The Small Business Blog
SEPTEMBER 22, 2007
E-Mail me or follow me. Outsourcing Options For Small Business Focus on your business, timeshare professionals. You ask a question, I answer! Ask me your small business questions, I will answer them ASAP. Enhance Your Work-Life Balance Have it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! Benefits of Online Software for Small Business.
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 22, 2007
I send telephone messages to my boss by email rather than writing it on a telephone message pad. That way it won't get lost in the pile and saves on paper. You could also open a folder in Outlook for Telephone Messages if that would be useful to refer back to. Voicemail Tips: Remember to put an Out-of-Office voicemail message on your telephone when you will not be in the office.
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Professional Assistant Blog
SEPTEMBER 27, 2007
Home About Me Advertise 7 Steps to Improve Your Filing System By The Professional Assistant on Thursday, September 27, 2007 Filed Under: Organize , Productivity A re you having trouble with your filing system? Dont know how to organize yourself and things are starting to pile up? Here are 7 simple things you can do to improve your filing system: Try filing your documents into file folders, then put them into hanging file folders.
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 27, 2007
When signing up to serve our country, new recruits often are told how their military career will lead to good jobs when they one day re-enter the civilian world. That appears to be complete bulls**t, according to Dan Caulfield. I recently spent nearly an hour talking to Caulfield, an articulate, passionate and committed guy who gave me a real earful about the pitiful state of affairs regarding employment for our veterans.
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
Professional Assistant Blog
SEPTEMBER 13, 2007
Home About Me Advertise What Its Like to be a Male Admin By The Professional Assistant on Thursday, September 13, 2007 Filed Under: H ere is a little blurb about myself in an article that I wrote recently: Being a male administrative assistant in a predominantly female profession is something everyone asks me about. It feels like I have broken new ground by entering this profession.
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 30, 2007
It is exciting when you get that phone call to tell you that you were selected for the job you applied for. There is a lot of work that goes into preparing for the interview and to know that you were successful is a great feeling. But I also find it can be a bit scarey because I am starting over again and I need to prove myself as I go through the probationary period.
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Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 28, 2007
Wouldn't it be nice to have your own personal helpline when you need help and the IT people have left for the day and you just can't figure out how to print that Excel document so it fits on one page and your boss needs it urgently? Well, I am very fortunate as I just call my sister. She is great with software programs (self-taught) and usually knows the answer to my problems, or knows where to find it.
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 28, 2007
Updated this article on April 29, 2008 [link] I am always looking for shortcuts and I found a neat way to speed up my typing using AutoCorrect. For example, if I type sbc and press the spacebar (or press enter) it automatically types SENT BY COURIER. Here are some others I use regularly: sbf - SENT BY FACSIMILE sbr - SENT BY REGISTERED MAIL p&c - PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL You can create an AutoCorrect for as many words as you like, but unless they are simple you will tend to forget what yo
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 27, 2007
"I just found a neat "shortcut". Highlight the word you want to change the case of and press Shift F3 and it will change the case, press Shift F3 again and it changes to another case. It works in Word and PowerPoint, but doesn't seem to work in Excel." Submitted by Lynn, Administrative Assistant. Tags: lower case initial caps shift F3 upper case.
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 27, 2007
The shortcut keys can be great time savers.here are a few that you might like: "If you are in a document and you press Ctrl F2, it brings you to "Print Preview". Press Ctrl F2 again and it brings you back to your original view. Here is a control key for line spacing. Highlight the text and then press Ctrl 1 for single space, Ctrl 2 for double space and Ctrl 5 for 1.5 spacing.
Speaker: Victor C. Barnes, CPA, MBA
In the climb from contributor to leader, the rules quietly change. If you’re aiming for the summit, the air gets thinner—and what got you here won’t be enough to get you to the top (a concept first popularized by Marshall Goldsmith in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There ). What made you successful early in your finance career—technical accuracy, sharp analysis, flawless execution—won’t be what carries you to the next level.
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 26, 2007
It can be stressful searching for a job when you’re in yours 20s or 30s, but what about decades later, when you’re in your 40s or 50s? It can be terrifying. Certainly, when you’re older you have more experience to offer an employer, but, well, you’re older. And in a youth-obsessed society, that can seriously impact your ability to get the job you desire and believe you are qualified to fill.
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 25, 2007
We all like to take our digs at hiring managers, with many of us having stories of how ill treated we have been by these people. They ask us stupid questions (or none at all), they are rude, dismissive and won't return phone calls or e-mails telling us whether or not we are still in contention for a job. But there are two sides to every story -- and the tales some hiring managers are telling may explain why some of them treat us like alien beings.
Professional Assistant Blog
SEPTEMBER 24, 2007
Home About Me Advertise Why Lock Your System at Work? By The Professional Assistant on Monday, September 24, 2007 Filed Under: System Security D o you feel that your colleagues might do something through your computer? Do you feel safe enough to leave your computer on and everyone can see what you are doing? If not, heres a quick technical tip for you: Hold down the "Windows" key (located between the CTRL and ALT keys) and hit the "L" key.
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 23, 2007
In today's electronic age it is easier to work from home: You can log on to your computer at home and have access to everything you would have at the office. With Blackberry technology you can get your emails, retrieve your phone messages and get work-related phone calls from home, on the road or from a beachfront hotel in the Bahamas. Many of the professionals from my office work from home on occasion, and I believe the assistant's role can be even more important as we are the contact for the p
Speaker: Kim Beynon, CPA, CGMA, PMP
The most overlooked, yet most critical, element of transformation is preparing people for change. Automation and AI aren't just technical upgrades, they’re cultural shifts which can challenge identities. That’s why change management isn’t a side project—it’s the foundation. In finance, where precision and process rule, navigating change can feel especially disruptive.
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 21, 2007
Email is no longer just for personal use, with all our accepted short forms: LOL, U, GB and a co-worker's favourite, OMG! With the increasing use of email as the first choice for business correspondence it opens a whole new world of dos and don'ts for the assistant.Here are Some Good-Sense Email Etiquette Tips: Email Salutations: Although email is less formal than writing a letter it is still polite to open with a greeting.
Professional Assistant Blog
SEPTEMBER 20, 2007
Home About Me Advertise Dos and Donts of Office Romance By The Professional Assistant on Thursday, September 20, 2007 Filed Under: Office Gossip , Productivity H ave you ever had an office romance with someone? Have you ever witnessed an office romance and thought if this was a good idea? People do it all the time, all across the world. Most people even admit to having an office romance at some point in their career.
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 20, 2007
In the early days of my career, I was very good friends with many of the people at work. I’m not sure if this was because we were young, single and in the pressure-cooker environment of a busy newsroom, but we all seemed to be pretty tight. We’d often play cards after work until the wee hours of the morning, we haunted pubs and pool halls on the weekends, or looked for other low-cost ways to entertain ourselves when not at work (we were also all incredibly poor).
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 20, 2007
One day I was particularly frustrated because of my overwhelming pile of filing. I had recently changed jobs and in this new position I worked for two busy lawyers and I was used to only working for one, so the filing had doubled. I was mentioning to my co-worker about this problem and she suggested a very simple solution that has helped me manage my filing pile.
Speaker: Jason Cottrell and Gireesh Sahukar
Retailers know the clock is ticking–legacy SAP Commerce support ends in 2026. Legacy platforms are becoming a liability burdened by complexity, rigidity, and mounting operational costs. But modernization isn’t just about swapping out systems, it’s about preparing for a future shaped by real-time interactions, AI powered buying assistants, and flexible commerce architecture.
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 18, 2007
Your collection of snow globes – now numbering somewhere in the dozens – is quite eye-catching, covering nearly every available space in your cubicle. And that poster of the Hooter’s girls really adds a special touch, as does the photo of you and your buddies emptying the keg at a beach party. Ahh…there’s nothing like having a workspace that’s, well, comfy.
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 17, 2007
As images from foreign lands fill our television screens, many of us may be thinking we are grateful to be on the home turf of the U.S.A. At the same time, there are those of us who see those pictures and long to experience foreign lands and culture, to try and understand other parts of the world. But since it’s not always easy just to take off and travel the world, one option is to find a job abroad so that we can visit foreign lands, while getting a paycheck.
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 16, 2007
As I was doing research for other articles on this blog I came across the International Association of Administrative Professionals' website ("IAAP") and was reminded of the advantages of being part of a professional organization. This article is not intended to be an endorsement of any one particular organization over another. I was previously a member of IAAP when I was at another firm.
Professional Assistant Blog
SEPTEMBER 14, 2007
Home About Me Advertise Outsourcing - Good or Bad? By The Professional Assistant on Friday, September 14, 2007 Filed Under: Organize , Prioritize , Productivity D oes your firm want to save money? Of course! Everyone could use a little more green in their wallets. Outsourcing has been around for quite some time now and I will discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of it.
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.
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 13, 2007
I’ve been covering the work/life debate for the last 20 years, and the one thing that gets on my last nerve is some of the “best of” lists that come out every year, touting the most “family friendly” companies or the “most flexible” workplaces. The reason it irks me is because I spend a lot of time hearing from the employees of some of those companies, and what they tell me is this: what actually goes on in the workplace is sometimes a whole different ballgame than what is portrayed in those lis
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 12, 2007
When I think of all the meetings I have sat through in my lifetime, it makes me want to chuck everything and join a crew looking for sunken pirate booty. But then I think about how the crew would probably want to hold a meeting about whose job is was to look for the loot and whose job is was to write the report…and I decide to stay where I am. I always tell people not to ditch meetings – even if they believe them to be a complete waste of time – because it’s important to understand the group’s d
Professional Assistant Blog
SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
Home About Me Advertise Common Courtesy in the Workplace By The Professional Assistant on Monday, September 10, 2007 Filed Under: Organize , Productivity D o you always end up cleaning up after your colleagues? Do you neatly put all labels, papers, etc. on the printer table and then a few minutes later, you come back to a messy area? People are either neat freaks, quite messy or in between.
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
If you’re feeling a little uptight about your job these days, you’re not alone. And if you’re not feeling a little uptight, you should be. That’s because the employment figures released last week weren’t so hot. Those lost jobs – the first time that’s happened in four years – comes on the heels of a lousy housing market and continuing costly overseas military actions.
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.
Professional Assistant Blog
SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
Home About Me Advertise How to Hold Effective Meetings By The Professional Assistant on Friday, September 07, 2007 Filed Under: Meetings , Organize , Prioritize , Productivity H ave you ever wondered why you have so many meetings to attend and most of the time, you feel that you dont have a need to be there? Do you feel that you need to hold a meeting about having too many meetings?
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
How you quit a job may be one of the most important things you ever do in your career. Because how you leave a position is often how you are remembered most by colleagues and your boss. And, as we all know, the world is often a small one – so quitting a job poorly may come back to haunt you for years to come, perhaps even adversely affecting other job opportunities.
Laughing all the Way to Work
SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
I had an interview at 11 in the morning, but I had been so busy with my job, my daughter was getting married and my father was ill in the hospital. I just didn’t find the time to bring my clothes to the dry cleaner and worse than that I had an inch of grey roots showing and hadn't coloured my hair. I finally decided that they would just have to take me as I was because I didn't have the time to do everything I knew I should be doing to prepare for this interview.
On The Job
SEPTEMBER 4, 2007
It’s always tough to mess up at work. Feelings can range from chagrin over committing a blunder to outright fear that you might be fired for your mistake. Still, it’s important that you have a plan of action for when you goof up. Without one, you may panic and make the error worse, or do nothing, which can always come back to haunt you. Some plans of action for recovering from making a mistake include: Owning it.
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.
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