PEOPLE AND CULTURE
Ask the owner of a small company what’s hardest about running it, and there’s a good chance the answer will be customers: finding them, and finding enough of them. A Federal Reserve survey of U.S. small businesses with employees bears that out. Last year, 57% of the firms said finding customers and growing sales was a challenge, putting it ahead of every other operational problem on the list.
The reflex for a lot of owners is to spend their way out of it with a new website, some ads or a few more posts on Instagram. Dmytro Skrynskyi, founder of the agency Mind Marketing USA, would rather settle a different question first: who exactly the business should be selling to, and what those people need to see before they’ll pick up the phone.
We spoke with Skrynskyi about an equipment supplier where he put that into practice, and about a research paper in which he carries the same idea across borders. He has worked on marketing for companies in Ukraine, China and the U.S., and in 2024 the organizers of the Quality Mark Business Excellence Award named him a winner in their Excellence in Strategic Growth & Performance Marketing Leadership category.
The supplier, PGE Rentals (it also goes by Pro Group Equipment), was founded in Pennsylvania in 2020. It builds, sells and rents trucks for railroads, transit authorities and utilities across North America. Some of them drive down the highway like any other truck, then lower a set of rail wheels and run on track into subway tunnels to repair power lines. Even a smaller one costs about half a million dollars, Skrynskyi…
CURRENT EDITION
WEATHER
TODAY
RH
WASHINGTON BUREAU
Treasury Sanctions 17 Tankers in Iran Shadow Fleet Crackdown
The Treasury Department on Oct. 8 sanctioned 17 tankers and their owners as part of
U.S. and French Arrests Target Alleged Hamas Fundraising Network
The Justice Department said Oct. 2 that coordinated arrests in the United States and France
Techin Khurukitwanit’s 7 Tips for Navigating Professional Life in New York City
On a bright afternoon in Bushwick, the light falls through tall factory windows and lands on a table covered in sketches. Some are flyers for an uptown dodgeball tournament. Others are rough studies for a painting. A few are just lines, the kind an artist draws while thinking. This…
Super Bowl LXI Odds and the Contenders Shaping the Early Season
Three weeks can’t settle an NFL season, but they can change how championship contenders are viewed. Several unbeaten teams have already prompted notable adjustments to the futures market through contrasting performances.
Buffalo entered September with established expectations, while San Francisco, Minnesota and Las Vegas have generated different forms of early…
Feeling Stuck? What the Hanged Man Tarot Card Is Trying to Tell You
Nothing about the Hanged Man looks comfortable at first glance. A figure hangs upside down from a tree, one leg crossed behind the other, and yet the expression on the face is calm, even content. That contradiction is the entire point of the card.
Readers often draw this one during…
André and Daniella Cunha Lima Bring Brazilian Cinema and Miami Luxury Together at Deixe-me Viver Premiere Event at Delano
For one night in South Florida, Brazilian cinema stepped into a setting known for design, hospitality, and a polished sense of occasion. Deixe-me Viver, a feature film starring Mônica Carvalho and Cat Dantas and directed and produced by Walther Neto, was presented during the 30th edition of the Inffinito…
Sometimes the daily routine can become so overwhelming that all you can think about is packing your bags and escaping to a place where time moves at a different pace. Imagine a getaway where your only concern for the day is choosing between the perfect putt on the green or a relaxing massage beneath the shade of the trees. Riviera Nayarit holds the perfect secret for you. It is time to treat yourself to the getaway you deserve, combining the thrill of sport with the absolute peace and tranquility you need right now.
Where a Passion for Sport Meets the Jungle
Practicing your favorite sport takes on an entirely different meaning when every shot is framed by breathtaking landscapes. In this exclusive corner of Mexico, the landscape becomes your ultimate playing partner, challenging and inspiring you in equal measure with every hole.
Imagine a ten-hole course masterfully designed by legendary golfer Greg Norman, where strategy meets incredible panoramic views. Here, you play surrounded by lush tropical jungle, imposing mountains, and the constant sound of the Pacific Ocean just moments away.
The Perfect Balance Between Activity and Relaxation
A truly memorable getaway requires the right balance between the thrill of competition and the pleasure of…
At a party, some of the best conversations start with a simple question: What is that? For Daniel Kivo, that moment is a big part of Dolce & Pearl’s appeal.
A server moves through the room and pipes ricotta filling into mini cannoli shells right in front of guests. They watch their dessert come together, and a sweet bite becomes a fun, personal experience. Nearby, a wearable caviar setup might catch another guest’s eye. Soon, people choose a bite, ask questions, and share the moment with the person beside them.
Kivo, a disabled U.S. Navy veteran and entrepreneur in the Charlotte area, created Dolce & Pearl around that kind of interaction. The company brings roaming food and dessert services and food carts to weddings, private parties and corporate celebrations in Charlotte, NC. Dolce & Pearl also serves hosts throughout North and South Carolina, with travel available beyond the region.
From Navy Service to Business Ownership
Before becoming a business owner, Kivo served in the Navy as a Personnel Specialist. Today, his work puts him in a different setting. He prepares for celebrations, coordinates service, and introduces guests to a business he is building himself.
His story connects military service with a…
The Aurora Forecast Is the Amenity in Luxury Aurora Travel
Luxury aurora travel has one deciding variable that no concierge controls and no premium booking can replace. There is a glass-roofed suite in Finnish Lapland with a heated ceiling and a north-facing bed, and on the right night it is one of the finest places to sleep on Earth.
On…
4 Awards. 8 Festival Selections. Two Short Films: Annie Liones Nguyen’s Breakout Festival Run
With four awards and eight festival selections across just two short films, writer-director Annie Liones Nguyen is building significant momentum on the festival circuit, earning recognition for work that combines psychological depth, emotional precision, and a perspective shaped across Vietnam, Singapore, and Los Angeles.
At the center of that momentum…
Kevin Knasel: How Giving Back to the Community Can Change Everything
Community service is often described as something people do for others. The truth is that giving back changes the giver just as much as the people who receive help. For Kevin Knasel, a St. Louis, Missouri, resident who believes in the power of local connection, the idea is simple:…
The Right People, Not More People: Sejal Joshi on Building a Personal Brand for Your Ideal Audience
A million people knowing your name sounds impressive.
But what if none of them are the people you actually need to reach?
For personal branding strategist Sejal Joshi, one of the biggest misconceptions around personal branding is the assumption that a bigger audience automatically means a stronger brand.
It does not.
A…
A better lifestyle doesn’t always come from earning more. Sometimes, it comes from paying closer attention to what actually makes life feel better. That sounds simple, but it can get complicated fast.
A nicer place to live, more meals out, a better phone, a few extra subscriptions, spontaneous weekend plans. None of these things seem like a major financial decision on their own. But together, they can quietly change what a normal month costs.
And that’s usually where the tension starts. You want to enjoy your life now. You also don’t want to open your banking app near the end of the month and wonder how things got so tight.
So how do you make room for both? The answer isn’t to strip your life down to the basics. It’s to become more intentional about what you spend on, what you’re happy to keep paying for, and what you probably wouldn’t miss.
Start With What a Better Lifestyle Actually Means to You
Before changing your budget, it helps to define what you’re trying to improve. What does a better lifestyle look like for you?
Maybe it means having enough money to eat well without thinking twice every time you buy groceries. Maybe it means living closer to work and getting back an hour of your day. Maybe it means being able to book a short trip once in a while without feeling guilty afterward.
Those details matter. It’s easy to spend more simply because your income has increased or because people around you are spending more. But if you don’t know…
MORE ARTICLES
Gabriel Baker-Hunt Always Keeps Three Videos in the Back Pocket
Best Fall Flowers to Send: Seasonal Blooms, Colors, and Vase Life
Why a Toyota Pickup Is the Official Vehicle of One of the World’s Largest Dates Festivals
Long before the Toyota Hilux became a fixture on farms across Qassim, the pickup earned its reputation the hard way — hauling equipment and produce across terrain that broke lesser vehicles. That reputation is why, when Abdul Latif Jameel Motors signed on as main sponsor of the Buraydah International…
Oscar-Qualified Short ‘Life Goes On’ Puts a Hospice in a Time Loop
Writer-directors Kat Butterfield and Daniel Audritt say their first short film, Life Goes On, is now qualified for consideration at the 99th Academy Awards and is BAFTA-qualifying.
The dark comedy is set in a hospice. Bill, a patient played by David Bradley, lives the same day again and again. The…
Ladera Resort Furnished Thirty-Seven St. Lucia Suites With Work Carved on the Island
The furniture in the suites at Ladera Resort was cut by hand in Saint Lucia. Not sourced from a Caribbean-inspired line, not commissioned from a mainland studio working to a mood board. Cut on the island by people who live there.
Most of it came from one man. Boniface Modeste…
Daily uploads, a six-hour time difference, and two busy YouTube channels: how editor Gabriel Baker-Hunt stays calm by staying ahead
Some people keep a spare phone charger in their bag. Some keep an umbrella by the door. Gabriel Baker-Hunt keeps three finished YouTube videos, edited and ready to publish, at all times.
It sounds like a small habit. For an editor who delivers a new video every single day, it is the difference between a calm week and a frantic one. “Having a buffer of 3 videos ready to go at any time grants you a lot of freedom,” he says, “and there is so much less pressure.”
Gabriel Baker-Hunt is a freelance video editor based in England. He works for two American YouTube channels, KingSammelot and KingSammeLIVE, which have 1.59 million and 651,000 subscribers. The videos he has worked on have passed 40 million views. He also taught himself the whole craft, one experiment at a time.
Talent helps with numbers like those. But talk to Gabriel Baker-Hunt for long enough and a different quality stands out. He is the person who has already thought about what could go wrong, and has quietly prepared for it. The three videos in his back pocket are the clearest example.
Gabriel Baker-Hunt’s workload comes in two very different shapes.
Since September 2024, he…
EDITOR'S
CHOICE
Best Fall Flowers to Send: Seasonal Blooms, Colors, and Vase Life
Understanding Student Motivation: What Drives Effort, Focus, and Cooperation
Motivation is the quiet engine behind almost everything that happens in a classroom. It decides whether a student opens the book without being asked, whether a group project turns into real work or idle talk, and whether a difficult lesson ends in progress or frustration. Teachers rarely get to…
The Best Audio Guide Apps, Ranked by What They Say About an Unlabelled Painting
Stand in front of a painting in a room the museum never wrote a label for, open an audio guide app, and most of them have nothing to say. That is what separates the best audio guide apps from the rest of the category: how much somebody had to…
Jean Chalopin on Raising Twins of Destiny — and the Real-Life Story Behind the Series
Jean Chalopin invented the trench-coated detective, the seekers of golden cities and the hero adrift in the 31st century. One of his worlds came from somewhere much closer to home. He wrote The Twins of Destiny while his wife was pregnant, and in a real sense he was…