Official Richart Ruddie Blog - Internet Entrepreneur

Remembering a friend Craig Sinema

Remembering a great Fort Lauderdale friend who left our presence far too soon. His family said it best:

You can shed tears that he is gone, or you can smile because he has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that he'll come back, or you can open your eyes and see all he's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see him, or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember him only that he is gone, or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what he'd want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

 

 

 

Googles Advice on Improving Your Shopping Cart

Google released a slideshow on ways to improve your shopping cart experience and build up your e-commerce store. Here is an overview:

In the United States, bad online search experiences cost (someone) $300 billion per year.

"85% of global online consumers view a brand differently after experiencing search difficulties."

"64% of U.S. retail Website managers have no clear plan for improvement."

Takeaway #2: "9 in 10 U.S. consumers (90%) say a good search function is very important or absolutely essential, with 97% agreeing that their favorite retail websites are ones where they can quickly find what they are looking for. Additionally, the search function is the most commonly used feature on retail websites compared with the navigator menu, filter feature, or promotions on the homepage."

Takeaway #4: "69% of consumers say that a successful search experience often leads to the purchase of additional items, with almost all consumers (99%) saying that they are somewhat likely to return to a website if it has a good search function."

"98% of website managers are confident consumers are able to find what they need when visiting their website."

"1 in 10 consumers say they find exactly what they're searching for every time while using the search function."

"3 out of 4 consumers report that after an unsuccessful search, the sale is often lost to competition."

"52% of consumers abandon their entire cart and go elsewhere if they cannot find one item."

"77% of consumers avoid websites where they've experienced search difficulties."

Quotes for the weekend on Satisfaction

Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the UK, on the connection between action and satisfaction:

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's a day you've had everything to do and you've done it."

Source: Quoted in "As I Said to Denis: The Margaret Thatcher Book of Quotations"

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Philosopher Alan Watts on mistakes:

"Regard yourself as a cloud, in the flesh, because you see, clouds never make mistakes. Did you ever see a cloud that was misshapen? Did you ever see a badly designed wave? No, they always do the right thing. But, if you will, treat yourself for a while as a cloud or a wave and realize that you can’t make a mistake whatever you do. Because even if you do something that appears totally disastrous, it will all come out in the wash somehow or another. Then through this capacity you will develop a kind of confidence. And through confidence you will be able to trust your own intuition."

Source: Taoism: Way Beyond Seeking​

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1 Question For You

Think of the best coach, teacher, or leader you ever had. What can you learn from them?

Think of the worst coach, teacher, or leader you ever had. What can you learn from them?

Journalist Studio Reference Guide

Google has released a reference guide for journalists that provides some really fantastic resources. They include a DDOS service as an alternative to Cloudflare for those running political sites, Tilegrams for those who want to build cartograms for map data, a fast fact check explorer, a Google Data GIF maker, and Flourish a data visualization tool for data with pre-set templates. Will be interesting to see articles online from the NY Times, Washington Post, ESPN, Politico, and other places where you recognize these solutions that Google has provided.

For more information check out the journalists studio.

My favorite section that a stats nerd can really got list in is the Public Data Directory

For access to the WTO, ICT, IMF, and other stat databases visit:

https://www.google.com/publicdata/directory

- Richart Ruddie

MIT Review on Neuroscience

A super exciting article about how scientists are learning more about the brain to make positive affects on our future lives. If we put this much focus and $'s in resolving the issues and problems discussed in this article than there's nothing we can't accomplish. Read MIT review from 8 different scientists here: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/25/1031458/scientific-mysteries-human-brain

South Florida Michelin Restaurant Guide by Richart Ruddie

As an update to the original post below with the predictions of what restaurants would earn a Michelin star in the state and which would not. I am shocked that Naoe was not named but was glad to see some of my other favorite restaurants in South Florida did make the list like The Surf Club and L'Atelier in the Design District which was the only 2 Michelin star restaurant in the state.

Here are the restaurants in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties that made the cut. 

The 14 restaurants are The Surf Club at the Four Seasons in Surfside (North Miami). This was a prediction of mine as well as Le Jardinier in the Design District. Other notable restaurants are Boia De, Cote the popular Korean BBQ spot that started in New York City and is a near replica with their Miami location. 

Hiden in Wynwood which is one of the harder tables to get with a secret bodega like door that opens to the Omakase dining experience in Wynwood is a must do if you love sushi, The Den at Azabu Miami Beach, Stubborn Seed, ElCielo which also has locations in Medellin Colombia and Washington DC, Los Felix, and Ariete.

Out of the 14 star winners Cote, Le Jardinier, Le Atelier, and ElCielo all have locations in at least 1 other city so if you can't eat there when in Miami you can always try at another location.

Original Post from November, 2021 with predictions:
In 2022 Michelin is finally coming to South Florida. As California found when they paid Michelin to come and rate their restaurants the hospitality industry exploded leading up to the covid pandemic. So here are my current picks for restaurants in Miami, Broward, and Palm Beach County that will make the Michelin 1, 2, and 3 stars:

3 Star Michelin Restaurants in Miami:

Naoe - Run by Wendy who will let you know that there are only about 1,000 Japanese families in Miami and this one is by far the most authentic. You get the whole restaurant to yourself and a true Omakase experience. This is definitely the best restaurant in Miami and my pick for the only 3 Michelin star restaurant in Miami.

2 star Michelin Restaurants in Miami:

Surf Club at the Four Seasons - This restaurant does not have a tasting menu but everything was fantastic at this famous restaurant from Thomas Keller who is no stranger to Michelin Stars
Hiden - A Special bodega style entry at this restaurant that you have to book months out should be a 2 star Michelin rated restaurant.
L atelier de joel robuchon - Located in the Design District this restaurant gives you a choice between a tasting menu and a la carte. 

1 Star Michelin Restaurants in Miami:
La Mar
The Bazaar
Joe's Stone Crabs
Stubborn Seed
Le Jardiner

Milo's

Mr. Omakase

La Mar
Le Petite Maison

El Cielo

Sushi Erika

Pao

 

Broward & Palm Beach County Michelin Star Restaurants

 

These are my predictions for Broward and Palm Beach county restaurants:

Broward County:
Diplomat Prime
Tatiana
Steak 954
Lobster Bar

Palm Beach County:

6 Tables

Cafe Boulud
Flagler Steakhouse
6 Tables in Boca Raton

Cafe L'Europe

Le Bibloquet

Sant Ambroeus

La Goulue

Will look forward to checking back in 2022 and seeing which restaurants I predicted made the list and which ones did not. 

Basic Strategic Advice For Roll Ups

After talking with a private equity advisor the advice to follow when doing a roll up is be ready to commit at least 5 years to the venture, building high growth and high value business where you can increase margins & operating efficiencies. If you are working in or buying a software as a service business you can get multiples of revenues that are 10x or greater especially if you can show consistent 20% growth margins. Services or public relations businesses you are looking at more of an 6-12x especially if you are selling to a global agency. Good to showcase 15-25% operating margins in a standard business and 15-30% margins in a public relations agency model.

Notes for the future.

Google Gets Sued and Loses Over Failure To handle Right To Be Forgotten Requests Properly

This is a doozy of an article with Spain taking the lead and suing Google and loses over 10 million Euro's because they are sending the right to be forgotten removals and requests overseas to the Lumen Project in a sneaky but creative effort to keep the stuff they really don't want to delete online. This time they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar as their usual protection with the Irish DPC taking years to handle and review a case is also being sued by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties over its slow movement on issues relating to Google complaints which may or may not be on purpose but from my friends who work at Google they sound off that the company isn't so "Don't Be Evil" anymore...

Full article can be found here: https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-protection/spain-hands-google-e10-million-gdpr-fine-for-violation-of-right-to-be-forgotten-rules/

"Spanish data protection authority Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) called the two infringements that led to the GDPR fine “very serious.” Both relate to Google’s transfer of EU citizen data to an academic research project based in the United States.

The decision centers on the Lumen Project, an ongoing study conducted by Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center and supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The project, which began in 2001, collects cease-and-desist letters related to online activity with an eye to determining any effect they might have on free speech. Google has contributed to the archive since 2002, first motivated to action when the Church of Scientology filed bad faith takedown requests in order to silence websites critical of them.

The Lumen Project has typically focused on takedown requests made under the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), but has also begun collecting data deletion requests made by EU citizens under the rights granted by the GDPR. The first of the Spanish regulator’s findings was that Google could not demonstrate a legal right to pass these requests on to a third party, as it was not providing users with notification or a choice.

The AEPD also found that Google tripped over the “right to be forgotten” granted by Article 17 of the GDPR by putting the deletion request itself, and the attendant details, beyond their reach. The form that users were asked to fill out to request removal of their data from Lumen Project was also found to be faulty and confusing in its structure.

While AEPD has little recourse directly against Lumen Project, the organization has said that it has honored a request by the AEPD (via Google) to delete the data of users found to have been communicated to it without a legal basis. Google has said that it is reviewing the AEPD’s GDPR fine and that it is re-evaluating how it shares data with Lumen Project in light of the decision.

One of Google’s two prior GDPR fines also related to the right to be forgotten, but in that case a de-indexing stipulation for search engines that was first established in 2014 (and later incorporated into the GDPR terms). Sweden fined Google the equivalent of about $8 million in 2020 over failure to keep up with de-indexing requests in a timely manner and failure to remove the full range of web addresses attached to certain requests.

Jurisdiction and efficiency of GDPR fines called into question by Spain decision

The AEPD judgment is noteworthy not just for being a rare GDPR fine for Google, but also for shining a spotlight on a bottleneck of cases created by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC)’s lead role in regulating cases involving the tech giant."

Remember Robert Miller of Bethleheem Steel in Baltimore

Always interesting when digging up old artifacts and materials about family members you never knew. In this case my grandfather Robert Miller whom I am named after worked at Bethlehem Steel Company in Baltimore City at what was then known as the Baltimore Yard. The photo with the Navy Stamp on it shows him being 6 feet tall and with an accompanying U.S. Navy moniker. Now 80 years later would he have expected to end up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his grandson Richart?