The Senate approves a student-loan deal, why self-delusion is an entrepreneur’s best friend, Young treps who collect employees instead of unemployment checks, social media loses steam in VC’s eyes, 11 habits of awesome bosses, Geoblogging app Hi says hello, how economics 101 is killing America, how to grow your business like the meatball bosses of Manhattan… This week’s notable news and tantalizing tidbits for young treps:

1. The Senate agrees on student-loan deal: After letting the July 1 deadline for maintaining a 3.4 percent rate on certain student loans came and went, the Senate finally got it together. According to the new plan, which came through on Wednesday evening, Undergraduates would pay the 10-year Treasury note rate, (around 2.5 percent), plus 2.05 percent, with a cap of 8.25 percent. Graduate students pay the 10-year Treasury rate plus 3.6 percent, with a cap of 9.5 percent. The House agreed on a similar proposal in May – making passage highly likely.

2. Esquire Magazine’s A.J. Jacobs delves into cognitive-behavioral psychology to explain how behavior can affect your thoughts and why self-delusion is key to success as an entrepreneur. (LinkedIn Today)

3. From the ashes of the Great Recession: Young people entering the work force have had a tough run throughout this last recession. Some long-term unemployed are finding creative ways to start their own businesses, despite never thinking they would. (BBC)

4. Those who can’t do, teach? After starting an electric-bike business in college, Micah Toll headed to Tel-Aviv, Israel to bring his product to the masses. Though his business got put on hold, he now plans to produce a paperback and e-book that’ll offer instructions and advice on how to electrify their existing bikes. (Wired)

5. Social media’s chilly reception: Venture capital dollars invested in social media startups has steadily dropped for the last three out of four quarters, alluding to the possibility that the sector is reaching saturation. Already being compared to the dot-com bubble, hear what the experts have to say. (Business Week)

6. Say ‘Hi’ to geoblogging:As mobile devises continue to dominate, consider this a response: a new geoblogging platform called Hi. Through a process called narrative mapping, the app lets you place content on a map like Google Earth or Findery but the interface is much different. Hi’s founder Craig Mod described it as “a living version of this essay.” (The Atlantic)

7. The economic myths killing America: This article aims to debunk many of the common misconceptions about economics and the professionals the U.S. looks to for financial guidance. In the modern technologically driven world of 2013, Econ 101 may be doing more harm than good. (Salon)

8. Why caring matters:Consumers are moving away from old-style, short-term profit mongers towards businesses that focus on consumer needs, according to recent studies. When all your business cares about is the bottom line, your employees won’t care about your business. (Forbes)

9. The habits of awesome bosses:Starting a business doesn’t make you a de facto leader. It takes practice, failure and a drive to improve. Learn from the best and get the most out of your team with these 11 positive habits of great bosses. (Business Insider)

10. Grow your business “like a baller:”Michael Chernow and Daniel Holzman, owners of The Meatball Shop, have expanded rapidly, opening five restaurants in three years. Here are their five tips for growing a business while maintaining its “original flavor.” (Fast Company)

If you are hoping to raise money from investors for your startup, an SEC ruling this week will make that process much easier than it has been. But you’ll also need to know about new forms and deadlines.

The startup fundraising landscape saw its most significant change in eight decades when the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to lift the ban on general solicitation, a move which allows entrepreneurs to tell potential investors that they are seeking funding for their companies. While a boon to entrepreneurs, it also requires getting up to speed on the new rules, timelines and necessary paperwork. Fifteen days before they begin general solicitation, entrepreneurs will need to file a Form D, notifying the SEC of their intentions to advertise. Also, within 30 days of the completion of their fundraising, entrepreneurs will have to amend their paperwork with the SEC.

Related: Secret’s Out: Now You Can Tell the Whole World You’re Raising Money for Your Business

The following infographic by crowdfunding portal Fundable details the changes the SEC’s ruling will have on startups and entrepreneurs.

Click to Enlarge+

Editor’s Note: The Grind is a weekly column that asks a revolving cast of young founders to take us through the daily rigors of running a business, as well as offer up advice on how they achieved milestones or overcame challenges. Follow The Grind on Twitter with the hashtag .

As the founder of skincare line S.W. Basics, I receive dozens of emails from companies asking for free samples. I have heard every reason in the book as to why they need to get their hands on these samples — reviews, giveaways, subscription boxes, events and daily deals. As they put it, participating would help us drive in traffic, boost sales, increasing fans organically and could be done all for free.

True that all these perks are great publicity, and in a saturated market, any exposure is good exposure. It can be incredibly difficult to get your product in front of new customers and even more difficult to get to the right market of people.

Related: Marketing Like the Big Brands: Think You Know Your Customer? Think Again.

And the people and companies vying for samples know this, putting them in a position of power. Want access to their networks? It’s going to cost you. They can call it free all they want, but when you’re giving out product, it is as if you are paying them.

Plus, samples often won’t even cut it. They want full-sized items, as they would appear on a shelf in a store. This means not only are you losing the money it cost you to make the item, you’re also losing the potential sale altogether. If you make an item that sells at $ 30 and they’d like 4000 of them, do the math — it’s a lot of money. And that quantity isn’t even on the high-end — there are subscription boxes like Birchbox and Glossybox with hundreds of thousands of members.

Recently, I was describing my predicament with a fellow entrepreneur. She said she no longer sends free products out to anyone, ever. This includes wholesalers, potential new accounts, and stores. She’s been burned so many times by people saying they are interested and then disappearing after a bunch of free products were given to them, she now requests they purchase samples through her site.

Related: The Future of the Subscription Economy

I understand where she’s coming from, yet I am torn if this is the route I should also take. It’s tricky. In an era where customers can shop virtually anywhere for 50 percent off if they wait for the right deal or get endless samples at their doorsteps for $ 10 a month, should I be giving in these demands?

Until I figure that out, I’ve made a few rules for myself:

• Is it exactly my target market with absolutely no compromises?
• Have I heard of it before?
• Are they willing to pay to cover any of my costs?
• Do I like the person pitching me the idea?

For now, at least, it’s all about the little compromises.

To follow the ups-and-downs of running a startup, check out The Grind.

How would you handle the issue of freebies? Let us know in the comments below.

Wish the National League had won this week’s All-Star Game? You don’t need to wait for next season for a rematch.

Thanks to an exemption from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, fantasy sports businesses can be a good bet for entrepreneurs. Participation among users has surged more than 60 percent since 2007, and more than 32 million people aged 12 and older play in the U.S. and Canada, according to research conducted in 2012 by Ipsos Public Affairs for the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

One of the newest companies on the scene is Star Fantasy Leagues, or SFL, in Rochester, N.Y. This particular company was founded by brothers Zachary (age 26) and Justin (age 31) Stanley in the summer of 2012.

To get their perspective on starting up in the mad-cap world of fantasy sports, we recently caught up with Zachary to talk shop. Here’s what he had to say about the marketplace, the business model and what makes SFL stand out:

Ithaca-college grad
Zachary Stanley
turned his love of
sports into a business
by way of fantasy sports.

Image credit:

Q: There are a lot of fantasy sports companies out there today. What makes yours different?
A: We offer cash games like the rest of them, but we’re really focused on innovation. The best example of this is our program, Star Points. These points act like credits and allow our players to play cash games for free. They can exchange the Star Points for a chance to win prizes or buy tickets to various tournaments.

Related: Marketing Lessons From This Summer’s Blockbuster Movies 

Q: How and when did you get the business started?
A: My brother Justin and I started the company in 2012. We’ve been playing fantasy sports since it has been available on the internet. Once daily games started popping up, we were playing those, as well. There were things about the sites we played that we didn’t really like. They catered less to players and more to dollar signs. We always hoped that we could create a site ourselves. When our dad died of lung cancer, he left us a bunch of money and we started the company with just over $ 400,000.

Q: Can you give us a status report on how the company is doing? For instance, how many games are you running each day and how many members or users do you have?
A: Right now we have about 3,000 members and about 30 games daily. We offer cash games ranging from $ 1 and $ 2 up to $ 400, and currently we offer games in all major sports: baseball, football, basketball and hockey.

Related: This Startup Wants to Revolutionize Search, One Data Set at a Time 

Q: So how does it work?
A: Most of our games have no more than 20 players apiece. Some of our games pay out to the first and second place finishers only. In others — we call them “double-ups” — the top 50 percent of players double their money and don’t have to worry about where they place. We also offered featured games that deal with higher levels of entry volume. Eventually we’ll want those to be in the hundreds of entries for each game.

Q: How do you make money?
A: We make a small percentage off of each game. Kind of like a rake in a card room. Our $ 22 heads-up game pays up $ 40 to the winner, and we get $ 4 out of that game. It’s all scaled. The more people we have playing, the more revenue we have coming in. We don’t currently have ads on the site and we don’t have plans to incorporate them any time soon.

Q: How much knowledge of a particular sport is required of users to participate?
A: Keeping your skills sharp is critical to long-term results, as the more you prepare, the better you’re likely going to do. That said, at some point historical knowledge becomes relatively unimportant as users competing on a day-to-day basis look at every trend they can to get an edge. If you know the game, do the research and develop a strategy, you should be able to compete.

Related: If I Knew Then: CEO of KIND Healthy Snacks Dishes on Lessons Learned During His First Years as an Entrepreneur 

Q: Realistically, how much money can a user earn from participating in these games?
A: It’s been nearly a year since we first opened our proverbial doors, and our top earner has won more than $ 11,000. Our top earner for the month of March brought in more than $ 3,500, with the top 10 players for that month earning more than $ 1,000 each.

Q: What are the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs in your space seem to make?
A: Most of the companies in our space do the same exact thing. I think that’s a really poor business model, and I think it’s creating a bad name for the industry as a whole. We’re trying to do something different by innovating around the currency that members use on the site and adding Star Points. It turns out this is a huge differentiator.

Q: What’s next for Star Fantasy Leagues?
A: Because we’re committed to innovation, we’re working on a new style of game. I can’t talk much about it, but the game incorporates aspects of daily and season-long contests. We think it’s going to be big. We’re hoping to launch it for football season this fall.

Big brand marketing and summer blockbuster movies have gone hand-in-hand for years now from Ray-Ban sunglasses in Men In Black to Disney characters printed on cereal boxes — but this season feels different. Brand and movie partnership marketing seems more integrated than ever before.

Such partnerships have gone way beyond using products as props or including film characters on packaging. This summer, movies and the businesses they partner with have become inextricably linked, engaging the consumer in breakthrough ways. In many cases, brands are taking on the personalities of the movies, actually enacting the ethos of the films in their marketing and product experiences. At the same time, brands are being woven into scripts as vital characters of their own.

Any business of any size can take a lesson here in how to engage consumers through partnership marketing. Regardless of your brand, joining forces with a partner in your marketing efforts can be a powerful way to get the word out about your business and attract new customers.

Here are three summer blockbuster movies that have incorporated a three-dimensional approach to brand partnerships, using different marketing vehicles, where the movie, the brand and the consumer all come out winners:

Monster University and Swiffer. In this Pixar film, which comes out in 3D on June 21, the characters actually demonstrate how the house cleaning product works, referring to its “monster job of cleaning.” This messaging is echoed in Swiffer commercials that feature the movie’s characters making a big mess and cleaning it up with the tagline — “Swiffer gives cleaning a monstrous new meaning.” The result is a marketing campaign that seamlessly combines the product and characters in consumers’ minds.

Your strategy: Don’t be afraid to show a little personality in your marketing. It’ll help you break through the clutter of marketing messages that your customers receive on a daily basis. When working with a partner, try to leverage both personalities for an amplified effect. But always make sure you tie it back to your brand’s benefits.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Kiehl’s. While this movie isn’t coming out in theaters until April 2014, Marvel Comics, which is putting out the film with Disney, has already started their unconventional marketing strategy with the skin and hair care brand, Kiehl’s. Not only are Kiehl’s retail stores decorated with signage and product displays featuring the characters, Marvel recently came out with a custom-made Captain America comic book specifically set inside a Kiehl’s shop. The comic book recently ran as an insert in the Wall Street Journal and was offered to customers when they made a purchase in-store or online.

Your strategy: Think about ways you and your partner can build hype around your partnership. Can you create unique stand-alone products that add value to your consumer? You want to surprise and delight customers, planning well in advance to build suspense.

Iron Man 3 and Audi. Here’s another superhero film that came out in May that takes an innovative approach to brand partnerships. Public relations and product integration hit all new heights in this sequel, where there was a lot of hype in the entertainment and pop culture press about which car the film’s hero, Tony Stark would be driving.

The partnership allowed Audi to align its new R8 model with the film’s protagonist, who adapts his superpowers to the changing world around him. The movie’s star, Robert Downey Jr. showed up at the U.S. premier in Los Angeles behind the wheel of the same red 2014 Audi R8 Spyder that he drove in the film, taking product placement from the screen to the real-world.

Your strategy: When entering into partnership marketing, think hard about how you can create ways for the two brands to not only co-exist in the minds of your customers, but to enhance one another. What does your partner bring to the table that you need more of and conversely, what can you offer them?

While you might not have a blockbuster movie-bound brand, the lesson here is that really good partner marketing is always three-dimensional, offering consumers an experience neither partner could deliver alone.