For those innovative individuals, Fitbomb, a patented fitness tool, may be the perfect fit.

This “fitness sauna”allows individuals to provide an entire gym’s worth of in-house fitness services easily.

David Shurtleff, a disabled veteran, created FitBomb as an option for those looking to improve athletic performance, enhance their health, or simply reduce the effects of aging.

“It’s like having your own fitness center without the overhead,” says Mr. Shurtleff.

“The FitBomb has everything you need to start a business, providing live video instruction for … martial arts, dance, barre, [and] hot yoga,” he says.

Other benefits include healthy detox and heated massage.

Combining sauna and fitness works by incorporating infrared heat to warm the muscles, thus helping users perform high-intensity resistance exercises with reduced risk of injury.

“Like most gym owners, you don’t even have to be a personal trainer yourself,” says Mr. Shurleff. “Just turn on the Wi-Fi and your choice of training videos instantly appears,” he explains.

As a testament to the potential to enhance your bottom line is Cheryl Murray, a fitness instructor and mother of two who set up a studio in her basement. Within months, she is making $15,000 a month for a combination of fitness training and deep fascia massage services inside the FitBomb.

Other entrepreneurs have taken the studio mobile.

A Canadian team set up a FitBomb in a box truck and promoted it with the slogan, “FitBomb: Explosive Health & Fitness delivered to your door.” They share profits with a small group of personal trainers.

Its appeal lies in its convenience and customization.

Patented features include attachments involving strategically placed “D” rings inside fitness sauna. Users attach exercise bands to these “D” rings to perform a number of exercises. The studio also features stretch bars, pull-up bars and the options to place speed bags, punching bags, and other workout accessories.

The FitBomb is available in a Studio size (7 by 9 feet) and a Solo size (6 feet, 5 inches by 50 inches).

Other special features include touch screen controllers that activate Wi-Fi videos on a TV in each unit. It is handicap-accessible, and also has a Power Access System card designed to activate power to the FitBomb for a pre-determined time and a number of activations that allows easier tracking of user activity.

For more information, visit www.fittsystems.com.

The changing nature of retail has opened tremendous opportunities for small businesses in the past decade. According to new research, “Charting the Growth Journey: From Product to Profitable Business” from GS1 US, a not-for-profit product identification and standards organization, the most successful small businesses are those that develop diverse strategies for growth. Specifically, small brands that demonstrate a solid understanding of retailer requirements and seek the expert advice and services of external partners are better equipped to take advantage of today’s “always open” shopping environment.

There are three ways small brands are finding growth opportunities in today’s rapidly-evolving retail landscape: They focus on their product, build a complete channel strategy, and partner with professionals to accelerate success.

Focusing on the product

Small business owners are often driven by a passion for bringing their unique product to market. According to the study, 61 percent of respondents cite customer demand for personalized services and products as a top trend. Almost as many (58 percent) anticipate that changing customer habits – such as where they make purchases (online or in-store) – will impact their brand’s growth.

“Building the story, the brand, and trust, is critical. Otherwise, it’s a race to the bottom on cost,” says Steve Lange, co-founder of It’s All Good, a line of clean personal care products.

Focusing on customers and their needs is important, but finding the right balance and managing diverse business challenges such as lack of time and resources, are major concerns for many of the brands that participated in the study.

Building a complete channel strategy

Small businesses must look beyond the immediate pressures of starting a business to position themselves with the right retail channels for their products. These can include online marketplaces, national retailers, local retailers, kiosks, craft fairs, or their own stores or websites. High-growth leaders (respondents who experienced 25 percent or more growth in the past year) know the importance of channel mix and leverage an average of 3.1 channels to sell their products, while laggards (those with revenue declines in the past 12 months) report using just 1.3 channels.

Proving credibility to retailers is also a major hurdle for small brands. The study found that 59 percent of leaders see a direct correlation between providing complete product information (such as images, product origins, and more) in their online listings with the number of products sold. Additionally, 57 percent of these same growth leaders indicated that using UPCs in their product listings helps customers more easily find their products online.

“Incomplete product information and UPCs show a lack of experience to potential retail partners. It’s important to understand that you need consistency from retailer to retailer,” says Erik Elfstrum, founder and CEO, pureLYFT, an all-natural caffeine alternative beverage.

Partnering with professionals

Seeking outside business support was also identified as an important growth factor among small brands. Such partnerships help them build a more sustainable business model and offer opportunities for expansion. The study found that more than half (55 percent) of high-growth leaders agree that partnering with a retail broker or consultant has been critical to growing the business. Specifically, 83 percent of small brands that leverage online marketplaces and national retailers say partners (such as barcode services, software providers, business consultants and more) improve their understanding of product information and its impact on their business.

For help finding the right partners to support growth, many small businesses have found credible options through the GS1 US Solution Partner Program, a network of certified solution providers that provide guidance and a range of services to support retailer requirements.

More information can be found at www.gs1us.org/what-we-do/partners.

Ultimately, it’s a new world for shoppers and businesses alike. The research shows that maintaining a holistic view of the opportunities available to small businesses is a major contributor to long-term growth. To learn more and for the full research report, visit www.gs1us.org/small-business.

The survey, which is in its 10th year, found that of the 500 students polled, this year saw the highest percentage (55 percent) say they are thinking about technical schools and career schools in the same way they look at traditional universities.

This is good news for technical schools (most notably transportation technology and repair), that to date have had trouble attracting students through their doors.

“There is more computer code in today’s cars than there was used to put a man on the moon,” says Jennifer Maher, chief executive officer of the TechForce Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports students through their education into successful careers as professional technicians. “These are skilled, well-paying, technical jobs.”

To put this into perspective, according to Motor Authority, a Ford GT has more than 10 millon lines of code and the new Ford F150 pickup has more than 150 million lines of code. Compare that to the shuttle’s primary flight software, which contains approximately 400,000 lines of code, and it becomes easy to see the necessity of skilled technicians and the job security the industry represents.

According to data from the 2020 AutoCare FactBook, the auto care industry added approximately 41,500 jobs in 2018, and automotive repair and maintenance showed the greatest increase in average hourly wages among technician jobs from 2009 to 2018.

More good news: The demand for skilled technicians continues to rise as older technicians retire. Additionally, those numbers increase as technicians move into other industries, and new positions open up. To this point, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the replacement rate plus the growth rate will translate to 78,200 per year from 2016 to 2026.

TechForce’s publicity campaign, “Because I’m a Tech,” encourages technicians to share their stories about how they have succeeded in skilled technician careers. Some of their comments: “I bought my first house at age 27;” “I get to do something I love every day;” “I have a good work/life balance and have time for my hobbies.”

To that end, you can check out Tech Force’s “Get Hands On” video contest that is part of its current campaign.

To see how beneficial a technical career can be, click here.

Technician jobs can be an ideal alternative for many nontraditional learners who can think outside the box, and who enjoy working with their hands and solving problems. Plus, there’s the fact that technicians can learn their skills as soon as two years after high school and put them to use right away without the time and expense of a traditional, four-year college degree.

TechForce’s FutureTech Roadmap to the transportation technology career highlights some of the traits that make for well-paid, successful technicians and how parents and students can identify these valuable skills.

Middle School: Sixth graders to eighth graders who like to tinker; those who fix the wobbly bike wheel or design the winning car in the scouts’ soapbox derby, may benefit from a technical school rather than a traditional college education.

High School: The high schooler who helps design and build the sets for the school play may be the next great technician. Also, students with diagnoses of ADHD who learn best with hands-on lessons and struggle with lengthy, desk-bound assignments are ideally suited to many technician careers.

Post-Secondary School: High school graduates with a strong interest in science and technology can launch fulfilling careers with training at an ASE-certified program. The more certifications and degrees earned, the higher the tech’s earning potential from future employers.

For more information about pathways to rewarding careers as transportation technicians, visit Techforce.org.

But while mascara and eyeliner can create different looks, from subtle to striking, they can also make you sick.

The problem: Eye makeup can be a breeding ground for bacteria. We all have a few microbes, like Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, living around our eyes. When eyeliner or mascara is applied, some of those bugs stick to the applicator and are carried back to the makeup container.

Eye products are supposed to contain preservatives to keep bacteria from growing. But some products don’t have enough. And over time, the preservative’s effectiveness declines. As a result, the bacteria on an eyeliner pencil or mascara applicator grow and multiply. Each time you apply makeup, you get bigger and bigger doses of bacteria — enough to cause serious infections.

“Every year, many women end up with eye infections from cosmetics,” warns the University of Rochester Medical Center. “In rare cases, women have been temporarily or permanently blinded by an eye cosmetic, according to the FDA.”

You can, however, prevent these problems and others with these simple tips:

* Don’t share makeup to avoid spreading bacteria.

* Replace your eye makeup regularly, at least every three to four months.

* Remove eye makeup at the end of every day.

* Practice good eyelid hygiene.

* Keep updated on the latest eyelid-eyelash hygiene clinical safety reports.

Christine Sindt, OD, Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa, recommends wiping the eyes daily with a new antibacterial eyelid cleanser, such as Avenova from NovaBay Pharmaceuticals. “One recent study showed that Avenova dramatically reduces the amount of Staphylococcus and other bacteria around the eye — by more than 99 percent,” says Sindt. “Avenova contains a solution of pure hypochlorous acid, a substance used by the body as a natural defense against pathogens, but is completely harmless to skin.”

“I encourage women to talk to their doctors about daily eye hygiene using safe and effective products, such as Avenova, which can be the best defense against infections and other common eye problems, like dry eye and Blepharitis,” adds Columbus, Ohio, ophthalmologist Alice T. Epitropoulos, MD. “Take these steps, and women can have both beauty and healthy eyes.”

For information click on www.Avenova.com.

Watch this video for more details on treatment for your eyes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJoIOTvFGCI. Or call 1-800-890-0329.

“When it comes to fitness resolutions, the focus should be on small steps,” said Tom Holland, exercise physiologist and Bowflex Fitness Advisor. “While having a big goal to work toward can be motivating, it’s important to have small, manageable goals that allow you to celebrate the milestones along your fitness journey.”

Here are three examples of lofty fitness resolutions — and how to break them down into achievable goals:

* “I want to run a marathon.” Training for a race takes months of commitment. Start with a 5K and work your way up to a 10K or half marathon, before deciding if you’re ready to complete the full 26.2 miles. To build endurance before you hit the pavement, consider an in-home cardio machine like the Bowflex TreadClimber TC200. This machine combines the motions of a treadmill, a stepper and an elliptical for a low-impact, total-body workout.

* “I want to look like a bodybuilder.” This route takes serious patience. Begin with smaller goals, such as gaining one pound of muscle per month. You can accomplish this by increasing the amount of weight and reps with each workout. The Bowflex SelectTech 560 Dumbbells condense 32 different weights down to two — maximizing space and storage at home. A smooth weight-changing mechanism in the handle allows you to adjust weights in varying increments and create a customized strength workout to sculpt your body. These first-ever “smart” dumbbells record reps, weight lifted and speed, sending your workout data via Bluetooth technology directly to your mobile device.

* “I want to go on a cross-country bike trip.” Like a marathon, months of training go into preparing for this long-distance journey. Experts suggest building up your stamina over time to avoid injury. For an at-home workout, try the Schwinn Airdyne AD Pro Total Fitness Bike. The technology in this bike allows users to tailor intensity levels during workouts — the more effort given, the more resistance it delivers through the bike’s smooth, quiet, direct-drive belt system.

To find your perfect New Year’s workout solution, please visit www.bowflex.com or www.schwinnfitness.com. For more tips from Tom Holland, visit the Bowflex Insider blog at www.bowflexinsider.com.

Joanne’s hard work paid off. She has regained much of her strength and movement and can walk again. In large part, she credits her SilverSneakers exercise classes – offered through her HumanaChoice® PPO, a Medicare Advantage preferred provider organization (PPO) health plan – as key to her successful recovery.

Being a SilverSneakers member helped keep Joanne in good physical condition before her stroke. “SilverSneakers helped me be familiar with many of the exercises they had me do in physical therapy and gave me the confidence and strength to persevere through a difficult rehab process,” Joanne says.

Numerous studies, including Tivity Health’s SilverSneakers Annual Member Survey of 2016, confirm that exercising, especially with others, improves older adults’ physical and mental health.1,2, 3

However, there are challenges that prevent many Medicare beneficiaries from joining gyms and fitness classes.

By offering SilverSneakers through its Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, Humana is working to overcome those barriers so more people with Medicare can benefit from exercising.

For those on a fixed income, joining a gym can be expensive. SilverSneakers provides gym access at no additional cost to many of Humana’s MA members across the country, including those in Florida and Texas. SilverSneakers has partnered with almost 14,000 fitness and wellness centers around the U.S. and, with national reciprocity, SilverSneakers members can go to any one of those facilities.

The program is designed with the Medicare population in mind and taught by certified instructors who offer classes and modifications for all fitness levels. These instructors are specifically trained to help members avoid stress-related injuries to muscles and joints.

There’s also a wide variety of classes offered, including circuit training, yoga, Latin dance and even an outdoor boot camp. SilverSneakers members also have access to all of a facility’s amenities, which can include a range of exercise equipment, weight rooms and swimming pools.

“According to Tivity Health’s annual survey, SilverSneakers has made a significant difference in the lives of many of our Medicare Advantage members, not only in their physical health, but also in their social life,” says Lauri Kalanges, M.D., Humana’s Medical Director of Medicare Products for the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Tivity Health’s Annual Member Survey of 2016 found that 91 percent of SilverSneakers participants reported an improved quality of life. SilverSneakers has had a substantial impact on the health of its participants, reducing hospitalizations and the risk of depression.3

For more information about SilverSneakers, go to www.silversneakers.com.

Humana is a Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO and PFFS organization with a Medicare Contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal. This information is not a complete description of benefits. Contact the plan for more information. Limitations, copayments and restrictions may apply. Benefits may change each year. SilverSneakers is not offered on all Humana MA plans in all areas.

1. Nguyen Q, Ackermann RT, Maciejewski M, Berke E, Patrick M, Williams B and LoGerfo JP. Managed-Medicare Health Club Benefit and Reduced Health Care Costs Among Older Adults. Prev Chronic Dis 2008;5(1).

2. Nguyen HQ, Maciejewski M, Gao S, Lin E, William, B, LoGerfo JP. Health Care Use and Costs Associated with Use of a Health Club Membership Benefit in Older Adults with Diabetes. Diabetes Care 2008; 31:1562-1567

3. Nguyen, Koepsell, Unutzer, Larson and LoGerfo. Depression and Use of a Health Plan-Sponsored Physical Activity Program by Older Adults. Am J Prev Med 2008;35(2):111-117

Plumbing leaks waste nearly one trillion gallons of water that enters U.S. households each year, or 12 percent of total water used in our homes, according to the Residential End Uses of Water Study, which evaluated 23,000 households. And leaks destroy property to the tune of more than $10 billion in insurance payouts annually.

Fix a Leak Week runs March 18-24 and presents an opportunity for the EPA, local communities and industry to join a common effort to shut down water waste.

“Leaks aren’t top of mind for most homeowners because water is cheap and most water meters can’t register the small leaks that trickle down the drain,” says Chuck DeSmet, founder of FloLogic, whose smart leak detection system can identify and automatically stop leaks that occur anywhere in a plumbing supply before they cause damage or waste. “Destructive leaks get addressed when they’re discovered, while leaks that simply waste water can persist for years, particularly if they’re undetected. But water destruction and waste are completely preventable.”

The holidays are prime time for proposals, and what better place to pop the question than a tropical island? Planning a holiday wedding? A Caribbean destination is an ideal option, and resorts such as Calabash Cove work with couples to plan the ideal ceremony and other events. And wedding guests feel pampered, too. Holiday honeymoon? The intimate setting of Calabash Cove lends itself to honeymoons and anniversary trips.

For the Fix a Leak Week campaign, and throughout the year, FloLogic urges everyone to observe practical steps to stop leaks, and to consider adding smart water control technology to their connected homes so all leaks are recognized as soon as they appear.

Here are five water-saving tips for Fix a Leak Week from FloLogic:

* Review the water bill: A family of four will typically use 12,000 gallons (16 centum cubic feet) per month. Usage in excess of this amount indicates a likely leak. But keep in mind that water meters can’t detect the small leaks, so even a normal water bill may not reveal a problem.

* Inspect toilets: Worn-out flappers are a primary water waster. Listen for toilets that refill between flushes. Find slow leaks by dropping food coloring in tanks. If the bowl takes color without a flush, there’s a leak.

* Check interior faucets:

Drips from sink and tub faucets and showerheads are easy to spot, but often ignored. Repair or replace worn parts to curb water-wasting drips.

* Look outside: Outside hose or irrigation system leaks often go unnoticed. Check for drips and moist ground during dry weather to find preventable leaks.

* Get smart water control: A smart water valve, such as that offered from flologic.com will detect leaks beginning as small as a half-ounce of water per minute, and automatically shut them off. While the primary function of FloLogic is to prevent property damage, it has the added benefit of flagging hidden leaks to save natural resources, reduce water bills and qualify many homeowners for insurance discounts.