
4 Tips for Profitable Management
Save money with better systems
Large retail chains like Costco, Trader Joe’s, QuikTrip and Mercadona pay wages and benefits considered high for their industries. They also use four key operational strategies:

Minimum Wage: In Support of Struggling Businesses
Sacramento’s economy cannot support a Los Angeles-sized solution
Calls for a minimum wage increase are growing louder, and these proposals are neither minor nor manageable for the city of Sacramento. Sacramento’s city-specific hike proposals range from $13.50 to as much as $15 per hour.

Wine and sweets venture opens on The Kay
Two businesses share space to serve downtown diners
“The beauty of this partnership is our customers get to have it all, and I don’t have to do the things I don’t want to do,” says Jennifer Kaye. “Somebody can come in, grab a fresh sandwich or a salad and then pick up a little something for dessert.”

Behind the Mask
Work-life balance with an umpire on the road
While sourcing my July feature for Comstock’s about the career journey of umpires, I learned just how much they give up and how many hours they put in away from home to reach the pinnacle of their profession.

Beyond Barracks
Disabled veterans parlay military experience into business
Eckert served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1983 to 1989, traveling the world before suffering an injury to his torso during training. Upon returning to civilian life, the veteran infantryman found the skills he had gained in the marines translated to the business world.

Portrait of a Wage
The what, where and who of making minimum wage
Where are minimum wages higher? Who makes minimum wage, and who supports raising it?

Will Hack for Food
Local technologists use open data to feed Californians
State and local governments aren’t known for being cutting edge or tech savvy. But as the open data movement gains momentum, the private sector is becoming more empowered to usher valuable, though often archaic, institutions into the 21st century.

Book Review: Hard-Hitting Consulting How-To
‘Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional's Guide To Growing A Practice’ is not for the faint of heart
So-called expert consultants abound, but Alan Weiss’ Million Dollar Consulting: A Professional Guide To Building A Practice offers what many other how-tos don’t: modern, actionable tools for building a highly profitable enterprise.

Startup of the Month: Wyndow
Search less, do more with on-demand entertainment finder
If you’ve ever wasted hours of free time searching for something to do with your free time, Oleg Kaganovich feels your pain. In 2012, he found himself in that exact situation during a business trip in the Big Apple. Rather than wait in a hotel room between meetings, he wanted to explore New York, but didn’t know where to begin. So he took his question to the web.

I Think My Boss is Stealing From Me
If the compensation package isn’t signed, do I wave goodbye to my commission?
I am a new hire at a Fortune 100 tech company. It’s a sales position, and just days into the job I landed my first sale — a big one. I am about to close my second sale and was excited until I was told that because my compensation package had not yet been signed and finalized, I would not be receiving nearly $5,000 in commission for these deals. I’m angry, and I don’t know what to do to get paid and make sure this doesn’t happen again.