Freelancing offers a lot of freedom and flexibility that a regular desk job can’t. Since you mostly get to choose the type of work you do, who you collaborate with, what time of the day you work and for how long at a time, the location you work from and the volume of work you take on, you’re able to make choices that suit your individual strengths and needs.

Shutterstock It’s only when I’m actually on vacation that I find myself thinking, “I really believe in vacations!” Sure, I’m excited beforehand, but it’s only when I’m actually there that I realize just how much I needed it and how much better I’ll be when back at work for having taken some time off. Research shows that professional success is not just about time management, it’s also about energy management.

Shutterstock A business leader recently reached out to me for advice about how to make his workplace mentally stronger. His initial question was, “How can I help my employees be less sensitive?” After learning more about his organization, I discovered he was asking the wrong question. The problem wasn’t that his employees were overly sensitive. The real issue was that some members of his leadership team were rude. And it was taking a serious toll on employee morale.

I’m in Chicago with Virgin Group founder Richard Branson; we’ve come together to discuss my favorite topic, customer service. Branson gets right down to it: “The kind of service that customers want today is unscripted and authentic. Take Virgin Hotels, since we’re sitting here” (we’re in Miss Ricky’s Diner, a restaurant within Virgin’s flagship downtown hotel.

This is Mentoring Moments (#38), a series of WOW-you-need-to-know-these stories from successful women of multiple generations. Mentoring Moments is now a podcast. Cindy Gallop, Founder MakeLoveNotPorn. (Photo by ioulex) Cindy Gallop’s Twitter profile says it all, “I like to blow sh*t up. I am the Michael Bay of business.” And this quote from Gallop is one of my favorites: “You’ll never own the future if you care what other people think.

Despite a tumultuous year for the stock market, it was a good time to be a tech billionaire, The titans on FORBES’ second annual list of the world’s 100 Richest In Techundefined are worth a combined $892 billion, 6% more than a year ago. The minimum net worth is now $2.2 billion, up from $2 billion a year ago. Fifty-three of the top 100 added to their fortunes, while 27 got poorer.

Jobs was a genius, an irreplaceable, inimitable force. But his philosophy – that art and science must be combined to create Apple-level magic – is replicable. Jobs’ genius can be distilled and scaled to develop a value-driven approach to performance improvement (PI), in every industry and every market, according to a paper from Forbes Insights and North Highland Consulting, “Lessons from Leaders, Marrying the Art and Science of Performance Improvement.

Credit: Shutterstock A whole lot of crickets. That’s what many frustrated recruiters say they hear when they post a job opening. Even when they deliver all the trimmings—fancy perks, a cool title, and a high pay grade—newly posted openings just don’t receive the attention they deserve. In fact, the average number of days to fill an open position hit an all-time high of 29 last year—and for many fields, that number is actually low.

We spend a third of our life at work, so who wants to eat up that much time at a mediocre company? Nobody. Following are four strategies (demonstrated by four real companies) that could transform a so-so culture into something amazing. Subscribe Now: Forbes Entrepreneurs &  Small Business Newsletters All the trials and triumphs of building a business – delivered to your inbox. Support employees’ quests to achieve and fulfill a greater sense of purpose.

Photo: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images Arianna Huffington is leaving The Huffington Post to focus on a new venture-backed wellness startup, she announced on Thursday. The media mogul will step down as editor-in-chief of the online news platform she founded in 2005 to lead Thrive Global, which will offer corporate training and workshops on stress reduction. The company has started piloting its programs at professional services giant Accenture.