Business

The National Retail Federation forecast that retail sales during 2019 will increase between 3.8 percent and 4.4 percent to more than $3.8 trillion despite threats from an ongoing trade war, the volatile stock market and the effects of the government shutdown.

By Gonzalo López Martí    - Creative director, etc / LMMiami.com

• It was a Super Bowl to forget.
• Sports and advertising wise.
• If the annual January NFL extravaganza is a barometer of the national sentiment, we might be going through a collective lethargy of sorts.

According to the research, women’s inclination to take risks declines as they become more experienced in their careers – even as their self-confidence grows. Forty-five percent of respondents with less than five years of experience say they are open to taking big risks to advance their careers, versus 37 percent with over 15 years of experience. Women of color are the biggest professional risk-takers, with 57 percent saying they are open to taking big chances versus 38 percent of white women.

The trade war, to date, has been somewhat hypothetical, existing mainly in the minds of consumers as it has yet to hit our wallets tangibly. However, this may be changing in 2019 as the latest slate of tariffs is likely to affect items in grocery stores across the country. Hispanic grocery stores, however, have enjoyed a steady rise in business during 2018. So, will the impending tariffs stunt this growth?

February has started to creep onto my calendar, so it must be time to discuss agency new business resolutions. They may be your “New Year’s resolutions,” or they might be your annual new business goals, formal or informal. Either way, these annual new business “resolutions” are notorious for ending up on the back burner and fading away into good intentions, as we quickly fall back into familiar habits. Before that happens, I want to share a few tips that can help you set up positive, repeatable sales habits while the new year is still full of maximum possibilities.  by Mark Duval / The Duval Partnership

At the outset of Donald Trump’s third year in office, the public’s to-do list for the president and the 116th Congress spans domains with the economy, health care costs, education and preventing terrorism all cited as top priorities by majorities of Americans.