The Small Business Blog
MAY 21, 2012
Top 5 Tips posts from the SME Blog are always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners. 1. Make sure that your email Inbox is totally clear of anything urgent and that you have replied to everything important.
Customers Rock!
MAY 28, 2012
Social Media CRM, or Social CRM, is getting a lot of air time these days. But where does it fit? Today’s post is by Laurie Shook. Laurie is a technology marketer creating solutions that help people communicate and collaborate more effectively. When not blogging, on Twitter, or on Facebook, she is marketing WikiThreads , her small business featuring Dallas t-shirts and logo embroidery.
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Small Business Labs
MAY 15, 2012
Although the overall labor market continues to improve, there isn't a lot of good job news for young Americans. The Economic Policy Institute's The Class of 2012 lays out how the job situation is for those 25 and younger. The key data is the current unemployment rate for workers under the age of 25 is 16.4%. A couple of other data points of interest are: For high school grads under 25 the unemployment rate is 31%.
Office Organization Success
MAY 26, 2012
So, your brand-new product or program is all ready to go. You’ve done all the hard work in creating it and getting it ready to sell on your website; the one job that remains to be done is to actually get it out there so your clients can purchase it … you need a Sales System! This is where it’s handy to have a checklist so that you can make sure to cover all the important elements for facilitating a successful sale.
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
Stephanie LH Calahan
MAY 16, 2012
Live conferences are a fantastic way to gain actionable knowledge for your business, rekindle former relationships and make new relationships. They also represent a significant investment in time and money. Yet, many people don't take advantage of the investment like they could. Today I'm going to share my secret tips for how you can triple your results from attending live conferences and events.
Eat Your Career
MAY 7, 2012
It’s no secret that times are tough. The economic outlook seems to change by the minute and the only thing certain is that things are still uncertain. That’s why I thought this recent question from my free coaching call was worthwhile sharing with others. No matter what your situation, you just never know what the future holds, so hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
Administrative Professionals Pulse brings together the best content for administrative professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Customers Rock!
MAY 4, 2012
I want to eat there! As many of you know, I have been doing quite a bit of traveling lately, speaking about my book and sharing the Customers Rock! message all over the world – most recently in Bogota, Colombia! As most travelers are aware, the customer experience is especially important when you are away from home; it becomes something we are truly living.
Office Dynamics
MAY 20, 2012
If you feel you are on the verge of stressing too much because of your job or even home life, take a step back. You might be burning out. Before it becomes full-blown, take these steps: Find time to play. Even if it means forcing yourself. People on the verge of burnout usually are spending less time with family and friends. They have trouble getting away from the workplace.
Eco-Office Gals
MAY 31, 2012
Few things can galvanize a neighborhood quite like trash. It’s a classic community problem—everyone creates lots of garbage on a daily basis, but no one wants a trash dump next to their neighborhood, or anywhere near them for that matter. Just open up the possibility of a landfill in the area and watch how quickly people join together in common cause to oppose it.
Job Advice Blog
MAY 25, 2012
Many people don’t realize how different from the job search of today is from the job search of not even too many years ago. Many others find it difficult to learn about today’s different kind of search and therefore shove the issue to their back burner, planning to deal with it later—if they do at [.].
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.
Office Organization Success
MAY 4, 2012
Having a clear client intake system in place makes it really easy to bring new clients on board. So, next time you’re having a conversation with a potential client (whether that’s in-person, over the phone, or via email) and they express an interest in working with you, you can say, “Great! The next step is to …” and tell them what happens next.
The Small Business Blog
MAY 1, 2012
Have you tried to find yourself lately? Now, that’s not meant to be soul-searching philosophical question. What I mean by the question is, have you considered what your customers are really looking for recently? How would they describe what they are looking for?
Customers Rock!
MAY 10, 2012
I recently attended the 2012 Lithium Network Conference (LiNC for short) in San Francisco to hear about the latest and greatest from Lithium Technologies as well as from thought leaders such as Brian Solis , photo left, who shared about Digital Darwinism from his new book The End of Business as Usual. Lithium’s software powers the social customer experience, including online branded communities, for over 300 brands including AT&T, Best Buy, Sephora, Skype, and most recently added Nestl
Productivity Bits
MAY 11, 2012
I often get questions about how to get started with GTD. If you never heard of GTD before, Google the phrase “Getting Things Done by David Allen” Go ahead, read about GTD and I’ll be here when you’re ready. While you performed that search, you probably saw links to articles on how to get started with GTD. Ok, I’m really late into the game.
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.
Eco-Office Gals
MAY 8, 2012
You have decided to make a big work decision and go green. That means you have taken the time to turn your office into an office that tries it’s hardest not to harm the earth. You know it’s a great decision but you may have a hard time convincing your employees otherwise. You may run into employee’s that find it a hassle, simply because they don’t understand.
Job Advice Blog
MAY 6, 2012
Years ago, I had a large office in the Wall Street area with a personal secretary screening my phone calls, opening mail, taking dictation, and managing my calendar. Since then of course, the business world has changed. The next phase had executives sharing a pool of secretaries using floppy discs working on word processors. That [.].
Office Dynamics
MAY 25, 2012
I finally took time to attend my big industry annual conference related to training. It is called the ASTD conference and was held in Denver in early May. I had not been able to attend this event for several years due to Dave’s (my husband) battle with pancreatic cancer. I had remembered it was a large event – 8,000 – 10,000 attendees, more than 290 sessions, and more than 700 exhibitors.
The Small Business Blog
MAY 21, 2012
No selling required There is a better way of winning new customers than pushing you and your B2B offer at them. Customers love it because they’re buying rather than being sold to. You’ll like it because it feels better than selling and you’ll get more long term business from 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.
Small Business Labs
MAY 1, 2012
Small Town Rules - How Big Brands and Small Businesses Can Prosper in a Connected Community argues that a combination of social, economic, demographic and technology shifts have resulted in business in general looking more and more like business in a small town. The authors are two highly respected small business experts, Becky McCrae and Barry Moltz. Becky is the author of Small Biz Survival , a well known blog on rural and small town business and Barry is an author, speaker and consult
Virtual Moxie
MAY 24, 2012
I'm beyond grateful to all of you who took time out of your days to weigh in on the survey about the frequency of the Moxie Tips. Thank you. ?. It's clear (67% to 37%) that you love getting the tips four times each week, and one longer Moxie post--just the way I've been serving it up. So that's what I'll continue to do! For those of you who wanted fewer tips, I hope this decision won't be a huge disappointment!
Eco-Office Gals
MAY 11, 2012
The new eco-centric business model isn’t a fad to be canceled out by the next trend. While the environmental implications of the green business are obvious, the fact that going green can actually save your small business serious money may not be as well known. By turning your business green you may not only save some money, but you will also potentially boost your employee’s productivity, streamline your business model, improve office design, and reduce IT costs – which will only aid you
Office Organization Success
MAY 17, 2012
The 4th Annual Done4You Giveaway of the Century is on fire! If you haven’t gone over there yet to see all the business and marketing services that are being given away…well, it’s time to do. so now! More than 50 contributors (including me!) have joined together to give away more than $1,000,000 in ACTUAL business services and other done-for-you products.
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Productivity Bits
MAY 4, 2012
I know Google Page Rank is no longer a true barometer of how your blog is “performing” in the blogsphere. Google have said themselves that we should not use Page Rank to measure our blog’s performance. Very true. There is nothing else I can use to check metrics aside from hits and pageviews. Nonetheless, I look at Page Rank as a way to check how my SEO efforts are affecting my blog technically.
The Small Business Blog
MAY 14, 2012
Top 5 Tips posts from the SME Blog are always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners. 1. Using a credit card is actually a sensible thing for a business to do, provided they are going to be paying it off in full each month.
Small Business Labs
MAY 22, 2012
The PhD Now Comes with Food Stamps is an interesting article on the struggles of adjunct university faculty. Adjuncts are freelance faculty who are paid per course taught. According to the article, the average adjunct is paid $2500 per course taught, but it can be as low as $600. As freelancers they don't have job security or, in most cases, benefits. This is very different deal than what tenured professors get. Tenure is granted after a 5-7 year process a
Virtual Moxie
MAY 28, 2012
At the end of last week, D and I were watching TV and during a commercial break, I went to my office to get my iPad. As I picked it up, I noticed a running water noise. Stepping back out into our hallway, it only took a second to realize it was coming from our Master bath and, having taken two steps into our bedroom and encountering soggy carpet, another nanosecond to realize something was seriously amiss.
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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.
Step It Up VA Coaching
MAY 3, 2012
by Donna Toothaker. We’ve all done it – putting our marketing and business building tasks on the back burner, because we think we don’t have the time to get it done. We may even feel as though in order to market, we need to take time away from our client work. But, if we don’t invest time back into our businesses, how will they grow?
On The Job
MAY 30, 2012
A lot of people tell me they'd like to quit working 24/7, but they can't because their colleagues or the boss won't let them. Emails show up at 2 a.m., phone calls are made on the weekends -- even about the most trivial matters. "You'd think we were curing cancer," grumbled one telecommunications executive to me. The key to giving up the 24/7 work habit cannot be done on your own, I discovered, but takes a team effort.
Eat Your Career
MAY 30, 2012
At various points in my career, I’ve been in managerial positions where I directly supervised people. I’ll be honest; it’s not my favorite thing to do (hence the one-woman show I run now). I remember a few years ago, I had to give an employee who was performing at a sub-standard level a performance review. As we walked into a private room for the meeting, she said, “Oh.
The Small Business Blog
MAY 4, 2012
At 5 feet 3 inches, or 1.60 metres if you work in metric, I should be used to feeling small so why then over the last 20 plus years of running my own businesses have I often felt like an inhabitant of Lilliput Land that has just seen Gulliver walk around the corner?
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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