The Small Business Blog
MAY 20, 2008
E-Mail me or follow me. Benefits of Online Software for Small Business. Concentrate on your business, not your office. How to be successful and eco-friendly. Making your small business carbon neutral. Outsourcing Options For Small Business Focus on your business, timeshare professionals. Build your own network! Community for small business outsourcing and cost control.
On The Job
MAY 27, 2008
OK, time to fess up. I don't care how nice you are, there's someone at work who is driving you nuts. It's either the guy who clips his fingernails while on the phone and leaves the droppings all over the floor, or the woman who complains nonstop about her worthless, freeloading kids. It could be the person who constantly interrupts, butting into your conversations or the guy who has to always trumpet his every success, no matter how small.
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Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 17, 2008
I once worked for a company where anyone who needed help in a certain area could call on one of their senior administrative assistants, trainers or IT specialists who would come to your desk and walk you through a problem. We called this “at your side” training. When I started at a new employer I thought the concept of having an “at your side” was everywhere.
BioTeams
MAY 12, 2008
Our old friend the spider gets a lot of bad press. For example he/she has been used as an example of the weakness of centralised leadership models versus so-called “leaderless organisations” in The Starfish and The Spider. However spiders can teach teams, enterprises and networks two very important lessons: Strategic Readiness and Appropriate Response.
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
MAY 13, 2008
E-Mail me or follow me. You ask a question, I answer! Ask me your small business questions, I will answer them ASAP. What is Small Business Infrastructure? How to be successful by focusing on your core business. Build your own network! Community for small business outsourcing and cost control. Outsourcing Options For Small Business Focus on your business, timeshare professionals.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 30, 2008
There is a new site for admin assistants called Admin Secret. Come on over and visit and become my friend online. What a great place to network and check out the job market. The Department of Labor predicts our profession will have the greatest growth and I believe sites like this will be the perfect place to connect. I'm excited to be one of their featured writers so look for my articles.
Administrative Professionals Pulse brings together the best content for administrative professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
On The Job
MAY 28, 2008
I'm going to ask you a very tough question: When was the last time you asked for help? I'm not talking about a desperate cry for aid when you're, say, about to drop a cardboard tray of Starbucks, or when you ask your friend to hold the door while you bring in the groceries. No, I'm talking about asking for help at work. When was the last time you said: "I can't get all this done by myself -- can you help?
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 28, 2008
Someone I know often calls me at the office and can't understand why I can't chat. This person is a dental hygienist and I tried to make a comparison to her job so she would understand why I couldn't take lengthy personal calls at work. I said, "If I called you at work in the middle of the day, would you be able to come to the phone and chat?" She replied, "Absolutely not, I am working with patients, of course I can't talk, but you sit at a desk all day".
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 27, 2008
Let's face it. Many young people nowadays have tattoos and piercings and they are coming into the workforce. I remember the first time I saw a young lawyer with an eyebrow piercing. I thought she was brave to wear it in a profession that was very 'old school', but now I am seeing it more and more. At the gym I saw a young woman with a tattoo on her arm from her wrist to her shoulder.
On The Job
MAY 26, 2008
Eight months ago I wrote a column for Gannett News Service and USAToday.com about ex-military personnel having a tough time finding private sector jobs in this country. I also blogged about the problem, and several others bloggers joined in, including Jason Alba at JibberJobber. Since then, Alba has launched JibberJobberUSA , which is designed to help those returning home from deployment.
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.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 26, 2008
In 1985 I left the office to be a stay-at-home mom. By 1995 when I tried to get back into the administrative field the landscape had changed. In Canada it was becoming increasingly difficult to find a job where you didn’t need to know both English and French. Also, the technology had changed drastically. When I left we had just started using computers with DOS, a disk operating system.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 24, 2008
I live in Ottawa our nation’s capital. I don’t live in an igloo or take a dogsled to work and I don’t ski in July. I live about ‘10 clicks’ from work and take an OC Transpo bus to get there. Up here OC stands for the County of Ottawa-Carleton, not Orange County. The first thing most people do in the morning is get a ‘double-double’ coffee and donut at Tim Horton’s, or more affectionately known as ‘Timmy’s’.
On The Job
MAY 22, 2008
Have you ever accepted a job and then realized you made a huge mistake? Many people have been in that position, but how about this one: You accept the job and before you even begin , you decide you've made a mistake and want your old job back. Ever had that happen? For example, just a few days after University of Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan accepted a job with the Orlando Magic as its basketball coach, he changed his mind.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 22, 2008
With the advances made in technology, the ability to set up a home virtual assistant business has become quite doable and in many cases, very profitable. We have the technology to get voicemails, faxes and transcriptions by e-mail and with the addition of a business line you can easily re-direct business calls to your home and no one would know that they were calling someone’s home and not the office.
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.
On The Job
MAY 21, 2008
A while ago I wrote about what I learned about life and work from my dog. Since then, I've been trying to figure out what my two cats, Spike and Ace, have to teach me. So far, I'm stumped. But the more I think about it, maybe that is what they have to teach me. They don't really care if I don't get them. They don't care what I think. They plan their days around naps, eating, the litter box and maybe a little playtime with one another.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 21, 2008
I could relate to all of these e-mail annoyances. I passed this link to my bosses and the other assistants in my office. Tags: how to use e-mail professional assistant e-mail bossiquette assistants get annoyed Administrative Assistant.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 21, 2008
Click here to read a great article on things we should be thinking about when using the Internet at work posted by Chrissy on The EA Toolbox. Tags: nettiquette professional assistant Administrative Assistant using the web.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 21, 2008
Here is a link to an article about an interior designer's personal assistant and all she does in a day. It was like reading my daily journal. We are busy, busy.It is nice to see the assistant’s role appreciated for what it is. In this case Kelly Hoppen's assistant Olivia Lewsey is a 'Jill of all Trades'. Tags: interior designer's personal assistant professional assistant Administrative Assistant busy day at the office.
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
MAY 20, 2008
When I was a kid, my sisters and I used to make fun of my mother's habit of mangling names. For example, Bob Burke would be called "Bill Bark" by my mother. "Bob Burke, Mom!" we would say, laughing and shaking our heads. "Bob Burke!" What little smarty pants we were. She should have locked us in our rooms overnight with only bread and water until we learned more respect.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 20, 2008
I just got my new driver’s license. This was the year I needed to have my photo taken and I take a horrible posed picture. When I am posing for a picture I am too conscious of how I look and I end up trying too hard. How come when I comment how bad my photo is and a co-worker asks to see it they normally shrug and say, “Looks just like you”? Thanks a lot.
On The Job
MAY 19, 2008
A lot of people are promoting their personal or career brand these days as a way to make themselves more memorable and more successful. There's one problem, however. Some of these personal branding strategies make us a) want to run and hide or b) smack the person across the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. More than a decade ago Tom Peters' call for "You, Inc.," resonated with many people.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 19, 2008
1. I don’t have any friends, therefore I blog. Nope, I have lots of family and friends. They are all supportive of my blogging efforts and cheer me on. They don’t read my blog however because they can get it first hand.See #2. 2. I love to talk and no one will listen, therefore I blog. I talk to my friends and they listen. I talk some more and they walk away.I blog to avoid boring my friends. 3.
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
MAY 16, 2008
“It’s almost a time warp. All the predatory and demeaning and discriminatory stuff that went on in workplaces 20, 30 years ago is alive and well in these professions.” -- Sylvia Ann Hewlett, found of the Center for Work-Life Policy, speaking about women in science, technology and engineering "There's a lot of happy talk around that we're going to have slowing in the rate of growth in young workers and, therefore, employers are going to want to hire older workers just at the time that older worke
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 16, 2008
Assistants who have come from the days of being a secretary seem to have brought along with them the mindset that “I am just a secretary”. At one time being a secretary was a low paying and underappreciated profession. The secretary however was often the glue that held the office together and many times that idea was shown in movies or television shows that portrayed the office.
On The Job
MAY 15, 2008
I'd like to meet just one person who came out of performance evaluation saying, "Gee, that was a swell experience. Can't wait to do it again next year!" Managers hate performance evaluations. Employees hate performance evaluations. They stare at each other across a table and try and remember all the Oprah shows that talked about how to read body language.
On The Job
MAY 14, 2008
Recently I was having a discussion with some friends about the term "overnight success." We all agreed it was a load of crap. I mean, who really has overnight success except people in novels or movies? Most of us labor -- unknown -- in the trenches for years and years before we receive recognition for our wonderfulness from anyone except the family dog.
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
MAY 14, 2008
This is a handy office reference book that would be a valuable resource for any administrative assistant, particularly those just entering the workplace. It covers just about everything you would ever come across in today's office and is the only office handbook recommended by the International Association of Administrative Professionals ( IAAP ). You can order it on Amazon.com by clicking on the link on the right-hand side bar of this blog (scroll down), or by going directly to www.amazon.com.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 14, 2008
I take my jacket off for the third time this morning and tell a co-worker again how hot I am. I calculate that I have about 13 years before retirement so I better get used to it. I have to work and I am going through menopause. My doctor tells me some women can experience symptoms on and off into their 70s. I wonder what the younger women and the men in the office must be thinking as they watch the older assistants heat up.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 13, 2008
Every day I check my Statcounter and that is how I find out what people searched to get on my blog. Someone recently queried whether they should use a staple or paperclip on correspondence when they are enclosing documents. I spoke to a few assistants and we all agreed. Business correspondence with more than one page should be stapled. The enclosures should be paperclipped or clamped to the correspondence, not stapled to it.
Laughing all the Way to Work
MAY 12, 2008
An Executive Administrative Assistant got proposed to in a BIG way using very high tech. Congratulations to Renesha Salim from Trinidad Tobago. Click here to read the article: Tags: Admins in the spotlight professional assistant Administrative Assistant.
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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