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Your paycheck could clear faster now that the FedNow instant payment service for banks has launched. Here is information from the Federal Reserve website about the launch and the participants so far: "The Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service is an instant payments infrastructure that allows participating banks and credit unions to send and receive transactions within seconds on behalf of their customers — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This page lists participating financial institutions that are currently live on the service, as well as financial institutions serving as settlement and liquidity providers. Financial institutions that have completed testing and certification will be added to the list once they are live on the service. Also listed are certified service providers that have completed testing certification to support payment processing for participants. More information about the offerings of these organizations — and those of other vendors that support instant payment services such as bill pay, payroll processing, digital wallet and API development — may be found at the FedNow Service Provider Showcase (Off-site)." Read More below To learn more about the Fednow instant payment system, they have set up an Instant Payments University.

This change will certainly affect the way businesses advertise and generate leads. For the marketing experts, what are your opinions, and what will you do to prepare and change to the new API format?? Here's the article from The Verge:

The first Generative AI for a CRM! Salesforce is changing the way teams do business. Watch the presentation from SF by clicking the twitter link below. https://twitter.com/i/events/1625206339235418127?s=20

We are now over 1200 members and growing. We don't accept everyone and turn away those who don't reveal their real name or the company they work for so we have had well over that total sign-up over time. Glad to welcome these recent members: @Boris Safaniev @Joshua Hamrell @Kody Chang @Zain Muzammal @Silvana Fischer @Jimmy Harari @Mark Jaffe @carl bach @Stefanie Zappala @Manpreet Dhot @Francisco Piera @Paul Boxer @Bill Miner @Ayesha Contractor @Will Hurst @Christopher Piessens @Carlos Tse @elliot firestone @john cutignola @Jonathan Clark @Nick Dawson @DAVID NAM @Alexander Brenlla @Ryan Willey Tell us something about you or your business.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided against what would have been an 11th consecutive interest rate increase as it measures what the impacts have been from the previous 10. But the decision by the Federal Open Market Committee to hold off on a hike at this meeting came with a projection that another two quarter percentage point moves are on the way before the end of the year. Investors will be looking for further details from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at his 2:30 p.m. press conference. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 300 points in the wake of the decision. Central bankers following a two-day meeting said they will take another six weeks to see the impacts of policy moves as the Fed fights an inflation battle that lately has shown some promising if uneven signs. The decision left the Fed’s key borrowing rate in a target range of 5%-5.25%.“Holding the target range steady at this meeting allows the Committee to assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy,” the post-meeting statement said. The Fed next meets July 25-26. CONTINUE READING BELOW

This has been brewing for a long time as people or companies have been creating fake reviews since the beginning. Lets see what comes out of this, but what would you recommend being done about it? What are your funniest examples of fake reviews youve seen?? Heres the article: "Businesses could soon be fined a hefty sum for hosting or promoting fake product reviews online if the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has its way. Faux five-star and rave reviews of less-than-stellar consumer goods can boost businesses' profits while deceiving consumers, according to the FTC, which has proposed a rule to crack down on businesses that buy, sell or promote phony user ratings of their products.  Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, which can write human-sounding but bogus product reviews, threaten to compound the problem, according to the FTC. The new technology could enable bad actors to generate significantly higher volumes of fake reviews in order to generate unearned interest in their products. Deceptive reviews hurt consumers by making it hard to obtain genuine, factual information about products they're considering buying. "

While Pricing and Cash Flow Forecasting Remain Top Concerns, New American Express Report Finds 95% of Small Business Owners Surveyed are Happy they Started their Company American Express issued its third Amex Trendex: Small Business Edition, which found that even as small business owners surveyed face continued economic uncertainty, their personal drive and long-term aspirations are buoying their optimism.  "Small business owners are concerned about issues like pricing and cash flow forecasting, but they are overwhelmingly happy that they chose their career path as an entrepreneur, and most intend to be small business owners for the long run,” said Gina Taylor Cotter, EVP & GM, Small Business Products & Business Blueprint at American Express. “We also found that growing up with technology and social media has influenced how Millennials and Gen-Zers operate as small business owners: they are more likely to start a company right out of school and rely on technology to run their business." Amidst pricing and cash flow forecasting concerns, small business owners’ drive and long-term aspirations keep them motivated  Pricing/price hikes (44%) and cash flow forecasting (35%) are small business owner respondents’ top concerns, which is consistent with Amex Trendex findings over the past year. Nearly 7-in-10 (68%) wish that they had more time to focus on their product/service vs. managing their businesses’ finances. But small business owners have a positive mindset despite these challenges: 95% of those surveyed are happy with their decision to start their company.  The Amex Trendex report found that small business owners are motivated by their long-term ambitions. Six-in-ten respondents (60%) expect their business to be a long-term venture and run for more than five years. When asked about their long-term business goals, longevity rose to the top (49%), followed by becoming an established leader in their industry (32%) and growing their employee base (24%). As for why owners chose to start their small businesses: more than eight-in-ten respondents (84%) were inspired by a personal passion; nearly two-thirds (65%) saw a need in their community; about six-in-ten (59%) want to support their family and future generations; and over four-in-ten (44%) needed more flexible work. Survey suggests that growing up with technology and social media influences how Millennials and Gen-Zers take to small business ownership Millennial and Gen-Z small business owners surveyed are most likely to have learned about entrepreneurism online or on social media (56%), compared to Gen-X and Boomers who knew an entrepreneur personally (47%).  And, while three-quarters (74%) of Gen-X and Boomer small business owners surveyed had a traditional job (private sector, government, or another role in their current business) before starting their company, Millennials and Gen-Zers are more split and likelier to have started their business right out of school. About six-in-ten (59%) of Millennials and Gen-Zers surveyed had a traditional job before starting their business but one-in-five (20%) Millennial and Gen-Z small business owners indicated they were students or unemployed before starting their business (vs. 3% of Gen-Xers and Boomers).  The survey also found that Millennial and Gen-Z small business owners, who grew up with technology, rely on it to run their business. When asked about the top contributing factors that helped them navigate the past few years, one-third (33%) of Millennials and Gen-Zers cited technology solutions vs. 18% of Gen-Xers and Boomers. Millennial and Gen-Z small business owners surveyed are also more skeptical about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur than older generations. They are about twice as likely to think that “you have to be wealthy to start a business” (21% vs. 9%), that “true entrepreneurs do it alone” (29% vs. 15%), and one-third (33%) think that “entrepreneurs are born and not made” compared to 22% of Gen-Xers and Boomers. https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/amex-for-business/small-business-trendex-may-2024.html

"The latest on a government shutdown: Today(Sept 30) was the last day for Congress to fund the government. A shutdown was set begin at 12:01 a.m. if Congress did not finish its work in time. A last-minute agreement passed the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, sending a bill to keep government funded through Nov. 17 to the president's desk. The bill, pushed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., includes disaster relief funds but does not include new aid for Ukraine. McCarthy brought up the new bill after House Republicans failed to pass their short-term spending bill Thursday in an embarrassing defeat. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law late Saturday night." https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/live-updates-government-shutdown-set-begin-midnight-rcna118172

Watch this video! Take the time, and watch it in sections if need be, but it's worth it if you are trying to improve your marketing and understand the intricate details of current strategies in digital marketing.

From CNBC: The U.S. economy grew at blistering 3.3% pace in Q4 while inflation pulled back GDP, a measure of all the goods and services produced, increased at a 3.3% annualized rate in the fourth quarter of 2023. Wall Street had been looking for a 2% gain. • The U.S. economy for all of 2023 accelerated at a 2.5% annualized pace, well ahead of the Wall Street outlook at the beginning of the year for few if any gains and better than the 1.9% increase in 2022. • A strong pace of consumer spending helped drive the expansion, as did government spending. • There also was progress on inflation. Core prices for personal consumption expenditures rose 2% for the period, while the headline rate was 1.7%. The economy grew at a much more rapid pace than expected while inflation eased in the final three months of 2023, as the U.S. easily skirted a recession that many forecasters had thought was inevitable, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Gross domestic product,(https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2024-01/gdp4q23-adv.pdf) a measure of all the goods and services produced, increased at a 3.3% annualized rate in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to data adjusted seasonally and for inflation. That compared with the Wall Street consensus estimate for a gain of 2% in the final three months of the year. The third quarter grew at a 4.9% pace. Read full article: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/25/gdp-q4-2023-the-us-economy-grew-at-a-3point3percent-pace-in-the-fourth-quarter.html

For the latest regarding Covid/PPP related fraud cases visit the DOJ site here: https://search.justice.gov/search?affiliate=justice&sort_by=&query=ppp+fraud When merchants complain about stips, show them this...

Every entrepreneur seems to have a secret to their success. For some, it’s an ability to think outside of the box and take risks. For others, it’s staying humble, even when faced with huge success. While every entrepreneur is different, you’ll notice that there are also some things that they seem to share. DOWNLOAD the rest of this article from the PDF file below: