By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS After decades on the rise, obesity rates have for the second year in a row showed signs of leveling off, a new report finds. Even so, the condition is still at epidemic proportions, with more than a third of Americans considered obese, according to the State […]
The post Report: U.S. obesity rate holds steady appeared first on News on Heart.org.
By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS Self-care is more important to your overall health than pretty much anything else, and the term is catching fire. But what does it really mean? A new scientific statement issued Thursday by the American Heart Association outlines the importance of self-care in the prevention and […]
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By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS Sammy Rabin doesn’t like to brag but, until he learned he needed triple bypass surgery, he’d considered himself “the poster child for good health.” He’d been exercising regularly for 30 years, ate a vegetarian diet and ran marathons. “I did everything I could to stay […]
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Working out a business plan for your daycare center can be a challenge. There are many expenses you must calculate—more than you’d think! Projected enrollment growth and market demand can also be tricky to estimate.
From knowing your competition to picking the right place to establish your daycare center, there are a lot of lessons to be learned. As someone who owns eight successful daycares in the Chicago area, I know the strategies and approaches that work when it comes to developing a sound business plan for a daycare center.
A business plan should look about three to five years into the future. It serves as a cornerstone of your vision as you move forward. You want to put a lot of thought and solid analysis into your daycare center business plan, because it will more than pay off in the end.
First of all, start with a description of your daycare center. You want to review all the different components of your business model. This description should basically be an elevator pitch for potential partners and business investors to get excited about what you’re offering and your unique location, philosophy and approach.
What’s your curriculum based on? What criteria will you use in hiring staff? Write about the market and how you’re fulfilling demand. Write down particular statistics and characteristics of the neighborhood where you’ll locate your daycare center that make your center uniquely promising. Real estate sites like Loopnet and Zillow often provide super helpful demographic analyses of neighborhoods. The most in-depth info is usually on commercial properties. If the area around your future daycare center has 3,000 kids under five-years-old and only two daycare centers serving them you’re in good shape.
In writing your company description, make sure to pay special attention to what sets you apart. Maybe it’s your prime location, your previous experience starting or helping start a daycare center, connections with top-notch staff willing to work for your daycare center, or other unique tools or services you can offer that distinguish you from your competition.
Next up is a market analysis. Study statistics of the childcare industry: how big is it? How much do economists and experts project that it will grow in the next five years?
For detailed information on the size of your primary market, there are helpful resources such as this market research guide from the US Small Business Administration.
Who is your target market? Now describe who you’re targeting. Using some of the information from real estate websites can be a good approach, like I mentioned above. For example, is the median age of your daycare center’s neighborhood quite young or more elderly? Are you in a bedroom community of a nearby city? Note down how your daycare is going to help these different kinds of parents.
Also, keep in mind other factors: are you in an area with large amounts of seasonal work where the workforce and population shrink during winter or grows massively during summer? Like it or not, this will likely affect your revenue and enrollment, especially if you are offering part-time care.
In addition to analyzing your market, note your pricing structure, gross margin levels and other nuts and bolts of your business model. Will you offer discounts, accept government-subsidized or reduced payments from lower-income parents? What employee childcare discount will you offer?
For detailed information on the size of your primary market there are helpful resources, such as this guide from IBISWorld. This insightful article from Forbes is also a good resource, and notes that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects daycare to be one of the fastest growing industries in the next few years.
Pay special attention to the obvious: What is the square-foot-per-child requirement in your town, city, and state, and what is the price-per-square-foot of the daycare center you plan to lease? These two facts are absolutely key to putting together a solid business plan.
You will generally need more square-feet-per-kid the younger they are (i.e. toddlers get more square feet than preschoolers). Pro tip: things like the arc of a door’s inward swing and required sinks will eat up square footage, so take them into account. Always leave at least 10 percent breathing room when calculating required square footage for the classroom sizes you want.
Also, aim for using at least 60 percent to 80 percent of your daycare center on classroom size. Other square footage will be used for office space, hallways, required sinks, foyer, etc., but you want to be using at least 60 percent for classrooms because that’s where you make your money.
Let’s use the example that you need 35-square-feet for every kid in a classroom up to a max classroom size of 20. That means you need a classroom of at least 700-square-feet (20 multiplied by 35). As I mentioned above, though, you want to leave breathing room of between 20 percent to 40 percent, though, (for things like door swing radius, required baby changing tables, required sinks, future building modifications) so you should actually have a room that’s bigger than 700-square-feet.
In noting the lease information on your business plan, aim to negotiate free months of rent with your landlord. Opening a new daycare takes a long time for construction build-outs, permits, licensing and many other factors—sometimes up to a year. Explain this to the landlord. They want a tenant and commitment. Consider agreeing to a longer lease in return for a few months free or a landlord investment in build-outs.
Alternately, the landlord may agree to defer rent in return for a larger security deposit or added monthly payments. Asking for free months shows you’re a competent negotiator who takes his business seriously and has a long-term profit goal in mind.
Another thing to watch out for with monthly rent is all the added costs. Say your price is $20 per square-foot and your building is 5,000 square-feet. This adds up to $100,000. Divide that by 12 to get your monthly rent: $8,333. Make sure to find out if it is a gross or net rate.
How many kids are in your daycare center’s neighborhood and how many daycare centers already exist to serve them?
Take an average daycare center in a city that has, say, 100 kids enrolled. If you’re in a neighborhood that has 2,000 kids you still have room for a few daycare centers to serve demand, assuming around 10 percent to 20 percent of parents will enroll their kids in daycare.
There’s a pretty high demand for good childcare in the United States right now and many other countries. Whether you’re urban or rural the chances are you’ll be in demand—but you should still crunch the numbers before the contractors start working.
How much market share do they have? What makes them strong and what are their weak points? Are there some more general impediments that could get in the way of flourishing, such as increasingly burdensome regulations in your state, or a lack of reasonably-priced leases to choose from?
There are a lot of regulatory requirements in the childcare industry (a lot!), so keep these all in mind when calculating the costs. There’s so much to keep track of!
You’ll work with a daycare licensing representative from your town or city from the beginning of the process. They will help guide you through the regulatory process (you have to follow both city/town and state regulations), but it is still entirely your responsibility to keep track of all the costs that regulations and requirements.
Next, you want to list organization and management of your daycare center. Who’s the director and assistant director? What are the details of your ownership structure, board of directors, investor list, partners, and so on?
Write down the responsibilities and roles of everyone on your team. List an advisory board if you have one, list all employee salaries, incentives, referral bonuses for recruiting and all such details. Also in this part of your business plan, you want to be clear about the legal structure of your business in terms of incorporation, type of partnership (I recommend a passive partnership) and other such information.
All percentages of ownership, investor details, stock details and so on should be listed. Profiles of staff, directors, investors and board members should include everything from past track record to education and unique skills.
Following your organizational details, you should describe your marketing plan. Budget-friendly marketing strategies are the name of the game here.
There’s no one way to do this, but I recommend thinking specifically about who your customer base is and marketing accordingly. In my case, I had great success with a marketing campaign where I put ads on the baby seat of grocery carts at a grocery store close to my daycare center.
Know your target audience and what they’re looking for and then show them that you fill that need! Your marketing strategy should look at how to explain the unique strengths of your daycare center, how you’re going to grow, what staff, if any, you’re going to hire in marketing roles, and what methods you will use, from online ads to brochures and billboards. Having a solid marketing plan will help you get clear on your sales strategy.
Finding funding is another area you’ll want to pay attention to when you’re crafting your daycare center’s business plan.
Your financial projections should include forecasted income, expected enrollment growth, balance sheets, cash flow statements and projected/needed capital expenditures.
Keep in mind that as enrollment goes up you will need more staff as well, in order to meet required student-to-teacher ratios. You’ll also need more food and supplies when you have more kids enrolled.
When you first start a daycare you’re going to be in the red. It costs a lot to start a daycare, and it takes time to get going, as I mentioned. This is normal. You should see profits start kicking in after an initial period of six to 12 months of operation.
In terms of capital expenditures, the list is long, from monthly rent and utilities to staffing, construction, repair and supply costs as mentioned above. Digging deeper in these categories reveals even more items. Infants need everything from towels and cubbies to cribs and toys. Preschoolers need crayons, games, tiny chairs, craft supplies and much more. List everything you can think of and then add more estimated cost.
Get a contractor and tradesperson or two to quote you on the job so you have an idea what it will cost. Don’t forget to factor in architectural fees and the cost of heating, electric and utilities for the months the daycare is empty of students but contractors are working on it.
To get a bank loan for a new daycare center you’ll have to base a loan off the income of another business you own. That said, loans through the SBA can be standalone based on the viability of your business plan, so I recommend looking into them. If you buy a business, an SBA loan can also be a possibility.
For example, if you pay $500,000 for someone’s existing daycare and are required to put a typical 20 percent down ($100,000), you can cover the rest with an SBA loan. You’ll need to show a solid business plan and have good credit, but an SBA loan has the advantage of not drawing on your other sources of income as collateral.
Another funding source, of course, is to drum up investors. Some people turn to family, friends or colleagues. I would recommend keeping it strictly business and avoiding family or friends. If you do go this route, however, have a strong paper record to refer back to if this turn sour down the road.
In finding a partner you want to ideally find someone who loves your plan but doesn’t have time or interest in being directly involved. This is called a passive partnership, where one partner supplies an investment and the other operates the business.
In terms of a repayment scheme, this will depend on your unique situation. For example, if an investor or investors give me cash up front for my financial projection that my daycare center will be making $200,000 per year after several years, I will repay 50/50, so one investor would get back $100,000 per year once the income target has been reached or if there are two investors they will get back one-third each, and so on.
After you address funding and costs in your business plan, add an appendix with supporting documentation. Keep this on hand for investors to look over.
Lastly, write down your executive summary. If you’re starting a daycare center there’s only so much you can know before you have been in operation for multiple years. However, you can write down a lot about the purpose and strategy of your company, your own background and motivations for starting the daycare center, and your projections of future growth and customer needs.
At the end of the day, if you provide a great service and have a business plan methodically anticipates the needs of customers and kids, you will be a huge success in starting a daycare center!
Sholom Strick is a daycare owner and the CEO of Hopping In, a free, web-based app that lets parents earn money when their child is absent from daycare. Hopping In is an easy-to-use, innovative tool that makes it simple for parents to book vacant spots on short notice. He is passionate about developing innovative solutions to improve the childcare industry. You can contact him at s.strick@daycareteam.com.
There will come a time when no one laces up a pair of golf shoes – at least not the way it's done now. It may seem difficult to fathom, but we've spent our entire lives surrounded by any number of emerging technological advances, which eventually render existing technology obsolete – lightbulbs, washing machines and HDTV are three I find particularly useful in my household. First-world comforts, I know.
Video killed the radio star and BOA very well might be the end of traditionally laced golf shoes. Some of you just asked, What's BOA? - And therein lies both the problem and motivation for BOA's unofficial, but still kind of official, relaunch.
The crux of the challenge facing BOA is one of identity and understanding. Despite its best efforts, market research performed by BOA recently revealed people could neither pronounce nor reliably identify the company based on its now former logo. BOA makes a product which millions of people use (and pay for) every day, yet consumers couldn't connect the product with the producer.
For BOA, that's a problem the size of Johnny Miller's ego.
The issue is compounded by the fact that BOA is an ingredient company. Its final product is a component of the consumer end-product. As such, any recognition or consumer response is typically associated with the product (i.e. Apple iPhone) rather than any of the composite pieces (e.g. A9 processor produced by Samsung). Exceptions occur only when one of the ingredient pieces is remarkable in a way which fundamentally changes the nature of the final product. If you’re searching for examples, GORE-TEX comes to mind. BOA has substantial ground to gain before if it’s to find itself in the vicinity of product/category synonyms like GORE-TEX, Kleenex, Xerox and Jet Ski.
At best, there's a general understanding that some golf shoes have fastening options other than time-honored laces. But those who can correctly identify BOA as the company who produces the patented closure system in select FootJoy, Adidas, Ecco, Under Armour, and Nike golf shoes – are in short supply. BOA's entire renaissance is dedicated to changing that.
Remember the 3M tagline “We don’t make the things you buy…we make the things you buy better?” Swap things for shoes and you have the message BOA is working to deliver to the entire golf footwear industry.
The primary motivation behind BOA's rebranding efforts is largely self-serving. File that nugget of wisdom wherever you deem appropriate. It wants consumers to know what it does, why you should purchase shoes with a BOA lacing system and ultimately, create an identity as the premier closure system available.
So, while the immediate benefit of raised awareness favors BOA, there are two fundamental reasons it should matters to consumers as well. First, the technology is readily available, and evidence suggests proper footwear increases performance.
A shoe which provides the player the proper fit, desired amount of traction, and optimal stability is the first step towards better performance. Maintaining this fit throughout an entire round is where BOA shines. Consider the analogy of a knot. As it loosens, effectiveness is lost. BOA both keeps the knot tight while allowing for micro adjustments (1mm) to dial in desired tension.
The benefits may not be as obvious or quantifiable as fresh grooves on a wedge, but it very well may give you more distance off the tee than a new driver.
The second reason is more esoteric. There exists a percentage of golfers who demand the best of everything.
But without a baseline or some competition, it's impossible to establish what best looks like. To date, BOA is the only such footwear technology utilized across multiple brands. Puma's Disc system, while similar in approach, is proprietary and has been adapted from its experience with high-performance running/track shoes.
It's possible that BOA remains unchallenged and creates a virtual monopoly in its space, but in speaking with several industry insiders, I won't be surprised if others try to mirror Puma's approach. Should companies do so, consumers will have more choices, but not necessarily better ones.
BOA employs approximately 200 people worldwide, 140 of which work the company HQ in Denver’s burgeoning River North Art District. It’s a quasi-urban industrial area, about 20 minutes north of downtown Denver with a clear view of the Rocky Mountains. The location and scenery fit well with the vibe and origin of the brand. Like so many other entrepreneurial successes, BOA’s launch point was the solution to a common problem. Founder, Gary Hammerslag wanted a quicker and easier way to lace up his kid’s snowboard boots. In 2001, the first BOA System launched with brand partners Vans and K2.
The next 16 years saw rapid acceptance largely in outdoor adventure markets (snowboarding, hiking, biking) and while the growth has been welcome, managing and sustaining this growth isn’t without some challenge – chiefly, ensuring consumers understand BOA is a separate and autonomous company focused on making the highest quality and longest lasting closure system in the world.
There’s genius in simplification and that’s what BOA accomplishes with its patented closure system. Instead of traditional laces, BOA uses a dial and flexible metal wire (7 sets of 7 strands are twisted together and wrapped in a nylon sheath) to tie the shoe. Because individual pieces of the system can’t be tightened independently, BOA engineers have to optimize how each part of the system works, with areas tightening at different rates to maximize stability without sacrificing comfort. From a user standpoint, it’s easier than turning on the microwave. To tighten, depress the dial and turn to the right (dial works the same on both left and right shoes). To loosen, release the dial by popping it up. That’s it.
The complexity of BOA’s closure system is in the design – where each shoe goes through an exhaustive creation process, merging BOA’s technology with the existing shoe design. This is true in all cases except the adidas Powerband, which is the first BOA-only golf shoe.
On average, a BOA closure system adds $20-$30 to the cost of the shoe. If you’re expecting consumers to pay a premium, the product needs to offer something more – and preferably something better. With BOA, convenience is a feature, not the defining benefit. The BOA closure system comfortably locks the foot in place and provides a secure and consistent fit. This allows the rest of the shoe technology (particularly traction technology) to function optimally. BOA guarantees the dial and laces for the life of the shoe, which means the shoe will likely fall apart long before closure system does.
I took a trip to BOA’s HQ to get a first-hand look at BOA’s operation while spending some time with BOA’s Marketing Coordinator, Jason Peters, to discus the company’s plans for becoming the first and last name consumers think of in alternative shoe lacing systems.
The multi-level building is unassuming and is largely what one would expect of such an operation. Beyond the reception area (where you’re greeted by the company dog) is the quick visual tour of BOA’s history and a board displaying the gamut of brand partners. The rest of the space is organized largely according to product category (golf, hiking, running, etc.) or task (prototype creation, durability testing, marketing) The exposed brick, concrete floors and industrial ambiance give the entire set up a factory meets Generation X type feel.
To date, BOA works with 330 category leading brands across the world where nearly 83 million of its dials provide the closure system for footwear, medical devices and other utilitarian pursuits (e.g. gloves, workboots, and helmets).
During my visit, BOA was still in the process of replacing the old logo with the new one. The existing logo relied heavily upon two yellow arrows, which I can only think was meant to depict the movement of a twisting dial. The text "boa" was symmetrical and artsy, but clearly secondary to the brand name. The revamped logo focuses almost entirely on the brand name but is dynamic enough to suggest some element of movement or wrapping.
Designing a new logo which avoided the pitfalls of the previous one wasn’t nearly as clean and simple as the new logo might suggest. After narrowing it down from hundreds of versions to a select few, BOA had to be sure that its message remained consistent regardless of language or target market. The logo had to be universal, simple, powerful and immediately recognizable across multiple continents and cultures.
If pressed to offer an analogy; it’s a bit like cutting down a sequoia and whittling away until you have the perfect toothpick.
When BOA takes on a new brand partner most of the initial collaboration happens on-site where all the requisite materials, production machinery and space exist to create prototypes on the spot. This facilitates a more efficient design process and, all things being equal, means less time to bring a final product to market. It’s also a confined space where the creative juices flow. As with any organic process, it can get a bit messy.
Each brand partner is a unique relationship with its own set of dynamics and idiosyncrasies.
FootJoy is BOA’s heritage partner (going on 11 years) and currently offers the most BOA models of any vendor. The proprietary heel-mounted system wraps the heel “low and back” for a comfortably tight and secure fit.
As the elder statesmen of the BOA/Golf shoe collaboration, don’t expect Footjoy to drastically alter how it utilizes BOA, but that in no way suggests the current platform is anything less than stellar. Footjoy’s latest shoe – D.N.A. Helix - is billed as a collection of Footjoy’s best technology seamlessly integrated into to a single design - and it wouldn’t be complete without a BOA option. It also marks the first shoe in Foojoy’s lineup to feature the updated BOA dial which allows for precise micro adjustments in both directions (right to tighten and left to loosen). Given the popularity of Footjoy in both the retail space and on all major professional tours, there’s not much incentive to mess with the solid recipe that the two companies have dialed in (excuse the lame pun) over the last decade plus.
Ecco, Nike, and Under Armour are all recent partners and share a similar space in the BOA portfolio. Each offers a single model (for now) with BOA technology (Nike Lunar Command 2, Ecco Cage Pro, Under Armour Speith One), and based on the selection, it’s reasonable to surmise the intention was to match BOA with the model most likely to appeal to the majority of consumers. Or, in the case of Under Armour, to make sure it’s flagship model came with every feature someone looking to drop $200+ could conceivably desire.
I’d confidently wager a steak dinner that you’ll see BOA on a minimum of two models from each brand partner at next year’s PGA Merchandise Show. It might be a reach, but with Nike leaving the equipment space to focus intently and exclusively on soft goods, Nike (and its global presence) might be the brand which ultimately gets people asking, “What kind of BOA do you have on your shoe?”
adidas is, according to Peters, “as collaborative as any of the brand partners we have.” The read-between-the-lines take away is that adidas is perhaps more willing to go some places and take more risks than some of BOA’s other partners. There’s no better example of this than the current adidas Powerband BOA Boost, which is the only model in BOA’s golf catalog designed from the ground up exclusively with a BOA lacing system. With multiple BOA models already available for men, women and juniors, adidas seems poised to leverage the full capability of BOA’s platform. adidas also provides BOA with a bold partner willing to try just about anything in pursuit of a better golf shoe.
Given the way the golf industry obsesses over tour usage and market share, it borders on amazing nobody is exactly sure how many pairs of BOA-enable shoes are used by touring pros and/or sold in retail outlets. Neither the Darrell Survey nor traditional methods of accounting (metrics basic on SKU numbers and units sold) can accurately measure the precise number of BOA models either sold or in play. This doesn’t apply to the Adidas Powerband as it doesn’t have a non-BOA counterpart.
Tour usage metrics account for brand and type of shoe, but not closure system. So, for the time being, BOA can only rely on aggregate numbers (e.g., total sales) and attempt to distill information from available data, however incomplete it may be.
To provide some perspective, 75% of cyclists in the Tour de France use BOA closure system footwear. BOA is to professional cycling what Golf Pride is to the PGA Tour.
The loudest criticism comes from the “I’m not so lazy I won’t tie my own shoe” contingent. While I find the curmudgeonly luddites somewhat entertaining, my guess is those people don’t manually open the garage door, sew their clothes or cook dinner over an open fire. As such, it’s simply a thinly veiled justification to remain anti-technology, because for some reason it appeals to them.
Personally, I don’t see myself ever going back to a traditionally laced golf shoe. It’s akin to switch to HD television. Watching live sports was always enjoyable, but clearly (again, terrible pun) the newer technology is universally better. For me, what BOA offers is worth a few extra bucks, and I believe we’ll soon see more BOA exclusive models and without a lower-price “traditional” option, the additional cost becomes a non-issue.
Let’s be clear – BOA is neither a new company nor is the technology fundamentally different. The micro-adjustment feature available on the FootJoy Helix is a new twist and makes the system even more accurate.
This is about identity and clarity. BOA can’t achieve the lofty goal of product/category synonym without a well-articulated branding and marketing approach.
The intention is to alter how consumers respond to the brand and with that, create an understanding of exactly what BOA is and, frankly, why you’re better off buying golf shoes with its technology. To fully get BOA, consumers should understand BOA is much more than a golf shoe technology. Anything which needs to be tightened, closed, opened, released, or held in place can likely be made better with BOA technology. That everything from shoes to medical devices.
BOA is an established company with a strong track record and a solid reputation as the premium closure system in a variety of product categories, but for BOA that’s not enough. It wants to become the product which defines and entire category – to become the standard by which all closure systems are measured.
I’m not much of a gambler, but I certainly wouldn’t bet against it.
What are your thoughts? If you’re on BOArd, what shoe should be next? If not, tell us why.
For more information, visit the BOA website.
This post first appeared on Beautiful Canadian Laser & Skin Care Clinic.
Despite being one of the most common rituals in our beauty routine, hair removal can be the trickiest processes to perfect. Check out the list below for 4 of the most common hair removal mistakes to avoid. Shaving During a Hot Bath Soaking in warm water make legs temporarily puff as well, so don’t shave […]
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By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS Patients using a smartphone device to monitor their heart rhythm were almost four times more likely to detect an irregularity than those receiving routine medical care, a new study shows. However, some say the roughly $10,000 cost of each detection is too pricey, especially considering […]
The post Smartphone device helps detect irregular heartbeat appeared first on News on Heart.org.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, […]
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With so many different colors, materials and designs available, it can be difficult to choose the best carpet for your home. Check out these 3 tips on determining carpet quality.
Image Source: Flickr
Replacing old carpet can be a costly pain in the neck. That’s why investing a little more money in durable carpet is usually a smart choice. The longer your carpet lasts, the longer you can wait before replacing it — and the more money you’ll save in the long term.
Durability has a great deal to do with density and twist, two specifications listed on the label. Density simply refers to how close together the strands of fiber are — fibers per square inch. You can judge density by bending it back and seeing how much backing peeks through. Denser carpet tends to last longer because it withstands impact better. It also protects from dirt and stain by making it more difficult for particles to sink through it, keeping soils on the surface and easier to clean
However, twist is the number of times a strand of fiber is twisted per inch. Carpet that has a high twist level of 4 or more will also be more durable and less likely to unravel. Carpet doesn’t have to be dense to be durable, as long as it has a high twist level (and vice versa). Source: Home.HowStuffWorks
Carpet fibers are usually one of five materials: Nylon, Olefin, Polyester, Acrylic or Wool. An overwhelming majority of carpet today is made from synthetic fibers, with nylon leading the way.
| Nylon | Accounts for roughly 60% all carpet sold in the U.S. Dye is added to nylon fibers as they are manufactured and so are colorfast. Nylon is wear-resistant, tolerates heavy furniture and is resilient. Available in many colors and styles. Only with the addition of stain-repelling technology, now standard for most nylon carpets, does nylon manage to be stain-resistant. Untreated nylon is susceptible to stains. Nylon is prone to static charge and to fading in direct sunlight. |
| Olefin | Commonly called polypropylene, this thread is strong, wear-resistant, stain-resistant and is easy to clean. This material can be use outdoors because it is moisture and mildew resistant. While not as resilient as nylon, it is more resistant to fading. Not as comfortable on bare feet. Does not have the luxurious feel of some other carpet and seams may be more apparent. |
| Polyester | Becoming more popular is polyester, in part, because of its lower cost. It is not as resilient as nylon and is more prone to fading, staining and pilling than nylon. Not well suited for high traffic areas. Noted for its soft, luxurious feel when used in thick cut-pile textures, polyester is a good value. |
| Acrylic | Has the look and feel of wool but without the cost. Acrylic is not as widely used as other fibers. Acrylic resists static build-up, is moisture and mildew resistant. |
| Wool | The only natural fabric commonly in use for carpet. Wool has a luxurious feel and is very durable. It is naturally soil resistant and stains clean up well. Wool will fade in direct sunlight and is the most expensive fiber. |
| Blends | Various combinations of fibers can improve the overall look, feel and performance of a carpet. Wool/nylon and olefin/nylon are two common blends in use today. Source: AcmeHowTo
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Carpet face weight is the weight of the carpet pile per square yard of carpet, measured in ounces. Unfortunately, face weight has been so heavily marketed that many consumers are given the impression that it is the best way to determine a carpet’s durability.
It can be easy to believe that a higher face weight represents a more durable carpet, but this is not always the case because several things influence a carpet’s weight. Source: TheSpruce
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Three years ago, Sal Syed was a 7 handicap. Not bad for a guy who had never taken a lesson.
Today Sal is a scratch golfer.
Usually one has to take a chainsaw to their game to lop seven strokes off their handicap – we’re talking swing change, lessons and lots and lots of practice.
While we can’t speak for the practice part, we can tell you Sal didn’t change his swing, and he still hasn’t taken a lesson. Instead, Sal analyzed his game with surgical accuracy and let the data tell him what to do.
Sal, you see, is CEO of Arccos, and his journey to scratch shows just how valuable advanced analytics can be.
Sal is a pretty smart dude, with a BA's in Computer Science and Math from Ohio Wesleyan and an MBA from Yale.
“As we started Arccos, I was golfing a lot at Yale,” explains Sal. “We started tracking traditional stats – fairways hit, greens in regulation and number of putts.”
That set of stats told Sal a very ugly, but very incomplete, story.
“I was hitting 14 out of 18 greens in regulation, but I’d have like 40 putts. So I was like ‘Oh my God, my putting sucks!’ So I practiced and practiced, but nothing was improving.”
It wasn’t until Arccos added a modified strokes gained analytic that Sal learned the truth behind the old Ben Hogan axiom - if you want to sink more putts, hit the ball closer to the hole.
“Arccos showed me my approach handicap was high – I was hitting my approaches like a 12 handicap,” he says. “But my putting was like a scratch, so I was working hard to improve something that was already pretty good.”
“My approach game was leaving stuff short and missing to the right, so I started working on stuff before a round. I’d hit more approach shots while warming up than I ordinarily would, where I used to be taking more putts, because I thought putting was my problem.” – Sal Syed, Arccos CEO
That, in a nutshell, is the difference between raw data and advanced analytics. Raw data tells you the what - that you're a 7 handicap averaging 40 putts per round, but a deeper dive can often tell you the why.
“It’s really about smarter decision making, knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are, and playing to my strengths,” says Sal. “I’ve had three holes-in-one in the past three years, and the only reason is that I know for sure how far my irons go. On a Par 3, I’ll pace back two yards at the teebox if I have 137 to the flag, to optimize my odds of a hole-in-one because I know my 9-iron goes 139.”
Advanced analytics isn’t just knowing the numbers; it’s about knowing why the numbers are what they are and how to use that information to improve performance. Michael Lewis, Billy Beane, and Brad Pitt made advanced analytics famous with Moneyball, and it’s been just over the past 3 or 4 years that we’re seeing that same level of golf analytics becoming available for the likes of you and me.
“If you think about it, golf gives you an Excel spreadsheet for a score card. No other sport does that,” says Sal. “It’s just numbers and a grid, and then you’re putting more numbers in. Golf is all math, and whoever makes the better mathematical decisions is going to have a huge advantage.”
Syed says golf is even more suited to advanced analytics than baseball.
“I was speaking on a panel at MIT’s Sports Analytic Conference, and we were discussing the applicability of advanced analytics in terms of helping improve performance and analyzing strengths and weaknesses. On a scale of 1-to-10, baseball is a 10, basketball is a 7 and every other sport is from 1 to 5. Golf is like an 11, because every event is isolated and discreet. It’s not like you’re reacting to a pitch – you can get even more granular, advanced and accurate than you can with baseball.” – Sal Syed
Yeah, Jordan Spieth won the Open Championship this year, but don’t for one-second discount the role caddie Michael Greller played in keeping Spieth’s head right in that final round.
“100 years ago, C.B. MacDonald – one of the founders of the USGA – wrote that the caddie is an institution and a mentor well versed in the game and the course,” says Syed. “And if you go against what the caddie recommends, you’ll invariably make a bad shot.”
Most sports tend to be fluid and dynamic, requiring subconscious, instinctual decisions by individual players. Golf is different in that you have to make a deliberate and conscious decision before every shot. Bad decisions – and bad results tend to snowball.
“That allows you to get into your own head,” says Sal. “You get frustrated, and you continue making bad decisions and, as a result, not perform to the best of your ability.”
Arccos Caddie was introduced this past May, with the goal of bringing a Michael Greller or a Steve Williams to your right front pocket.
“Only 3% of golfers actually have access to a real caddie. That means 97% don’t – that whole experience has gone missing,” says Sal. “The ability to step back and objectively think about the situation goes missing. We’re trying to bring back something that’s gone missing in the sport.”
Arccos partnered up with Microsoft in what is undoubtedly the deepest, broadest and widest real world application of analytical data in golf. It not only takes into account your past performance and your history on a specific hole, but it also looks at your history on similar holes on other courses.
“Golf holes have only so many distinct varieties. So when the dogleg happens here, what’s your tendency? It knows what clubs you’re better with - you might be better with your 9-iron than your wedge. It knows your unique strengths and weaknesses and it knows people who are similar to you and how they’ve faired on this hole. It knows the trouble spots and it knows where scoring comes from.” – Sal Syed
Arccos Caddie also checks in with the local weather bureau and knows what the wind is doing, how you perform in the wind and the impact of the wind. It then recommends an optimal strategy for that hole. And it’s all USGA conforming.
In the software/app world, if you don’t have something new every few months you can quickly become yesterday’s news. With that in mind, Arccos Caddie this month is adding a new feature, called Plays Like Distance.
“On TV, you can hear the type of conversations caddies have with their players,” says Sal. “The caddie will pace off the flag and say ‘It’s 148, but it plays like 132 because it’s downhill and downwind.’”
Plays Like Distance takes into account elevation, wind and other environmental variables and gives you, as the name would suggest, what a shot will actually play like. Your typical GPS app or watch, of course, doesn’t know uphill from downhill, it doesn’t know what the wind is doing or in which direction it's blowing, and it doesn’t know whether it rained yesterday and how it would affect roll or how soft a green might be playing. Plays Like Distance does all that in real-time.
“We’re pulling in weather from multiple data sources, and running algorithms based on historical facts that are pretty darned good. It’s pretty accurate – basically better than any human can do under similar circumstances.” – Sal Syed
While Arccos Caddie is USGA conforming, The Plays Like Distance feature – at this time – is not. Syed says the application is in the works.
How much info is too much? When does all this data become overwhelming? And at what point is the amount of work needed to collect the data (i.e., tagging or other in-round fussing) simply become more hassle than it's worth?
“The key is to collect and present information in a simple way,” says Sal. “Here’s an additional data point, then it’s up to you. You’re the CEO of your golf game; you make the call.”
“We’re always talking with users, and we want to simplify the golf experience to make it more enjoyable. I think it’s more complicated now because you, as a golfer, are completely alone and don’t have the input of a caddie. I feel golf is more complicated without a caddie than it is with a caddie, or with Arcoss Caddie.” – Sal Syed
Syed says Arccos is very much focused on the traditional golfing culture, and everyone in the company plays at least once a week. The goal is to make the system as seamless as possible, and Syed admits there’s still a little bit of work to do.
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“For example, when you have a penalty shot you have to go into the app and do an add,” he says. “When you pick up a putt, we’re going to give you those one-tap gimmes, so you want even have to tell the system. It will know when that happens.
"It’s important to us to make a system that’s not getting in your way all the time. But the information has to be the right information at the right time. That’s why Plays Like is key because it’s born out of observation and conversations with real golfers. ‘What do you think it plays like?’ You hear that conversation 20 or 30 times a round. If you don’t have a caddie, you’re having that conversation in your own head.”
And although short on specifics, Syed does admit Arccos knows some golfers don’t like the whole phone in the front pocket thing. “As you’ve heard it, we’ve heard it too,” he says. “For this year you’ll have to keep the phone in the pocket, but hopefully we’ll have some cool announcements in the future.”
If you’re in to shot analytics technology, there’s certainly no shortage of options out there for you. Whether it’s Arccos, Shot Scope, Game Golf, Sky Caddie or any one of the others, the technology is evolving quickly and the challenge, of course, is how to make collecting and using that data simpler than just filling in your scorecard/spread sheet with Fairways Hit, GIR’s, Up ‘n Downs and Putts.
“When you’re out golfing, you’re out golfing,” says Syed. “You should not be collecting data. That should happen by itself.”
Arccos Caddie is a premium purchase within the Arccos 360 app, and it accesses a database of over 75 million shots and 368 million geotagged data points on more than 40,000 courses. You get a 5-round free trial and then get to choose from a tiered subscription program: either $7.99 per month, $39.99 for six months or $49.99 for 12 months (plus a 30-day free trial). The Arccos 360 unit itself sells for $249.99.
For more information about the entire suite of Arccos products, visit ArccosGolf.com.
When you’re just trying to get your business off the ground, having fun isn’t always a top priority. You’re more focused on your business plan, go-to-market strategy, financials, and—perhaps most importantly—time management. But your business will mirror your attitude, and if you are out of gas, customers will sense it.
When you add more fun to your day, research has shown you become more productive. What do I mean by more fun? When business leaders add meaningful, short breaks periodically throughout the day, they (and their team) are more productive and feel better.
Seriously! A study by the Harvard Business Review and the Energy Project found that when a supervisor encouraged team members to take regular breaks, employees were 81 percent more likely to stay with the company and had a 78 percent increase in their sense of healthiness and well-being.
If that wasn’t enough, the same study also found those who took breaks at least every 90 minutes reported a 40 percent increase in creative thinking and a 28 percent improvement in focus.
As your days get more grueling and run longer than you anticipate, it’s important to remember to have fun. Not just so that you feel better, but also to help you stay on task and do more. By taking regular breaks, you are making your business stronger.
Now that you know why you should take meaningful, fun breaks (or as I like to call them, an “oasis”) it’s time to take action. Here are three tips to get you started on your path to fun at work and being more productive.
As adults, too many of us have forgotten how to enjoy ourselves. This may ring more true for people just starting out their own business since you’re knee-deep in responsibilities.
To discover what you want to do for your fun break, return to the wisdom from the mouths of babes (with some caveats, of course).
One of the most wonderful characteristics children have is the wondrous ways they view the world. They discover fun and play wherever they are, regardless of the resources they have available.
Now it’s time to make a list! I call this an “oasis list”―the simplicity of a playlist with the joy of a bucket list, but with zero guilt, little pressure, and little cost in terms of either time or money. These are things that bring a little fun, joy, relaxation, and recharging to your day.
Author Dave Crenshaw, having fun defying gravity.
Your oasis list can be categorized by the amount of time involved with each activity―under 15 minutes, 15 to 30 minutes, over 30 minutes, and so on. Get started by writing down all the things you enjoy, whether it’s taking a short walk outside, eating a sweet treat, playing video games, finding a quiet place to meditate, reading a few chapters of a book, listening to an audiobook, an so on.
An “oasis” represents a moment that you create. It sums up what you would describe as a meaningful break. These will be the items that you can come back to when you are ready for an oasis.
Next, it is time to establish a pattern of taking your oasis. Regardless of what may be happening with work, your oases (plural of oasis!) come first.
That means they should be on your schedule as a top-priority. An oasis isn’t what happens at the end of the day; it’s a critical part of the workday. Start with scheduling micro-oases of 10 to 20 minutes each multiple times per day and choose an activity from your oasis list that fits into that time frame. Then work up to scheduling a longer break of 60 to 90 minutes that might afford you a trip to the gym, a yoga class, or other physical activity.
You’ll know what time of the day to schedule it because of your ultradian rhythm. This is your work “body-clock.” Discovered by sleep researcher Nathan Kleitman, it’s a “basic rest-activity cycle.” Ultradian rhythms are shorter, recurrent patterns in our circadian day.
Each one of us has an optimal cycle for how long they can work before needing a break. Just as each person has unique nightly sleep needs, a person’s work break needs to occur every 90 to 120 minutes.
How will you know yours? Experimentation, of course! Break at various time periods for a week and see what seems to work best for you. Once you’ve discovered your perfect rhythm, make multiple recurring appointments on your calendar each and every day.
I gave this advice to one of my CEO clients; right after lunch every day, she scheduled a brief oasis to visit a special friend.
In her calendar, she created a recurring event called “Take a walk to visit my friend Bessie the cow.” Her oasis was to leave her office, walk up the hill to a local pasture, pet the cow on the nose, and then head back to work. It’s exactly what she needed to get, ahem, moo-tivated.
According to Time Off’s 2016 report, nearly 55 percent of all Americans fail to use up all of their vacation time. This resulted in an estimated record-setting 658 million vacation days wasted that year.
The funny thing is, that same study found that employees who take ten or fewer days of vacation time are less likely to have received a raise or bonus in the last three years than those who took eleven days or more.
In case that isn’t obvious enough, forgive me as I make it perfectly clear: When you take less vacation, you earn less money. When you take more vacation, you pave the pathway to success.
At this point you may be saying to yourself: Who has the time or the money when you are starting a new business to take a vacation? Some people will think in terms of an annual vacation. That’s fine, just don’t limit yourself. It doesn’t have to be a week-long trip to Tahiti. It could be as simple as a weekend of fishing and camping at your local lake. It might be an affordable, decent-sized purchase for a stay-cation, like a refurbished Xbox or movie projector.
David Crenshaw, here pictured having fun with Thor.
Look several months out on your calendar and schedule that vacation. You’ve earned it and you need it. The downtime will help you rejuvenate your mind and body.
Day-to-day life has a way of intruding on our happiness. We can get caught up in work or other pressures, then the things we’d rather be doing—the things that truly make us happy—get pushed aside. Remember those and take the time each day for yourself to do the things you enjoy and have fun!
Dave Crenshaw is the master of building productive leaders and has transformed hundreds of thousands of business leaders worldwide. He has appeared in TIME magazine, USA Today, FastCompany, and the BBC News. His courses on LinkedIn Learning have received millions of views.
He has written three books and counting, including The Myth of Multitasking, which was published in six languages and is a time-management bestseller. His fourth book, The Power of Having Fun, releases September 19th. Learn more about Dave at DaveCrenshaw.com.
