Latest Posts

  • Finance 0

    5 Smart Business Ideas for Retirees

    Now that you’ve retired from your job, are you ready to seize the challenge of starting a new business? Many retirees who’ve been employees all of their lives get excited at the thought of running the show, and building a business that reflects their interests and values. If you’re looking for business ideas to launch during your retirement, here are five to get you started. Consulting and coaching Retirees considering starting businesses should start by thinking about two areas: skills from their previous jobs and life lessons. These experiences make retirees well-positioned to share their knowledge. “Since they ...
    On June 11, 2014 / By
  • Social 0

    Don’t Blame the Weather, Wal-Mart: 4 Ways Perfectionists Tackle Problems

    When Wal-Mart Stores reported weak quarterly sales and earnings recently, the first thing chief executive Doug McMillon blamed was what he called “the unseasonably cold and disruptive winter weather.” Chief executives blame middling results on Mother Nature surprisingly often, while good weather seldom gets credit for strong earnings. Research shows that managers are susceptible to what psychologists call the “fundamental attribution error”: Forces beyond our control get disproportionate credit for negative results and much less mention when performance is exemplary. One study of letters to shareholders in annual reports found...
    On June 9, 2014 / By
  • Technology 0

    Programming through play: Why teaching kids to code will change how the rest of us code

    I felt pretty jealous as I walked into the computer room of the elementary school I was visiting. The hulking PCs of my youth – with their giant floppy disk drives and 8-bit copies of Oregon Trail – were nowhere to be seen. Instead, children were happily tapping away at Photoshop and playing Web games on pristine, wafer-thin iMacs. I had come to the school to have a group of kids play-test Code Monkey Island – a board game I had designed to introduce kids to programming fundamentals. As I carefully unwrapped the components of my prototype, one of the kids grabbed a monkey figurine and quickly inspected it. “This was 3D printed, ...
    On June 5, 2014 / By
  • Marketing 0

    7 Tips to Get Better at Sales Now

    Everyone who works in the business world, on some level, needs to know how to sell, and even the best salespeople can find ways to improve. Here are a few simple bits of advice to help you improve your sales skills and get better at sales today: 1. Perfect practice makes perfect Do you know what you sound like giving your sales spiel? Pick up your smartphone, press record on a voice memo or other simple app, and make your typical sales pitch to a willing volunteer. (Even better: make a video recording of your facial expressions, posture, and hand gestures as you speak.) Now close yourself into a room and listen/watch this recording. How was t...
    On June 3, 2014 / By
  • Technology 0

    The Best Document Management Software

    In an effort to stay organized and eliminate the majority of their clutter, many businesses are transitioning to a paperless office. While the thought of getting rid of all the paper inside an office may seem overwhelming, the process can be quite easy when document management software is used. Document management software provides the tools to organize, edit and distribute the documents that currently sit on a desk or inside a bulky file cabinet. The best software is able to quickly scan papers, import existing files and folders into a central location, and distribute documents in standardized formats. It can also be easily searched throug...
    On May 29, 2014 / By
  • Finance 0

    8 extreme ways to avoid college debt

    Fun with college funding   College admissions season is under way, so it won’t be long before today’s coddled high school seniors become tomorrow’s impoverished university undergraduates. With the cost of college continuing to rise — more than $40,000 annually for private institutions and average student loan debt at graduation now nearing $30,000 — four years of experimentation, excitement and all-night study sessions may ultimately provide a financial nightmare to go along with the diploma. There’s financial aid, various grants and, of course, plenty of student loans to be had. There are also state universities,...
    On May 27, 2014 / By
  • Finance 0

    Want Happy Customers? Bet Your ‘Bottom Dollar’

    Regardless of the price, the more money your customers have in their pocket at the end of a transaction, the better they will feel about the purchase, new research suggests. Consumers experience significant differences in satisfaction based solely on their budget status or financial condition at the time of purchase, rather than the quality of the product or how much it costs, according to a study set to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research The research confirmed the existence of the so-called “bottom-dollar effect,” when a consumer’s satisfaction for a product decreases as that buyer’s budget is exhausted....
    On May 23, 2014 / By
  • Marketing 0

    How to Create Great Content Despite a Brain Freeze

    Heaven help me, I shouldn’t be telling you this. It’s like when the curtain was lifted in “The Wizard of Oz.” But there are times when all of us get a brain freeze. We know we need to create great content for a blog, but the creative synapses just aren’t firing. And the very nature of writing—it’s usually a solitary venture—makes it worse. We all have our own ways to find inspiration. In some work environments, coworkers get together regularly for brainstorming sessions. They are inspired by and are able to feed off of the ideas others generate. Often this creates a situation where the final, useful ideas are of greater value...
    On May 21, 2014 / By
  • Finance 0

    Millennials: Lazy, entitled – or maybe just young

    As the latest crop of millennials collect their diplomas and head into the workforce, they’ll be facing a host of stereotypes: That they are entitled, or lazy and/or lack a strong work ethic. Join the club. The Baby Boomers were considered so spoiled and self-absorbed that the writer Tom Wolfe dubbed the 1970s the “Me Decade.” Then came Generation X, which was considered to have so little interest in working hard that they were called “slackers.” Now it’s the millennials turn. The youngest generation of American workers is entering the workplace amid accusations that they are self-centered, unable to take criticism and unschoole...
    On May 19, 2014 / By
  • Social 0

    6 Unconventional Ways To Start Your Cover Letter

    After weeks of searching and networking, you’ve done it. You’ve found the perfect job for which to apply. Of course, the first thing you want to do is impress the employer. In fact, you want to make such a great first impression they can’t turn you down. So what do you do? You wow them with your cover letter. When it comes to applying for jobs, many job seekers are apprehensive about experimenting with their cover letters. There’s so much pressure to impress the hiring manager, and one slip-up could land your application in the trash.  In addition to writing an impressive cover letter, 18 percent of employers say...
    On May 15, 2014 / By