Hasta La Gadget!

At some point, publishing a book became the must-have accomplishment for business people to include in their professional profiles. Along those lines, I’ve been noticing something interesting happening in the Udemy marketplace. We’ve been seeing more and more professionals turning to online teaching as a way to build their personal brands, extend their influence, and foster a more dynamic, multidirectional dialog with their followers.

Not only is teaching online a great way to demonstrate expertise, it’s perhaps the most effective way to share that expertise with a virtually limitless global audience that’s checking in from smartphones while on the go or from living rooms, offices, commuter trains, etc. And that, in turn, is a huge benefit to would-be students, who wouldn’t otherwise have access to these high-quality experts.

Nowadays, when influencers want to broadcast a message, they can’t skip delivering it as on-demand video. Simply put, most consumers cite video as the format they prefer over reading text, and they have unprecedented control over the viewing experience too. We’ve all gotten used to consuming entertainment on our own terms, at our own pace, on our own schedules. Forget the TV listings; you can watch any episode of any show whenever you want.

Professional content creators of all stripes have to meet those same consumer expectations of freedom and flexibility. Books are still plenty popular, but they’re just one ingredient in the media mix people are feeding on. That’s why more non-teachers are recognizing the power of online courses to help their audiences absorb information and apply what they’ve learned. With video-based courses, their expertise is available whenever people want it, and it’s easy for students to engage in relevant discussions with the expert and with each other.

A slew of well-known influencers have signed on to create courses on Udemy, including entrepreneur and marketing maven Seth Godin, bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert, and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. What they have in common is a desire to serve their expertise to as many people as possible. We actually asked Nick Kristof and his wife/co-instructor Sheryl WuDunn to tell us why they felt an online course made sense for sharing their messages about global opportunity and empowering women. They had already published books and made TV documentaries on these topics, “But frankly, not everyone reads books: Picking up a 300-page book is a significant barrier, while watching videos may be a little easier and friendlier.” Essentially, given the multitude of ways people find and consume information today, Nick and Sheryl recognized the need to deliver content in many different formats to satisfy them; in other words, the decision to publish a course was driven by their audience’s needs.

This evolution from books to courses isn’t just something for people who already have a highly visible public persona either. There are Udemy instructors who’ve adapted self-published e-book content for their video courses and vice-versa after finding that the two formats worked well in tandem. I talked to one student who came to Udemy to learn about creating and hosting a webinar and decided to create an online course instead so people anywhere could access it indefinitely. Another instructor told us she’s been getting more speaking engagements since her online courses started gaining attention, demonstrating how these efforts reinforce each other and contribute to overall results.

In other words, for many professionals, especially freelancers, consultants, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed, teaching online is one of the best ways to build out an audience and serve more “customers” without being hindered by time, geography, or logistical restrictions. While additional income is great, for many of these folks, there are other benefits worth having, like connecting with students in far-flung locations and being able to “teach” a course on demand whenever people are ready to learn, no matter the time of day or night.

We know the internet is democratizing access to education for students, but it’s also opening more doors for subject-matter experts who want to distribute their content more widely. It ends up being a win-win, as instructors stretch their muscles in new directions to strengthen their professional profiles, and students have more opportunities than ever to learn from the best.

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As Britain reels after its vote to leave the European Union, one small speck in the enormous sea of businesses and individuals wondering what it all means remains firmly anchored: production of “Game of Thrones.”

Fear not! Although portions of the series are filmed in Northern Ireland, which is set to leave the EU as part of the United Kingdom, the Brexit will not affect filming, according to HBO.

“We do not anticipate that the result of the EU Referendum will have any material effect on HBO producing ‘Game of Thrones,'” reads a statement provided to The Huffington Post by the network.

The vote sparked rumors that extraction from the EU might spell doom for the hit series, which is scheduled to produce two more half-seasons. Foreign Policy reported Tuesday that the Brexit could affect “Game of Thrones” filming in Northern Ireland if funding from the EU’s European Regional Development Fund, which supports projects in under-developed regions, were cut off. But the show hasn’t actually received ERDF funding for the last few seasons.

However, while the Brexit might not mean much for Westeros, it may very well wreak havoc on the entertainment industry’s activity in the U.K.

Before the Thursday vote, dozens of notable British actors and celebrities, including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Patrick Stewart, Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, signed a letter urging their fellow Brits to remain in the EU. 

“Britain is not just stronger in Europe, it is more imaginative and more creative,” the letter reads. “Our global creative success would be severely weakened by walking away.”

In a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Ryan, chairman of the global entertainment industry trade association Independent Film & Television Alliance, said the decision is “likely devastating” to the U.K. film and TV industry.

“This decision has just blown up our foundation — as of today, we no longer know how our relationships with co-producers, financiers and distributors will work, whether new taxes will be dropped on our activities in the rest of Europe or how production financing is going to be raised without any input from European funding agencies.”

While extraction from the EU is likely to take years, specific ramifications of the Brexit on Hollywood and the entertainment business remain as murky as its effects on the global economy.

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Note: I want to make sure that people realize that my women in tech initiative is the creative product of Allyson Kapin and Justyn Hintze from Women Who Tech and Rad Campaign. They articulate what I believe and make it happen. /Craig

Hey, many of you have probably already heard, but 10 startup finalists were selected from a pool of over 400 to compete in the Women Startup Challenge at LinkedIn on June 14th.

The audience at the Challenge voted in-person for their favorite pitch on one of our sponsors platforms, The Audience Awards, and IBM awarded $120K in cloud services and entry into IBM’s Global Entrepreneur Program. The Audience Choice Award the night of the Challenge went to Blendoor, a blind recruiting app that hides the candidate name and photo to circumvent unconscious bias and facilitate diversity.

Two more Audience Awards by IBM were awarded to the two startups who had the most votes by June 20th.

You can re-watch all of the pitches from the Women Startup Challenge at LinkedIn here.

Make sure to check out all the startups who participated in the Women Startup Challenge, and support ’em if you’re able. They’re the real deal.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

In ultracompetitive rental markets, some renters are going to extremes to snag (and keep) the apartment they want: paying a full year’s rent in advance, delivering their application with a bottle of wine, or offering to paint the walls and replace the cruddy carpet on their dime. But this isn’t the new normal just for New York, NY, rentals: In tight markets around the country, from San Francisco, CA, to Washington, DC, renters are going the extra mile to land their dream place.

“Tenants are paying as much as what a down payment could be on a home,” says Nadine Fallon, partner and broker in Great Spaces Real Estate in Boston, MA. “When you factor first, last, security, and a broker fee, you are looking at $12,000 just to move in. Then calculate moving costs, and it becomes prohibitively expensive for frequent moves.” To make the process easier, Trulia’s new Rental Resume tool lets users save and quickly send relevant lease application details — from how many pets they have to current employment information — any time they want to inquire about a property listed for rent on the site.

Here are seven real-life stories from renters who went the extra mile to score the perfect apartment.

1. Sweetening the deal
“I was moving out of a situation with roommates to find my first place all on my own. Not much in my price range was coming up, so when I found a funky-yet-affordable one-bedroom in a decent part of town, I was excited. But the landlord was not excited about my current lack of full-time employment (I was a freelancer), and his elderly mother, who was the actual owner, was totally unconvinced. So I proceeded to write a letter, explaining how I’d been searching for months with no luck, and that this apartment was the perfect solution to all my problems. To seal the deal, I bought a tin of butter cookies for the elderly mother — I took a guess that it would appeal to her. I dropped off the cookies and the letter, and by the end of the week, I was signing the lease.” — Lawrence Carter, Washington, DC

2. Man’s best friend — and tenant
“I bought a bow tie for my dog and kept treats hidden in my pocket so he would be a perfect gentleman when meeting the real estate agent, who had been asked to check him out by the apartment owner.” — Bryan Barbieri, Boston, MA

3. Enhancing the truth
“I have tried several tricks to outrace the masses to get to my dream apartment. This has included pretending to be related to the landlord, bearing a letter from a distant mutual cousin; offering to exchange my small summer home in Maine (which didn’t exist); or promising, in writing, to watch their dog for a year. But in order to get on the waiting list for an artist-colony complex, I showed the managers several pages of a TV show script I claimed I was working on. Then I told them I could teach a class in television writing.” — Suzanne O’Neil, Los Angeles, CA

Although the tactic worked for this renter, Fallon strongly warns against it. “The lease and the application are legal documents that you are signing and attesting to that the information is accurate and true. Depending on how much you bend the truth, lying on them can put you in violation of your lease, and if your landlord finds out, they may have grounds to evict you. Evictions that go to court are public record and may come up every time you apply for an apartment — and prevent you from finding adequate housing in the future. You will also probably not be able to use that landlord as a reference. For example, we contact the previous two or three landlords to get a complete picture of an applicant’s rental history. Lack of landlord references will put you at a disadvantage against other tenants.”

4. Using your network
“One time in college, my friend and I looked at a place with a real estate agent, and it turned out, we knew the dudes living there. After we were done with the real estate agent, we immediately went back to the place and got the landlord’s info from our friends. We called him directly, got the place, and avoided the fee. The agent found out and was furious. He said he was going to sue us, but no lawsuit yet.” — Tanya Burren, New York, NY

Again, Fallon advises caution before employing this tactic. “If you don’t have a contract with the agent, that’s probably legal from the tenant’s standpoint,” says Fallon. With a signed contract in place, though, this renter might have found herself in court. But even in the absence of a contract, Fallon would still discourage this practice. “The real estate world is small and you may run across this person again, either professionally or personally. Quite a few rental agents are also landlords or property managers, and you’d be hard-pressed to work with them again in the future.”

5. A little help from your friends
“Looking for apartments in San Francisco is so crazy. I’ve always arrived with letters of recommendation, my credit report already printed out, etc. — anything to make it easier for a landlord to pick me. When I found my latest apartment, I asked one of my roommates at the time to email the landlord to tell him why I would be an amazing tenant. I did the same for her, as we were all moving on at the same time. It worked — we both got our places.” — Kim Lessard, San Francisco, CA

6. It’s all about who you know
“I didn’t do anything wacky, but the guy gave me the apartment over other applicants because he remembered me from teaching yoga at the gym. He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re the yoga girl. Yeah, yoga people are good people. OK, it’s yours.’ I didn’t even have to fill out an application or submit to a credit check. So see — yoga is good for you in many ways!” — Karmin Longin, Boston, MA

7. Leaving it to chance
“I’d looked at something like 30 apartments when I finally found a studio that I adored. The problem was, another woman had shown up to look at the place at the same time, and our applications were pretty much identical. We were in the same professional field, made almost the exact same amount of money, had the same good credit, and even looked a little bit alike! The landlady just couldn’t make a decision, so she asked if we’d be willing to flip a coin for it. We both agreed, and I won.” — Sara Robinson, New York, NY

What’s the wackiest thing you’ve ever done to score the perfect apartment? Share your experiences in the comments!

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