Author: wildgreenquest@gmail.com

Tell Hilton you want a winter getaway, and its Hilton AI Planner will hand back a destination, a hotel and a plan for the whole trip. The Anthropic-powered tool has held more than 18,000 conversations with guests as of August, according to PYMNTS. Orlando, Aspen and the Caribbean are some of the top searches. The larger goal is keeping you off apps like Booking.com, Expedia and newer booking upstarts like Uber. That matters to the franchisees who run Hilton hotels, since every room booked through a travel site means a cut for the middleman. More than 80% of Hilton’s business…

Key Takeaways Rutkay couldn’t find an ideal-sized diaper bag, so she designed one herself. She launched citymouse at the end of 2022, investing about $8,500 into the business. Citymouse made $135,000 in its first full year and has exceeded seven-figure total sales. This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Alexandra Rutkay, 43, a New York City-based makeup artist who works on film and television sets. Currently, she is Mariska Hargitay’s personal makeup artist for Law & Order: SVU. Rutkay also runs a side hustle out of her apartment: citymouse, which sells a minimalist crossbody diaper bag for parents. Her side hustle,…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Before you respond to a bad performance review, stop and really listen to what your manager is saying. You can listen without agreeing to everything in the review. Assess your company’s review culture; do they prioritize development after a poor review, or is it the first step to your exit? Launch what I call an “internal PR campaign.” It might feel unnatural and uncomfortable to talk about your accomplishments at first, but internal visibility is important. Read the writing on the wall. If your company has a history of laying…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Late customer payments and fixed payroll dates can turn a small cash gap into a serious problem within weeks. A great business with no cash behind it is like a car with an empty tank. No matter how good it is, it isn’t going anywhere. I’ve watched promising companies grind to a halt because they couldn’t get on top of their cash flow. It is the most important part of running a small business, and it tends to get the least attention from the people who run them. Payroll doesn’t…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a cyberattack can disrupt operations, damage customer trust and even threaten the company’s survival. The most successful businesses won’t just be the ones that respond effectively when an attack occurs. They’ll be the ones that build resilience into the way they operate from the beginning. Many SMEs don’t have the resources to employ dedicated cybersecurity teams. They need guidance that is practical, actionable and integrated into tools they already use every day. When security is accessible and integrated into the tools they already use,…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Direct admission and holistic review aren’t rivals. Automate the clear-cut eligibility calls; save human judgment for selective programs and students whose records need context. Direct admission needs reliable data-sharing, clear program rules and staff time. For decades, college admissions has largely followed the same process. Students identify universities, complete applications, submit academic records and personal essays, and wait for a decision. Direct admission is beginning to reverse that relationship. Instead of waiting for students to apply, universities can proactively offer admission to those who meet predetermined eligibility criteria, removing some…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Meta’s Muse is an AI agent that doesn’t just answer questions but acts on them, which means a machine may be sizing up your brand before a customer ever does.u003cbru003e Brands that keep their product data clean, consistent and backed by real third-party evidence will be the ones an agent is willing to recommend.u003cbru003e Waiting for an official “agent advertising” product is a mistake, because the groundwork for being agent-ready can and should start now. Muse is a task-executing personal AI agent. In Meta’s launch announcement, the company said it…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways SEO and branding can generate trust and leads, but growth stalls when sales and other departments don’t deliver a consistent, high-quality customer experience. Marketers must focus on securing the leadership backing they need to break down departmental walls and shift the mindset of their colleagues across the entire organization. Executives must champion the true definition of revenue-driven growth across the entire company, align the digital promise with human reality and ditch surface-level metrics for shared goals. I live simultaneously in two different business worlds. By day, I am the owner…

Key Takeaways Americans earning over $100,000 are more likely to trust influencers and buy from them, according to a new survey. Some 61% of high earners trust influencers’ product recommendations. In contrast, about half of respondents making less than $100,000 trust influencers’ recommendations. Influencers have a receptive audience: people who are making six-figure incomes.  A September survey of about 2,000 U.S. adults conducted for Business Insider by Morning Consult found that those earning over $100,000 were more likely to trust influencers, shop their recommendations and aspire to join their ranks when compared to those earning less than $100,000. Further, 61%…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Many founders make the mistake of hiring a senior leader before the infrastructure exists to support it. They expect the leader to produce results off of a strategy that doesn’t exist yet. Read the signs before you hire: no repeatable way leads or customers come in, the budget depends on whoever’s cheapest rather than what’s working, no one knows which channel actually drives revenue. Set them up before day one: They need clear business goals, real decision-making authority, access to data and alignment with the founder on priorities. Consider fractional leadership: Real work gets done,…