Whether you set out to innovate an industry by changing the rules or simply keep on top of your own projects by finding the best practices and implementing them, at the heart of innovation is continual improvement throughout the business.

When N’Gina Kavookjian was asked to speak at the local chapter of an international monthly breakfast lecture series for creative communities, she was hesitant to accept the invitation. The co-owner of South restaurant doesn’t typically find herself in front of a captive audience, and she was unsure how she would connect with people outside her industry.

Today’s world of free enterprise has never been more robust. Yet startup activity in the U.S. is at a 40-year low, according to statistics derived from U.S. Census Bureau data. More businesses are dying off than being launched daily, indicative of a broken innovative economy.

Lisa West had to figure out how to change careers after leaving her family’s construction company doing the same work at the same company for 17 years.

Tips for onboarding a new employee for maximum team cohesion. 

Intelligence might be built into our DNA, but what about creativity and problem-solving? Not so, experts say. So, if it can be taught, how can we learn? We ask some local brainiacs for their tips for inspiring outside-the-box thinking.

In recent years, with the rise of social networking, the business world has embraced a modern form of evangelism, making the word synonymous with an entirely new brand of evangelist: the influencer.

We drug test new hires at my company. When a potential employee’s test comes back positive it’s easy enough to rescind the offer, but we had a candidate have a test returned “negative but diluted” and we rescinded the offer. The candidate had already given two weeks’ notice at his current company and they won’t take him back. Did we do the right thing?

Now the marketing and communications manager for Sacramento Children’s Home, Houser ended up not too far from his origin in youth development, though you could say he took the long way around.

As we near the end of the year, you may find yourself checking in with your freelance business to take a look at what you’ve been up to and where you want to go in the coming New Year. (hashtag New Year Things.) Honestly, I find this time of year both inspiring and empowering when it comes to navigating the freelance life.