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It was only a week ago that I saw a request for information on how Uber drivers were defined. This appears in today's New York Times:   TECHNOLOGY California Says Uber Driver Is Employee, Not a Contractor By  MIKE ISAAC  and  NATASHA SINGER JUNE 17, 2015 ... ... The classification of freelancers is in dispute across a number of industries, including at other  transportation  companies. And the debate is set to escalate as the number of online companies and apps like Uber and others rises. Venture capitalists have poured more than $9.4 billion into such start-ups — known as on-demand companies — since 2010, according to data from CB Insights, a venture capital analysis firm, spawning things like on-demand laundry services and hair stylists... ... “Today’s ruling from the California labor regulators demonstrates why federal policy makers need to re-examine the 20th-century definitions and employment classification we’re attempting to apply to a 2

If you run your company like most business owners do, you might take a deep look at your business numbers once every three months. Frankly, that’s not a terrible strategy. You have time to see how things are going and you aren’t spending too much time on the books. At least you’re actually looking at your numbers—which puts you well ahead of many other small business owners. But, reviewing your key numbers only once a quarter can limit the opportunities you have to evolve your strategy and grow your company. If your company closes its books quarterly and only looks at results quarterly, you’ll have a hard time adapting and evolving quickly to situations that arise within your business. That’s because you are only stepping back, reviewing your strategy, and course-correcting your business four times a year. Thankfully, there’s a simple solution to make your company more nimble and agile than your competition. read more from LivePlan

As a small business owner, you can show your support by implementing these best practices for an LGBT-inclusive work environment. Creating a safe space for LGBT employees and customers can make your business more appealing to a diverse group of employees and a growing market of consumers. The Business Case for Equality The pace of acceptance of the LGBT community has been driven in no small measure by the business community. While commonly identified with large corporations, small businesses have also participated in making equality part of their business model. Fostering an inclusive and friendly business environment is a way to hire and retain employees, as well as help you break into corporate supply chains. Furthermore, by projecting an inclusive business model, small businesses have the opportunity to sell to the LGBT community, which has an estimated $830 billion in buying power.* More from the Small Business Administration

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works!" Steve Jobs said. Each one of us interacts with information differently, and a design that works for one person may turn someone else off entirely. No matter how much effort you've put into designing your website or mobile app, the proof of the pudding is in the testing—user testing, which allows you to learn what the actual users of a product think about it and how they use it. Here are 10 tools that will help you gain insight into what you can do to improve user experience (UX) and win your users' hearts, minds, and business. Read more at MarketingProfs

But, pitching can come in different forms, and one of the most common ways to pitch your business—even in our technologically advanced age—is the “pitch email.” Email is everywhere. It’s used by nearly everyone, it’s more personal than social media, and it’s less obtrusive than a phone call. When you need to introduce yourself and your company to someone, email often just makes the most sense. So what’s the best way to go about pitching your business by email? After all, you want to be sure you aren’t just sending emails into a black hole where they’ll be deleted without a second thought. Even worse, you want to make sure you’re writing in such a way, or pitching in a way that won’t end up annoying the very recipient you’re trying to entice. A bad email can actually “burn bridges.” Here’s where you can start. Read more from BPlans

Imagine your a small-town entrepreneur, looking to build a local business. You may end up using your last name as part of the company name... That's all fine and good and rarely causes a problem. If you were really ahead of the curve -- say, you knew about the Internet in the early to mid-1990s -- maybe you even registered yourself a domain name, your last name followed by the now-ubiquitous dot-com. If you did, chances are you ended up something with a lot more valuable than you bargained for. Unless your last name is Nissan. In that case, you probably ended up with a big headache -- and a lot of legal bills. Since the 1980s, Uzi Nissan -- that's his real name -- has owned a number of small businesses branded with his last name. In the early 1990s, he started the Nissan Computer Corporation. He registered the Nissan.com domain in 1994. More from Now I Know .

No matter what industry your company is a part of, you're bound to be facing competition—a lot of competition. To stand out from a sea of lookalikes and wannabes, your company must reach out to the right people. That outreach starts with maintaining an effective network of press relations. For a lot of companies, finding PR success can be extraordinarily frustrating—especially when just starting out. But the good news is that it's actually fairly simple to get your brand name out there and in the media. Read more at MarketingProfs