Sat.Apr 09, 2016 - Fri.Apr 15, 2016

article thumbnail

7 Strategies to Speak Up to Get Results

Office Dynamics

The following post was originally published at ColetteCarlson.com and is shared with permission from the author. “I’ve lost my mojo and fear speaking up when I should,” confessed Janet who recently stepped into a new position. She’s not alone – I hear this theme often whether delivering programs to attorneys or administrators. Too many individuals avoid necessary, yet uncomfortable conversations.

UPS 158
article thumbnail

The Problem With Plastics

Eco-Office Gals

Since its invention in 1907, a giant environmental problem has been staring the world in the face, but we’ve done little about it. Plastic can be cheap to produce, so it is manufactured in high volumes. However, plastic is also usually discarded as litter. As a result, the bulk of the world’s trash is plastic. Maybe if plastic weren’t harmful to the environment, loaded with toxins or almost impossible to break down, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Technology of the week: Screencast-O-Matic

Practically Perfect PA

What is Screencast-O-Matic? Screencast-O-Matic is a brilliant web based tool that allows users to record and create videos of whatever is happening on their screen. What does it do? So it is a screen and webcam recorder that can record on-screen activity for short tutorials, visual presentations, and communicate while you demonstrate! The free features include: 15 minute recordings. screen and webcam recording.

Expenses 149
article thumbnail

Etsy Makes it Easy for Sellers to Move Off Etsy

Small Business Labs

One of the challenges online marketplaces face is sellers often do their best to move their customers off the marketplace to their own ecommerce site. They do this for two main reasons. First, they want to avoid the fees associated with selling through a 3rd party marketplace. They also want to have a direct relationship with customers.  Most marketplaces try to discourage this.  Etsy has decided to embrace it.

UPS 140
article thumbnail

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!

article thumbnail

I am proud to be an “EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT…because miracle worker is not a job title”!

Office Dynamics

Dear Joan & Jasmine: Since I picked up your book “Who Took My Pen…Again?!” in 2013, Office Dynamics has changed my life! I’ve been a professional assistant my entire life. I entered my career, in 1981 with no more than a pleasant personality, a sense of style and the ability to type quickly. As the years passed, I raised my children as a working Mom while adding new skills, learning new technologies, etc.

Medical 157

More Trending

article thumbnail

Quick, Practical and Dirty – How to Assess Your PA Brand

Practically Perfect PA

Imagine the scene, 100 highly professional assistants at Nicky’s Assist Conference 2016. All eager, hungry and demanding top notch speakers – ‘Give me knowledge!’ ‘ Give me practical tips!’ My job was to talk about What is your value? – so no pressure then! Thirty minutes to cover such an incredible and vital subject isn’t long so I just got stuck in.

Skills 141
article thumbnail

How To Set Up an Efficient Content Marketing System

Office Organization Success

Content marketing is the *hot* new online marketing strategy! Actually, it’s not really new … using your content (i.e. articles) as a way to market your business has been around for many years (I released my first info product in 2007 called, “The Complete Article Tracking Toolkit” ). But what is new is the way you’re using your content to market your business.

article thumbnail

How to Respond to Workplace Conflict

Office Dynamics

You might think talking about conflict is not very motivating, especially to kick off the week. However, Monday is the perfect time to talk about workplace conflict because we all have to deal with it. I’m not referring to full-blown, yelling at each other. Every day, we can face conflicting views, opinions, approaches to a project or differences about when to host an event.

article thumbnail

Why You Need to Get Emotional With Customers

On The Job

Most companies realize that customer emotions are key in purchasing decisions or brand loyalty, but it’s something based on gut reactions with little data or science to back it up. Until now. If you’re loyal to a certain shampoo because the company gives to environmental causes or are willing to spend big bucks on a designer bag because it makes you feel unique, you’re not alone in being swayed to make a purchasing decision because of your emotions.

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Qbic Hotel, London

Practically Perfect PA

As a former East London resident I was very much looking forward to my stay at the Qbic hotel. Nestled in the corner of Whitechapel High Street and Commercial Road this hotel is in the perfect place to house East London trendies and city workers looking for something a little different. Walking into the hotel, one word immediately sprang to mind ‘quirky’.

article thumbnail

Sharing your Skills

Laughing all the Way to Work

Do you want to get better at what you do? Share it!! You wouldn't believe how much I learn each time I give a minute-taking or travel webinar. Because I am giving the webinar I have to review the material and make sure I know my stuff. The audience will certainly know it if I don't. The same can apply in your workplace. If there is sharing of information among the admins, then we can learn from each other and we all grow.

Skills 109
article thumbnail

How to Optimize Your Career By Utilizing Your Talents

Office Dynamics

Love your career. Optimization is like administrative skills and attitudes on steroids (in a good way!). Optimization means to enhance the effectiveness of something; to make something function at its best. When I read the definition of optimization, I immediately think of two things: Part of my “job” is being brought into companies by senior leaders to help make their administrative partners function at their best.

article thumbnail

Movin' On Up!

Virtual Moxie

Today, a happy note. We're heading toward the end of a long rebrand, including the creation of not one, but two new sites! Included in the site for VAs, a new blog--well, a different version of this blog, really. Virtual Moxie will live on there, I'm happy to report. We just need to stop adding content here and focus on what has to happen to finish the new sites.

UPS 109
article thumbnail

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!

article thumbnail

The Panama Papers Breach: Don’t Blame WordPress

Tips From T. Marie

Last Thursday, WordFence revealed on their blog that the Mossack Fonseca data breach that resulted in the Panama Papers was possibly initiated via an outdated WordPress slider plugin. They have since done an update regarding the breach as it relates to WordPress. I’m sure many people are shocked that Mossack Fonseca wasn’t only running an old, vulnerable version of a slider plugin for WordPress but that they also were running a 3 year old version of Drupal as well.

2002 100
article thumbnail

Roasted Red Pepper Soup Recipe

Professional Assistant Blog

1 Tbsp. Butter. 4 Large Red Bell Peppers. 1 Large Sweet Onion, chopped. 3-4 Cloves Garlic, minced. 4 oz. Dry White Wine. 1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream. Salt and White Pepper to taste. Optional: Cayenne Pepper to taste. Preparation: Roast the red peppers over a grill or stove burner until black on all sides. Place into a plastic bag and let them sweat for 15-20 minutes.

UPS 100
article thumbnail

Teaching Your Assistant Yields Huge Return on Investment

Office Dynamics

Are you teaching your assistant? One of the most common challenges we hear from Administrative and Executive Assistants is this: “I’m underutilized.”. In our experience, Executives across the board fail to fully leverage the time and talents of their support staff. Many argue this is for good reason: Delegating a task or project often requires that you first teach your Assistant how to do it, and teaching takes time.

Training 148
article thumbnail

Information Overload? Stop Moving

Clutter Coach

by I had the pleasure of hearing the charming and witty Karen Salmansohn speak the other night at the Ladies Who Launch monthly meeting. She's promoting her new book, The Bounce Back Book , about "how to thrive in the face of adversity, setbacks, losses, failures, illness, rejection – you name it." Karen has a clever way with words.

2008 100
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

The New Comedy Gig Economy

Small Business Labs

Wired's fascinating The Silicon Valley Boys Aren’t Just Brilliant—They’re Part of a Comedy Revolution  covers what they call the new comedy gig economy. Key quote: a new comedy gig economy built on a hodgepodge of podcast appearances, sketch show cameos, commercials, more podcast appearances, indie-film appearances, script work, web shorts, ensemble TV roles—and, if all goes well, a WTF With Marc Maron appearance in which everyone bonds over their failed Lorne Michael

UPS 100
article thumbnail

Why I decided to buy a bread machine

Professional Assistant Blog

After reading more reviews of the top bread machines, I was more than convinced that I should buy one of these appliances. For starters, I was tired of the taste of store-bought bread, and I wanted to control the ingredients that I use in my bread. I also wanted to save some money because bread has become quite expensive, especially gluten-free products.

Expenses 100
article thumbnail

Own Your Story: Past, Present and Future

Office Dynamics

I’m preparing this post early but when you read this, I’ll have just given my presentation #OwnIt, How to Own Your Story and Win at Life at the Executive Secretary Live in London. My very first International speaking opportunity on behalf of Office Dynamics International! I’ll share more with you at a later date about what my session was about but for now, I’ll give you this… Accept your story.

article thumbnail

Use a ripening drawer for paper management

Clutter Coach

by. Does paper management seem overwhelming? All those decisions to make! Here’s a way to get some control before you’re ready to make the decisions. I wrote about this concept several years ago. I discovered it in the excellent book ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau. In the book and in my post , the ripening drawer is used for miscellaneous items that aren’t quite junk but that don’t have a place to go, such as battery covers t

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Excellent Definition of the Pet Humanization Trend

Small Business Labs

I just joined the LinkedIn Group Packaged Facts Pet Market Research & Trends. Great group for fans of pet trends. It's a private group. But they let me in, so they're willing to let in non-pet industry folks. Joining the group immediately paid off with this excellent description of the pet humanization trend: Pet humanization is a natural expression of the “pets as family” trend, whereby pet owners treat their pets like children and are highly receptive to products similar to the one

100
100
article thumbnail

The Value of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

Small Business CEO

The term ‘emotional intelligence’ was first used by best-selling author Daniel Goleman. The idea behind the phrase was so compelling that his book of the same name remained on the New York Times best seller list for over a year. But why did his idea create such a buzz, and what made the sentiment so compelling? Employers and recruiters recognised that testing a candidate’s emotional intelligence (EI) level could help them decide on their suitability for a role, and EI has since become a key indi

article thumbnail

Executive Assistants Celebrate Your Peers’ Success! [Admin Recognition]

Office Dynamics

Something interesting happened a few years back whereby a group of assistants won a special award from an external vendor. Instead of their co-worker assistants being happy for them, the assistants were wondering “Why didn’t they win the award?” “Why didn’t they get recognition?” (It’s a long story as to why.) My point is that instead of the non-winners congratulating their peers, they were jealous of their success.

article thumbnail

Password Hints

Clutter Coach

by I have 170 passwords in my Palm. Some are written in directly, the ones I use for sites where I don’t care about security, like reading the New York Times online. Others I use so often I have them in my head. But there too are many secure passwords for me to remember and those are listed with hints only. Mine your past to create easy-to-remember passwords with letters and numbers.

2015 100
article thumbnail

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