December, 2018

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Connecting Artisan Makers With Retailers and Customers a Rapidly Growing Industry

Small Business Labs

Two companies that connect artisan makers with retailers and customers announced large funding rounds last week. The wholesale marketplace Faire raised $100 million while the wholesale and licensing business Minted said they raised $208 million. Both firms connect retailers, who are often small independents, with small and solopreneur maker businesses.

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Chiasmus: When Words Mirror Each Other in a Sentence

Office Dynamics

Using figures of speech in our business writing makes it fun for us and entertaining for our readers. Truly my favorite figure of speech is the chiasmus (ky-AZ-mus). That’s when words in a sentence mirror each other. Politicians have made them famous (e.g., Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. – John F. Kennedy).

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Key skills roundup for 2018

Practically Perfect PA

I hope you enjoy our key skills roundup for 2018. We focussed really heavily this year on increasing our content around the key skills Assistants need to develop in their role this year. We covered a lot of skills including minute taking, event management, organising business travel, project management and everything in between! Here are […].

2018 181
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3 Ways to Handle Nosy Co-Workers

On The Job

Believe it or not, some people don't like to talk about their personal life. I know, I know, this seems bizarre in a time when people post photos of themselves sitting on the toilet or reveal every detail of giving birth. In the workplace we often form friendships -- some of them very close -- and as a result we share details of our lives. The woman in the next cubicle, for example, knows that your teenager is getting into trouble and your husband lost his job last week.

Gossip 175
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SME Relationships: Proven Solutions for Seamless Collaboration and Success

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

💢 Do you find yourself stuck in never-ending review cycles? Are you wondering if your Subject Matter Expert actually got that last review request? Are you having trouble trying to decipher impractical or conflicting feedback? 💢 If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you may benefit from a crash course on managing SME relationships!

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Client Gifting: 5 Ideas to Show Your Appreciation This Holiday Season

Tips From T. Marie

It's December, the time of year when our thoughts are drawn to holiday festivities and the purchase of gifts. As a small business owner, it's also the time when you need to think about what you are going to do about client gifting. Of course, before we dive into gifting ideas you'll need to make the decision whether or not you're going to give your clients gifts.

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More Trending

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JWT Intelligence's Top 100 Trends for 2019

Small Business Labs

The 2019 edition of one of our favorite trend reports - JWT Intelligence's annual forecast of 100 trends to watch in the coming year - is out.  Yes, it really covers 100 trends across 10 broad categories. The chart below (click to enlarge) shows 5 of the categories and around 50 of the tracked trends. JWT Intelligence is part of the giant advertising and marketing group J.

2019 178
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Bouncing Back from Failure

Office Dynamics

Has it been another week of adventure? A lot can happen between Monday and Friday, can’t it? I’d like to focus today on Turning Failure into Success. Failure is a dirty word in the corporate world. And our success-oriented society often makes it difficult for those who fail to adjust. This negative attitude often forces people to take job-related failures personally, even if they had little to do with the actual events.

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How can you be heard when people don’t want to listen?

Practically Perfect PA

At some point, you will have been in a meeting and felt that no one was listening to you. Perhaps people were on their phone, looking confused, talking over you or ignoring you. It’s hard to continue speaking when it seems that people are switching off, disengaged or rejecting your ideas. So how do you […].

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The 1 Thing That Could Lead to a Healthier, Happier 2019

On The Job

I distinctly remember one vacation where I sat alone on a beach, with only some birds for company. I watched the waves go in and out, and I did nothing more than just feel my breathing. I probably sat there for an hour or more -- it felt like one of the most peaceful places on earth and I was completely relaxed. I now recognize I was practicing mindfulness, although I had no idea at the time.

2019 120
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Elevating the Virtual Interviewing Experience

Sharing your authentic self in a virtual interview can be an unwanted challenge. How do you break through the digital barrier when conducting a virtual interview and share your exceptional self? Think in unconventional ways to elevate the virtual interviewing experience.

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Before You Get Booked as a Guest, be Ready to Say “Yes!”

Stephanie LH Calahan

One of the best ways to attract amazing clients and customers for your business is to powerfully demonstrate your knowledge, expertise and problem-solving abilities. Being a guest expert on podcasts, radio shows, and web shows is a great way to do that. Are you ready to say “Yes!” if a host invites you onto their platform? Pam Perry of Speakers Magazine invited me to share some tips you can use right now to be ready to make the most of your guest expert experience.

Mentoring 130
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Setting Rules in Outlook 2016

Laughing all the Way to Work

I like to set a rule for the messages I receive from my boss. I have a new boss so had to figure out how to do this again and thought I should just write it down for the benefit of anyone else who may need it or for myself for the next time. I want any emails sent from my boss to go into a special folder. I also want it to make a sound when the email arrives.

2016 100
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Gig Workers and Economic Anxiety

Small Business Labs

Marketplace and Edison research recently released Americans and the Gig Economy, a survey of gig workers.  The survey covered a lot of ground, including finding about 24% of American 18 and older are gig workers. This works out to a bit more than 60 million.  The survey also asked a series of questions about economic anxiety. They found gig workers, on average, experience more economic anxiety than those with traditional jobs.

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Joan’s Naughty and Nice List for Assistants

Office Dynamics

During a Facebook Live event Joan Burge, Founder and CEO of Office Dynamics International, had discussed her Naughty and Nice List for Assistants. This discussion highlighted many great things that can be practiced in the office as well as actions that should be avoided. In the middle of the live stream, Joan asked the viewers to give her some examples of naughty behavior practiced in the office as well as some nice behaviors.

Gossip 187
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Mandatory COVID Vaccination Policy Template

New vaccine mandates and testing policies will affect employers with more than 100 workers. Get Paycor’s free, customizable vaccination policy template to communicate critical details and new requirements to your employees. Get Paycor’s Template today!

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Career development round up for 2018

Practically Perfect PA

Welcome to the career development round up for 2018. This year we have written a lot of blog posts dedicated to the career development of our Practically Perfect PA readers! Career development round up for 2018 Here are some of our highlights and a video from our first Virtual Summit – Developing your business acumen on […].

2018 154
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3 Ways to Deal With a "Never Wrong" Co-Worker

On The Job

There are several annoying types of people at work, from the gossiper to the chronic procrastinator to the whiner. Today, let's talk about the person who is never wrong. This type of person really is pretty self explanatory -- he would rather cut off a toe than admit he's wrong. He bulldozes through everyone else to get what he wants, not caring if someone else has an opinion or better idea.

Staples 106
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Innovative Ways to Renovate Your Office Building

Eco-Office Gals

You don’t want your office building to look like a stereotype. The dismal aesthetic of gray on gray is a thing of the past, and you’re ready to embrace the future. You’re searching for advice you can implement to give your space a modern look and feel — something different than what you’re used to. But it isn’t as simple as choosing a new color scheme.

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Podcast 108: Passive attention

Clutter Coach

by Listen or subscribe here: iTunes ? Stitcher ?. Soundcloud ? YouTube ? Google Play You can leave a review here! This is Podcast 108 and it’s about passive attention. Back in podcast 83 I talked about paying attention, about mindfulness. It’s a critical skill for being more effective and getting things done. It’s related to focus, but it’s a little different.

AT&T 100
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Is Training the Right Solution?

Speaker: Tim Buteyn

Let's set the scene: you’ve identified a critical performance gap in your organization and need to close that gap. A colleague suggests training, but you suspect there’s something going on that training can’t address. How can you determine if training is the right solution before you commit your budget and resources to a new training program? In this webinar, you will learn how to determine if training is the right solution using the Behavior Engineering Model.

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Funding for Education Technology Startups Continues to Boom

Small Business Labs

Crunchbase's Aceable Scores $47M, As Startups Look To The Future Of Education (And Work) covers the continuing growth of venture capital investment in Edtech.  The article chart below (click to enlarge) shows some (but not all) of the bigger Edtech funding rounds in 2018. Key quote on why this is happening: College is more expensive these days, the way that we think about work and training is shifting, and existing positions are requiring more tech skills than ever before.

2018 164
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Things Assistants Do That Executives Appreciate

Office Dynamics

I am very fortunate in that I get to read fabulous letters from executives touting the behavior changes they see in their executive or administrative assistants after attending our Star Achievement Series® course. I love reading these letters as 1) I see the training we provided truly worked, but more importantly, 2) I learn what executives appreciate—what executives look for in an assistant—and what executives value and observe.

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Group booking… every travel manager’s nightmare!

Practically Perfect PA

Your boss comes to you and tells you that you need to book the travel for 100 people for a Winter getaway, and it needs to be done by next week… eek! Where do you even start? Well, there are two options: 1. Book it yourself. You could always waste several hours searching multiple websites […].

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How to Work for More Than One Boss -- and Stay Sane

On The Job

Many workers now have multiple bosses – the one who heads a specific project, the one who oversees a department or the one who works in another country. But conflicting requests and competing deadlines can make working for multiple bosses a real challenge. Part of the problem is that different bosses can have different management styles. One may like in-person updates while another prefers to use online apps to track project completions.

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Revitalizing Dry Content: A Lesson in Engagement

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

We’ve all been there. You’ve been given a pile of dry content and asked to create a compelling eLearning course. You’re determined to create something more engaging than the same old course that learners quickly click through, but how do you take this “boring” content and create something relevant and engaging? Many instructional designers will say, “Boring in means boring out.

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How to Make & Break Habits

Eat Your Career

Ah, ’tis the season of inspiration , my friends! Every December, I find myself spending a lot of time reflecting on the past year and planning for the new one. As I’ve shared many times before, I am a total geek for goal setting. It makes me feel unbelievably motivated and optimistic about the future. So, this time of year is my “happy place.”.

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How to Fund Your Startup Business: 10 Tips to Get the Funds You Need

Small Business CEO

There are good and bad ways with how to fund your startup business. Good ways offer capital so you don’t plummet at runway’s end. Positive funding terms let your business thrive without interference. Bad investments are a burden, with nightmare scenarios like losing control of ownership. Startup capital isn’t as large an undertaking because of agile operations.

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Yet More on the Changing Nature of Retirement

Small Business Labs

We've covered the changing nature of retirement so often in our Baby Boomer section we feel like we're feeding a fed horse by covering it again. But it's an important trend and there continues to be a flurry of interesting articles on working in and/or delaying retirement. So.  Quartz's Perennials, not millennials, will trigger the next wave of talent retention efforts provides a good description of the trend towards later retirement: "Increased life expectancy across t

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Happy Holiday Season from Office Dynamics

Office Dynamics

As 2018 comes to a close, we think of all the people we have served this year and are blessed to know. It has been an incredible year of meeting new people around the world and working with new organizations. We thank you for your time, energy, support, and friendship. We look forward to being of even greater service in 2019. In case you are not aware, we offer an array of educational and coaching opportunities ranging from our World Class Assistant certification course to online learning, webin

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Brain Fog HQ: Memory Enhancement Techniques for Professional Development

Speaker: Chester Santos – Author, International Keynote Speaker, Executive Coach, Corporate Trainer, Memory Expert, U.S. Memory Champion

In October, scientists discovered that 75% of patients who experienced brain fog had a lower quality of life at work than those who did not. At best, brain fog makes you slower and less efficient. At worst, your performance and cognitive functions are impaired, resulting in memory, management, and task completion problems. In this entertaining and interactive presentation, Chester Santos, "The International Man of Memory," will assist you in developing life-changing skills that will greatly enha