The Small Business Blog
MARCH 12, 2008
E-Mail me or follow me. Small Business Bootstrapping How to start your own small business with no or little money. What is Small Business Infrastructure? How to be successful by focusing on your core business. You ask a question, I answer! Ask me your small business questions, I will answer them ASAP. Benefits of Online Software for Small Business. Concentrate on your business, not your office.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 6, 2008
Today’s assistants are computer savvy, smart and up-and-coming, and consider themselves professionals in the workplace. They are no longer stuck within the job description box, but have the freedom to break out of the mould and redefine their roles and sometimes even change their careers. Employers have begun to recognize our changing roles in the workplace and some have reflected that by changing our title from “secretary” to titles that more accurately describe the positions we are performing
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On The Job
MARCH 6, 2008
You stroll into the job interview, feeling pretty confident. You’re got the qualifications the employer is looking for, and believe you really connected with the hiring manager. When you leave, you expect to be getting a call soon. You feel you’ve got this job in the bag. But after you leave, something happens. The executive asks the administrative assistant, or secretary, to step into the office.
Professional Assistant Blog
MARCH 4, 2008
Home About Me Advertise Write An Effective Out Of Office Assistant Message By The Professional Assistant on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 Filed Under: Client Service , MS-Outlook , Organize , Productivity A re you going on vacation? Are you going to be out of the office for a short or even long period of time? Don’t forget to set up and turn on your “Out of Office Assistant&# on Microsoft Outlook.
Speaker: Chester Santos
Forgetfulness is costing you time, money, and a ton of missed opportunities. In the age of automation, it’s easy to underestimate the power of a well-trained human mind. But memory isn’t just a parlor trick, it's a strategic edge. Human memory is one of the most underrated business skills. Whether you’re managing people, leading sessions, or having high-stakes conversations, remembering names, details, and concepts can be transformative in building trust, absorbing knowledge, and driving perform
The Small Business Blog
MARCH 11, 2008
E-Mail me or follow me. Effective Small Business Planning Strategy Planning your small business is the best way to avoid costly mistakes. Outsourcing Options For Small Business Focus on your business, timeshare professionals. Enhance Your Work-Life Balance Have it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! Build your own network!
The Small Business Blog
MARCH 19, 2008
E-Mail me or follow me. Small Business Bootstrapping How to start your own small business with no or little money. Build your own network! Community for small business outsourcing and cost control. Benefits of Online Software for Small Business. Concentrate on your business, not your office. You ask a question, I answer! Ask me your small business questions, I will answer them ASAP.
Administrative Professionals Pulse brings together the best content for administrative professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
The Small Business Blog
MARCH 20, 2008
E-Mail me or follow me. How to be successful and eco-friendly. Making your small business carbon neutral. Benefits of Online Software for Small Business. Concentrate on your business, not your office. Starting a Small Business? On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure™ allows you to run your business online. Effective Small Business Planning Strategy Planning your small business is the best way to avoid costly mistakes.
Professional Assistant Blog
MARCH 6, 2008
Home About Me Advertise Fight or Flight? Dealing with a Difficult Colleague! By The Professional Assistant on Thursday, March 06, 2008 Filed Under: Job Seeking , Meetings , Office Gossip , Productivity H ave you had or are in a situation where your colleague is making your life miserable? I have been in these types of jobs a few times in the past and let me tell you, it’s no laughing matter.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 6, 2008
I have always seen the placement of Personal & Confidential on envelopes as follows: PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL Ms. Jocelyn Smith ABC Company Any City Any Province/State Postal Code/Zip Code I would recommend bolding and capitalizing Personal & Confidential to make it stand out. At one place I worked we were told by the post office to put the City, Province/State, Postal/Zip Code information on one line as follows for better mail processing: OTTAWA ON K1R 1A2 Canada I was also taught th
On The Job
MARCH 31, 2008
Everyone hates performance appraisals. Bosses hate them because they have to come up with phrases like "does not model significant think-ratio standards throughout processing" and say them with a straight face. Employees hate them because they know that somehow, someway, the evaluation is going to be used to try and screw them out of a raise. But here's the truth: Performance appraisals aren't going away.
Speaker: Frank Taliano
Documents are the backbone of enterprise operations, but they are also a common source of inefficiency. From buried insights to manual handoffs, document-based workflows can quietly stall decision-making and drain resources. For large, complex organizations, legacy systems and siloed processes create friction that AI is uniquely positioned to resolve.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 31, 2008
My new laptop came with Microsoft 2007. When I opened Word I groaned when I saw how different the toolbar looked, but I have managed to find my way around and thought I would pass on a few things I have discovered. In Microsoft 2007 instead of File you press the Office Button which is located at the top left-hand corner of the screen. The Customize Quick Access Toolbar is located along the top left-hand corner of your screen.
Professional Assistant Blog
MARCH 28, 2008
Home About Me Advertise Get A Job With A Thank You Letter By The Professional Assistant on Friday, March 28, 2008 Filed Under: Job Seeking , Productivity D id you just get out of an interview ? Did you attend a few recently? Do you really want to get one of the jobs that you just applied for? One of the simplest things you can do to help the manager of your dream firm decide if you are right for the job, is to send them a Thank You letter after the interview.
On The Job
MARCH 28, 2008
Have you ever had a job interview and felt like it was going well until the hiring manager asked you a question and you thought: "Holy Sh**!" It might be something like: 1. "What are you going to say to your boss if we offer you this job and he or she gets upset when you say you're going to quit?" 2. "The economy is tough right now.are you one of those people who is has been caught up in this credit mess?
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 28, 2008
Wilda Bleakley, an assistant at Rider University in New Jersey, was honoured with the Frank N. Elliott Award for Distinguished Service. She is described as the "go-to girl" with a "can-do attitude". Kudos to Wilda Bleakley. To read more click here. 1 1 Ward, Allie, The Rider News, Where There's a Wilda, There's a way: Elliott Award winner, proud parent and Campbell's aide, Bleakley does it all, [link] (accessed March 28, 2008).
Speaker: Jennifer Hill
Payroll compliance is a cornerstone of business success, yet for small and midsize businesses, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of federal, state, and local regulations. Mistakes can lead to costly penalties and operational disruptions, making it essential to adopt advanced solutions that ensure accuracy and efficiency.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 28, 2008
I am a member of the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP). As part of my membership I get a subscription to IAAP's magazine OfficePro and also to their e-newsletter OfficePro Express. Both of these are excellent sources of information for the administrative assistant. I thought I would pass on something from the e-newsletter because this week there was a link to a Yahoo article with a list of 20 Tips from Air Travel Insiders.
Professional Assistant Blog
MARCH 27, 2008
Home About Me Advertise 4 Steps to Setting up E-mail Distribution Lists By The Professional Assistant on Thursday, March 27, 2008 Filed Under: MS-Outlook , Organize , Productivity D o you find yourself having to write each persons e-mail address over and over again for certain e-mails ? Do you wish that you could make life simpler by just entering one item that would include a list of e-mail addresses?
On The Job
MARCH 27, 2008
Miriam Salpeter at Keppie Careers responded to my last post about working too much with the observation that those leaving school these days with huge student loans to repay ($80,000-$200,000) may be part of the reason people work so hard. I have to admit that with that kind of debt dogging me, I'd probably work too many hours, too. While some top tier schools are reducing the cost for low- and middle-income students, the fact remains that many families feel pressured to get their children into
Professional Assistant Blog
MARCH 26, 2008
Home About Me Advertise Why People Gossip At The Office By The Professional Assistant on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Filed Under: Meetings , Office Gossip , Productivity D o you gossip at the office? Do you get sucked into the gossip of others? Im sure that this has happened to all of us at one point or another. Gossip has never been a positive matter.
Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions
Join this brand new webinar with Tim Buteyn to learn how you can master the art of remote onboarding! By the end of this session, you'll understand how to: Craft a Tailored Onboarding Checklist 📝 Develop a comprehensive, customized checklist that ensures every new hire has a smooth transition into your company, no matter where they are in the world.
On The Job
MARCH 26, 2008
Why are you working so much? C'mon, I know it's true. You're on your Blackberry at the dinner table, you get up at 4 a.m. just to answer a few e-mails and you've never been in a car without the cell phone to your ear. This is above and beyond the long hours you put in at your desk. So, again I ask you: Why are you working so much? Some of you are going to claim it's because you have no choice.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 26, 2008
My nickname while growing up was Speeder. My dad called me Speeder because he said when he called me to do the dishes I was always so sloooow.to show up. My family still calls me that. I am very competitive however and while I may have been slow in doing the dishes, in highschool I tried to be as fast and as accurate as I could in typing and shorthand and just about anything else I tried.
On The Job
MARCH 25, 2008
My mailbox is starting to fill with story pitches regarding "safe" April Fool jokes to play on your co-workers. I have mixed feelings about this: Everyone can use a little levity in the workplace these days, but what one person thinks is funny, another may not. I still remember the time a friend's co-worker pretended to be a "nurse" from his son's school.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 25, 2008
I don't remember my first interview, although I do remember my first job and my first paycheque. I was a junior secretary at a large bank and my salary was $137 every two weeks. I thought it was amazing. In the late 70s and early 80s, jobs were plentiful and I never considered when I went on an interview that I wouldn't get the job. I am not bragging, I think there were more jobs than workers so if you were half decent you got the job.
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On The Job
MARCH 24, 2008
For some people, achieving supervisor status is a career dream come true. They have put in long hours, committed their creativity and energy to helping the company succeed and now will reap the benefits. Unfortunately, many companies throw new supervisors into the management waters without a boat or even a life preserver. It’s little wonder that many new managers sink in such conditions.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 24, 2008
I knew something wasn't quite right. My boss was just too happy for a day that I was under the weather and had to go to a doctor's appointment and he had to rely on others to help him out. I filed it in the back of my mind, but I wasn't surprised when he told me he was leaving the company. His body language had given me a clue. The next time you get little hints from your boss's body language, pay attention.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 22, 2008
The administrative assistant is the face and voice of an organization to anyone who calls or visits. An assistant can often be the professional gatekeeper as to who gets in to see the boss and how quickly they get to speak to them on the phone. I found this neat blog "The Thin Pink Line: Four Women for Women". I have added it to my links of blogs that I read.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 22, 2008
As I was walking by a co-worker's desk, I noticed the new stock of candy in her bowl. I automatically headed over to it to check and see what goodies she had in there today. Instead of asking if I could have one however, I asked a new question: Are they sugar-free? Candies and cookies in the office are so tempting when you need a sugar high, but I'm trying to cut back.
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Professional Assistant Blog
MARCH 20, 2008
Home About Me Advertise Thinking Outside the Job Description Box By The Professional Assistant on Thursday, March 20, 2008 Filed Under: Productivity E ditor’s note: This is a guest post by Patricia Robb of Laughing All The Way to Work: The Ultimate Secretarial Survival Blog. Today’s assistants are computer savvy, smart and up-and-coming, and consider themselves professionals in the workplace.
On The Job
MARCH 20, 2008
There's been some debate about the idea of job hopping. Many younger workers have no problem with it, while older workers fear the perception that job hopping will make them look less reliable to prospective employers. It appears there's some value in both arguments, which I'll discuss further in this post. But on this first day of Spring, let's start with: * The Five O'Clock Club provides eight signs that it's time to change jobs.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 20, 2008
I read an excellent post on the use of hyphenation. Click here for Lynn Gaertner-Johnston's article on when and when not to use the hyphen. I was always taught if the words were describing another word you would hyphenate it, as in "up-to-date calendar". But you wouldn't hyphenate it if you were saying "the calendar is up to date". Tags: hyphenate Lynn Gaertner-Johnston professional assistant Administrative Assistant.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MARCH 20, 2008
Do you ever wonder if you are blogging properly or are you stepping on other blogger's toes? I was on Susan Johnston's blog The Urban Muse and she answered some blogging etiquette questions and had some good tips that I thought I would pass on to you. Blogging Etiquette Part 1 Blogging Etiquette Part 2 Blogging Etiquette Part 3. Tags: Urban Muse Susan Johnston blogging etiquette.
Speaker: Chandra McCormack, CPA, MBA, NACD.DC
Technical degrees might open doors—but it’s the soft skills that keep them open. In the face of disruption, evolving workplace dynamics, and rising expectations of leadership, soft skills like communication, emotional intelligence, and presence have become core business essentials—not nice-to-haves. Inspired by stories from her father coupled with her own career journey, seasoned executive Chandra McCormack breaks down how to lead with impact, connect with purpose, and cultivate a workplace cult
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