Want to make it in business, fellas? You might need a glow up. (Or, um, a bro up?)

That’s because conventional good looks can benefit men’s upward professional and financial mobility, according to a study of nearly 12,000 Americans examined in Social Science Quarterly. Attractiveness didn’t appear to make a noticeable difference in women’s earnings.

Women generally face harsher beauty standards, but conventional feminine attractiveness seems to result in greater social currency, if not in actual currency. The researchers speculate this could be due to the outdated stereotype that “leadership- and authority-related skills are viewed as masculine characteristics”; hence, why men’s appearance is more of a factor here.

Even if you’re not the hottest guy at the office, don’t worry. The study’s “characteristics [that] may affect individuals’ physical attractiveness” include “cultivating manners, grooming [and] fashionable and more expensive clothes…” Get enough sleep, moisturize, and invest in a week’s worth of nice shirts and chinos that fit well — it just might pay off.

Low-key SMB hubs: Do you need to pay big-city rent? 

Stanley Cup: How a tumbler became a status symbol

Like a sturgeon: Innovative company sells “no-kill caviar”

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If the 2010s’ business culture was about consolidation in metropolises like New York City, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay, the ‘20s are all about spreading out, often due to being priced out. What started as a response to lockdowns has ended up being a cultural and geographic shift.

Gen Z is moving to the South — understandable with average one-bedroom rent sitting at $4,333 in New York and $3,200 in LA — and so are the companies they want to work for. Plenty of midsize cities offer booming economies and peace-of-mind perks.

Here’s where entrepreneurs can get a jump on that action, and why they might want to consider it.

Miami: Tech Startups

While venture capital in Silicon Valley is dipping, the Kauffman Index calls Miami the most entrepreneurial city in the U.S. Even giants like Microsoft and Softbank are soaking up the sun in the home of South Beach, with the latter offering $100 million to Miami-based startups via its Latin America Fund. 

St. Louis: Education Services

With a cost of living that inspired the Penny Hoarder to name it a haven for millennials, St. Louis is a boomtown for education-adjacent businesses . Case in point: The city has no less than 10 regional community colleges. The University of Missouri alone generates $547.2 million for the local economy.     

Nashville: Direct-to-Consumer Brands

Nashville’s location means you can offer one-day shipping to 75% of the continental U.S. There’s still plenty of room for DTC in the Music City. And the rent is about half of what you’d pay in LA. 

Houston: Food

It’s no wonder Travel and Leisure named Houston the fifth-best food city in America. While 53% of restaurateurs had to raise their prices in 2023, only 31% in Houston felt the need to do so.

Need more convincing to bust out of the 350-square-foot box you call home and swap it for a place with a front yard? Check out our infographic below.

Onboarding is a critical part of building your team and growing your business successfully, and it’s easier with the right technology. In fact, a recent BambooHR survey found 97% of employees say it’s important to leverage technology to streamline the onboarding process.

But great tools are best paired with effective and thoughtful practices. To help, BambooHR developed this free Definitive Guide to Onboarding in 2024. Check it out to level up your process and impress your new hires from day one.

BambooHR’s comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about onboarding: 

• What you stand to gain (or lose!) in those crucial first days
• How to boost retention and increase time to productivity
• The latest trends and employee expectations
• Tips and strategies for creating a positive, productive, and inclusive onboarding experience for your employees

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Nobody could’ve predicted that crowds would be camping overnight at Target and brawling for a chance to buy a discontinued $45 water bottle — especially one from a brand that’s been around for over a century. Yet Stanley’s Quencher tumbler (aka the Stanley Cup) has revolutionized drinkware marketing.

The Stanley brand, founded in 1913, traditionally appealed to outdoorsy men. However, its massive 40-ounce Quencher tumbler failed to appeal to campers, and the company dropped it from the lineup … until the women behind e-commerce site The Buy Guide posted about it on Instagram. They struck a deal with Stanley to sell Quenchers in more feminine colors, such as the recent pink-and-red “Galentine’s Day” limited edition.

By mobilizing a network of influencers on #WaterTok, and tapping into millennials’ passion for hydration, the Quencher became the year’s unlikeliest product success story. (The bottle in the back of your cabinet is probably fine too — and might not even contain lead.)

(Source: Shutterstock)

Caviar drifted out of the culinary zeitgeist in the 2000s. The delicacy had become old-fashioned and literally inaccessible due to decreasing natural availability and global bans on killing critically endangered sturgeon for their eggs.

California Caviar Company is out to change that by gently massaging those eggs out of the fish without harming them. CCC owns the U.S. patent for this technique, known as the Köhler Process. Sustainable caviar farming completely flips the script, boosting sturgeons’ numbers instead of lowering them. (Plus, it produces more caviar since a sturgeon needs eight to 15 years to produce its first caviar but only 15 months to produce subsequent rounds.)

CCC’s farm now houses about 20,000 sturgeon. Sustainability might not come quickly, but the payoff is delicious.

Written by Dan Ketchum and Lauren Vino.