for ideas and critiques to flow up from employees to management.

Here's his take on how to run one:

If you like structured agendas, then the employee should set the agenda. A good practice is to have the employee send you the agenda in advance.

This will give her a chance to cancel the meeting if nothing is pressing. It also makes clear that it is her meeting and will take as much or as little time as she needs.

During the meeting, since it's the employee's meeting, the manager should do 10% of the talking and 90% of the listening. Note that this is the opposite of most one-on-ones.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk demands that people be super prepared.

Musk has incredibly high standards. He has a reputation for firing people if they miss a deadline. So if you're meeting with him at Tesla or SpaceX, you have to be ready.

In an April 2018 company-wide email obtained by Jalopnik, Musk had this to say about meetings:

Please get [out] of all large meetings, unless you're certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short.
Also get rid of frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter. Meeting frequency should drop rapidly once the urgent matter is resolved.
Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren't adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time.

What else would you expect from the most badass CEO in America?

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg sticks to a strict agenda.

Sandberg brings a spiral-bound notebook with her to every meeting. In that notebook is a list of discussion points and action items.

"She crosses them off one by one, and once every item on a page is checked, she rips the page off and moves to the next," Fortune reports. "If every item is done 10 minutes into an hour-long meeting, the meeting is over."

The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs kept meetings as small as possible.

Jobs led Apple to become one of the world's most valuable companies, creating consumer-friendly products with sleek designs.

He ran meetings with a similar minimalism. He hated when they were too big, because too many minds in a room got in the way of simplicity.

In one tale, Jobs was in a weekly meeting with Apple's ad agency and spied someone who didn't regularly attend. He asked who she was, listened to her reply, and politely told her to get out: "I don't think we need you in this meeting," he said. "Thanks."

Jobs carried the same standard with himself: When US President Barack Obama asked him to a meeting of tech darlings, he declined. The guest list was too long.

Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer aggressively vets every idea.

As we've reported before, Mayer gets to the bottom of any proposal brought her way.

Product managers or designers who would sit down with the former Yahoo exec would have their strategies thoroughly vetted through a series of questions, like:

How was that researched?
What was the research methodology?
How did you back that up?

These questions are just one aspect of the many strategies Mayer used to shake up Yahoo.

Google cofounder Larry Page says no one should wait for a meeting to make a decision.

Page became CEO of Google in 2011, until Sundar Pichai took over in the role in 2015.

He immediately sent out a company-wide email. The subject: how to run meetings effectively. One of his tips is to designate a decision-maker for every meeting. But even more importantly, Page made the point that you might not need a meeting at all.

"No decision should ever wait for a meeting," the email reads. "If a meeting absolutely has to happen before a decision should be made, then the meeting should be scheduled immediately."

Nike CEO Mark Parker doodles through his meetings.

Parker doesn't just manage Nike's $24 billion-a-year athletic empire, he brings his own designs. Parker walks into meetings with a Moleskine notebook under his arm — full of his sketches of new products.

In 2009, cyclist Lance Armstrong was in a business meeting with Parker, who spent the whole time doodling in his notebook. At the end of the meeting, Armstrong asked to seewhat he drew.

"He turns the pad over and shows me this perfect shoe," Armstrong recalls.

The doodles help clarify the brainstorming process, Parker says, one that's a constant balance between what design wants and what business needs.

"I think about balance a lot," Parker says. "Most of us are out of balance, and that's OK, but you need to keep your eye on the overall equilibrium to be successful."

Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman meets with people individually.

Stoppelman has a one-on-one meeting with each of his direct reports every week.

"Sometimes I feel like the company's psychiatrist," he shared on a Reddit AMA, "but I do feel like listening to people and hearing about their problems (personal and professional) cleans out the cobwebs and keeps the organization humming."

Evernote cofounder Phil Libin always brings a high-potential employee to participate.

At any given meeting at Evernote, there will be someone there who doesn't belong.

This is by design. The cloud note-taking startup has an internal program called "officer training," in which employees get assigned to meetings that aren't in their specialty area to explore other parts of the company.

"They're there to absorb what we're talking about," Phil Libin says. "They're not just spectators. They ask questions; they talk."

Libin, who is Evernote's cofounder and former CEO, got the idea from talking with a friend who served on a nuclear submarine. To be an officer of such a sub, you had to know how to do everybody else's job.

"Those skills are repeatedly trained and taught," he says. "And I remember thinking, 'That's really cool.'"

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos likes to get people arguing.

If you work at Amazon, you'd better be comfortable with conflict. Jeff Bezos is famous for hating "social cohesion," that tendency people have for finding consensus for no other reason than it feels good.

That distaste for agreeability is reinforced by Amazon's leadership principles, one of which reads:

Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.

customer service rep

Applying for a job can be an extremely stressful process — especially when you have little to no experience in that given field.
Glassdoor recently released their top picks for jobs that don't require past experience.
Here are 11 jobs where you don't need any experience, plus the salaries for each position.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

You can't get a job without experience, but you can't get experience without a job. It's a Catch 22, and there are few things more frustrating than going to apply for an entry-level job, only to discover they're looking for candidates with at least 2 or 3 years experience.

Whether you're changing careers or just starting out, finding an entry-level position that doesn't require a lengthy resume can be difficult. Even some jobs that are posted as entry-level nevertheless require internships or some kind of relevant job experience.

However, you may be surprised to discover there are many jobs available that don't require any experience at all.

Glassdoor recently released their list of jobs that require no experience, as well as the salaries for each job.

Here are 11 entry-level jobs that don't require any prior experience.

Customer service representative

Average yearly salary:$30,688

What they do: They handle customer inquiries, help solve customers' problems, and provide technical support, most often remotely. A training course may be required, but no other prior experience may be necessary for entry-level customer service jobs.

Home care aid or home health aid

Average yearly salary:$26,118

What they do: Home care aids or home health aids provide some medical attention in-home, usually supervised by a nurse or doctor. In addition to helping senior citizens with day-to-day tasks, they may also administer medications, change bandages, and check vital signs like temperature, pulse, and respiration rates.

Publicity assistant or public relations assistant

Average yearly salary:$45,498

What they do: Public relations assistants communicate between the brand or client and their desired audience. Glassdoor explains that while no experience may be required, many larger public relations firms offer training programs for the first one to two years you're in the business. People skills are a major necessity, as are impressive writing capabilities.

Real estate agent

Average yearly salary:$51,899

What they do: Real estate agents help people looking to buy a home go through the process of looking at different properties, placing an offer on their home, and other duties associated with buying a house. To become a real estate agent, you'll need to take a 60-hour course.

Sales account representative

Average yearly salary:$45,436

What they do: Sales account representatives sell products either to businesses or directly to consumers. Glassdoor notes that many sales account representative jobs require a Bachelor's degree, but not all.

Medical assistant

Average yearly salary:$33,719

What they do: Medical assistants perform basic medical tasks for doctors and nurses. This can include taking the patient's temperature or other vitals, performing office or administration duties, and more.

Administrative assistant

Average yearly salary:$44,950

What they do: Administrative assistants file paperwork, answer phone calls, schedule meetings, and perform other office organizational tasks. They may also take notes in meetings and provide assistance to higher-ups. Glassdoor explains that this entry-level position may be an excellent way to get your foot in the door at many top companies.

Veterinary assistant

Average yearly salary: $31,567

What they do: Veterinary assistants help veterinarians with office tasks, provide assistance during animal exams, and practice light medical work on animals, such as taking their temperature or placing them on the examination table. Veterinary assistants are required to complete a certification program and have a high school diploma, but no job experience is usually required.

Customer care specialist

Average yearly salary:$34,436

What they do: Customer care specialists may be confused with customer service representatives, but the two jobs differ slightly. According to Glassdoor, customer care specialists work more with businesses rather than individual customers. For people more interested in working on the B-to-B side of things, customer care may be for you. Relevant experience in customer service or a call center is preferred, but many job postings only require a high school diploma and relevant skills.

Legal assistant

Average yearly salary:$46,452

What they do: Legal assistants help lawyers with paperwork, answer phones, schedule meetings and depositions, generate status reports, and more. While Glassdoor explains that some legal assistant jobs require "significant experience," others are more entry-level. Becoming a legal assistant is an excellent way to get your foot in the door of the legal profession, and even work your way up to becoming a paralegal.

Medical biller

Average yearly salary:$36,698

What they do: Medical billers act as the liaison between a doctor's office and insurance companies. The job requires you to be handy at computers, detail-oriented, and may require one to three months of either experience or training. Glassdoor explains that medical billing courses can oftentimes count as this experience.

doctor with nurse

Many high-paying jobs can require vastly different skill sets.
Some jobs where you make over $100,000 a year value education, while others value experience more.
Here's what you need to have in order to land one of these 11 high-paying jobs.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Surgeons and lawyers aren't the only professionals raking in six figure-paychecks. There are plenty of other high-paying jobs out there — and many don't require an advanced degree.

To give you a better idea of the variety of high-paying careers available to you, Glassdoor put together a list of 11 jobs that pay over $100,000 a year, along with advice on how to get hired for each one.

For many of these jobs, total pay is highly dependent on the base salary. But for other jobs, a big part of employees' total pay is earned through other forms of compensation (i.e. commissions, tips, and bonuses). To be considered for the list, a job must have received at least 60 salary reports shared by US-based employees over the past two years.

Here's how to land these 11 high-paying jobs:

Special agent

Equity research associate

Total median pay: $100,000

Median base salary: $85,000

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: Equity research associates report on financial trends using financial models and other analytical techniques. Their research and reports inform other financial analysts' efforts. So while the position incorporates much of the excitement and rewards of investment banking, it is different, as much of the workload involves generating information. To qualify for the position, candidates need a bachelor's degree in finance, economics, or a similar field.

Airline pilot

Total median pay: $134,000

Median base salary: $120,00

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: Airline pilots have to be certified with an Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL). Major airlines often prefer candidates who hold a bachelor's degree in aviation, physics, or related fields, or those who have served in the military. In addition to the mechanics of operating the plane and evaluating obstacles that may interfere with the flight, pilots also take a leadership role in overseeing their crews. They need to be seasoned managers and savvy communicators who are comfortable with a non-standard schedule.

Regional sales executive

Total median pay: $103,500

Median base salary: $65,000

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: Successful regional sales executives need to be well-versed in their company's product lines and acutely aware of their customers' needs. Regional sales executives are stellar communicators with a knack for spotting opportunities. They are always looking to grow their business and expand their customer base. Depending on what industry they represent, a college degree may or may not be necessary.

Nurse practitioner

Total median pay: $101,600

Median base salary: $100,000

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: Nurse practitioners (NP's) have at least a master's degree in nursing. Individual states may require additional certifications. NPs are qualified to perform physical exams, treat common injuries and illness, and prescribe some medications. Some NP's have their own private practices.

Reservoir engineer

Total median pay: $143,000

Median base salary: $125,000

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: Reservoir engineers identify and pursue oil and gas reserves underground. Their goal is to extract the maximum amount of economical hydrocarbons. In order to fill this role, professionals need a degree in petroleum engineering plus experience in a field that is highly technical and nuanced.

Dentist

Total median pay: $129,968

Median base salary: $125,000

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: Prospective dentists have to complete a four-year undergraduate degree in pre-dentistry or another scientific field, score well on the Dental Acceptance Test administered by the American Dental Association, and complete a doctoral degree in dental surgery or dental medicine before they can get licensed. Many budding dentists also pursue specialties which can make their practices even more lucrative. Dentists frequently opt to run their own practices, which can require both clinical and professional skills.

Equity research associate

Total median pay: $100,000

Median base salary: $85,000

Geophysicist

Total median pay: $119,380

Median base salary: $109,864

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: Geophysicists study the earth using gravity, seismic, electrical, and magnetic methods. There are various kinds of geophysicists. Some study how the earth is changing, while others locate valuable minerals beneath its surface. The position requires a bachelor's or a master's degree in geology. Geophysicists must be skilled at evaluating sites, conducting often complex experiments and reporting their conclusions.

Physician assistant

Total median pay: $100,392

Median base salary: $100,000

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: A physician's assistant (PA) is similar to a nurse practitioner (NP). Both hold master's degrees, but PAs earn their credentials through physician assistant programs rather than nursing schools. Like NPs, PAs can examine patients, order tests and prescribe some medications. It takes far less time to become a PA than to become a medical doctor (MD), and PAs always work in collaboration with doctors. Because of this, they are unable to cultivate private practices which is another way they differ from NPs.

Drilling engineer

Total median pay: $116,500

Median base salary: $106,680

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: Securing a job as a drilling engineer requires a BS in petroleum or mechanical engineering. Professionals in this role ensure that all plans and practices related to gas, oil, or water drilling are strategic and safe. They have to be team players and excellent communicators both internally among their team and externally to their clients.

Software architect

Total median pay: $139,000

Median base salary: $130,000

How to get hired, according to Glassdoor: Software architects build software that enables businesses to operate more efficiently. Then they take the lead in communicating about system developments with the company's leadership. Most people with this job have at least a BA in math, software engineering, or a similar field. Some people do acquire the right skills, however, through non-traditional education, such as through an online coding bootcamp or another online accelerated education program. They need a high degree of technical savvy and skills like coding. They also need to know how to collaborate with others. Long hours can be required.

iron man black widow marvel

The business world is ruthless.
But it's a realm that also welcomes a good comeback story.
These companies managed to achieve or regain their iconic status after nearly going out of business.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In the business world, the road to success isn't always easy.

For some brands, it takes getting pushed to the brink of extinction in order to truly rally.

Business Insider compiled a list of household names that nearly went out of business, only to rebound in a spectacular fashion.

Here are a few brands that bounced back after nearly going out of business, from a globally popular toy brand to a classic shoe business:

DON'T MISS: If you bought anything from these 13 companies recently, your data may have been stolen

Lego

This beloved Danish brand almost went to pieces earlier in the 2000s, when it came close to bankruptcy.

In 2004, new CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp began putting things back together by focusing on enhancing the company's engagement with fans and doubling down on fiscal responsibility.

In fiscal year 2018, Lego reported a revenue of 36.4 billion in Danish krone.

Marvel

About a decade before Marvel launched its mega-hit crossover film franchise with the 2008 movie "Iron Man," this venerable entertainment company appeared to be getting a little rusty.

The Wrap reported that Marvel Entertainment filed for bankruptcy in 1996 after getting clobbered by declining comic book sales. The company managed to power up by merging with American toy company Toy Biz and selling off the rights to popular characters like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four.

Then, in 2009, the Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel for $4 billion.

FedEx

FedEx is known for delivering parcels overnight, but the company itself certainly wasn't an overnight success.

In fact, the delivery business almost stalled out for good in its early years.

FedEx launched in 1971, initially providing services to 35 cities. Within two years, the company was deep in debt. Founder Frederick Smith became so desperate that he bet the last of his company's money on blackjack in Las Vegas.

FedEx's success was in the cards, though, and Smith managed to turn an initial $5,000 into $27,000, staving off the company's closure.

Today, FedEx boasts a market cap of over $42 billion.

Airbnb

Airbnb is all about connecting travelers with an online marketplace for securing lodging. But setting up the company didn't prove to be a relaxing getaway for the founders. The fledgling startup hit a snag in 2008, when a total of 15 angel investors rejected the idea.

The site was failing to draw in revenue until the founders began printing cereal boxes depicting then-presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain around Denver at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Airbnb founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk were invited to join the selective startup accelerator Y Combinator, and the rest is history.

Converse

The once-dominant shoe brand Converse was starting to look a bit scuffed by the time the early 2000s rolled around. In 2001, the company even filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Forbes reported. Nike ended up acquiring the brand for $1.9 billion two years later, according to the New York Times.

As of June, Converse generated quarterly revenues of $491 million, flat from the year before. But there's no indication that Nike is chucking out this beloved brand anytime soon.

Morgan Overholt

At 31, Morgan Overholt quit a job she hated. She now works as a full-time freelance graphic designer earning $200,000 a year, working out of a corner office in downtown Miami.
After sharing her initial story with Business Insider, Overholt said skeptics pointed out that her true income must really be lower because of her business expenses.
In truth, she wrote, $200,000 is her annual net profit; the business grosses close to $300,000 annually.
What follows is a glimpse into her revenue streams, her typical weekly spending habits, and how she's constantly investing in future growth.
Click here for more BI Prime stories.

In April 2017, I changed the course of my professional career by leaving my "normal 9-to-5" salaried job to pursue a life as a freelance graphic designer and small-business owner.

What felt like a gamble at the time paid off in a big way. In just three months I was already pulling in an income equivalent to my then $75,000 salary. Fast forward two years, and I am now averaging $200,000 a year and projecting steady growth.

After details of my journey were featured recently on Business Insider Prime, I started to receive a few questions, from both fans and skeptics, about how that money is both earned and spent. And so, in this article, I'll give a glimpse into my revenue streams, weekly spending habits, and how I'm constantly investing in future growth.

One of the more common comments I receive from skeptics is that my income can't really be $200,000 because I obviously have business expenses that need to be paid.

The truth of the matter is the $200,000 number represents my personal net profit after business expenses. My actual business grosses close to $300,000 annually.

How she does it

The majority of my income comes from two main revenue streams. Half of my work comes from a freelance website called Upwork, and the other half comes from contracts I've procured on my own, mostly by word of mouth.

I also receive a small amount of rental income from the office space that I purchased at the beginning of this year. I rent extra spaces out to other like-minded small-business owners. My eventual goal is to procure enough renters to cover the entire mortgage.

So let's start out with a breakdown of my current average monthly earnings:

Graphic-design contracts on Upwork: $14,000

Other graphic-design contracts: $9,500

Office-rental income: $800

Which equates to:

Average monthly gross: $24,000

Projected annual gross: $290,000

Of course, those numbers are based on a three-month average. My monthly income tends to range between $20,000 and $30,000. While some months are lower than others, I trend steady growth.

Before we get into expenses, it's important to note the numbers below represent my total business expenses and my half of the personal expenses. I'm a married woman living in a dual-income household, but I have opted to focus only on my income and spending for this article.

My average monthly business expenses:

Contractor salaries: $5,500

My salary: $16,000

Office mortgage/expenses: $2,200

Software and service subscriptions: $150

Cellphone/iPad service: $150

My average monthly personal expenses:

Taxes: $4,000

Retirement: $4,000

Savings: $2,000

Rent/utilities: $2,500

Food/entertainment: $1,200

Clothes/shopping: $300

Travel: $1000

Misc./gifts: $350

Investments: $500

Health insurance/medical: $200

I treat my taxes and retirement contributions like expenses. When you're a contractor, those items aren't withheld like they would be in a normal paycheck, so you have to budget for them. I believe in running my personal life like a business. I find that by budgeting for those things ahead of time, I'm not tempted to spend money I shouldn't.

This year, I learned about the benefits of a simplified employee pension individual retirement account (SEP IRA), which has been a godsend when it comes to my taxes. My plan is to max out my tax-deductible contributions each year going forward to help ease that painful tax bill.

I've bought and sold three houses over the past 10 years (I move around a lot). I took a small loss on the first one (in 2008), broke even on the second, and netted a handsome profit on the third.

I'm very lucky to have been grandfathered in to a very basic, very cheap private health-insurance plan. That's usually the biggest risk to becoming independently employed. If I were to lose that plan, my premiums would jump to over $800 a month just for my share.

I do not have student-loan debt. I enrolled at a local community college (Walters State Community College) my first two years and an affordable state school (East Tennessee State University) for my bachelor's to avoid overpriced tuition. I also applied for as many scholarships as I could get my hands on.

Neither myself nor my husband own a car. We live and work in downtown Miami and walk everywhere we go. It's been quite freeing not worrying about the responsibility of car payments, insurance, and maintenance.

My Achilles heel is food, entertainment, and travel. I'm a sucker for eating out, dine-in movies, and nice vacations.

I also believe in constantly looking for ways to grow and diversify my income. This year, my business goals include generating enough income from my office space to cover my mortgage, launching a second company with my husband and sister (a travel website: TheSmokies.com), and starting a freelance blog.

And, of course, I have my sights set on early retirement.

This week, I spent $1,479 — roughly 9% of my personal monthly income.

Monday - $177

Tuesday - $117

Wednesday - $12

Thursday - $599

Friday - $105

Saturday - $339

Sunday - $130

This week was fairly normal for a workweek. Our biggest expenses were seeing multiple movies at the dine-in theater (that food and wine tends to add up), meeting up with friends, and planning an upcoming Disney trip.

On Monday, I went to the doctor for a checkup, ordered a few items on Amazon, had sushi for lunch, and met up with an old friend.

Amazon: $24

Doctor: $40

Restaurants: $113

Total: $177

Dinner and drinks with a friend who was visiting from out of town was definitely the greatest expense on Monday. I personally spent over $100, but it was worth every dime.

I am fully guilty of living the lifestyle of someone who clearly has expendable income. I live in a nice high-rise inside a high-end shopping mall in downtown Miami and am surrounded by constant temptation: shopping, food, wine, and endless entertainment options.

Since I no longer drive, I order most of my groceries and personal items on Amazon and Amazon Prime Now. We live within walking distance of a Publix, but I've become so spoiled in recent months that I hardly ever walk into a grocery store anymore. Surprisingly, our grocery budget has actually gone down since we started having these items delivered.

On Tuesday, I went out for lunch, paid the cable bill, and met up with friends for a dine-in movie.

Lunch: $12

Cable bill: $33

Dine-in movie: $72

Total: $117

Once again, I am a sucker for a dine-in movie. I went with two friends, we split a bottle of wine, and I ordered chicken tenders. Between the ticket, wine, and food, the movie bill ended up being about $72.

It's important to note that I hate cooking and have the tendency to eat out almost every day. It's also not at all unusual for me to have lunch delivered to the office because I can literally earn more money by eating at my desk than going back home for lunch/preparing food/picking up food. I will admit that it's a bad habit — but as far as vices are concerned, it could be worse.

On Wednesday, I tried to behave.

Jimmy John's: $12

Total: $12

After two nights of socializing, I decided to stay in. My only expense on Wednesday was having lunch delivered to the office.

On Thursday, I picked up a prescription at the pharmacy, treated myself to sushi for lunch, and began planning for an upcoming vacation.

Sushi lunch: $23

Pharmacy: $30

Disney/travel: $436

Total: $489

The husband and I are planning a theme-park-hopping vacation to Orlando, Florida, in the fall. We already had the airfare and hotel booked but had to check theme-park tickets off the old "to-do" list ($436).

On Friday, I had lunch delivered and met the spousal unit for dinner and drinks at the dine-in movie (again).

Sushi lunch: $21

Dine-in movie: $84

Total: $105

One of the perks of living the downtown lifestyle is having a movie theater next door. While expensive, it has become our go-to entertainment option. Management recognizes us when we walk through the door. They make us feel like VIPs; we get a kick out of it.

Saturday was my only day "off."

Shopping: $181

Movie: $22

Brio dinner: $31

Total: $339

My husband and I are both entrepreneurs. We each work on our own businesses Monday through Friday and usually spend at least one day each weekend dedicated to our launching our newest business venture:TheSmokies.com.

But at least once a week, we try to get in a single full day off and get out of the house.

It's been so hot in Miami this week that I wasn't in the mood for an outdoor activity, so we opted for a day of outlet shopping and, wait for it — more movies! ($22). At least this time we opted not to do the dine-in, so we spent a little less than we normally would. But we made up for it with a nice Italian dinner at Brio ($31).

On Sunday, we stayed in and ordered groceries.

Amazon Prime Groceries: $130

Total: $130

On Sunday we worked on our new business and had groceries delivered via Amazon Prime Now. My husband made chicken tacos for dinner. (He's actually quite the chef — I'm glad at least one of us cooks).

At the end of the day, I feel like I am truly living the life that I chose to live. I have an amazing husband who not only supports me and my business but also shares my laserlike focus when it comes to money and success. Sure we work hard, but we always make time to enjoy the fruits of our labor, while saving for retirement and investing in our future.

Adam Neumann, CEO of WeWork

WeWork, now called The We Company, publicly filed its IPO paperwork on Wednesday.
Its cofounder and CEO, Adam Neumann, has been at the helm of the company since it launched in 2010 and has grown it into a business last valued at $47 billion.
Here's everything you need to know about the CEO, who has five children and has purchased an estimated $80 million worth of real estate.
Read all of BI's WeWork coverage here.

Adam Neumann has run WeWork from when it got its start nearly 10 years ago to now, as it files for an IPO.

The 40-year-old Israeli-born Neumann is worth an estimated $4.1 billion, and has come a long way from the shoe-box-sized New York city apartment he first lived in in the early 2000s.

His company, last valued at $47 billion, filed its public S-1 IPO paperwork on Wednesday morning, revealing spiraling losses, with the company posting a net loss of $1.6 billion in 2018 on revenue of $1.8 billion.

Here's everything you need to know about Adam Neumann, the WeWork cofounder and CEO:

Adam Neumann, 40, was born is Israel in 1979. His parents got divorced when he was 7, and he moved around a lot as a child with his mother — he reportedly lived in 13 different homes by the time he was 22.

Source: New York Magazine

As a child, Neumann lived for some time on an Israeli kibbutz, one of the collective community settlement across the country. Neumann attended school near the Gaza Strip while his mother worked as a doctor at a nearby hospital.

Source: Haaretz

Neumann is severely dyslexic, and couldn't read or write until he was in third grade.

Source: Forbes

As is customary for Israeli citizens, Neumann served in the Israel Defense Forces after grade school. He served in the navy for five years, although only three years of service is required. "That’s where I got to know a lot of my best friends," Neumann told Haaretz in 2017.

Source: Haaretz

After leaving the IDF, Neumann moved in 2001 to New York City, where he lived in a Tribeca apartment with his sister Adi. He spent his early days in New York going to clubs and “hitting on every girl in the city,” he said in a commencement speech in 2017.

Source: New York Magazine

Neumann enrolled at city school Baruch College in January 2002 and majored in business. He said he thought of the concept of WeLive, WeWork's communal living business, for a school entrepreneurship competition. However, the idea was killed in the competition's second round, because a professor didn't think Neumann would be able to raise enough money "to change the way people live."

Sources: New York Magazine, TechCrunch

Neumann dropped out from college just four credits shy of graduating. He ultimately finished his degree 15 years later in 2017 after completing a four-month long independent study, and delivered the commencement speech for Baruch College's graduating class.

Sources: TechCrunch, Business Insider

While in college, Neumann met his now-wife, Rebekah Paltrow Neumann, who is the cousin of actress Gwyneth Paltrow. The pair got married in 2009, and now have five children together.

Source: Observer, Real Deal

On their first date, Paltrow Neumann called out the WeWork CEO for being "full of s---." Neumann credits his wife for getting him to stop smoking, and for telling him to pursue his passions instead of dreams to be rich.

Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider

Paltrow Neumann serves as the founder and CEO of WeGrow, the business under the WeWork company umbrella that operates an elementary school in New York. She was a WeWork founding partner, when she learned there's "no job too big or too small for each person."

Sources: Coveteur, WeGrow

Read more: WeWork is just one of the businesses owned by a $47 billion company that could reveal its IPO paperwork any day now — check out the full list

While Neumann was at college, he worked on two business ventures: a failed idea for collapsible heeled shoe, and baby clothes with built-in knee-pads called Krawlers. He dropped out to pursue the second idea, and developed it into a baby-clothing company called Egg Baby in 2006.

Sources: Forbes, TechCrunch

Egg Baby is still around today as a luxury baby clothing company headed up by clothes designer Suzan Lazar. Neumann is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of Egg Baby, whose children's clothing is sold at department stores around the world.

Sources: Forbes, TechCrunch

Soon after launching Egg Baby, Neumann met WeWork cofounder Miguel McKelvey through a mutual friend. The two reportedly bonded over their backgrounds and competitive streaks, and McKelvey convinced Neumann to move Egg Baby offices to the same building he was working out of in Brooklyn.

Source: Forbes, New York Magazine

Soon after, the two developed the idea for WeWork after brainstorming an idea for renting out empty office space to other companies. In 2008, they convinced their building's landlord to let them rent out a floor in a nearby Brooklyn building, and an earth-friendly co-working company called Green Desk was born.

Sources: Forbes, New York Magazine

However, McKelvey and Neumann decided to go off on their own. They sold off their share of Green Desk to their landlord for $3 million, and opened their first WeWork space in 2010 in New York's Little Italy neighborhood.

Sources: Forbes, New York Magazine

Under Neumann as CEO, WeWork has expanded to provide co-working desk space in commercial buildings in more than 120 cities in nearly 40 countries. The company was last valued at $47 billion.

Sources: Business Insider, Forbes

One of WeWork's biggest investors is the Japanese investment firm SoftBank, who has invested more than $10 billion in the company. Neumann has told Business Insider about his close relationship with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, who he calls "Yoda."

Source: Business Insider

Neumann himself has an estimated net worth of $4.1 billion. Since founding WeWork, Neumann has spent over $80 million on five homes, including two properties in New York City and one home in the Hamptons. In 2018, he reportedly purchased a 13,000-square-foot home in the San Francisco area, complete with a guitar-shaped room, worth $21 million.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, Business Insider

Neumann has also invested in a number of startups, both by himself and on behalf of WeWork. Through WeWork, his niche-interest investments include a wave-pool startup and a superfood startup, which sells things like "performance mushrooms," powdered coconut water infused with beets and turmeric, and highly caffeinated coffee.

Source: Business Insider

Neumann is WeWork's largest single shareholder. However, in recent years, he's cashed out some of his stake and also taken out loans. In total, Neumann's sales and debt transactions have reportedly totaled $700 million.

Source: Business Insider

The company — which rebranded to the We Company in January — publicly filed for an IPO on August 14, 2019. The IPO filing gave the public its best view yet at the company's money-losing financials.

Business Insider's Troy Wolverton and Shona Ghosh write in their coverage of WeWork's S-1 that:

"The numbers show spiraling losses over the last three years:

During the year December 31, 2016, WeWork lost $429 million on $436 million in revenue.
The following year that loss increased to $890 million on $886 million in revenue.
And for the full year 2018, WeWork lost $1.6 billion on $1.8 billion in revenue.
For the first six months of 2019, the firm posted a loss of $690 million on $1.5 billion in revenue.

We Co. will be the most highly valued startup to go public since Uber in May."

Source: Business Insider

Renewable energy solar panel

"Green" jobs in the renewable-energy industry are seeing a spike in popularity, with plenty of lucrative roles expected to be in demand through 2026.
Some jobs related to renewable energy can also pay six-figure salaries.
Wind-turbine technicians and solar panel installers are the fastest-growing jobs in the country. Here are the 25 fastest-growing jobs within the renewable-energy sector
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Saving the earth and having a lucrative career aren't always mutually exclusive.

In fact, wind-turbine technicians and solar-panel installers are the fastest-growing jobs in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The jobs are in such high demand, they are growing at a rate 12 times as fast as the rest of the US economy.

These "green" jobs can also lead to lofty incomes. Atmospheric scientists and geoscientists average over $90,000 a year, and software developers for renewable-energy companies can even earn six-figure salaries. All 25 of the occupations we've highlighted had median annual earnings above the overall national median of $38,640 reported by the BLS.

Here are the 25 fastest-growing jobs within the renewable-energy sector and how much they pay, along with role descriptions from online database O*NET.

21. Civil engineers for renewable-energy companies are expected to see 10.6% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Green construction; renewable energy generation; research, design, and consulting services

Annual salary: $86,640

O*NET description: Perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures, and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems.

20. Financial analysts for renewable-energy companies are expected to see 10.9% job growth by 2026.

Sectors:Energy efficiency; governmental and regulatory administration; green construction; research, design, and consulting services

Annual salary: $85,660

O*NET description: Conduct quantitative analyses of information affecting investment programs of public or private institutions.

19. Roofers are expected to see 11.1% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Green construction

Annual salary: $39,970

O*NET description: Cover roofs of structures with shingles, slate, asphalt, aluminum, wood, or related materials. May spray roofs, sidings, and walls with material to bind, seal, insulate, or soundproof sections of structures.

18. Environmental scientists and specialists are expected to see 11.1% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Environment protection

Annual salary: $71,130

O*NET description: Conduct research or perform investigation for the purpose of identifying, abating, or eliminating sources of pollutants or hazards that affect either the environment or the health of the population.

17. Construction managers are expected to see 11.1% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Environment protection; green construction

Annual salary: $93,370

O*NET description: Plan, direct, or coordinate, usually through subordinate supervisory personnel, activities concerned with the construction and maintenance of structures, facilities, and systems.

16. Systems software developers are expected to see 11.1% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Research, design, and consulting services

Annual salary: $110,000

O*NET description: Research, design, develop, and test operating systems-level software, compilers, and network distribution software for medical, industrial, military, communications, aerospace, business, scientific, and general computing applications.

15. Training and development specialists are expected to see 11.5% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Energy efficiency; green construction; research, design, and consulting services

Annual salary: $60,870

O*NET description: Design and conduct training and development programs to improve individual and organizational performance.

14. Atmospheric and space scientists are expected to see 12% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Environment protection; research, design, and consulting services

Annual salary: $94,110

O*NET description: Investigate atmospheric phenomena and interpret meteorological data, gathered by surface and air stations, satellites, and radar to prepare reports and forecasts for public and other uses.

13. Environmental science and protection technicians are expected to see 12.1% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Environment protection

Annual salary: $46,170

O*NET description: Perform laboratory and field tests to monitor the environment and investigate sources of pollution, including those that affect health, under the direction of an environmental scientist, engineer, or other specialist.

12. Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators are expected to see 12.3% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Green construction

Annual salary: $47,810

O*NET description: Operate one or several types of power construction equipment, such as motor graders, bulldozers, scrapers, compressors, pumps, derricks, shovels, tractors, or front-end loaders to excavate, move, and grade earth, erect structures, or pour concrete or other hard surface pavement.

11. Cement masons and concrete finishers are expected to see 12.6% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Green construction

Annual salary: $43,000

O*NET description: Smooth and finish surfaces of poured concrete, such as floors, walks, sidewalks, roads, or curbs using a variety of hand and power tools.

10. Structural iron and steel workers are expected to see 12.8% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Green construction; manufacturing

Annual salary: $53,970

O*NET description: Raise, place, and unite iron or steel girders, columns, and other structural members to form completed structures or structural frameworks.

9. Urban and regional planners are expected to see 12.8% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Governmental and regulatory administration; green construction; research, design, and consulting services

Annual salary: $73,050

O*NET description: Develop comprehensive plans and programs for use of land and physical facilities of jurisdictions, such as towns, cities, counties, and metropolitan areas.

8. Environmental engineering technicians are expected to see 12.9% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Environment protection

Annual salary: $50,560

O*NET description: Apply theory and principles of environmental engineering to modify, test, and operate equipment and devices used in the prevention, control, and remediation of environmental problems, including waste treatment and site remediation, under the direction of engineering staff or scientist.

7. Electrical power-line installers and repairers are expected to see 13.9% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Energy efficiency

Annual salary: $70,910

O*NET description: Install or repair cables or wires used in electrical power or distribution systems.

6. Geoscientists are expected to see 14% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Environment protection; research, design, and consulting services

Annual salary: $91,130

O*NET description: Study the composition, structure, and other physical aspects of the Earth.

5. Personal financial advisors are expected to see 14.9% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Research, design, and consulting services

Annual salary: $88,890

O*NET description: Advise clients on financial plans using knowledge of tax and investment strategies, securities, insurance, pension plans, and real estate.

4. Hazardous-materials-removal workers are expected to see 17.2% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Environment protection; green construction; recycling and waste reduction

Annual salary: $42,030

O*NET description: Identify, remove, pack, transport, or dispose of hazardous materials, including asbestos, lead-based paint, waste oil, fuel, transmission fluid, radioactive materials, or contaminated soil.

3. Service unit operators (in oil, gas, and mining) are expected to see 23.4% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Renewable energy generation

Annual salary: $47,860

O*NET description: Operate equipment to increase oil flow from producing wells or to remove stuck pipe, casing, tools, or other obstructions from drilling wells.

2. Wind-turbine service technicians are expected to see 96.3% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Renewable-energy generation

Annual salary: $54,370

O*NET description: Inspect, diagnose, adjust, or repair wind turbines.

1. Solar photovoltaic installers are expected to see 104.9% job growth by 2026.

Sectors: Renewable-energy generation

Annual salary: $42,680

O*NET description: Assemble, install, or maintain solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on roofs or other structures in compliance with site assessment and schematics.

dating around

Making meaningful small talk on a first date can get tricky and awkward.
Relationship experts told Business Insider their favorite questions to ask on a first date.
Many of them stressed that to have the conversation flow organically, you should be present in the moment by asking good follow-up questions.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Making small talk can be awkward — especially on a first date.

Simply asking "So, what do you do?" isn't going to lead to the meaningful conversations you want to have on a first date to ensure there'll be another one.

To help break the ice with a stranger on a first date, Business Insider asked seven relationship experts from across the country to reveal their favorite questions to ask on a first date.

While many of them had a few pre-determined questions at hand, they said the most important thing to keep in mind is just to be a good listener, and to be yourself.

"Meaningful small talk is virtually anything that helps you connect with the other person in a genuine way," Shira Teichman, a dating coach and cofounder of the dating app Forj, told Business Insider. "Ask what feels natural in the moment, without calculating what you think you're supposed to say."

For those who need a little extra guidance, here are the best questions to ask on a first date, according to relationship experts:

What do you think of the restaurant/bar/etc. we're at?

"Be present in the moment," says Claudia Duran, a relationship expert based in Miami, Florida. To get the conversation rolling, she recommends sharing your experience of the date as soon as it starts by asking about the vibe of the restaurant or bar. If you both notice something odd — like another couple on a date that doesn't seem to be going well — go ahead and bring that up to establish a shared experience.

"[Being] present for the moment and present to sharing them together opens up the dialogue organically," Duran adds.

If you met on a dating app, ask about what led you to accept their profile.

Right off the bat, you want to establish a common connection with your date, says Andrea Syrtash, dating expert and co-author of "It's Okay to Sleep With Him on the First Date: And Every Rule of Dating Debunked." Finding something you can both relate to will naturally lead itself into a good conversation.

While making plans with someone you met online can be awkward right off the gate, bringing up something you saw helps to minimize that discomfort.

"At the end of the day, why are you attracted to someone on an app? Because you're swiping and you're like, 'Hey, I liked the way he looks,'" New York City-based relationship expert Rori Sassoon told Business Insider. "You know nothing about that person."

What are your hobbies?

Marla Mattenson, founder and CEO of Mattenson Coaching & Consulting, told Business Insider she always recommends you ask your first date, "What are you kind of obsessed with these days?"

While asking about where someone works might lead to dead-end conversations, inquiring about a person's hobbies or interests outside of their office gives you a better sense of their values, Sassoon said Business Insider.

"I think that you get to learn a lot about a person when you understand what their passions and their hobbies are," she added. "It's a light question, not too heavy."

Do you drink?

A first date is also a good time to get to know the other person's lifestyle choices — especially ones that could cause problems down the road, Duran says.

If one person is vegan, for instance, and the other loves steak, that might be a deal breaker for one party. The same is true for alcohol. If you're a recovering alcoholic, for instance, you may not want to spend too much time with a big party-goer. "Those kinds of things should be open," she said. "That's who we are."

While Duran stresses you should keep an open mind when getting to know someone, if you know a certain lifestyle would not match yours, go ahead and ask right away.

What would be the one value you would say is really important for you to live by?

"The best questions to ask on a first date are those that gauge your basic level of compatibility with your date, dig out shared values, help both have clarity on what the other person is looking for, and build a decent level of intimacy," Sami Wunder, a certified relationship coach, told Business Insider in an email.

While basic questions about someone's personal life can build intimacy and help figure out whether you two are compatible, understanding shared values might take some direct questioning.

Ask good follow-up questions.

Teichman recommends you don't go in with a set of prepared questions, as you don't want to come across as too calculated. She added that many of her clients complain about wanting to skip the "small talk" and instead have meaningful conversations on first dates. While she understands that first-date conversations can be awkward, she said asking good follow-up questions forces you to be attentive to what the other person is saying.

"It's not really about choosing the right subject matter," Teichman told Business Insider. "It's about the effort you make to bring your whole self on the date."

Where did you grow up?

While intimate questions about family and past relationships can be too invasive for a first date, asking light questions about where they grew up can lead to more meaningful conversations. "It sounds a little boring, but all these leading questions are simply for a response that you can then build from," said New York City-based relationship expert and love coach Susan Winter.

Plus, getting a better sense of their relationship with their friends and family can clue you into how this person would be in a relationship, Sassoon said.

"When you know that a person has friendships that lasted many years, they are in a healthy state to have sustainable relationships," she added.

freelance

Striking out on your own as a full-time freelancer is exciting and daunting. There's no one way to do it.
These guides and tips will help you if you're thinking of turning your side hustle into full-time work — or if you simply want to know how to leave the office grind behind.
They include tips from full-time freelancers who pull in six-figure incomes, email templates for successfully bringing in new clients, and the most important networks you should know.
Business Insider's panel of freelance experts regularly weigh in on what it takes to strike out on your own successfully. You can read all of the following stories by subscribing to BI Prime.

Below is a list of guides to help freelancers through the process of deciding to go full-time, building their networks, and how to potentially make six-figures while self-employed.

When to know full-time work isn't working out:How to make a drastic career change, from an executive coach who's helped countless people unhappy at work
Deciding to make a career change:A former Google exec reveals the 3 questions you should ask yourself before making a career change
Guidance for making the jump:The ultimate guide to going freelance — and making more than you did at a full-time gig
How to quit your job:A freelancer who has pulled in a 6-figure income every year shares the exact process he used to quit his job and become successfully self-employed
How to start your freelance business:One email I wrote brought in 100% of my clients after I started my business — here's the template
Debunking myths about going freelance: A 34-year-old freelancer who quit the job she hated and now makes $200K a year debunks 3 of the biggest myths she's encountered about becoming your own boss
Bringing in new clients: This tactic brings in 100% of new clients for many freelancers and entrepreneurs
Building a successful budget: I'm 34 and make $200K a year as a freelancer. This is exactly how I spend my money to both scale my business and still enjoy my Miami life.

Join the conversation about this story »

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NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 24: Adam Neumann and Rebekah Neumann attend the 2018 Time 100 Gala at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 24, 2018 in New York City.

WeWork CEO Adam Neumann has a net worth of $4.1 billion, according to Forbes.
WeWork's parent company, The We Company, filed its public IPO paperwork on Wednesday.
Ahead of the IPO, Neumann sold and borrowed $700 million in transactions involving his shares in WeWork, which was last valued at $47 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Neumann has spent $80 million on at least five homes since founding WeWork in 2010, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

WeWork, the coworking-space company with a $47 billion valuation, revealed its public IPO filing on Wednesday.

Under the helm of CEO Adam Neumann, the company confidentially filed initial-public-offering paperwork in December as The We Company, a parent company encompassing WeWork and its other ventures, like WeLive.

Neumann sold and borrowed $700 million in transactions involving his shares in WeWork, The Wall Street Journal reported in July. Besides exercising his stock options and buying more WeWork shares, Neumann has also spent his money buying real estate and investing in startups, also according to the Wall Street Journal.

WeWork's public IPO filing discloses that Neumann did not take a salary in 2018 and was only paid $1 in 2017.

Here's what Neumann has been investing in:

Adam Neumann, WeWork's cofounder and CEO, has a net worth of $4.1 billion.

Source: Forbes

But he wasn't always wealthy: Neumann went from broke to billionaire in the past decade.

One of the first businesses he started was Krawlers, which sold baby clothes with knee pads.

"At the time, I was misguided and putting my energy into all the wrong places," Neumann told Business Insider.

After Neumann met his wife Rebekah, they lived an East Village studio "apartment smaller than this office," Neumann told Business Insider.

Neuman would go on to set his sights on bigger and better real estate once WeWork became successful.

Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider

Neumann founded his coworking-space company WeWork in 2010.

Nine years later, WeWork has a $47 billion valuation. The company is under the We Company umbrella, which also includes Neumann's coliving venture, WeLive, and the "conscious entrepreneurial school" WeGrow.

Source: Business Insider

Since founding WeWork, Neumann has spent over $80 million on at least five homes.

Source: Wall Street Journal

In 2012, Neumann bought a house in the Hamptons for over $1.7 million

Sources: Bisnow, Vanity Fair

In 2014, Newman bought a Greenwich Village townhouse in New York City for $10.5 million.

Located in Greenwhich Village, the property is under 23-feet wide. At the time it was bought, the townhouse had six bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. The townhouse was erected in 1847.

Source: The Real Deal

In 2016, Neumann purchased a farm estate in Westchester, New York

The Linden Farm estate in Pound Ridge sprawls 60 acres. At the time of purchase, the property included: a more than 13,700 square foot, eight bedroom, eight bathroom house; a horse stable and ring for riding; a tennis court; a waterfall and pool; and nearly 4,500 acres of preserved land nearby. The estate was listed at $22 million when it was on the market.

Sources: Biznow, New York Post

In 2017, Neumann bought four units in a townhouse in New York City for $34.7 million.

According to The Real Deal, Neuman purchased the following in the the seven-story townhouse:

Two first-floor units for $7.2 million
A fifth floor, 2,210 square foot three bedroom for $9.5 million
A duplex penthouse with four bedrooms sprawling over 4,400 square feet for $18 million.

Source: The Real Deal

In 2018, Neumann purchased a 13,000 square foot home in the San Francisco Bay Area for $21 million.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Business Insider

The house has a guitar-shaped room.

Source: Wall Street Journal.

Besides real estate, Neumann has been investing in startups.

Neumann has invested in seven startups since 2013, according to Crunchbase. They are: Pins, Feature.fm, Tunity, Selina, EquityBee, InterCure, and Hometalk.

On behalf of WeWork, Neuman has invested in wave-pool startup WaveGarden and the big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton's superfood startup, which sells things like "performance mushrooms," powdered coconut water infused with beets and turmeric, and highly caffeinated coffee.

Sources:Crunchbase, TechCrunch, Business Insider

And, Neumann has donated over $100 million.

Source: Wall Street Journal

We'll see where Neumann's investments turn, and his net worth heads, after WeWork goes public.

In April, Neumann announced that WeWork had confidentially filed initial-public-offering paperwork in December as the We Company.

The company filed its public IPO paperwork on Wednesday, August 14.

WeWork declined to comment for this piece.

More We Company IPO news:

Undated handout image of Glossier products. REUTERS/Glossier/Handout

Amazon has ventured into every product and service category imaginable, but even this tech giant can't squash the potential of digitally native vertical brands.
DNVBs have five major benefits working in their favor, including lower costs of production and better brand awareness and advocacy.
VC expert Nihar Neelakanti weighs in on how companies like Casper, Warby Parker, and more can continue to thrive in the ever-growing e-commerce market.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

I was in Denver not too long ago when I walked past a Herculean-sized billboard in front of a mom and pop shop that screamed "Amazon … Shmamazon. Buy Local."

It got me thinking: As Amazon crosses $850 billion in market cap and is entering virtually every product and service category (including house cleaning), who can compete? The accessibility, affordability, and variety this tech giant offers is nothing short of spectacular.

At the same time, I couldn't help but notice how many of my online purchases — the ones that got me really excited — never came off of Amazon. For example, my Casper mattress or Warby Parker sunglasses. The products that I bought almost compulsively and with deep admiration were all part of this category popularly known as digitally native vertical brands.

You've heard of them. Digitally native vertical brands (DNVBs) such as Bonobos, Casper, Glossier, Warby Parker, and Allbirds are all positioned to compete with Amazon because they offer consumers an experience equivalent to visiting a boutique or brick and mortar store. Amazon simply can't create the one-to-one experience that people today, particularly millennials and Gen Z, obsess over.

The US Department of Commerce estimates that the US e-commerce market crossed $500 billion in 2018. In a future where mass merchants like Amazon become the Walmart of the internet (with all the same assortments), how will DNVBs differentiate themselves? I believe they have a few distinct advantages that allow them not only to compete with but also thrive in the face of the tech giant.

1. Vertical integration unlocks supply chain efficiency

Traditional retail models incur huge middlemen costs, which in turn causes the product to often be significantly marked up by both the distributor and the retailer. Naturally when you're a direct-to-consumer company you're shaving those costs off and distributing the value back to the consumer. However, when you cut out the middlemen, you're also cutting out the value they provide such as risk distribution, rapid scaling, sales expertise, and pre-existing relationships, all of which can help push your product out to the market faster and give it strategic exposure upfront.

Fully vertical, digital brands can unlock a tremendous amount of cost savings in the supply chain, but will need to make up for the loss in value that a distributor traditionally provides — and many DNVBs have found interesting ways to do so. Some may augment customer service beyond the general FAQ or help desk. For example, Casper offers 100-day free returns and Allbirds offers a 30-day trial — a highly uncommon move for a shoe company.

2. Shorter feedback loops allow DNVBs to react quickly to the consumer

DNVBs own the entire distribution channel, from supplier to point of purchase, which means they're able to acquire a significant amount of data about their customers. This allows management to make smart decisions and react quickly to changes in the marketplace. As a result, they can experiment with:

Customer channel optimization to drive down customer acquisition costs
Product changes to meet marketplace demands
Brand narrative messaging changes to connect with the hearts of customers

3. DNVBs are masters of storytelling — and it acts as a product differentiator

One of the most visceral ways of connecting with consumers is through stories. As humans, we adore the narratives that encompass our beliefs and ideals. DNVBs are exceptionally good at storytelling because that's exactly how they're born.

Glossier was built on the idea that every woman should become her own beauty expert — a message that young women deeply connected with. Likewise, Glossier would not have discovered this insight had they not been born on the internet. Customers view brands as an extension of their personalities and the embodiment of their aspirations. Pricing aside, the narrative behind the product is one of the most compelling competitive barriers you can have — after all, you can't just copy a story.

4. Channel ownership creates personalized, one-of-a-kind experiences

Brands know that millennials crave experiences more than material things — that's why the way the product is discovered, purchased, and ultimately unveiled is central to the success of DNVBs. Because digitally native vertical brands have full channel and distribution ownership, they're uniquely able to mastermind the perfect experience. These e-commerce brands meticulously craft the messaging, story, design, purchase experience, packaging, post-purchase follow up, and customer support in a way that makes the customer feel like they truly are the center of the universe.

5. Cult followings lead to massive growth

Social media as a discovery and distribution channel allows customers to become digital ambassadors for products. DNVBs, more so than traditional e-commerce companies, are able to build communities of these ambassadors and equip them with the promotions, advertisements, and marketing necessary to create word-of-mouth promotion and acquire more customers at a marginal cost. If the DNVB is in a category that can give existing customers a sense of "social proof" and generate insider phenomenon (think fashion, gaming, entertainment — categories that lend themselves to effective social media buzz.), the brand has created the perfect environment for FOMO to emerge.

This growth strategy is precisely what allows paid acquisition to become scalable through network effects. For traditional retail channels, companies have to continue to pay fixed costs for shelf space over the lifetime of the business, while a DNVB can see their customer acquisition costs go down to the point where some of these brands can achieve SaaS-like margins— and even SaaS-size exits.

Ultimately, I believe great DNVBs create products, services, and end-to-end experiences that provoke passion in a way that Amazon never can at their scale.

Nihar Neelakanti is an investor at Kauffman Fellows Fund, produces The Arena Podcast, and writes the Journal Newsletter by Kauffman Fellows. The firm's investments include Zoom, Carta, Tally, Groww, One Concern, and Catalog DNA. Previously, he was an analyst at Correlation Ventures, a venture firm out of San Francisco that has invested in notable consumer companies such as Casper, Cotopaxi, and Imperfect Produce. He also co-founded Vendima Bags, a direct-to-consumer luxury bag startup.

Join the conversation about this story »

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Foursquare president David Shim

David Shim sold his location-based measurement firm, Placed, to Foursquare in May with the goal of becoming a one-stop shop for advertisers' location data.
Shim talked to Business Insider about building the eight-year-old firm and having it acquired twice: Prior to selling the firm to Foursquare, he sold it to Snap for $135 million in 2017.
Shim credits Placed's focus on measurement and a "conservative" approach to advertising in helping his company weather a tough market for ad-tech companies as regulation and privacy concerns grow.
Click here for more BI Prime stories.

David Shim didn't want to work in advertising when he founded his measurement startup, but the firm has been acquired by two companies that are betting big on location-based ads.

In May, Foursquare acquired Placed, Shim's location-based measurement firm, as part of a $150 million round of funding led by The Raine Group.

The Foursquare acquisition is the second time Shim has sold his eight-year-old firm. In 2017, Snap acquired Placed for $135 million to help advertisers with attribution, a metric that tracks ad exposure with real-world purchases and foot traffic.

In January, Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck approached Snap to see if it would be interested in selling Placed. Snap had acquired Placed when it didn't have a self-serve advertising platform or its own first-party location data. According to Shim, Snap wasn't looking to sell Placed but asked if Shim would be interested in meeting with Glueck.

"They were transparent and [said], 'someone reached out — do you want to have this conversation?'" Shim said.

From there, Shim said it became clear that Foursquare could help Placed grow more and become part of Foursquare's tech stack for marketers.

"That got me really excited to say, 'If Placed were a company that was only focused on location data, where would I go?" he said. "The answer was Foursquare."

Snap facilitated further talks between Foursquare and Placed from January until the acquisition closed in June.

Shim is now Foursquare's president and is working on pitching advertisers on the combined company and its goal of being a one-stop shop to power all of a marketer's location data.

Shim stayed focused on solving measurement

According to Shim, Placed's single focus on solving the complex metric of attribution helped Placed weather the tough market of location tech firms that have struggled to stay profitable or pivoted their business into other areas.

"I want to build what web analytics did for the digital world for the physical world," Shim said.

39-year-old Shim founded Placed in 2011 after working in product and operation roles at Quantcast. At the time, sales of iPhones were gaining traction and he saw an opportunity to build a data business that used phones' built-in location features to understand consumer behavior.

One of his biggest challenges early on was convincing investors that people would be willing to give their permission to have their location tracked. Plus, a number of check-in apps like Gowalla, Foursquare, Google, and Facebook Places were already popular with consumers, and he didn't want to build another similar service.

So he built an app called Checkin King that allowed consumers to check-in to all of the services at the same time to aggregate all of the data together.

"I dove into a space where I thought there was no incumbent, there was no market at all," Shim said. "My biggest problem back in 2011 when I was raising funding was people were like 'people will never give you location data on an opt-in basis.'"

Shim then spent 18 months building out Placed's technology that used the data collected by the app to track the whereabouts of people who agreed to share their location without requiring consumers to check-in to locations.

By 2013, the firm had started working with retailers to find foot-traffic patterns around big shopping days like Black Friday.

But selling location data during slower shopping times of the year was tough. Shim said the sales cycle for location data ended up taking six to nine months and was typically based on specific campaigns that retailers were running as opposed to year-long deals.

"I was a little bit too ahead of the curve at the time because people didn't have use cases," Shim said. "I didn't want to go into advertising — I wanted to stay pure-play analytics."

In fact, Placed didn't hire a salesperson for the first two years. After a little nudging from investors and interest from advertisers, Placed started working with publishers and ad networks like Pandora and Millennial Media to measure the impact of advertising campaigns.

"I thought I had this organic demand, but I should have probably put more fuel on the fire — we were more conservative," he said.

Snap insulated Placed from ad-tech disruption

Shim said he didn't consider selling the company until he received an offer from Snap in 2017. But as the ad-tech industry got more crowded, it got harder for firms to differentiate themselves, and Snap allowed Placed to be "incubated outside of the ad-tech ecosystem," Shim said.

Placed raised $13.4 million before being acquired by Snap in 2017.

"If you look at the location space, there's been a lot of turbulence — you've seen a lot of people fall off," Shim said. "These companies are shrinking because the market doesn't want to fund some of these companies."

When Foursquare's Glueck approached Snap to see if it would be interested in selling Placed in January, Shim knew Glueck from working in the industry as a competitor. The two had met up for lunch in 2016 to talk about a possible merger that didn't work out.

Shim met with Glueck and Gary Little from The Raine Group (who is also a board member for Foursquare) to talk about the long-term plan for Foursquare and its $150 million round of funding.

Shim also personally invested "seven figures" into Foursquare, though he declined to say the exact amount that he invested.

"It wasn't just Foursquare wanting to buy Placed for the name or customer list," he said. "[It was about] being the single platform for location."

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unemployment

The US just got a big recession warning, with the spread between 2-year and 10-year federal debt falling below zero for the first time since 2007.
Using data from the OECD, we took a look at the history of recessions across the world.
The chart shows how harshly the Great Recession of 2007-2009 affected most countries.
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The US just got a big recession warning on Wednesday, with yields on longer-term federal debt dropping below yields on shorter-term debt.

That could cause panic for anyone who remembers the last time that happened: right before the Great Recession that began in 2007.

The following years saw massive amounts of economic chaos around the world. Throughout the fall of 2008, Wall Street shook as century-old investment banks were toppled amid a collapse of the overheated US housing market. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost every month, and the unemployment rate hit a high of 10% in October 2009. A decade later, the effects of the worst recession in generations is still being felt, with the labor market only recently coming close to a full recovery.

While a financial crisis and recession as severe as the last one remain unlikely, markets are now warning that economic turbulence could lie ahead.

The spread between 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields fell below zero for the first time since 2007. Normally, interest rates on short-term debt are lower than rates for longer-term debt, as the latter ties up capital for longer and is generally considered more risky and thus demanding of a higher return.

A reversal of that pattern is generally viewed by investors and economists as a bad sign for the economy going forward. Indeed, the yield curve inverted before each of the last seven US recessions.

To put the prospect of a recession in the US in perspective, we took a look at the history of recessions across the world. For our purposes, we used the technical definition of a recession as being two or more consecutive quarters of negative real GDP growth.

It's worth noting that the National Bureau of Economic Research, which establishes the official dates of recessions in the United States, takes a more holistic approach. According to the NBER website, they define a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales."

The chart below shows the history of technical recessions for each country tracked in the OECD's database of quarterly real GDP growth rates going back to 1960.

The impact of the Great Recession is clear, with most of the countries in the OECD database suffering from prolonged periods of economic contraction in those years. Argentina, which is facing economic headwinds after a surprise primary election result led to a 48% stock market crash on Monday, has been in a technical recession for about 23% of all quarters since the OECD's data for that country began in 1993.

On the flipside, as noted in a similar chart from HSBC in 2017, Australia has avoided a technical recession for nearly three decades.

Here's the chart illustrating technical recessions going back to 1960:

oecd technical recession chart

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jaleh bisharat

If you can't stop thinking about your business idea, that's a good sign that you should pursue it.
That's according to Jaleh Bisharat, founder and CEO of the clean beauty brand NakedPoppy. She previously worked in marketing at Amazon, Eventbrite, and OpenTable.
NakedPoppy also solved a problem that Bisharat had personally experienced: finding clean makeup products.
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Jaleh Bisharat never planned to start a company.

For over 25 years, she held executive roles at big-name organizations like Eventbrite and OpenTable. She was vice president of marketing at Amazon in the late 1990s.

But today, Bisharat is the cofounder and CEO of the clean beauty platform NakedPoppy, which makes it easier to find safe, sustainable beauty products, all algorithmically matched to your precise skin tone.

She and her cofounder, Kimberly Shenk, a data scientist and former Eventbrite colleague who has served in the US Air Force, closed a $4.1 million seed round, which they announced in July. The founders just released their first branded product, Naked Poppy Clean Liquid Eyeliner, in addition to the roughly 400 other products they offer on their site.

It didn't occur to Bisharat until 2016, after she'd left Eventbrite and was considering her next move, that she wanted to launch a clean beauty brand, featuring sustainable makeup products without harmful chemicals. "Where was nothing I wanted to work on more, even though I knew that it's really a lot of work to create a company out of thin air," she said.

From there, the decision to build the company was simple, she told Business Insider. Bisharat relied on the same signs that have guided many successful entrepreneurs before her: She kept thinking about her business plan and it was the perfect way to combine her personal and professional experiences.

"I couldn't let go of the idea," Bisharat said. "And I knew that meant something."

Bisharat zeroed in on the intersection of her personal interests and professional experience

Bisharat's idea for a clean beauty brand stemmed from her own struggles. She'd been using clean makeup and skincare products — "crunchy granola makeup brands," she called them in a blog post— for years already, but they weren't always easy to find. "NakedPoppy happened because of a real problem that, for me, had not been solved," she said.

And at that point in her career, Bisharat was well positioned to tackle the challenge. "NakedPoppy really is the intersection of my personal passion for clean beauty, for a more healthful way of living, with my professional background in e-commerce, technology, and brand building," she said.

Bisharat and Shenk created NakedPoppy to make the process of picking out makeup less time-consuming, and less overwhelming. To that end, customers fill out a questionnaire and send in a photo of their wrist, so an algorithm can find makeup that suits their skin tone. (There's also the option to choose products for yourself.)

NakedPoppy is designed to solve the problem Bisharat experienced for years

All NakedPoppy products are designed to have minimal environmental impact and have been vetted by scientists to have skin-safe ingredients. And the company has a patent pending on the online assessment that helps customers find flattering beauty products.

"NakedPoppy combines the highest standard for clean beauty with the curated personalized shopping experience that delivers recommendations like we've never seen before," Victoria Treyger, general partner at Felicis Ventures, which participated in the round, said in a statement.

If you can't get away from the idea, get going on the idea.

NakedPoppy's origin story recalls advice from Liz Wessel, founder and CEO of WayUp, which is a job platform for college students and early-stage professionals. Wessel previously told Business Insider, "If you can't do a good job at your job anymore because you're spending all of your time thinking about another job opportunity" — including being the founder of your own startup — "that's probably a good sign."

The fact that Bisharat has a personal connection to NakedPoppy may also bode well for the company's success. Some entrepreneurs think that founders who have firsthand experience with the problem they're trying to solve are more successful.

As Hint founder and CEO Kara Goldin previously told Business Insider, it's a question of stamina. "You start to lose interest if it isn't something that you really see is truly solving a problem for yourself or someone you really love."

Bisharat said it helped that she'd found an ideal cofounder in Shenk. It was that combination, Bisharat said, of obsessing over the business idea and "feeling like I had a cofounder and a partner in this that I knew would make it succeed."

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Adam Neumann, CEO of WeWork

WeWork CEO Adam Neumann has led the company since cofounding it in 2010. On Wednesday, WeWork's parent company, The We Company, released paperwork for its upcoming initial public offering.
The CEO coach and former venture capitalist Jerry Colonna told us CEOs who take their companies public must develop consistency of results from senior leadership, new ways of speaking with investors, and an ability to remain focused and calm under a constant barrage of attention and criticism.
Read all of BI's WeWork coverage here.
C-Suite Insider is a collection of exclusive interviews with leaders of the world's largest companies.
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Since cofounding WeWork in 2010, Adam Neumann has led the office coworking company, under the umbrella The We Company, to a valuation of $47 billion with 466,000 members across 28 countries.

And now he's about to take his company public.

The We Company released its S-1 prospectus on Wednesday ahead of an upcoming IPO. Not only will analysts and investors be poring over the firm's financials, but they'll also be assessing Neumann as the leader of a public company.

To get some insight into how the CEO role changes for a chief executive taking their company public, we spoke with the renowned CEO coach and former venture capitalist Jerry Colonna. Over his long career, Colonna helped develop the startup scene in New York City in the late 1990s alongside the investor Fred Wilson, worked in JPMorgan's private-equity branch, and has coached an estimated 500 CEOs.

Colonna did not want to specifically analyze Neumann, but his broad insights into taking companies public offer a glimpse into what Neumann will be up against. "Every single stage in a company's life requires a different skill set," Colonna told Business Insider. He said that as any company scales, its leadership must also evolve. Regardless of sector or age, going public presents its own unique challenges that must be overcome if CEOs want to keep their jobs.

Here are three things Colonna said all CEOs must do after taking their company public.

They need to build a senior leadership team that delivers consistent results.

The CEO of a company going public needs to build a support structure that provides stability, Colonna said. Shareholders of a public company need predictability, and the volatility that could be acceptable for a scaling startup won't fly.

When growing a startup, CEOs need to learn to delegate tasks to executives who are better suited to a specific function of the business. When that company goes public, each of these functions needs to have clear goals that the CEO can trust will be met.

This doesn't mean the company has to become boring, Colonna said, but the people in charge can't be loose cannons. For example, when Facebook's founding CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, prepared to scale Facebook, putting it on a path to its eventual IPO, he hired Sheryl Sandberg as his chief operating officer. Sandberg immediately became the staid operator who could deliver regular results to match Zuckerberg's ambition.

They need to adjust the way they speak with investors.

In some ways, investor pitches remain the same from the birth of a company through its maturation, Colonna said. Founders of companies need to convince people with capital that their money is worth giving up because it's going to pay off for both of them. But startup investors are much more in the market for drama and "moonshot" ideas.

"Early on, you want to communicate big dreams — but for public investors, you want to give real goals and stick to them," Colonna said.

Tech is known for eccentric founders with penchants for flowery words and unusual ideas, to the point that some of the language in The We Company's S-1 has been described as "cultish." Even if public investors roll their eyes at this behavior, the theatrics don't matter as much as the concrete plans that deliver actual results. Colonna stressed the importance of being transparent with investors about these plans and used Amazon's Jeff Bezos as a founder-CEO who masterfully managed expectations through its years of nonprofitability. His annual letters to shareholders are known for their thoroughness, and Bezos was able to assure investors that Amazon's ambitious growth would lead to tremendous rewards.

Importantly, going public means placing yourself under the eye of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some of the eccentric behavior and outrageous claims that were once acceptable (and maybe even inspirational to staff) can actually be illegal when performed or said by the CEO of a public company.

They need to develop a temperament able to withstand a constant barrage of attention and criticism.

When you take your company public, you're giving investors a look under the hood of your company. That's when the CEO becomes the figurehead for all that is good and bad. This brings with it a level of constant scrutiny of the CEO, "where every misstep is checked," Colonna said. It's crucial that those in the role understand this.

He said that while he did not know either of them personally, if you judge Bezos and Tesla's Elon Musk on this trait solely from the headlines they garner, Bezos is far less prone to engaging emotionally to criticism than Musk is. Once again, a CEO prone to lashing out in public brings unpredictability, which in turn brings volatility — two things most public investors don't want.

"I would argue if I were an investor in a public company, I would want in a public CEO the ability to not rise to the bait and respond," Colonna said.

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Joining a startup could either mean being a part of a successful company's growth (and benefiting financially and professionally) or a bad company's legacy.
We spoke with founders, human-resources experts, and startup hiring managers to gather the best questions you should be asking in a job interview to determine whether a startup is worth working for.
They mentioned bringing up runway, core values, company culture, and benefits as a way to vet a company's management, mission, and potential.
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Joining a startup could be the best career move you ever make — or the worst. That's because if you pick a winner and get in on the ground floor of what later becomes a successful company, you stand to reap substantial benefits, both financially and professionally. But if your radar is off and you sign on with a dud, the inverse is true — and it can take years to recover from the damages.

So how do you know when a company has potential? Is it all just luck whether you land at the next Facebook or become part of the often quoted statistic that says that around 90% of startups fail? Should you take the huge risk that's inherent in being part of launching a new venture?

The answer can be found in the types of questions you ask the startup's hiring team before making your decision. During the interview process, bring up the following questions to extract the information you need from the company's founders, managers, and employees.

What does this company's runway look like?

Understanding the concept of "runway" as it applies to startups should be one of your first orders of business when considering whether or not to join one. The blog Coding VC describes runway as "how long your company can survive if your income and expenses stay constant" and suggests that fledgling firms should have about 18 months of runway at the seed stage.

By asking about the startup's runway, you're in essence finding out how financially stable it is. If you learn that the company has only six months of runway, for example, that may indicate that layoffs could occur in less than a year if fundraising doesn't go as planned or the burn rate increases faster than projected.

ben mercer headshot Ben Mercer, who has worked in startups and also hired people for them as the cofounder of Personify XP, believes that asking about runway is the most important topic that a prospective staff member can home in on. "You want job security, and knowing that you may only have a few months before the startup goes bust may not be a risk that you want to take," Mercer said.

What are this company's core values?

If you feel assured about the startup's financial longevity, the next step is to probe into whether the organization seems like a good fit for you by asking about corporate values.

Pratibha Vuppuluri, who has more than a decade of experience in the financial-services industry and is the chief blogger at She Started It, emphasizes the importance of "asking questions that really matter to you" before joining a startup company to gain a clearer idea of whether or not you'll enjoy working there.

Mark Pacitti Headshot "For instance, you can ask questions about the core values of the company, about its mission and vision, as well as where does the company hope to be in five to 10 years," Vuppuluri said. "You may also ask questions like what are their career plans for their employees, what trainings do they offer, or what are their plans for you should you join them."

What is the company culture like?

Once you've determined that the organization's mission and values match your own, then it's critical to get an idea of what it might feel like to actually work there day in and day out (or as in the case of many startups, night after night). While you may glean some sense of the corporate culture simply by participating in an interview at their offices, drilling down on some specifics can assist you in gaining a broader picture of how employees experience life at this particular startup.

One major issue to explore in relation to startup culture is what the policy is in terms of working longer hours, since high expectations in this regard can quickly throw off your work-life balance. Lizzie Benton, a culture consultant at Liberty Mind who works alongside small to midsize enterprises to improve their company culture, believes that it's critical for candidates to ask the right questions so they truly understand the culture they're considering joining. "In regards to a startup culture, candidates should understand what may be demanded of them in these early stages," she said. "For example, ask questions such as: What support do you have in place to reduce burn out?"

What keeps you up at night?

By asking the founders, "What keeps you up at night?" you're attempting to drill down on the risks that key players may perceive on the horizon, according to Mark Pacitti, the founder and managing director of Woozle Research.

"Most, if not all, startup founders will be keenly aware of the obstacles or challenges that exist that might hinder their success," Pacitti said. "By asking this question, you can get an understanding of what the company believes their biggest risk is to success to help get a better understanding of how certain or uncertain the company's future may be."

Joey Price Hi Res headshot Pacitti added that while the types of risks that might keep a startup founder up at night come in all shapes and sizes, knowing whether a company believes money, execution, competitors, employees, and/or regulations are considered particular roadblocks to success could give candidates invaluable insight into how the CEO thinks about the future.

What compensation plan/benefits do you offer?

Everything is looking solid, and you're almost ready to accept the offer. Assuming that you know the salary band for the position, and it's acceptable to you, now it's time to get down to brass tacks and make sure that the total compensation package is one that you want — and negotiate if it isn't. At some startups, the benefits package may not be as competitive as it can be at larger, more established organizations, which is why many offer stock options as an extra incentive to come aboard.

Joey Price, who is the CEO of Jumpstart:HR, a human-resources outsourcing and consulting company for US-based small businesses and startups, noted the importance of asking about stock options. "Giving stock options to an employee who joins in on the early phases of a company is key because it ensures that employees have a stake in the company's performance," Price said. "Their value increases as they make the company better."

baron.hanson2 Along with discussing salary, benefits, and stock options, don't forget to tie in scheduling issues, keeping in mind what you learned earlier about the company's culture and support systems to reduce burnout. Baron Christopher Hanson, the lead consultant and owner of RedBaron Consulting LLC, suggests requesting, in writing, "an honest, straight-up answer about your ideal day and annual work schedule" that includes time off not only for vacation but also for family emergencies and rest. He also suggests requiring the employer to provide "crystal clear overtime, weekend, holiday, international time zone, and email/text response clauses" as part of your employment agreement.

You can use the questioning stage of your interview both to ensure that you really want the job and to avoid selling yourself short.

"Startups are notorious for trying to hire superstars on the cheap," Hanson said. "Typically people who have skills and passion, yet who are desperate for a job, don't ask too many questions, and are foolishly willing to start work without any written employment agreement."

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