Shalina Taka, Executive Director of PMG says, concerning the study's findings, it's 2024, but there is still a sense of lost time. People are making up for adventures that they postponed & people they haven't seen. The study makes clear, loyalty programs remain very important, especially when it comes to younger travelers w/ 58% of Gen Z consumers reporting.

The initiative is part of Amazon's commitment to help small business owners during its annual small business month. As part of the grant program, Amazon will award one grand prize and 10 semi-finalist prizes, totaling more than $250,000. Small businesses that currently use Amazon Business and make a million or less in annual sales are eligible to apply. The deadline for applications is May 24th. Go to amazon.com/smallbusinessgrant

Cast your vote to determine this year's winner. The final four: Amara Beauty Products, a certified woman & minority-owned business, specializing in natural or organic body scrubs. Harry Rich Clothier creates custom garments for individuals using fashion as a tool to inspire, liberate, & educate people to think beyond the status quo. Kana is a Pakistani-inspired food popup. Roller Skate Detroit provides the Detroit area w/ an entertainment facility focused on healthy fun. The winner announced on May 9th. To cast your vote, go to hatchdetroit.com

Brian Calley, President and CEO of the Small Business Association of MI, "I think it has the potential to be more significant than any of the recent advancements. Artificial Intelligence has the potential to affect nearly everything but in much more profound ways. It's the idea of handling very complex decision-making, considering huge data sets, and that really does have the potential to impact every single industry and nearly every job. So it's important that we ensure that people don't get left behind."

If you're a retailer and you rely heavily on sales for Mother's Day, switch, your focus from marketing to dads to actually marketing to moms. What's the overarching lesson here? As a retailer, you must know your buyer if you're going to be in business.

The social entrepreneurship competition in tourism is the first of its kind worldwide competition, application period is open until June 30th. To apply, go to social tourism competition.com

Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grant Program. Awards will be made to 5 young entrepreneurs who receive $2,000 plus free mentorship and business coaching advice from Merchant Maverick's CEO applications are open now through May 31st. To learn more and apply on behalf of your young entrepreneur, go to merchantmaverick.com

Research from Acoustic conducted by Forrester highlights marketer's focus when it comes to data. They're focused on channel engagement data, web and mobile data, customer data, and real-time experience data. If you want to be in business today, you must put data to work in your strategy development.

Starting a business part-time to ease your way into business ownership is a great way to keep income coming in by way of your full-time job while pursuing your business ambitions during off hours and weekends. This gives you a chance to validate your business opportunity before jumping in at full degree of risk.

Google is top overall for searches today, hot on Google's heels, arer TikTok and YouTube. As Gen Z and younger generations grow to become a major focus of businesses you need to know where they're going to be searching in order to make sure you pop up in front of them.