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Happy International Women’s Day! Well, we may be a few days late, but luckily we have the whole month of March to honor and celebrate women’s contributions to the world and especially to entrepreneurship.

For men and women alike, … Read More

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(BPT) – In the world of college sports, your school’s official team colors play a powerful role in every aspect of the game. From team jerseys and mascots to lucky game day gear, team colors bring fans together and act as a beacon of pride, spirit and unity.

Make your road to the Final Four a slam dunk this season by harnessing the power of color to do game day right. Here are five tips to help you score the ultimate game day experience with flying colors, from picking your brackets to choosing the best game day decorations, along with some color commentary from ESPN’s College Basketball Analyst Jay Bilas.

1. Choose your dream team with color stats

You may never achieve the perfect bracket in college basketball, but you can get close. One new way to increase your odds is to look out for team colors! Team stats just released by Elias Sports Bureau and NCAA Partner LG Electronics show that teams wearing blue and red jerseys have made it to, and won, the most championship games over the last 30 years. And if you’re curious about what color teams have scored the most points during the Final Four, or which had the best defense, check out the whole list of team uniform color stats for a home court advantage when selecting your bracket this year.

2. Watch colors come to life

March Madness is the perfect time to step up to your dream TV, so do game day right by watching on a screen that makes you feel like you’re courtside. “LG’s OLED TVs are stunning,” says Bilas. “They delivers perfect blacks and over 1 billion colors that make everything you watch appear truly lifelike.”

“I always used to enjoy watching the game from the arena, but TVs like this one make watching it from home an unbeatable experience,” Bilas says. “When friends come over, everyone ends up with the best seat in the house thanks to the screen’s wide viewing angles, ensuring no one misses that buzzer-beating shot.”

3. Dish out some color

Almost as important as the game itself is the food you serve when hosting your March Madness viewing party. Nothing goes together like good food, drinks and sports. To make your food truly unforgettable, in a good way, cook up dishes that represent a wide array of colors with vegetable platters, nachos and dips. And have some fun by choosing colors that represent your team. “While I love guacamole, I always have to represent my alma mater by pairing it with blue corn chips,” Bilas says.

4. Protect those team colors

There’s nothing that puts a damper on team spirit like wearing a jersey with faded colors or food stains left over from your last tailgate. “When it comes to messy game day foods, you need the best offense to keep your team colors looking their best,” Bilas says. “Washers like LG’s TWIN Wash can run two loads at the same time, thanks to its SideKick pedestal washer, so you can always be confident your team colors won’t get tainted with that infamous red sock.” The dual wash ability is also key for families with dividing team loyalties in the household, ensuring “rivals” never have to share a load or risk competing colors bleeding into each other!

5. Dress the house in color

Even the manliest guy can boost game day fun with sports memorabilia and colorful decorations. Instead of wearing that signed jersey you’re so proud of, why not hang it on the wall in the TV room? Framing old ticket stubs and championship game programs keep the memories alive and create a fun atmosphere in which to celebrate. Bring some color into the space by hanging team pennants from competing teams and asking your guests to dress in their favorite team jerseys.

In celebrating March Madness this year, incorporate these fun color tips into your game day routine and you’ll be a winner all the way to the Final Four.

When you run a small business, you’ll quickly discover you’re the boss, the assistant, the janitor, and the accountant.

With so many tasks and only 24 hours in a day for one person to manage their whole business, it’s … Read More

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Tree, Artisttree on Fiverr, is a freelance photographer, artist and graphic designer with more than 10 years of experience. she has worked for Disney, Warner Bros and Cirque du Soleil, and her work has been exhibited around the world from … Read More

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Caroline Beaton is an award-winning writer, millennial expert and brand consultant tackling the psychology of millennials at work.

“If you act like that bee acts, You’re working too hard.” — Baloo, The Jungle Book

Why do you want to make … Read More

The post Before You Quit Your Day Job: How to Pick the Right Side Hustle appeared first on Official Fiverr Blog.

(BPT) – With nearly every aisle in the grocery store featuring products made from soybeans, it’s no wonder we dedicate a whole month each year to celebrating soy foods. Even so, most Americans still associate soy with the sauce that makes their rice, meats and vegetables more flavorful. Of the nearly 4 billion bushels of soybeans planted, grown and harvested each year from U.S. farmland, soy sauce accounts for less than a fraction of a percentage point. If you toss in tofu, serve up salad dressing and mix in mayo, you’re still just scratching the surface of America’s appetite for soy.

Last year, U.S. farmers harvested a record-setting 83.5 million acres of soybeans. So, where do they all go?

1. Snacks

Some soybeans are picked early, sprinkled with sea salt and served up as a tasty snack better known as edamame. Others are used as key ingredients in energy bars and protein smoothies. Then there’s soy oil, soy flour and soy nut butter. When you add them all together, Americans spend an estimated $4.5 billion on soy foods each year.

2. Household and industrial products

But soybeans do more than satisfy our hunger. They’re also used to make crayons, carpets, candles and cleaning products. Their oil provides a renewable, nontoxic alternative to petroleum. Ditto for paints, inks, lubricants, upholstery, furniture, flooring and other building materials.

3. Animal feed and fuel

Considering their multitude of uses, is it any surprise that soybeans are known as agriculture’s “miracle crop?” Soybeans are classified as legumes, so they’re in the same category as peanuts, peas and lentils. Each little bean packs a powerful protein punch — up to 38 percent per pound. That makes them an extremely efficient and nutritious animal feed for poultry, hogs, beef and other farm animals. Soybeans are also used to make fuel for diesel engines — soy-based fuel uses renewable feedstock, and it burns cleaner than fossil fuel.

Here’s where the miracle comes in: Corn and other crops need a steady diet of nitrogen fertilizer to grow strong and healthy. Soybeans don’t. They cook up their own nitrogen, thanks to a special bacteria found in their root systems. It’s like each plant comes with its own grocery store, kitchen and chef.

Small pest, big problem

Unfortunately, these underground eateries also attract a host of uninvited guests, including soybean cyst nematodes. These are microscopic pests that burrow into soybean roots. The males of this species have a quick meal and move on. Females, on the other hand, stay longer. They eat and eat and eat, until their entire heads are embedded in the root. And then they eat some more.

Soybean cyst nematodes, or SCN for short, may start small, but they cause big damage. They cost U.S. soybean growers an estimated $1.5 billion each year. Part of the problem facing farmers is that SCN is difficult to detect and even harder to control. Researchers at Syngenta, an agribusiness company, are working on solutions. They’re breeding stronger NK Soybean varieties with built-in resistance to SCN, and they’ve developed Clariva Complete Beans seed treatment, a combination of separately registered products. Part insecticide, part nematicide, part fungicide, Clariva Complete Beans helps protect soybean roots from a whole host of creeping, crawling, damaging pests, including SCN.

That’s good news for the American consumer, whose passion for soy keeps growing. So bake a cake, light a candle, relax in your favorite easy chair or read the latest best-selling novel in celebration of National Soy Foods Month. Chances are, you’ll be enjoying products that soybeans helped make possible.

(BPT) – When you provide just one sample of your DNA, researchers are able to use it to learn more about your health history, assess your chances of contracting certain diseases and even gain a better understanding of the importance family history can play in your health outlook. It sounds futuristic, but it is all very real. It’s modern genetic testing, otherwise known as genomic sequencing, and it represents one of the most important tests being used today to improve health outcomes.

To better understand genomic sequencing and how it can help you lead a happier, healthier life, Dr. Richard Sharp, director of the Biomedical Ethics program at the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine, offers these five things you need to know about this groundbreaking preventive treatment.

1. Genomic sequencing can be tailored to your specific concern. If you’re interested in pursuing genomic sequencing, you have more testing options today than ever before. Researchers can use your sample to analyze a large number of different genes and assess your lifetime risks of developing a whole range of different diseases. They can also narrow the set to specifically measure your risk of developing certain cancers. Finally, they can even look at individual genes to determine your risk of developing traditional genetic diseases.

2. Common fears about genetic testing may be misplaced. “Many patients wonder, ‘If I undergo genetic testing and it reveals that I have this risk of developing disease, is it possible that I might lose my job, that I won’t find a new job, or I won’t be able to get health insurance?’” says Dr. Sharp. Fortunately, laws are in place to alleviate those concerns. In the United States, current legislation protects people from allowing their genetic information to be used against them by employers or insurers.

3. Genetic testing may uncover unexpected information as well. Your test to determine your risk of developing breast cancer may also shed light on your risks for other diseases such as Alzheimer’s. These so-called secondary findings may or may not be reported to you based on the lab and clinician you work with, so it’s important to discuss how secondary findings will be handled before having your genetic test done.

4. The benefits of genetic testing extend beyond merely analyzing your disease risks. As the science of genetic testing continues to improve, its uses do as well. Today, genetic testing is being used not only to identify a patient’s risk of contracting a certain disease but also to understand how the person’s body metabolizes drugs, and even to avoid the potential for future negative reactions to certain drugs.

5. Your genetic testing may be covered by your insurance. “Many forms of genetic testing are covered by insurers, although like with any new technology or diagnostic test, there can be gaps in coverage,” says Dr. Sharp. “The Center for Individualized Medicine at Mayo Clinic has been very interested in trying to find ways to demonstrate the value of genetic testing so that a large number of payers will feel comfortable covering that kind of test.”

To find out more about genomic sequencing and other research initiatives, please visit the Center for Individualized Medicine at Mayo Clinic. For journalists interested in speaking with Dr. Richard Sharp, please email your request to newsbureau@mayo.edu.

Jonathan Tavarez has been involved in several tech start-ups. Including founder of Vantage Internet Group, a boutique digital marketing and branding agency.

While the allure of working for yourself can seem, from the outside, lucrative and exciting, the life … Read More

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Finding your company’s voice is an essential component of growth and development. Whether it’s in the press, on social media, or in your personal communications – finding your voice and projecting it with confidence are definite keys to success. Here … Read More

The post Finding the Right Voice for Your Business appeared first on Official Fiverr Blog.

(BPT) – You’ve probably heard the popular adage that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” underscoring the idea that it is impossible to get something for nothing. Yet most Americans wouldn’t want a free lunch anyway, recent research shows.

Only one in five (18 percent) American workers prefer free lunches as one of their top three employee benefits of choice, according to the 2015 MassMutual Generations@Work Study. Instead, 47 percent of workers age 18 and older prefer more vacation time, 44 percent opt for better 401(k) matches, and 40 percent like free health care coverage, according to the study.

What benefits workers prefer largely depends upon their gender and generation, the study finds, complicating benefit decisions for employers.

“Given the varied preferences for employee benefits, the takeaway for employers is to offer as broad a menu of benefits as possible. They should also consider offering new or expanded benefits on a voluntary or employee-paid basis,” says Elaine Sarsynski, executive vice president of MassMutual Retirement Services and Worksite Insurance.

Half of all baby boomers surveyed and 48 percent of millennials say their benefit of choice is more vacation days, according to the study. Nearly half of Gen Xers (47 percent) prefer better 401(k) matches, the survey found, with more vacation days coming in a close second (44 percent).

After more time off, boomers express preferences for financial benefits. Forty-three percent of boomers want better 401(k) matches, 38 percent appreciate free health care coverage, and 24 percent want more investment choices for their retirement savings, according to the study. Four in 10 (43 percent) prefer expanded health care benefits.

Breaking with boomers, millennials like flexible work schedules (43 percent) and reimbursements for education and tuition (30 percent). But many Xers join their boomer colleagues in wanting better 401(k) matches, most likely a reflection that few Xers have access to pensions and that many boomers have not saved enough for retirement, according to Sarsynski.

Men’s benefits of choice are more vacation time (50 percent), better 401(k) matches (43 percent) and flexible work schedules (39 percent), MassMutual’s study finds. Women’s preferences are spread between more vacation (44 percent), better 401(k) matches and flexible work schedules (40 percent), expanded health care choices (37 percent) and free gym memberships (31 percent).

Workers should make the most of the benefits their employer currently provides and suggest other benefits that companies might make available on a voluntary basis, Sarsynski said. She recommends workers take inventory of their benefits and prioritize their importance based on personal financial needs:

* Make sure you have health care coverage unless you are already protected by a spouse’s medical plan.

* Protection benefits such as life insurance and disability insurance rank next in importance, especially if you are married, have children or other people depend upon your ability to earn a living.

* Defer as much of your income as you can afford for retirement as early as possible. The sooner you start saving, the longer the power of compound earnings will have to work and boost your savings power. Make sure you contribute enough to your employer’s 401(k) or other retirement plan to qualify for any matching contributions.

* Use your vacation time as it’s important to get a meaningful break from your job.

The research was conducted on MassMutual’s behalf by KRC Research as part of an employee benefits education initiative. The study focused on 1,517 working Americans who were at least age 18 in a wide variety of jobs and industries.