Inc.com

Believe it or not, American politicians are starting to think like business people. And that's a good thing.

It's 1893. My great grandparents, after years of suffering persecution and hardships at the hands of the Cossacks in central Russia, gather all their belongings and, with no knowledge of English and fear for their lives, journey thousands of miles from their homeland to the United States. In 1933, my grandfather, suffering from the Great Depression, destitute in New York, resorts to theft in order to feed his family. By 1943, that same grandfather is drafted into the army, forced to leave his family, and faces death daily on the battlefields of Europe. In 1973, my parents, now trying to figure out how to live without gas and under high inflation, are still smarting from the memories of surviving the Cuban missile crisis, assassinations of presidents and civil rights leaders, race riots, and an unwanted war that threatens to involve them and their children.

In 2013, I'm upset because my flight out of Atlanta is 45 minutes late due to government budget cuts. Poor me!

The Sequester is Necessary

The U.S. budget is running a deficit of a trillion dollars a year. The national debt now exceeds the entire annual output, and is approaching Greek and Spanish levels. The spending by the government, as a percentage of gross domestic product, is at a historical high and is forecast to more than double in the next 20 years. The country potentially faces riots, deep austerity, high interest, and political upheaval like people in Europe are now experiencing. So to get things in order, U.S. leaders forced themselves into cutting government expenditures (not cutting the rate of growth mind you, but reducing costs) by about 2.5 percent this year to at least attempt to bring spending under control. And my generation, my lazy, over-privileged, self-indulgent, narcissist generation, whines and moans about the sacrifices. Waah!

But the sequester, which went into effect on March 1, is working, too. It is forcing the government to make hard choices and, like generations before, I'm being asked to make sacrifices. This is a good thing.

A Genuine Decrease in Federal Spending

For starters, the sequester is decreasing government spending. Even after talks about the balanced budget amendment, super-committees of Congress, late-night discussions at the White House, and nationally-televised presidential debates, no one came up with a "grand bargain," and given the current polarization in Washington, it's unlikely an agreement will be achieved at least in the next few years. But Washington leaders did have the foresight to require budget cuts, if nothing else could be agreed to. And so it happened. And like you, I'm now learning what it's like to live in a world where the government is actually spending less money each year, instead of piling on more debt.

Perfectly-Imperfect Spending Cuts

When the sequester was implemented, the law said that $1.2 trillion would need to be cut equally between parts of the government over a 10-year period. This was the fair thing at the time and necessary to get the bill passed. But, of course, that's not perfect. You can't equally spread the pain because there are some areas that can be cut more, and some that should be preserved. So now, two months later, the effects of those imperfections are playing out.

What kinds of imperfections? For example, the Federal Aviation Administration's decision last week to furlough air traffic controllers came under intense scrutiny. The air travel disruption was not only an inconvenience, but hurt business and commerce. Many cancer centers are also turning away patients because the law cut Medicare funding. Various federal departments, like the I.R.S., labor, parks, all announced that they would be forced to furlough employees and suspend or limit services for certain periods of time. Education programs like Head Start lost funding.

And, like any business owner who makes decisions and is unhappy with some of the consequences, the government is adjusting. Hearing the cries of the public and the media, it is taking action. For example, President Obama signed a measure March 27 that gave some agencies flexibility in applying cuts, and allowed the departments of agriculture, for instance, to avoid furloughs of meat plant inspectors. To resolve the airline crisis, for example, Congress passed a law that enabled the Federal Aviation Administration to use other funds set aside for grants to pay air traffic controllers. It's a temporary fix, but it's a start.

Let's Make Tough Choices, and Innovate

The great news is that sequestration began, which means something (however little) is being done to get the deficit under control. The amount of the cuts is not as important as the change in national attitude. The big question is now not should expenses be cut, but which ones. So now the government is forced into making the kinds of choices business people make every day. Should the Federal Aviation Authority get funding, or those cancer treatment centers? Is national defense more or less important than keeping the Liberty Bell open year around? Forfeit jobs at a military base, or fund Head Start education programs?

I don't know the answers to these questions. I have opinions. Everyone does. So now let's, as a country, make choices. Let's determine what's most important. This is painful, and difficult. But it's business, and the government doing what it has to do.

Is sequestration the way government should be doing business? Yes, it's exactly right. Can the process be made better? No. It's perfectly imperfect. No business person would find that unusual.

The entrepreneur and investor writes about why hardware is the new software.

The path to riches in Silicon Valley has, for decades, been paved with software.

But entrepreneurs and investors are now inching back towards hardware start-ups, writes Chris Dixon, Andreessen Horowitz investor, in a recent blog post. High start-up costs, lengthy start times, and complex manufacturing concerns long deterred entrepreneurs and investors from building a business around hardware.

But tangible technology is generating entrepreneurial energy thanks to its good performance on crowdfunding sites, the spread of tablets (which enables creators to build products that incorporate or are controlled by tablets), improved electric motors, and improved wireless connectivity, Dixon writes, citing Paul Graham.

“It’s going to be bigger than software in some ways, because what we saw with the software revolution was an efficiency play,” said Eric Klein, partner at Lemnos Labs, to Wired. “Everything became more efficient--how we do banking, just go industry by industry. That was in the digital world. Now imagine taking that same efficiency play and overlaying it in the physical world.”

Regular hardware start-up meetups that support would-be hardware entrepreneurs are on the rise in number of cities: San Francisco and New York, as well as Boston, Pittsburgh, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Melbourne, Stockholm, and Toronto, Wired reported. Hardware-oriented incubators and accelerators are hot on their heels, launching on both coasts in the U.S. and in China.

If you're thinking of starting a hardware company, Dixon had four key things to keep in mind, including B2B versus B2C customer acquisition and continued challenges with manufacturing.

One small business owner will pay employees to prove their loyalty runs more than skin deep.

One New York real estate company has mixed company loyalty and branding in a way most employees won’t soon forget--even if they wanted to.

Rapid Realty owner Anthony Lolli is offering employees who get a tattoo of the company logo--any size, anywhere on their body--a permanent 15 percent raise.

Even more shocking: 40 of Lolli’s employees have already taken him up on the offer, including one who’s only been with the company about a month.

“My wife was a little concerned but I said, you know what, it was the best commitment I could think of,” Anthony Tighe, proud bearer of a sizable new Rapid Realty shoulder tattoo, told CBS New York.

Lolli says he got the idea from a particularly committed employee who had already decided to get company branded without the financial incentive. In addition to the raise, Lolli springs for employees willing to get inked to do so, with some tattoos ringing in at as much as $300.

Lolli himself has yet get stamped but says he plans to do so.

While many employees said they felt the pay increase outweighed their reservations, Robert Trezza, the most recent employee to offer up some skin, stressed his allegiance to his employer over the raise.

“I think it’s a good opportunity to show commitment to a company that makes going to work fun every day,” Trezza told CBS New York.

Two of the most fraught relationships around: married couple, and start-up co-founders. Don't let that stop you.

If marriage were easy, then some 40 percent to 50 percent of first marriages, and 60 percent of second might not end in divorce. If starting a business were easy, then 50 percent of start-ups wouldn't fail within the first five years.

Combine the two and start a business with your spouse, and it would appear that the odds are certainly stacked against you.

Pros & Cons of Starting-up Together

But consider the advantages of starting a business with your partner. First, there's no one who knows you better, or who you trust more. Second, when you have a family, the flexibility of both you and your spouse being able to make your own schedule is priceless. And imagine the exhilarating feeling of building a truly amazing company together--there's really nothing like it.

Don't kid yourself, though; there are drawbacks, too. When you start a business together, all of your financial eggs are in one scary basket. It can be a challenge to separate business from personal, and of course, there's the dreaded power struggle over who is truly the "boss".

My husband Dave and I fell into entrerepeneurship. We had an extremely successful sponsored wedding that delivered advertisers millions of dollars of earned media. When the wedding was over, our sponsors wanted us to do it again. We couldn't get married again, so we took a leap and started a word-of-mouth marketing company, Likeable Media. That happy break grew into one of the leading social media agencies. It has been very exciting for us--and also very challenging for our marriage.

We spent the first year of our business in a constant power struggle. We argued and we grew resentful of one another. We forgot how to communicate. And this wasn't just in the office; it was coming home with us, too.

Fortunately, our communication improved. And even as our company grew so rapidly that we encountered many difficult challenges, we learned how to handle them much better than we would have in that first year.

Here are four ways we learned to work together to become happier co-founders and life partners:

1. Establish your roles.

When you aren't stepping on each others toes, you're much less likely to argue. Set clear and defined responsibilities in your business, and respect them. The more separate your roles are, the more you will appreciate your spouse's skillsets, and respect the work he does.

2. Set up rules.

Make rules for your communication, and how you'll handle work-life balance. Different rules work for different partners. You may decide not to talk about business after 7 PM, or commit to CCing each other on important emails. It's necessary to articulate what you both want and need.

3. Be okay with losing sometimes.

Did you ever hear the saying, it's better to be happy than right? You and your partner will disagree on things, and I can promise you that you won't each get the outcome you want every time that happens. That's okay. Let your partner have the deciding vote on the things that he is clearly most passionate about. You'll be far more likely to have his support next time.

4. Be #inittogether.

No matter what, you must promise each other that your relationship's health comes first. Approach your business as a team and you'll be infinitely stronger. Consider having a code word or something to remind yourselves of this when you're feeling particularly stressed out. Dave and I, social media nerds that we are, use #inittogether as a reminder that we are, in fact, in it all together.

What secrets do you have for running a business with your spouse? Write them in the comments below.

Forget about the Benjamins: In two months, e-hailing taxicab apps Uber and Hailo will process payments, New York City promises.

It's official: approved app-makers can legally connect cab drivers with passengers in New York City. And by July, they'll be able to process payments for NYC's iconic yellow taxicabs.

Just days after New York City announced it would allow Uber's app to be used to hail yellow cabs, a deputy commissioner of the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission said that additional taxi-hailing apps are likely to be approved. What's more important: Taxi passengers who've electronically hailed their rides will be able to pay through their smartphones.

“In 60 days you'll be able to hail and pay for your ride with your smartphone,” said Ashwini Chhabra, deputy commissioner of policy and planning for the TLC.

The city's initial announcement this week said that Uber, a ride-hailing app that already allowed smartphone users to hail and pay for rides in private sedans, electric vehicles, and SUVs, was the only application approved for NYC taxi e-hail. Uber's taxi-hailing capability launched Tuesday in New York. Chhabra announced Wednesday that Hailo--whose CEO sat on a panel alongside Chaabra at the Disrupt NYC conference--is currently under review by the TLC, and would likely be approved within hours ("days, at most," he said).

“In a couple hours we will be part of the taxi industry,” said Hailo founder and CEO Jay Bregman.

Indeed, by late Wednesday afternoon, the TLC approved Hailo as a participant in its e-hail pilot program.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday in a statement: "Adding safe and regulated e-hail service is the latest in our administration’s efforts to use innovative technology to improve taxi service."

While both Bregman and Chhabra expressed Wednesday their feeling that the e-payment agreement between ride-hailing companies and the city is “historic news,” no one on stage--especially Sunil Paul, the founder of SideCar, which just days ago had a private driver's car impounded in New York City--seemed proud of how lengthy and fraught the approval process has been.

“We shouldn't stand up here and take any bows,” Chhabra said, noting that Uber is a three-year-old company now, and Hailo has been operational in London since 2011. Hailo, which has more than $50 million in venture capital, already operates in five major cities. New York City isn't exactly used to being a late-adopter of technology. “The fact that it's 2013 and you can finally e-hail a taxi is not something to be proud of.”

Uber briefly tested yellow cab e-hailing in New York City last year, before having its efforts shut down, and Hailo has been recruiting a network of drivers for months. After a series of setbacks and false starts for e-hailing over the past two years, the latest pause button was a lawsuit in February by groups of black-sedan and limo companies saying e-hail for taxis threatened the livery cab business. A judge dismissed that suit this week.

“I'll be the first regulator to stand up here and say whatever the entrepreneurs and disruptors are doing you are going to be moving faster and farther than the bureaucrats and legislators,” Chhabra said.

Bregman added: "There is this dance we have to do together, but [start-ups and governments] do have to work together."

This article was updated at 4:55 p.m. May 1, 2013, to reflect the TLC's approval of Hailo to operate in New York City.

The answer can change everything, from how fast you can sell to how much you can sell for.

Small business owners have many different reasons for selling their companies. For some, a business sale is the logical conclusion of a long and successful entrepreneurial career. But for the others, the sale may be motivated by a personal or family crisis, a new business opportunity or an unexpected change in business conditions.

It turns out that these motivations play a very important role in the sales process. That's because business sales are strategic transactions, and the shape and outcome of your sale will inevitably be influenced by your sale motivations.

To establish a solid foundation for a successful business exit, your first step is to identify the factors that have led you to sell your company. In fact, when you meet with an experienced business broker, it's typically the first question they'll ask.

Your answer must be honest, sincere, and thoughtful. Indeed, as I will cover shortly, if you don't fully understand why you are selling your company, you're likely to make costly mistakes as you move forward in the selling process.

Define Sale Motivations and Preferred Outcomes

Nearly all sellers are interested in receiving the best possible price for their businesses. But obtaining a high sales price is not the only priority when selling a company. In most cases, sellers are also concerned about the timing of the sale, the future health of their company, and how the business sale will impact their lives going forward.

What's critically important to understand is that it is a seller's motivations to exit a business that define the relative importance of these outcomes.

For example, it's not uncommon for some business owners to want a fast sale with an immediate departure from the company. Motivations that drive a desire for a rapid exit include owner burnout, the death or acute illness of a business owner or leader, or ownership's awareness that significant effort lies ahead to ensure the company's future prospects due to anticipated changes in the market. A seller with these motivations may be willing to sell to the first qualified buyer who comes along. They may also be willing to accept a modest sale price, rather than holding out for a higher offer.

Other sellers, in contrast, take a much slower pace to the exit door. They have no urgent need to sell and they may be motivated to remain involved with the company over the long-term. Their primary motivation may be simply to take some money off the table for future retirement, securing a payoff on the blood, sweat and tears they've put into building up their company over the years.

Motivated to stay involved in the company and to see their legacy remain strong, such sellers may still be willing to work as a consultant to the new owner for a period of time after the sale. Moreover, knowing that they will stay involved in the company, these patient sellers are typically more willing to finance a portion of the sale price. That's a markedly different approach than that of impatient sellers who want to quickly sever ties with the business and, thus, usually prefer an all-cash payoff at closing...even if it means a lower overall price.

As you've read through the scenarios above, you may have noticed something. Sellers' motivations for selling have a direct impact on their expectations for the sale and on their desired terms for the transaction. This fact is not lost on prospective buyers who are quick, and wise, to ask "Why is the owner selling?"--the answer, assuming it's honest, is a key piece of intelligence that influences how the buyer will structure their offer.

The key takeaway here is that when you are considering your preferred sale outcomes, it's important to address your motivations and assess their implications across several key sale transaction attributes:

• Desired sale price relative to the marketplace
• Preferred sale timeline
• Involvement after the sale (immediate departure vs. ongoing involvement)
• Seller-financing vs. all-cash payoff
• Disruption to clients and employees

By carefully defining your motivations and listing the outcomes that are important to you, you can help your business broker define the variables that will shape your sale strategy. Based on their experience from shepherding numerous deals across the finish line, your business broker will also help further educate you on how your motivations will impact your sales strategy and likely sales outcome.

Identifying Potential Conflicts

Unfortunately, after completing the exercise outlined above, most sellers discover that one or more of their motivations and desired sales outcomes are in conflict. For example, although it would be nice to achieve an immediate, all-cash sale at a high selling price, it's unlikely that the marketplace will enable both of those desired outcomes.

Any number of conflicting priorities can potentially derail the success of your business sale. But some of the most common conflicts include:

• Fast Sale and a High Price with an All-Cash Payoff. Unless the business has superstar status, a quick sale often requires a discounted sale price and seller financing, especially since third-party financing takes time to secure and almost always slows down the process. Sensing a seller's urgency, buyers are apt to offer a lower price and be more aggressive on the deal's terms and conditions.

• High Price and an Immediate Departure. When the seller wants to immediately depart the company, it can raise flags with buyers and lead them to make a lower offer. To secure a high sale price, sellers have to be prepared to help the buyer during the transition period. Indeed, when owners stick around to help a new owner, their "consulting fee" is often added in as part of the sale price. When the consulting isn't there, the price is appropriately discounted. Alternatively, some buyers pay the owner a separate fee for consulting, which effectively raises the overall value of the transaction. Note, however, that this conflict doesn't always exist. Some buyers may want the former owner to move on quickly so that they can take charge as they see fit and be instantly seen by employees and customers as the new leader.

• High Price and Minimal Disruption to the Existing Business. By placing conditions on the sale (e.g. that it will remain in its current location, keep key employees or maintain its current business configuration), the seller limits business opportunities for the buyer and drives down the sale price.

Prioritize Your Desired Outcomes

After you have defined your sale motivations and identified possible conflicts, the final step is to resolve conflicts by prioritizing the desired outcomes that are most important to you. Sellers often compile a ranked list of priorities that informs the development of their sale strategies, aligning their market approach with non-negotiable goals and motivations.

Brokers play an important role in helping sellers mitigate conflicts and achieve the best possible sale outcomes. In many cases, the most effective strategy for eliminating all conflicts is to engage in pre-sale preparation in anticipation of a future sale. With adequate time for planning and preparation, it's possible to reconcile conflicting motivations and sale priorities.

Researcher Linda Stone says 80% of us suffer from so-called email apnea. That quelches our creativity and can contribute to stress-related diseases.

Your inbox may be causing you more stress than you realize.

According to Linda Stone, a former Microsoft researcher and tech executive, some 80% of people either hold their breath or breathe shallowly as they work through their email. She uses the term email apnea to describe this.

That disruption in your breathing is a pretty big deal. Holding your breath alters the level of oxygen in your system, triggering that familiar fight-or-flight response and contributing to stress-related diseases. It’s also not, as you might imagine, the most productive or creative state to be in.

“It isn’t email that is making us crazy. It’s how we’re doing email that is making us crazy,” says Stone. “If we were all driving with no speed limits and no stop signs, there would be chaos. That’s how I think about how many of us are doing email.”

How can you avoid email madness, and the fight-or-flight state it produces? Stone has six tips.

Exhale. One of the easiest ways to get out of fight-or-flight? Exhale.

Re-think your day. The more Stone enjoys what she’s doing, she says, the more relaxed she is and the better her thinking flows. Often, she just needs to take something off her to-do list to get into a better frame of mind.

Ask yourself questions such as, “How do I feel? Have I exhaled lately?” Says Stone, "If you’re not sure how you feel, it’s time to get up and walk away from the computer--and your email!"

Set stop signs. You can set stop signs on your own personal information highway by setting expectations and sticking to them. If you only answer email a few times a day, eventually, people will stop expecting you to be available at a moment’s notice. But only if you stick to your guns. Similarly, if you’re going on vacation, you can let correspondents know (nicely) that you’ll be deleting any emails received during that time (Journalist Lauren Young calls this email bankruptcy.)

Set speed limits. Speed limits refer to “how” we’re doing email. Here, the driver has discretion. If you’re checking your email the minute you wake up, bringing your smartphone into the bathroom, and glancing at your phone at every stop light, you need to give yourself a minute to breathe--literally.

Try a heart rate variability monitor. Stone often clips one of these to her ear to become more conscious of the relationship between her mind and body. Multicolored lights give the wearer visual cues about the state of his or her nervous system.

Stone reminds us that in the 1800s, attention was defined not only as what we chose to focus on, but also as what we chose to exclude. Since then, we seem to have forgotten the part about what to exclude. “Are we being tyrannical with ourselves or are we being reasonable?” Stone asks. “And are we breathing?”

Like this post? Sign up for the free One Thing New email newsletter.

Here's what doesn't work and here are tips and strategic models in content marketing that do.

The Altimeter Group recently surveyed 78 subjects from enterprise brands, marketing agencies and content service providers to discover trends in content strategy models and content marketing tactics for the enterprise space. Here are a few highlights from the Altimeter Group Slideshare Presentation, the entirety of which is embedded at the end of this article.

Scaling Content is the No. 1 Challenge

According to the survey, the average organization is responsible for meeting the content demands of an average of 178 social media properties, in addition to owned media properties and events. Respondents reported that it's difficult not only to satisfy the large volume of content, but also to keep up with the technical requirements related to design, user experience, production and technology. These goals cannot be achieved with a content creation plan that consists primarily of hiring a journalist.

Enterprise Content Responsibility is Siloed

Attempts to satisfy the problem of creating content at scale has led brands to demand content from almost every business unit. This has led to a fragmented strategy that results in wide variations in voice, tone, brand, messaging and customer experience. This issue in particular has led to the conclusion that brands must organize and prepare for content to satisfy demand and maintain brand standards.

Content Development Delegation to the Untrained and Inexperienced

Most organizations in the study delegated content marketing tasks to current employees who are busy and not trained or experienced in content marketing. These employees also lack strategic oversight or incentives to create content that meets brand standards. This continues to happen, even as content marketing budgets are increased every year.

The Essential Elements for Enterprise Content Marketing

The survey uncovered seven essential areas of focus that enterprise organizations must maintain to satisfy quality content development at scale.

Strategy

Centralized strategic alignment of processes, objectives, tools, technologies, staff and partners.

Authority/Management

Executive or governing body accountability to content initiatives.

Staff

Provide staff members with the proper training and tools to get the job done effectively and professionally.

Measurement

The managing authority must continually measure and report on KPIs meaningful to content marketing goals.

Audit

Maintain regular content audits to track content outlets, maintain strategic cohesiveness and avoid duplication.

Unified Guidelines and Playbooks

Maintain editorial calendars, workflows, content governance and brand style guidelines to maintain voice, tone and messaging that is relevant to target personas.

Training

A strong educational effort must be made to bring employees up to speed, as most employees who are expected to contribute to content development have little or no experience in this area.

The remainder of the slide deck explores various organizational models for content orchestration. These models, taken from survey respondents' organizations, can provide anecdotes and strategic insights helpful to shaping an enterprise content marketing strategy. A recommendations checklist is also provided to help guide enterprise marketers through the various components that will ultimately set the stage for success. You can also find content creation tips & guidelines in the Enterprise Blog Optimization Guide.

Using the concepts and ideas in this slide deck can help you and your organization produce shareable and engaging content--and for the enterprise, engagement is essential.

PR excels at messaging, but advertising focuses on results. So where does that leave your social media marketing?

Who manages your company’s social media?

The social world for marketers remains a space where rules are yet to be written. But whether you think of social media as PR or marketing matters: It changes the tenor and the implications of your interactions, not to mention what you get out of them.

Most companies view their social efforts as a form of PR, thanks to the dynamic nature of the interaction between their brand and consumers. But as social media objectives evolve from "creating buzz" to delivering return, it’s important to view social media through the lens of what you want to accomplish to determine who on your team should own your social media efforts.

The PR argument is simple. Social media is a real-time, open dialog between company and customers. This environment requires the kind of rapid turnaround and message controls that PR groups excel at. PR knows how to stay on message and manage a diverse group of stakeholders to deliver a message across a variety of touchpoints. They have the press and media relationships to make sure the message spreads more organically. And PR knows how to conduct damage control when this all goes horribly wrong, which it inevitably does at times. Clearly this is a PR function…

…But not so fast. Social media is maturing, evolving quickly from just a place to communicate to an environment that can help sell and inform messaging. Many people “like” and follow companies not to be part of a community, but to stay connected to products, promotions and developments. For instance, while they have a huge Facebook audience, few people “like” Charmin on Facebook to share their thoughts on toilet paper usage. The real interaction is around sweepstakes and promotions that drive activation. Increasing business investment in social media is coming in conjunction with new capabilities that enable tracking through conversion. That’s clearly an advertising metric.

So the argument for viewing social media as a form of advertising is simple: Advertising is far more connected to day-to-day business strategy and the objectives associated with specific products and services. Advertisers are focused more on achieving measurable results and meeting actual sales goals. As investment in social increases, return on investment will become an increasingly important metric. And social media will need to be closely aligned with product news, promotional offers and customer segmentation to drive real success. In other words, the expertise required for future tangible social success clearly lies with the advertising team.

So what’s the right answer for your company? It really comes down to what you are looking to accomplish in social in the first place. The best way to decide is to look at the goals you use to define success. Are share of conversation, buzz generated or customer care metrics the ideal measures of success? If so, your efforts may be more PR oriented. But if you look ahead and see social playing a greater role in generating response, sales and other metrics that you would typically associate with advertising, then you’re thinking of social as advertising and should be developing plans, metrics and messages as part of your overall marketing communications efforts.

Sure, you can find out what your candidate was like five years ago. But maybe you shouldn't care.

Back when I had just finished my master's degree and I was on the "real" job market for the very first time I landed an interview with a law firm. (My MA is in political science with an emphasis in statistical methodology and judicial politics. Yeah, I know.) Midway through the interview, as they explained the details of the job, I blurted out: "Doesn't that get really boring?"

Crickets.

You'll be shocked to find out that I didn't get the job. But, because I didn't write this up and post it on the Internet and badmouth the law firm, until this very moment, this mistake of mine is only remembered by me in those moments when my brain inexplicably brings up embarrassing moments just to keep me humble.

But, it was a dumb mistake. Everyone who has made a dumb mistake, please raise your hand! Everyone's hand up? Yep. We've all done it.

And so, when we search Facebook and Twitter and Google names and look at old newspaper accounts of when people were in college, we find out about these dumb mistakes. It colors our perceptions of candidates. It's all right at our fingertips, and sometimes we reject candidates based on what we find.

Should we? If you subjected yourself to the same level of scrutiny that you subject your job candidates to, would you pass the test? What if your youthful indiscretions were still frozen on the Internet?

We're definitely hurting individuals by not allowing them to move on from their pasts, but are we hurting our businesses as well? Former HR executive and current genealogist Kerry Scott recently shared the story one of her relatives, who served time in prison for forgery and fraud. After being released, he moved and was able to start over. She writes:

Whatever this guy did in his younger years, he clearly pulled it together after his prison stint. He moved west, got married, and got a job. He raised a son who grew up to be a well-respected judge. He made his mistakes, and then he rebooted his life and did better. 100 years ago that was doable.

I wonder how a guy like that would have fared today. In 2013, those newspaper articles would have come up every single time he applied for a job. That wife would have Googled and found his history before the first date. That son who was a judge would have had his opponents digging up this dirt every time he ran for office. America is full of stories of people reinventing themselves, but nowadays, I wonder if that's even possible. Your old high school friends post photos of you on Facebook. People you knew 15 years ago post old inside jokes you don't even remember on your timeline. Your speeding tickets, your divorce, the roommate you had for six months a couple of decades ago...it's all online. Hiding from your past is increasingly hard to do, even if your past doesn't involve prison time.

Now, I caution everyone out there to take control of their online profile. Only post things on the Internet that you will stand behind, even if you think you're posting anonymously. But, when you're hiring, stop and think--am I judging this whole person based on a Facebook post? Why am I doing that? Is this person truly a bad person, or just someone who made a mistake?

Like everyone else has.

Sure, you're a great leader and you always ask for feedback. But there are three mistakes you're making that nobody has the guts to tell you about.

Given the ubiquity these days of 360 assessments, rounded feedback, and executive coaching, you'd think that there would be little room for unexposed flaws in a business leader.

You'd be wrong.

Due to a combination of taboo, sensitivity, and downright fear, there are many things that business leaders screw up regularly, and which they rarely get called on--however open, honest and transparent the company culture.

Here are the three subjects which I see business leaders most commonly screw up on, without anyone ever telling them:

Family. Whether it's harmless Uncle Joe who has managed the warehouse since time immemorial; the brash son-in-low Juan who thinks he's god's gift to sales; the niece Effie who passive-aggressively rules the roost in accounting; or your spouse who has a de facto veto over every and any decision of import: whoever it is, you can bet no-one has told you straight just how horrendously incompetent your family's contributions to the business are.

Of course, this doesn't apply to you, because you know your family members are doing a bang-up job. Which, of course, is why no-one dares tell you the truth.

Arrogance. There is one trait that assessments and other tools seem to rarely catch in a leader: arrogance.

Its near-cousins, "Aggressiveness" and "Drive" often make an appearance, but rarely does a 360 report state the truth. You're an arrogant son-of-a-(let's say)-gun. Maybe it's the bare-facedness of the word, the force of it, the implication that not only are you this thing, but I don't like you for it, that makes people turn away from using it.

Being aggressive or driven can be interpreted positively, as attributes that help one succeed. Being arrogant is pretty much an out and out negative, which is why so few people will say it to your face.

Worried this might be you? That what you think of as aggressiveness and drive is actually arrogance? Just ask a few people, "Am I arrogant?" If you are, they won't need to say anything--their face will tell you all you need to know.

Over-staying. You sit around in meetings way longer than you should. After a certain point, your team would really prefer you to leave and let them get on with it. You remain stolidly attached to a certain project long after it has any real hope of being successful. Because you grew up in sales, you still manage every sales meeting yourself. Or, perhaps, you simply won't vacate the seat you're in and let a younger, or more qualified person take it.

Nobody ever tells leaders when they are overstaying their welcome. (And not just in small and medium-sized businesses, either--corporate America is rife with boards that don't have what it takes to push out directors and CEO's who are long past their sell-by date).

Don't be that leader. Watch for glassy eyes--the more people glaze over when you talk, the more likely it is that you're not contributing much anymore.

Oh, and one last tip: The people who will most quickly tell you you've overstayed your welcome in the business? Those incompetent family members. Ironic, huh?

Download a free chapter from the author's book, "The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success" which provides a comprehensive model for developing yourself or others as an exceptional, world class leader.

Now's the time to revisit the basics of your business, tune up operations, improve customer relations, and clear out any cobwebs.

When e-commerce company Groove Commerce sent over a list of spring cleaning items to tune up an online marketing strategy, it sounded like a fine thing to do. So I've taken some of their points and added a few others.

Why a spring cleaning? Because sometimes you need to shake the dust loose and examine routines that have become habitual. By doing so, you can see if there's anything needing correction or improvement. It may stop everyone from working like automatons and your customers from responding in kind. Let's start with the e-commerce selections from Groove and then move into other areas.

E-commerce

• Switch up email acquisition--Did you spend the winter growing your subscriber base? Then consider trying some work to extend customer loyalty. Concentrate on deals and specials? Maybe it's time to draw them into your social networks. This might keep customers from falling into automatic responses to campaigns that may be lulling them to sleep.
• Evaluate cross selling and add-on tactics--Suggesting additional products, either directly connected to what people buy or others that are related or complementary, is important in sales. Now is the time to revisit your choices and the effectiveness they had with customers.
• Check your links--This goes well beyond your main site and extends into emails, newsletters, and other marketing collateral. The inevitable shifts in page structures and URLs can send people to page-not-found messages. Find the errors before your customer.
• Set up advanced analytics functions--If you haven't expanded your use of Google Analytics, or whatever other packages you may use, then you're leaving important data on the table. See how people come onto your site, where they head, and what tends to be the last thing they see before leaving.

Customer relations

• Check your customer lists--Customer information can quickly go bad as people move, change email providers, and otherwise change their habits. Check the National Change of Address (NCOA) database to see if you still know where they live. Are the email addresses you have still good? When was the last time you heard from a customer?
• Run a customer satisfaction survey--If people aren't happy, they're more likely to disappear than to let you know something is wrong. So find out how you're doing and see where you might strengthen operations.
• Do some analysis--It's good to have customers, but not all of them will have the same value to you. Run an analysis to see which of them have the best lifetime customer value, who have been the heavy spenders of late, and, as importantly, which ones are expensive to maintain. Know who's being coddled and who might strengthen your business by leaving and ordering from a competitor.
• And do some segmentation--Once you can classify customers, see what, if anything, they have in common. Can you notice any patterns that might help you identify other top customers? Might there be things you could do to edge decent customers into the best performer category?

Operations

• Ask employees what is wrong--You may know your business from one view, but those on the daily firing line are more likely to see things that might becoming tripping points. Make sure that they understand you want to hear bad news and that no messengers will be injured in the process.
• Competitive comparison--How do your products and services compare to those of your competitors. Revisit the question, as rivals may have improved things on their end. Be objective, as now is not the time to save face. You're better off saving sales.
• Business partner plans--When's the last time you caught up with business partners, vendors and suppliers, and your distribution chain? Have conversations with the major players to see how relationships look from their end and whether they are making moves that might affect your company.
• Vet your expenses--Now is also a good time to review utilities, phones, shipping, and any other services you have for your business. Are there changes you need or options you should consider? Can you get better pricing?

Too much on the list? Then pick a few things that might make the biggest difference to your business. And remember, if you don't get it all done for spring, keep going. It's never too late to improve your company.

It doesn't matter when you plan to sell your company. Do these five things, today, to get at better valuation at the finish line.

It doesn’t matter if you want to sell your company next year, in five years, or in 10 years or more. No matter your time frame, there are five things you need to put in place, right now, to maximize your company’s value at the finish line. These issues really are critical: in every case, I’ve seen a promising deal completely derailed because one of these five things was missing.

Clean Financial Statements

“Clean” financial statements doesn’t just mean that all the numbers add up and you know you can make payroll. Buyers are expecting detailed forecasts, budgets based on those forecasts, and a quality of earnings report that validates your EBITDA calculations.

At a minimum, you need to clean up your balance sheet, look for operating slack and take out any personal expenses that have been running through the company. There are even firms that specialize in placing temporary-CFO types in companies preparing for sale, specifically to manage this process. We regularly hire these services to get a seller’s finances ready for detailed inspection by prospective buyers. Having great financials keeps the sales process moving smoothly. The reverse causes all kinds of delays, leading to deal fatigue on both sides and less likelihood of a successful closing.

The single biggest problem I see is that buyers want to look at each individual product or service that you provide and calculate the contribution that element of the company makes to the overall business. Many companies just aren’t collecting data and keeping records at that level of detail. Take a look at your financials through a buyer’s eyes, and make sure that you collect and analyze data the way an acquirer will.

A Solid Management Team

Some sellers think that because the buyer is taking over ownership, they’re also taking over management, making the current management team irrelevant. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Financial buyers, like venture capital funds and private equity groups, are in the business of investing in companies, not running them. They might bring in some seasoned experts to add value to your board of directors, or provide a professional sales executive if you don’t have one, but they’re not going to jump in and immediately take over the reins.

Strategic acquirers feel the same way. They need your current management to help transition your company and integrate it with theirs. If your top management wants to walk away, you should have successors groomed, in place, and ready to take over with a minimum of disruption. An ideal selling company has a deep executive bench, comprised of competent professionals who know how to work together as a team.

A Clear Strategic Focus

This is what Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last, calls a BHAG: a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. His research found that companies with a very clear focus on the value-add they bring to their industry far outperform the competition. It should be no surprise, then, that those companies are worth significantly more to buyers, as well. If it’s important to the company’s health and growth to explore a new strategic direction--for example, to try selling your sporting gear directly to consumers rather than exclusively to wholesalers--then go for it, but don’t try to sell your company at the same time. Buyers love a stable business plan that has been historically successful and is positioned to continue being profitable in the future.

A Broad Customer Spread

Customer concentration is a big turn-off for buyers. My heart sinks when a company owner shows me great revenue numbers and then tells me that 90% of that money is tied up in a government contract. Even the most risk-tolerant of buyers doesn’t want to take a chance that the company’s revenue could virtually dry up overnight. If more than a third of your profits come from one customer, or one closely-related group of customers, you need to implement strategies to expand.

Know Your Personal and Financial Goals

Out of nowhere, a buyer offers you a check for $42 million. That’s a huge amount of money, but a comparable company in your space just sold for $53 million, and you got a valuation recently that says you’re worth $48 million. But making judgments about buyers’ offers based on emotion or incomplete data isn’t productive. The harsh truth is that until you have a willing buyer in front of you, the value of your company in the marketplace is exactly zero. That’s just one reason it can be really useful to sit down with a wealth management professional to clarify exactly what you want out of a sale--whether it’s a yacht or money for starting your next company or enough of a trust fund that even your great-grandchildren will be able to go to the college of their choice--and how much money it will take to get there. Then, with your motivations and priorities clear, and with everything else I’ve described in place, you’ll be in the best position to make a successful and profitable sale.

Giving away products and services may sound like a bad business strategy, but there are times when it's the smart thing to do.

No matter who you are or what your company does, you've been asked to give your product away for free. Charities, reviewers, bloggers, potential customers, and just about everyone else think they're entitled to a sample or a supply of whatever it is you sell, and they aren't shy about asking.

This is a dilemma we at the American Society of Journalists and Authors grapple with often, since no one gets asked to provide their products for free more often than a professional writer. Say yes all the time, and you're likely to go bankrupt. Say no all the time and you may be missing important opportunities to reach new customers. How do you determine when and whether to agree to a free product request?

Consider the following questions:

1. Will giving away this freebie threaten your profitability?

If you can't afford to give your product away and stay financially healthy, don't do it, not even in pursuit of lucrative new business. "We're going to be your best customer," may sound like an appealing promise, but unless that promise is backed up by some sort of contract, you should recognize it for the uncertain prospect that it is.

2. Will you get something valuable in return?

Barter, whether as part of a formal barter exchange or informally, is one of the best reasons to give a product away. What you get back might be products or services your company needs, or specific promotional consideration. Would you be willing to donate your bakery's goods to the local high school team's bake sale? Sure--in exchange for being officially named as a team sponsor and having table signs promoting your bakery prominently displayed. You're being asked to give something of value, so don't be afraid to request something valuable in return.

And do think outside the box. I just spent a few nights at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, site of the 2013 ASJA annual conference. The hotel normally charges for its WiFi, but gives it away for free to guests who download its mobile app onto their smartphones or tablets. The guests get something they want, and the hotel does too.

3. Will this meaningfully help raise your company's profile?

Promotional value can be a good reason to give your product away. This is distinct from the exchange of goods for promotion. A classic example might be sending your product to a blogger or reviewer. You likely won't get a promise of a good review, or even a review at all. But if giving the blogger the opportunity to try your product means there's the prospect of a review where there wouldn't have been one otherwise, it may be well worth it.

But make sure you do it the right way. First, make sure the reviewer in question really does reach a substantial audience of your potential customers. The reviewer or his or her organization should have statistics or other material to show that that's the case. Also, don't send your product willy-nilly into the wilderness; instead ask if the reviewer would be interested in receiving it, and don't waste freebies on those who don't respond. (If you're working with a public relations firm, follow their advice about this.)

4. Is it the right thing to do?

There are many cases where giving your procuct away for free can help someone in need, support a cause you believe in, or both. If that's the case, and you can answer no to question 1, then that's always a good enough reason to give it away, even if you don't get something of equal value in return.

But be selective. If you try to support every good cause, you really will go bankrupt, so choose those that truly align with your company's values.

Make no mistake: The short-term thinking behind the flight controller fix indicates trouble ahead for businesses.

If you've spent hours waiting on a tarmac recently, you might be cheering the news that Washington is ending the shortages of flight controllers caused by sequestration.

Dig a little deeper though, and this short-term fix shows just how messed up our government has become. Unfortunately, that's especially bad news for entrepreneurs.

First, some quick background. In 2011, Congress and President Obama worked out a budget deal with a doomsday provision: $1.2 trillion in looming federal cuts. The idea was that these looming, drastic cuts would spur both sides to act. Of course, neither side did anything to avert the crisis, and in March, the measure that was supposed to be unthinkable, "didn't just become 'thinkable.' It actually became the law."

Among the results: the Federal Aviation Administration furloughed 10 percent of its flight controller workforce. That led to long flight delays, and that led Congress to decide to act.

If you're flying over the next few weeks, you probably won't have to wait as long. That's great! But, the whole episode shows how short-sighted, unpredictable, and flat-out flailing our government has become, and that's much worse. Whether you agree with a particular government policy or not, governing stability is an entrepreneur's ally, and we're just not getting it.

So, here are five things to think about when you're waiting for your next flight:

1. Flying is special in Congress.

Imagine you're a member of Congress representing a district in, say, Texas, Oregon, California, or even someplace in New England--anywhere more than a few hundred miles from Washington. No matter how little you may have in common with some of your fellow officials politically, you all share one thing:

You spend a ton of time on airplanes.

Roughly 500 senators and congressmen waiting extra hours in airports every week just wasn't going to happen. Congress might not be able to move on gun control, immigration reform, or the budget. But as CBS's Margaret Brennan pointed out, they ended the delays, "just in time to catch their own flights out of town for spring vacation."

2. A few weeks counts as long-term thinking.

This flight controller problem didn't come out of nowhere. In fact, a very wise columnist listed it back in February as number four out of six reasons why you should care about the sequester.

This shouldn't be surprising, considering that sequester was born out of brinkmanship, and that our government has spent the last year or so narrowly averting one looming shutdown after another. But maybe it would be a good idea if government acted a little less like a kid who doesn't pay his cell phone bill until it gets shut off every month.

3. First World Problems come first.

As comedian Louis C.K. puts it:

People come back from flights and tell you a story like it's a horror story... They're like, 'It was the worst day of my life. We didn't board for 20 minutes and they made us sit there on the runway for 40 minutes.'

Oh really? What happened next? Did you fly in the air, incredibly, like a bird? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight?

Flight delays are a bummer, but they fall pretty squarely into the category of First World Problems. That seems to be a recurring theme. Among the great legislative achievements of Congress recently is another law regulating how loud television commercials can be.

4. Things that affect Congress move to the front.

See the "Flying is special" rule, above. If you want to get Congress to address an issue, find a way to make it relevant to them.

Last week, Politico reported that Congress is trying to get itself exempted from the Obamacare heath care reform law. Last month, Sen. Rob Portman announced he's now in favor of gay marriage, after learning that his son is gay.

One of my favorite examples of this goes back to 1999, when Congress acted to stop one of the scourges of the early Internet age: cybersquatting. Why? An Internet pioneer acquired a bunch of domains including Sen. Orrin Hatch's name, and then tried to sell them to the senator's campaign.

5. Piecemeal fixes defeat the whole point.

I fly a lot and I hate waiting, so I'm glad to see the flight controller issue fixed. But, there are a lot of other cuts that probably won't get fixed anytime soon--for example, cuts to treatment for cancer patients.

The strategy behind sequester was that it would finally force everyone--Democrats and Republicans, the Administration and Congress--to work together. That failed miserably, and now selectively fixing parts of it makes it easier to kick the can even further down the road.

Meantime, the sequester is a real drag on the economy, with defense and other government spending down, unemployment staying steady (and pretty grim) and families losing housing vouchers and unemployment check[s].

Sadly, that's bad news for anyone who wants to start or build a company.

Scarfing a sandwich at your desk isn't just bad for culinary enjoyment, it's also bad for productivity.

As nearly two thirds of Americans wolf down their mid-day meal at their desks, chances are you probably don't get out of the office for lunch on a regular basis.

It's not hard to understand why. A quick sandwich while you catch up on emails or the news seems like an easy way to get your work done faster and home to your family and friends that much quicker.

But it turns out your in-office lunches aren't just uninspiring on a culinary level, but also a false economy when it comes to saving time. Eating at your desk may make you less productive rather than more overall.

How? Recently, author Bob Pozen shared some lunchtime wisdom. There are often better ways of putting your sandwich-scarfing time to use:

The desk-lunch efficiency might not be worth it, he says, if you could gain more from stepping away.

You could eat alone--perhaps away from a screen. Pozen says that since you’ll sometimes have a very full day, eating alone can help you restore your personal resources. And don’t pull out your phone: An absence of stimulation encourages associative or integrative thought, spurring your creativity. As well, if you have an idea that you’re working on in your head, eating alone allows you to continue uninterrupted.

Another option is to address the afternoon energy crash: You could take a walk or hit the gym, or, alternatively, you could take a 20-minute nap. What works is individual, Pozen says, so it might be a good idea to experiment with a few different approaches.

Taking a break and stepping away from your screen, in other words, may cost you a bit of time now, but it'll save you more in the long run thanks to the productivity boost you'll get from refreshing your brain and your body.

This argument against eating at your desk comes on top of several other reasons to take a real break. Lunch is a great networking and relationship-building opportunity and eating with negotiating partners has been shown to improve the profitability of the eventual deal. Mindlessly shoving whatever is convenient in your mouth isn't awesome for your health or your waistline (or your enjoyment of life). Plus, your desk is filthy. So maybe it's time to bring back a proper lunch break.

Do you eat lunch at your desk?

Outsourcing and regulations could be to blame for the lack of domestic hiring.

While presenting this month's Private Company Outlook report Tuesday, Sageworks chairman Brian Hamilton and Anish Rajparia, President of ADP Small Business Services, said that as the nation continues on its way to recovery, one vital component seems to be missing: jobs.

"The fact is that the overall economy, especially with private companies, is very strong, but they are not hiring," insisted Brian Hamilton.

According to the report, private U.S. companies' sales saw 10.2 percent growth during a six month period ending in March. Such growth within the private sector cannot be sustained without an uptick in hiring, explained Hamilton. He added, the lack of domestic employment by private companies could be caused by externalities such as outsourcing and regulations. Uncertainty due to regulations compliance could also affect hiring trends among small businesses, said Rajparia.

"Small businesses have not only been the most resilient, they have come back. That's the only part of the economy that has employment similar to that of 2007," he said, adding that it's difficult to say what the next year or five years will look like for these businesses under Affordable Care Act.

Regulations:

According to ADP data, since 2001 there have been 4,680 changes made to the U.S. Tax Code. That's more than one change per day. Currently, there are 17,000 more changes proposed in over 10,000 jurisdictions.

"How do you manage this as a small business?" Rajparia asked. While 44 percent of small businesses feel confident that they are in full complacence with laws currently in place, ADP reports that only 30 percent are actually in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Compliance is the "force that's fighting against the employment growth," said Rajparia.

Outsourcing:

Rajparia noted that most of the U.S. jobs that have been gained back by small businesses are within the service sector since the service companies do not have the ability to outsource. "Certainly the goods producing companies have more leverage and the ability to [outsource], which is probably why the service companies are growing the [U.S.] employment the fastest," he said.

At 10 percent growth, it's not possible to have zero employment growth, he added. Consequently, companies are likely hiring overseas, are hiring temporary flexible labor or are lagging in their hiring while taking their profits today.

The essence of what I've learned in over a decade of writing about sales.

What is selling, really? Ask ten salespeople you'll get ten different answers. Ask ten executive, you'll get ten more. But what is selling, really? IMHO, selling can be boiled down to the following basic principles:

1. Selling is 60 percent listening and 40 percent talking.

When you're having a conversation with a customer, your main goal is always to figure out how (and whether) you can help that customer. This is impossible when your mouth is open.

2. A sales message consists of two sentences.

Like so: 1) why your customers hire you, and 2) why you do what you do better than anyone else. If you can't get your sales message down to these two short sentences, you're not selling, you're blathering.

3. Customers care about their business, not about you.

Every sales conversation should take place from the customer's perspective rather than from your perspective. It's never "my product is great." It's always "here's how I can help."

4. Your reputation always precedes you.

In today's hyperconnected world, you can assume that anyone who might possibly buy anything from you knows exactly who you are. Even if you're calling out of the blue, your life history is just a Google search away.

5. Selling is all about relationship-building.

Contrary to much of the foolishness that gets passed around as "sales wisdom," customers will only buy from you if they trust you, respect you, and like you. Everything else pales by comparison.

I think that pretty well sums it up, but I'm open to new ideas. So here's my question: what other rules or principles should be on this list?

Leave a comment or send me an email! I'll gather up the best ideas into a future post, and send a copy of my book on B2B Selling to the best response.

Like this post? If so, sign up for the free Sales Source newsletter.

The so-called Mommy Wars continue as CEO Marissa Mayer institutes a more generous maternity leave policy at Yahoo. Here's how it measures up.

From Marissa Mayer's controversial "no working from home" policy at Yahoo, to Sheryl Sandberg's call to "Lean In"--the leading women of the tech industry have found themselves at the center of a fierce debate over the role and capabilities of women in business.

Tuesday, Mayer upped the ante for Yahoo's new moms by increasing the company's paid maternity leave from eight to 16 weeks, according to NBC. What's more, new dads at Yahoo can also take up to eight weeks off under the new policy.

The Family and Medical Leave Act, which applies to approximately 60 percent of American workers, entitles employees to at least 12 weeks of unpaid time off to care for a newborn, adopted child, or ailing family member. A Census Bureau report found that as of 2011, barely half of all first-time mothers received paid time off from their employers to care for their infants.

Yahoo's policy is generous--but it doesn't beat other tech giants in Silicon Valley.

Google and Facebook have already adjusted their maternity leave policies in the past year--Google, Mayer's former employer, told the New York Times in August that it reduced employee attrition by nearly 50 percent after increasing its paid time off for new mothers from three to five months. It also offers new fathers seven weeks of paid time off.

Facebook currently offers 4 months of paid leave to both mothers and fathers--plus an additional $4,000 in "baby money," a spokesman told Times blogger Ann Carrns in February. This policy applies to parents who adopt and same-sex couples, as well.

Where is the best place to launch a start-up? Depends on who you ask. Experts explain the pros and cons of straying from the beaten path.

When it comes to start-up friendly cities, San Francisco's got nothing on... Tulsa, Oklahoma?

On Monday, the personal finance website NerdWallet published a list of its highest-ranked cities for young entrepreneurs. According to the site, the best places for cash-strapped founders are located well off the traditional start-up path--Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley were conspicuously absent from the list.

According to vice president of NerdWallet Stephanie Wei, this is because young entrepreneurs have a different set of criteria when evaluating a good launch pad. But before packing your bags for Tampa, Florida or Omaha, Nebraska, here are a few things to consider about what makes a city great for first-time founders.

Cost of living.

Young is often code for broke. And cost of living is where some of the big cities fall short, Wei explains.

"Young people need to make their dollars stretch. [They] need a rent that isn’t taking up half [their] paycheck," she says.

Sure enough, the median rent in New York City reached an all-time high this year of $3,418 a month--no small chunk of change for a bootstrapping founder. But what young entrepreneurs sacrifice in rent money, they may make up for in cultural benefits at an established hub, says Elana Fine, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland.

She advises prioritizing hubs where you can find experienced entrepreneurs in a similar industry above a desire for cheap rent.

Availability of capital.

Angel investors are hard to find, and pursuing venture capital can be both tempting and impractical, according to Wei. Young entrepreneurs may hope to become the next Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey, but in the process they may overlook some of the easier, more traditional ways to get funds in the process. She explains that the NerdWallet rankings were based on an availability of "boring capital" like small business loans, and the underlying economy of a city including its historical record of sustaining growth.

Fine acknowledges that angel funding and venture capital can create a glamour trap for some young entrepreneurs, but she also recognizes that acquiring business loans as an inexperienced entrepreneur can be tough. Instead, she urges aspiring founders to do what they do best: Think outside the box.

"People often overlook grants because they feel so governmental and bureaucratic, but there are a number of government incentives for starting a business… [Entrepreneurs] just have to spend the time and do their research," she says.

Education, education, education.

Another important resource for aspiring founders is the accessibility of educational tools. In Fine's opinion, that means looking to cities like Boston, Massachusetts or Washington, D.C. which have strong existing academic communities for entrepreneurs to draw from.

Wei looks at the term "education" more liberally. NerdWallet ranked its cities based not only on their proximity to established universities--but on the overall education and income levels of their residents. Nearly 50 percent of the population in Raleigh, North Carolina, for example--No. 3 on NerdWallet's list--hold a bachelor degree. Wei explains that by examining the educational standards in a community, entrepreneurs can gain a sense of each location's value system.

"Highly educated people... and a good median income... are a good sign," she says.

A diverse network of peers.

On one thing, the experts agree: You really are as good as the company you keep. So surrounding yourself--and your growing company--with peers and mentors in your field is a must. The No. 1 thing for young entrepreneurs to look for when picking a city for their new venture is a strong sector focus, Fine explains.

She says young founders need to ask themselves: "Does [the city] have critical mass in one or multiple sectors? Does it have both young and seasoned entrepreneurs?" Having a diverse community of peers doesn't just mean surrounding yourself with other 20-somethings or founders of similar socioeconomic status, Fine says. You should be looking for a strong community from which to draw mentorship, as well.

"Look for people who have succeeded and who have failed," she advises. "People who have learned from messing up--and are willing to talk honestly about that--are great to talk to."

Take it all with a grain of salt.

In reality, the most important factor in choosing a location is the overall ecosystem, says Fine. And that can be very hard to measure. She explains that while rankings are helpful, they should also be looked at with a critical eye as they are frequently based on relatively few factors.

"I'm not sure if I'd pick up and move somewhere based on what a magazine told me," she says. Instead, she'd go about it the old-fashioned way: by putting her feet on the ground and talking to the investors and entrepreneurs who actually make up the community.