Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

We've long been forecasting and writing about the growing trend of Americans working past traditional retirement age.  But even we're surprised by a Wells Fargo survey showing that 75% of Americans plan to work in their retirement years - and 25 percent saying they'll need to work until at least age 80 because they will not have enough money to retire comfortably.  According to a Business Week article on the study, this means 80 is the new 65.  I haven't had a c

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Retirement AT&T UPS 190

Productivity Bits

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Copyright © 2011 Productivity Bits. Visit the original article at [link]. Guest Post. W aking up early is probably one of the hardest things to do. It is even harder when you are a college student. There are so many late nights filled with studying, partying and socializing, it is near impossible to get up early. And getting up early is one big concern also of those who are after the quest of productivity in general.

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UPS 2011 Copyright AT&T 180

Eat Your Career

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

The other night, my parents and I hit a local restaurant for happy hour. We ordered a round of drinks at discounted prices and were hoping to get a final round in before the cutoff time (happy hour ended at 6:30). We called the server over at what we thought was the right time and ordered. She went to grab our drinks but came back and said it was 2 minutes past the cutoff.

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Customer Service Expenses Restaurants Google 175

On The Job

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

I just have one question for you today: What have you done to help a vet find a job? Read this story I did for Gannett/USAToday and promise yourself that you'll spend some time this Thanksgiving holiday giving thanks for our military and their families. And then help one of them find a job. In 2008, when Jessie Canella returned home from Iraq where he had been deployed as a Marine, he wasn't sure how to get a job in the civilian world.

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Networking Job Hunting Resume 2008 166

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!

Collaborate

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Gosh, is it already time for 2012 top 10 prediction lists?  I guess so since Gartner recently released their list of the top 10 technologies and trends they think will be strategic for most organizations in 2012. Gartner's top 10 are: 1.  Tablets:  No great shock here, tablet sales are booming. 2.  Mobile-Centric Applications and Interfaces:  Good quote on why this is important - "The user interface (IU) paradigm in place for more tha

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2012 2011 Collaborate Forms 181

Office Dynamics

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

As if the holidays weren't busy and sometime stressful enough? Try adding a job hunt to the mix of gift wrapping and card mailing and life can all of a sudden seem to be too much! Give yourself a leg up and watch this great video from Career Expert, Alexia Vernon, on how to get the competitive edge during the holidays while seeking your future dream job.

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Holidays Job Hunting Gifts Stress 160

Job Advice Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2011

Today’s weak economy has changed the psychology of hiring. During past weak economic times, companies might hire temps, and once the economy gained strength permanent hiring ensued. We have not yet seen that pattern, and there are no signs that it’s on its way. The situation has caused various and serious difficulties for most of [.].

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Temping Interviewing Skills 160

The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Today, I want to tell you a personal story of doing new things, taking risks, being innovative and being willing to fail in the quest to create something of value for my business, the people that I know, the small business community and my customers.

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Practically Perfect PA

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

A well organised travel itinerary is an essential service that assistants can provide for their managers. Think about all the different bits of paper you have to keep with you – tickets, hotel details, travel guides. Well along with the usual stresses of travelling your boss also has to attend meetings and act professionally when in many cases they are dealing with jet lag and the continuous business activities back in the UK office.

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Travel Dropbox Attire Time Zones 157

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Interviewing

Productivity Bits

NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Copyright © 2011 Productivity Bits. Visit the original article at [link]. Guest Post. W hen I think of boosting workplace productivity I instantly think Mobile. Having several thousands of productivity apps to choose from, one can stop worrying about “how to?” and start worrying about “which one” to choose. When we started thinking of developing a productivity app we had the following data at hand.

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Phones Management 2011 Calendars 152

Stephanie LH Calahan

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Join me in participating in AboutOne's One Million for $1Million Twitter Party! One of the best ways to start changing your mindset and finding success in all that you do for your business is to practice gratitude.  I've talked about how you can increase your productivity through gratitude in past posts. Today, I want to share a way that you can practice gratitude and help support some fantastic organizations at the same time.  AboutOne, the on-line organizer for busy familie

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Twitter Agenda Mentoring Holidays 149

The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

The weekly top 5 tips post is always full of helpful hints and advice for small, home and micro business owners. 1. Make sure that your chosen area of business is something that you know and understand, but most importantly it should also be something you enjoy and are enthusiastic about doing. 2.

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Virtual Moxie

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

For service gaps, have fabulous resources at your easy disposal, so that you can be a Virtual Assistant one-stop shop for anything your clients need. Contrary to what you might hear, or read online, you do not have to provide every service under the sun to your clients, nor do you have to work with subcontractors to provide them. . .

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Advertiser: Aggregage

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!

Policies

Productivity Bits

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Copyright © 2011 Productivity Bits. Visit the original article at [link]. Guest Post. W hen starting at a new company you want to make your mark and get known as the “go getter” and “go to guy/gal”. We put together a list which will help you with your goal and hopefully make it a bit easier. Excel in your position. Working hard and doing your job should be your first priority.

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Promotion Cover Letter 2011 Project Management 136

Step It Up VA Coaching

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

by Donna Toothaker. Most online businesses naturally focus on online marketing and social media to drive their business. However, traditional “offline” marketing methods are invaluable. They are still some of the most effective ways to growing your business, and should not be overlooked. First, are you using your mailing list effectively?

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Social Media Business Cards Calendars Travel 136

The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Fuel prices are rising and they will keep on doing so, whether we like it or not. This week MPs in the UK parliament are to express there concern about the ever increasing prices at the fuel pumps. This is not only a problem in the UK and it hits small businesses hardest.

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On The Job

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Anyone who multitasks say they do so because they're good at it. That's right before they find their car keys in the refrigerator and realize they've sent a naughty text to the boss instead of a significant other. Believe me, I understand. If I didn't multitask, how else would I be able to get anything done? Does it really matter that I've almost burned down the house a couple of times while making scrambled eggs.and then deciding to check email while watering a dying plant on my desk?

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Email 127

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.

Training

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

DigitalGlobe is a fascinating company.  According to their website: DigitalGlobe owns and operates the most agile and sophisticated constellation of high-resolution commercial earth imaging satellites. Add to that our aerial program offering wall-to-wall coverage of the U.S. and Western Europe. DigitalGlobe's imagery has mostly been used to study the physical world.  Their primary applications include identifying natural resources, understanding the earth’s envi

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Payroll Forms Expenses 127

Productivity Bits

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Copyright © 2011 Productivity Bits. Visit the original article at [link]. Guest Post. A s a blogger, you might find you’re not getting the traffic you were expecting out of some great articles you’ve written. And if your main referral is not search engines, you will probably want to look into optimizing your website better and making your content more search-engine friendly.

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Social Media Google Promotion 2011 126

The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

I don’t know how many of you have seen the film The Truman Show? But we’ve all wished we could live in a perfect world sometimes, where every traffic light is green and every decision goes your way.

Management 141

Management 141

Office Dynamics

NOVEMBER 16, 2011

Mix and mingle with your office mates or save your precious holiday time to activities with friends and family? Your boss could be spending a lot of time and money on planning the holiday party (or maybe they don't) or you really want to spend as much of your personal time as you can doing the things you want to do and the office party just doesn't sound like a good time to you this year.

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Holidays OfficeTeam Administrative Professionals Gifts 125

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.

Policies

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 16, 2011

Polaris VC Dave Barrett's A Deep Dive Into Dogpatch Labs  provides an interesting view and set of numbers on the startup accelerator. According to Dave (who is a former Lotus collegue): To date, over 350 emerging companies have been residents. Right now, there are more than 70 teams in the Labs. Team quality has never been higher & incredibly-interesting stuff is being worked on.  The waiting lists in each location range from over 60 to over 100 interested teams.

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Networking 124

Virtual Moxie

NOVEMBER 16, 2011

If you forgot to do something, say that. If you spin what happened, a client will know you’re not being truthful (the energy in the conversation will be off!), and your attempt to save your bacon will damage the relationship. People forget. We're human. It’s ok for it to happen to you, now and then. . .

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Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Sorry for the delay in getting the correct link to you with details about this webinar , but I have it now and you will find it on the side bar on the right.

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2011 Meeting Minutes 116

Office Dynamics

NOVEMBER 13, 2011

In today’s society, maintaining “safety” is prized above all else. The definition of safety is “secure from risk; certain; sound.” It actually makes risk sound like a bad thing! I’d be the first one to tell you to take a jacket and pack a snack. As in, “Safety = Prepared.”. But I would state unequivocally that a life lived status quo is no life at all.

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Gifts Administrative Professionals 2008 Learning 116

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

Networking

The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

As a small business you know that every communication counts.

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Suppliers 161

Virtual Moxie

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Relationships work best when the focus changes from Me to We. If the relationship matters most, you give up needing to be right and all sorts of other things that can be barriers to successful relationships (especially virtual ones). .

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UPS 116

Laughing all the Way to Work

NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Reading, Reading and more Reading Expect to do a lot of reading the first week you are on the job. You will be given information about the organization, what benefits they have and forms that you need to fill out. Read and learn as much as possible. This may require you to do the reading on your own time or during break or your lunch hour. Meeting new people You will also be introduced to a lot of new people and told what they do.

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Learning Forms Stress Phones 109