Written for the leaders, owners and professionals of the 11 million businesses with between $50,000 and $50 million in revenue.

There are many pros and cons of employee monitoring software. You might improve productivity and cybersecurity, but your staff could resent the lack of trust and privacy … and then just buy a $60 keyboard tapper to fool you.

Wells Fargo recently hit delete on a dozen employees — all in the wealth-and-investment management department — for alleged “simulation of keyboard activity” that had created an “impression of active work,” Bloomberg reported last week. Keyboard-tapping devices are similar to mouse jigglers that grew in popularity during the pandemic WFH era to keep that Slack bubble green.

Read business.com’s guide to How to Effectively Implement Employee Monitoring Software. (Tip #1: Consult your workers so they’ll feel heard … and maybe won’t play a game of cat and mouse-jiggler.)

Lonely Planet: Social media director’s wide-ranging strategy

Side Hustlers: A nicer, all-women version of Shark Tank

Lyle’s Golden Syrup: World’s oldest logo finally changes

(Source: Alice Greenfield)

For Deepa Lakshmin, social media director of Lonely Planet, business trips include agenda items like scuba diving with nurse sharks in Belize and exploring the Medina in Fez, Morocco. While most legacy print brands have struggled in the online transition, Lonely Planet’s approach has made it a go-to digital destination for 13 million followers with a case of wanderlust.

Lakshmin won a 2024 Webby Award for Best Social Media in Arts and Culture. b. sat down with her to talk digital brand strategy, travel tips, and why even the most fun-sounding job boils down to strong organization skills. 

b.: How often do you travel?

Lakshmin: It ebbs and flows. Sometimes I’m traveling for work; sometimes I’m traveling for fun. Sometimes I’m traveling for work and then I add on a couple of extra days for fun, because I’m always trying to see as much of the world as possible. … So, the line between work and play for me is very blurry at best. I know that’s not the case for everybody, but I feel very fortunate [it’s] the life I’m living right now.

b.: What are you considering when you’re putting together your editorial calendar? 

Lakshmin: We’ve got content that covers a variety of destinations across all the continents, making sure that we’re representing not just the traveler’s point of view, but also the local community’s point of view. And you can really only do that if you are planning, if you’re looking at your calendar zoomed out.

I’ve worked in social media jobs before where I would wake up each day and think, like, “OK, what am I posting today?” And that is really stressful. And it isn’t, in my opinion, the best way to run social media channels. … Because if you just chase whatever’s trending — chase what’s most viral at the moment — it can be a lot harder to connect that back to your brand and define the purpose of a particular channel.

b.: What were some of the early opportunities for growth or transformation when you first started at Lonely Planet? 

Lakshmin: Instagram Stories is something that we do occasionally now, but the social industry has moved from being … much more copy-based — with tweets and Facebook posts and links — to something that’s much more video-based, which requires a lot more planning, a lot more budget against it…

Ideally, if you have a robust social team, every single channel requires its own strategy and programming … I think it is much more fruitful to do one channel very, very well — and have it drive the business impact that you’re looking for — than to half-ass all the channels [which is not] going to move your business forward.

b.: Is there one evergreen thing that makes for a good post and always has?

Lakshmin: Storytelling. How are you hooking people in? How are you keeping them engaged? How are you telling them something that they don’t already know? There is never gonna be, in my opinion, something to replace storytelling …

You know, our books are a great example of that. We have these guidebooks; we have a wealth of travel resources and information. So social is all about just taking all of that amazing content and repackaging it … What’s the journey through that content that makes sense for whoever happens to be scrolling past it? 

This interview has been edited for length. Read the full Q&A at business.com.

As the place where transactions happen, your point-of-sale system is one of the most important touchpoints for your customers. You need a POS system that’s efficient and reliable so it can keep up with the pace of your business as it grows.

Lightspeed is true to its name, processing transactions quickly and easily with a consistent uptime you can rely upon. Run payments, track inventory, and share data across teams and channels instantly, making your business nimbler than ever. Want to take things a step further? Lightspeed offers personalized support to boost your sales process and improve customer experience even further. 

For an intuitive, effective POS system that can give your business a major boost, look no further than Lightspeed.

In this week’s podcast episode, host John Busby is joined by Dane Chapin, founder and CEO of Usaopoly. They dive into the nitty gritty of entrepreneurship, the importance of adaptability, and how Chapin creates widely loved games such as Telestrations, Topple, and special editions of Monopoly. Watch it on YouTube or listen on your favorite audio app.

(Source: Roku)

Turning a side hustle into your primary career is taxing and terrifying … but perhaps reality TV can help. That’s the premise of Side Hustlers, which follows five aspiring businesswomen who want to leave their day jobs behind. They receive advice (and potential investment) from co-hosts/entrepreneurs Emma Grede and Ashley Graham.

Grede, a founding partner of Skims, has made appearances on Shark Tank, and Side Hustlers is essentially a more feminine-focused version of that show. (Reese Witherspoon is an executive producer through her Hello Sunshine company.)

Win or lose, participants benefit from mentorship instead of being eaten alive, even if the show itself is more of a guilty-pleasure watch than a source of legitimate business advice. That said, it was the Roku Channel’s No. 1 on-demand title and has already been renewed for a second season, so check it out if you need a break from your side hustle.

(Source: Lyle’s Golden Syrup)

By modern branding standards, a rotting lion carcass under a swarm of bees is not the first logo you’d bring into a pitch meeting.

But ever since 1885, that’s exactly what has adorned Lyle’s Golden Syrup, a baking staple and pancake topper from British food company Tate & Lyle. (The artwork was inspired by an Old Testament story, which co-founder Abram Lyle believed would generate literal buzz.) In 2006, Guinness World Records recognized Lyle’s Golden Syrup for having the oldest active packaging logo.

But earlier this year, it was time for a pivot. The new syrup bottle design features the Starbucks Siren equivalent of a lion, with a single bee floating above its (living) head.

“Consumers need to see brands moving with the times and meeting their current needs,” said James Whiteley, Lyle’s brand director, in a statement. “Our fresh, contemporary design brings Lyle’s into the modern day … while still feeling nostalgic and authentically Lyle’s.”

(Brand purists can rest easy; the old logo will still be featured on tins of Lyle’s Classic Golden Syrup because there is nothing quite like French toast with a side of “Mommy, is that animal sleeping?”)

Written by Tess Barker and Lauren Vino.