English Conversation Questions

Business

Questions

1. Are you interested in the world of business?
2. Do you think you have a good head for business?
3. Would you like to have your own business?
4. What kind of business would you like to start?
5. What are the challenges to start a business in your country?
6. What are the dangers of having your own business?
7. Would you include your own name in your business name?
8. What advice would you give to people starting in business?
9. What kind of office would you like?
10. What would be your motto in business?
11. Who would be your business hero?
12. Would you prefer to start a “bricks ‘n’ mortar” business or an Internet business?

Videos

Most companies operate on a set of policies: mandated vacation days, travel guidelines, standard work hours, annual goals. But what happens when a company looks less to control and more to trust? Patty McCord, the iconic

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former chief talent officer at Netflix, shares the key insights that led her to toss the handbook out the window.

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Category:  Business & Marketing
Keywords: Business | Colleagues | Companies | Work
Learn the techniques and tricks that pyramid schemes use to recruit new members and how to avoid being fooled yourself.

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In 2004, a nutrition company offered a life-changing opportunity to earn a full-time income for part-time work. There were only two steps to get started: purchase a $500 kit and recruit two more members. By 2013, the company was making $200 million. There was just one problem — the vast majority of members earned less than they paid in. Stacie Bosley explains what a pyramid scheme is and how to spot one.

Lesson by Stacie Bosley, directed by Wooden Plane Productions.

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Category:  Business & Marketing
Keywords: Business | Fraud
We’re often encouraged to think that the secret to starting is a business is to have a bold and entirely original idea. But the suggestion here is that all we really need is to LOVE something a little more than most other people

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do: that will be enough to help us stand out from the competition.

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Category:  Business & Marketing
Keywords: Business | Hobbies
Joshua Marin is a third-generation cobbler, born and raised in Chicago’s North Side. While he inherited the old-school trade from his father and grandfather, the 20-year-old is putting his own fresh spin on shoe repair. At his

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Fix Your Kicks stores, Marin lovingly restores sneakers—primarily Air Jordans—to their former glory. Today, he’s a respected business owner, embraced by the community for his high-quality work.

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Category:  Art | Business & Marketing
Keywords: Business | Shoes
It is a paradox. Creativity has never been so essential for the distinctive character of business. However, being able to apply a creative approach practically does not seem to be much done yet. We all recognize those

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brainstorming sessions, where we now have to think a “real out of the box”. Difficult and not practical. The key to achieving this is doubt. Question everything …

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Category:  Art | Business & Marketing
Keywords: Business | Creativity
Like anyone who runs a startup, Hillary Yip spends a lot of time developing investor pitch decks, executing marketing plans and conferring with customers. But she has to do all of this after she finishes her homework. She is

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just 14 years old, after all. Yip, who lives in Hong Kong, is the founder and CEO of Minor Mynas, a language learning app for kids. Yip got the idea for the company after she learned how to speak Mandarin at summer camp. We scheduled a meeting with the busy entrepreneur to find out what it’s like to be a boss.

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Category:  Business & Marketing
Keywords: Business | Teenagers | Youth
YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees — Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005.

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YouTube allows users to upload, view, rate, share, add to favorites, report, comment on videos, and subscribe to other users. It offers a wide variety of user-generated and corporate media videos. Available content includes video clips, TV show clips, music videos, short and documentary films, audio recordings, movie trailers, live streams, and other content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos. Most of the content on YouTube is uploaded by individuals, but media corporations including CBS, the BBC, Vevo, and Hulu offer some of their material via YouTube as part of the YouTube partnership program.

YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program that targets ads according to site content and audience. The vast majority of its videos are free to view, but there are exceptions, including subscription-based premium channels, film rentals, as well as YouTube Red, a subscription service offering ad-free access to the website and access to exclusive content made in partnership with existing users. As of February 2017, there are more than 400 hours of content uploaded to YouTube each minute, and one billion hours of content are watched on YouTube every day.

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Why are all the gas stations, cafes and restaurants in one crowded spot? As two competitive cousins vie for ice-cream-selling domination on one small beach, discover how game theory and the Nash Equilibrium inform

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these retail hotspots.

Lesson by Jac de Haan, animation by Luke Rowsell.

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Category:  Business & Marketing
Keywords: Business | Competition | Shopping
Zara is the main brand of the Inditex group, the world’s largest apparel retailer. Here’s how they did it. Inditex also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, and Uterqüe.

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As of 2016, the main owner of Inditex, Amancio Ortega, was the second wealthiest man in the world.

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Category:  Art
Keywords: Business | Fashion | Shopping

Vocabulary:
cove
secluded
float
shore
anchor
lighthouse
greenhouse
handsaw
hammer
power tool
nail
board (noun)
ton
land sick
biomass
canoe
paddle
real estate
prosper
fulfilled

Expressions:
subsistence living
hon

Vocabulary:
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word

Expressions:
expression
expression
expression
expression

Vocabulary:
prestigious
involuntary
swindler
fraudulence
unwarranted
concern
unfounded
impostor
syndrome
faculty
pervasive
prevalent
disproportionately
underrepresented
downplay
abnormality
self-esteem
spiral
accolade
threshold
susceptible
voice (verb)
peer
dismiss
excel
ease
mentor
competence
banish
frank

Expressions:
nagging doubt
shake a feeling
put something to rest
surefire way

Vocabulary:
filmmaker
principle
handcuff
clown
distill
underdog
aspect
familiar
unfamiliar
chopsticks
keyboard
organic
grounded
clarity
stuntman
steady
gag
perfectionist
rhythm
distinct
continuity
elbow
bunch
flail around
unlike
invincible
impressive
humanize
asset
payoff
relentlessness
finale

Expressions:
kick ass
going above and beyond
get smacked in the face
sell a joke

Vocabulary:
explosion
smoke (noun)
engine
unique
pilot
route
unemotional
terror
instant
reach out (to someone)
postpone
urgency
purpose
regret
humanity
ego
reflect
eliminate
frame (verb)
artistic
talent
bawl
miracle

Expressions:
bucket list
brace for impact
mend fences
make sense
connecting dots