Even Ordinary Folks Need 10 Best Strategies for Estate Planning

 

It’s a mistake to think estate taxes only apply to the super rich. Estate taxes hurt ordinary folks.

Estate taxes are especially problematic for farmers and small businesspeople, alike, who own their buildings and have capital tied up in equipment to grow crops or to produce products.

The drought is devastating many farmers — they can’t get hay for their animals and they have fewer crops to sell. The sour economy has made it difficult for most small businesses to find customers.

Needless to say, both are job creators. Unfortunately, many family farms and small businesses have been sold because the heirs couldn’t afford the estate taxes.

One might think that public officials would be sympathetic. But published reports indicate the two presidential campaigns have stark differences in how they would approach taxes and estate planning for passing assets to heirs.

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan has a long congressional history on taxes – he would do away with the estate tax.

As his potential boss, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney also calls for eliminating the estate tax.

President Barack Obama’s approach is vastly different. He wants to reinstate the 45 percent estate tax above the $3.5 million level. Other Democrats have called for a 55 percent estate tax.

At this writing, the estate tax is 35 percent over $5 million.

If you want to preserve assets as much as possible for your children, talk with a qualified estate attorney about these 10 basics:  

1. Estate planning is important in tax issues. True, a living spouse gets all proceeds without being taxed. However, beneficiaries – including your children – may be subject to paying an estate tax. So estate planning helps to insure that your heirs will inherit the maximum possible while minimizing taxes.
2. Be very selective in choosing an executor. Until taxes are paid and assets are distributed, your executor will be handling all the important details. You’ll need to pick one with financial knowledge and unquestioned honesty. Otherwise, your estate might be tied up with the Internal Revenue Service and lawsuits among jealous parties – to name just a couple of issues.
3. Create a will. Unless you have a will, a court will make the decision on whom gets the assets and how much. Indicate in your will how you want your estate to go to your heirs, even if your assets are small.
4. Consider a family trust. Trusts aren’t just for the rich. A well thought out trust will protect your assets by making certain they will go where you want. Other benefits – trusts keep ex-partners/spouses of beneficiaries from getting their hands on your assets, and trusts can designate when your children get your money. Some children are too irresponsible to receive a large sum of money at an early age.
5. Gifting as an option before you pass away. Legally, you can gift $13,000 in money or other assets annually to an heir without anyone being subject to the gift tax. In this way, your heirs keep more of your assets instead of the federal government.
6. Estate planning should be fine-tuned when necessary. Nothing ever stays the same. Because conditions and situations change, you should review your estate planning upon the death of your partner. That’s because you’ll have to change the list of beneficiaries, if your partner dies first.
7. Retirement accounts need attention, too. You should consider talking with your account managers – to specify beneficiaries in IRAs or other retirement accounts. If you don’t – and you only name names in your will – the estate settlements will take much longer than necessary.
8. Joint accounts with your partner will simplify financial issues. It takes time for a partner to legally get access to your accounts on your passing, and vice versa. Remember, there will be new and continuous expenses that will have to be paid. Such headaches would be avoided with joint accounts.
9. Before you remarry, do a pre-nuptial. If you remarry, you’ll probably want your estate to go to your children instead of your new partner. A good estate attorney will write an effective pre-nuptial agreement. Then, your executor won’t have any problems distributing your assets.
10. Financial issues should be co-managed. The passing of a loved one can be very traumatic and heartbreaking. It’s much worse when the surviving spouse doesn’t have a clue about the finances. Both spouses should have a working knowledge about family finances.

Note: The IRS released a new draft version of Form 706, the Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return.

So, get busy if you want to effectively make certain your estate wishes are carried out. Establish a good estate plan, and remember how to vote if you want tax fairness.

From the Coach’s Corner, see these related topics:

• Is it Too Much to Ask for Civility and Honesty from Mr. Reid and the Press?
• 7 Capitalism Principles for Economic Growth, Prosperity
• Nonpartisan Study: Obama’s Tax Plan Hits 53% of Business Earnings

“There is one difference between a tax collector and a taxidermist – the taxidermist leaves the hide.”

-Mortimer Caplan 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

5 Tips to Shine in Your Online Job Application

 

As a job-hunter you know that a significant number of companies, nonprofits and public-sector agencies use a tracking system to screen out applicants. It cuts down on their paper work and saves them time. More on the five tips to shine in your online job application later — but first let’s consider a self-marketing approach.

Personally, I would never apply for a job online. It’s tantamount to the entertainment industry’s audition cattle calls in which there’s one winner and dozens of losers. I believe in a proactive approach and maximizing my potential for success by minimizing competition from others.

True, as a business-performance consultant, I’ve been out of the job market for two+ decades. Even though technology has changed, human nature hasn’t. That includes employers.

So here was my job-hunting mindset:

Whenever possible, I’d want a presence in the hiring room before applying. In other words, I’d use strategies to make sure the hiring persons were already familiar with my work. At all costs, I avoided the human resources department.

Executives more readily spotted my strengths and potential to help them save time and money while contributing to the welfare of those companies. That meant I minimized my competition from competing jobseekers.

Even in college, I did my homework on the companies where I hoped to work. My practice was to contact a manager two levels above the job-level that I’d hoped to work. Such people were usually impressed by such an assertive approach when I asked for advice on my collegiate studies. The strategy worked, and I’ll never forget getting immediate consideration for an announcing job by the executive at an ABC television affiliate station.

After graduation – with a slight twist in my approach – I never went through the HR department. I would ask such managers to meet with me. I learned that good executives were honored to share their opinions. I wanted to know their perspectives regarding their industry issues and what they wanted in talent. If it was obvious I wouldn’t get a job offer, I asked for two referrals – “Thank you for sharing your insights – who are a couple of your colleagues who wouldn’t mind sharing their insights, too?”

After such discussions, I headed directly to the post office to mail a handwritten thank you note on my monarch-size stationery. The notes arrived the next day and created a favorable impression. Often, in subsequent interviews, executives thanked me for my thank note.

Another thing I learned: Such managers would typically offer me higher wages than lower-level supervisors. It also accelerated my promotions. As the executive moved up, so would I.

Online application tips

Keep in mind this self-marketing philosophy, and these five online-application tips:

1. Today, if I would continue a self-marketing approach even in this digital era. Put social media to work for you. Make certain your social media – Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter – are current, professional and show maturity. Be careful what you publish – always keep in mind your career goals. If you are job-searching in a particular industry, post pertinent information and ideas. (Note: If I limited the visibility to my Facebook page to friends and family, under no circumstances would I provide my user name and password to a prospective employer. See why here.) 
2. Again, I would apply at companies where I could get a presence in the room before the application process. Not to imply HR departments are irrelevant, I would try to develop a rapport with hiring managers first. If a manager told me I’d have to contact the HR office to make an online application, I would. If the hiring company wasn’t within driving distance, then I’d succumb to the online application process. 
3. Prepare by methodically reading the job description, and identify the right keywords to use. Otherwise, you risk submitting a cover letter, application and resume that will be screened out by the HR filtering system.  
4. Be thorough. Indicate your qualifications, strong interest, and how you’ll be a fit in the organization’s culture. Make sure you customize your approach for each company. Correctly spell all words. Avoid abbreviations. Double-check every answer for possible typos and verbiage errors. Complete all fields in the application form. This will illustrate your strong interest in the job. 
5. In case you apply for multiple positions at a company, customize each application, but keep them in the same candidate profile. Help the HR person and system to avoid confusion.

From the Coach’s Corner, here’s more reading:

• Stand Out: Get a Job Interview with a Great Resume 
• Need a Career Change? 10 Steps for a Career Makeover 

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

-Confucius

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Want More Business? Build Trust with Consumers…Here’s How

 

With consumers trying to cope with information overload – you will increase sales with long-term customer loyalty – if you build trust by using best practices.

It may be an obvious approach, but it’s confirmed by a 2012 study that shows 84 percent of the respondents declared trust must be warranted before they buy.

The essential elements for trust and best practices are contained in the study, “The Trust Factor,” by About.com.

“By understanding how consumers view trust and what they value most, marketers can tailor their outreach to deliver meaningful information and tools to create authentic, long-lasting relationships,” wrote Laura Salant, director of research at About.com.

The study cites the key elements for trust-building:

• Expertise
• Fairness
• Relevance
• Choice
• Relatability
• Awareness

“With the high volume of information at consumers’ fingertips, not only is trust a valuable filter, it is a prerequisite for consumers to even enter the purchase funnel,” said Ms. Salant. “By understanding how consumers view trust and what they value most, marketers can tailor their outreach to deliver meaningful information and tools to create authentic, long-lasting relationships.”

The study recommends these tools:

• Respondents reported that all 10 trust elements are even more important on mobile than online. Format was identified by 71 percent of respondents as being more important for mobile, with accuracy and expertise also ranking highly.
• In social media, consumers are ambivalent about the value of certain commonly-used social actions such as “likes.” Reviews were identified as inspiring trust twice as much as general “likes,” though seeing a “like” or recommendation from a friend increased the trust value of that action.
• Video works best to enhance trust when it is combined with other types of content. Fifty-six percent of respondents agreed that video builds trust when it adds illustration or explanation attached to other types of content.

The study reveals the importance of networking sources of trust: 82 percent “use information from brands, content, ads and social media to create custom solutions for what they need.”

It’s recommended that brands “treat consumers as partners, not customers.

About.com suggests these best practices:

• Acknowledge and respect consumers’ processes for evaluating and making decisions. Eighty-five percent trust brands that walk them through multiple paths to decisions, rather than just giving an answer.
• Support consumers after they purchase. The relationship shouldn’t end with a credit card. Sixty-two percent of consumers trust brands that provide information and tools to help them use products they have purchased.
• Demonstrate an understanding that consumers’ lives change. Eighty-three percent trust brands that offer resources every step of the way, as a consumer’s needs evolve.
• Build engagement by using every opportunity to solve consumers’ large and small challenges. Eighty-five percent trust brands that use ads or sponsored content to inform or help them with a need.

A subsidiary of The New York Times, you can see About.com findings here.

From the Coach’s Corner, suggested reading:

• Think 1930s for Business Success. Consumer Attitudes are Changing.
• Profits: Size Doesn’t Matter but Image, Professionalism Count
• The Key to Internet Dominance: Think Integration
• Sales, Networking Strategies to Build Strong Relationships

“Suppliers and especially manufacturers have market power because they have information about a product or a service that the customer does not and cannot have, and does not need if he can trust the brand. This explains the profitability of brands.”

-Peter Drucker

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry. 

 

How to Start a New Business Before You Quit Your Job

 

Sure, it’s a dilemma to try to figure out how to start a new business while you’re still employed, especially if you don’t have enough assets. But millions of people have done it.

They’ve learned an entrepreneurial life has its rewards, but it’s very difficult. The first key is finding a need to fill. Perseverance and resilience are vital. It’s important to start learning now how to reduce stress and work happier for top performance. If you’re in a relationship, make sure you have the support of your significant other.

Don’t let your schedule deter you from your ambitions. It will require a balancing act, especially if you have a family. But don’t leap into the water before you know how to swim.

My sense is that it’s to best take a series of strategic baby steps:

Develop a mindset with powerful new habits. A business will tax your abilities to the max. Determine what you want to launch as a business. It’s best to love your work, and it will help if you have a space at home in which to work. Work on your idea each day.

Begin working on your idea concurrently while enhancing your leadership and soft skills. That’s accomplished by assessing your strengths and weaknesses.  Hone your acumen for leadership and soft-skills,  and lessen your weaknesses. Then focus on your opportunities and threats to success.

Cement your job situation. To prepare for launching a startup, start doing the job that more closely aligns you with your goals for a startup.

Therefore, become the go-to person in your workplace. Look for problems to solve that interfere with your employer’s goals – make your boss’s job easier, make revenue for the company or save costs.

This will increase your value and you’ll start getting valuable experience in advance of your startup.

Then, for even more experience, skillfully accomplish the following:

• Advance into management. Your boss will have to get approval from higher-ups for your promotion so read the tips on how to advance your career via your boss’s boss.
• Ask for a pay raise and try to get a more flexible schedule.

The two accomplishments will result in stronger self confidence. By becoming more accomplished in negotiation and management skills, you’ll be better prepared — maximum confidence in your business launch.

Start studying. Remember micro businesses position themselves to win.

At the minimum, you’ll need to study for other basic skills:

• Budgeting basics for a micro business, and a checklist to increase your startup’s cash flow.
• Learn strategies to give you pricing power.
• Develop a business plan with strategic planning. Believe it or not, you’ll need to include an exit strategy.
• Hone a great elevator pitch – you never know when you’ll have an opportunity to extemporaneously explain your product or service.
• Review tips on how to organically grow your business.
• Employ marketing for growth even on a tight budget.

Admittedly, this isn’t a complete list of ideas. Additionally, see this Checklist: 19 quick narketing tips for new entrepreneurs.

For more specifics, see the other sections in this Biz Coach portal. With my compliments, there are hundreds of business-coaching topics with proven solutions for maximum profits. It’s OK with me if you download this page and the pages associated with all the above links.

Soon, you’ll be ready to start part-time. Good luck!

From the Coach’s Corner, The New York Times honored me by publishing advice in two articles on my entrepreneurial advice:

• Been There… Done That… Here’s How – New York Times
• Advice on Taking an Entrepreneurial Leap – New York Times

“Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.”

- Richard Branson

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry. 

 

Small Business – Easy Ways to Boost Your Employees’ Morale

 

Employee morale affects performance. Study after study shows a significant percentage of worker morale is mediocre, at best. That’s often the case even for companies that are able to pay competitive wages and benefits. As you might guess, it’s a bigger quandary for business owners that don’t have enough cash flow for raises.

There are strategies you can implement if a valued employee wants a raise, and money’s tight. It’s also possible to sleep well and not worry about keeping your top employees.

What about the rest of the team? What can be done to improve the morale of  employees to perform at their highest possible levels?

Employees, who otherwise have good attitudes, appreciate positive communication. They like knowing they’re contributing to the welfare of their employer, and that they’re appreciated as an asset to the organization.

To boost your employees’ morale, here are some easy-to-follow strategies:

Start a listening campaign. If it’s not your style it will take some gumption to ask your employees what they want. For example, when planning a staff party ask your workers for their preferences. But you’re a courageous entrepreneur, right?

At the minimum on a indefinite basis, you should smilingly walk the floor twice a day to engage your workers. It’ll only take a minute with each employee. Ask them open-ended questions about their hobbies or how they’re doing. Wait for the answers – be attentive –  eespecially if they indicate they have a problem.

When’s the time to give feedback? You should always give feedback right away – whether a person performed a task well or poorly. Be specific. Make a note about the performance and slip it in the employee’s personnel file as a reminder at appraisal time.

A talented employee with a positive attitude will appreciate it.

Help your employees’ career growth. You can accomplish this without a big expense.For example, help them develop skills by giving them added duties. This will enhance their self confidence.

Besides, a good boss knows how to delegate.

Accommodate their schedule with flexibility. Flexibility is usually appreciated and is a great motivator. Sometimes employees need to leave work early to do an important errand. Perhaps they have a child playing in a championship Little League game.

Share information. Let the employees know how the business is doing – and how their work is contributing to any successes. They’d appreciate knowing if they’re making a difference — or how they can.

Moreover, share your vision for the direction of the company, what’s expected and how the performance of the workers will affect the outcome.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are recommendations for other workplace problems:

• How You Can Eliminate Destructive Conflict for Better Teamwork
• Workplace Bullies May Hurt Retention of All Employees, Not Just Victims
• Four Tips to Motivate Employees When You’re Facing Adversity

Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Strategic Press Releases Will Help You Beat Your Competition

 

Ever wonder why some companies are always in the news or how they succeed on the Internet? It’s a good bet they have a good PR consultant or have mastered the art of writing press releases.

You can level the playing field with effective press releases. They should be part of your marketing mix.

A press release that gets the attention of the media in your marketplace serves as an implied testimonial – a marvelous center of influence. But you have to make a good impression on journalists so they’ll be motivated to act on your press release instead of discarding it.

Remember if you have a story to tell, it has to be newsworthy. Topics can include salient business events, achievements, awards, financials, management changes, market expansions, product launches, special sales, and events to benefit your favorite charity.

Press releases are also valuable in crisis management. 

But press releases aren’t necessarily for journalists in this digital age. Bloggers might also be interested in what you have to say. 

Press releases are also effective in search engine optimization (SEO) with the right keywords to promote your Web site’s prominence and to give you more mentions on the Internet. Even if you can’t get the media’s attention, your press release can still directly speak to your prospective clients and customers.

In my three decades+ experience, I’ve seen both sides of the equation. As a broadcast journalist, I was asked to consider press-release submissions. As a Biz Coach columnist, I’m lobbied for publicity all the time. I’ve also written press releases to promote my clients, my firm and my employers (prior to becoming a business-performance consultant).

So for maximum impact, here are eight basic tips:

1. Brevity – write one page with an economy of words – 300 to 450 words – to explain relevance or benefits. Occasionally, it’s OK to make it longer with an attachment for a white paper or a research study.
2. Use good grammar to insure confidence among readers. (See: 25 Best Practices for Better Business Writing.)
3. Remember the acronym, “WIIFM”, or what’s in it for me. Journalists and other readers want to know why they should pay attention to your press release.
4. Use a proper focus. A press release should be informative and not read like blatant advertising copy. Forget the puffery. Keep it professional. Don’t exaggerate. By nature, and not to be critical, journalists are cynical.
5. Make sure it’s timely information.
6. Use journalistic style – make your release resemble a news article. Answer these questions: Who, what, when, where, why and how.
7. Include salient information with facts or data in an easy-to-understand manner. Newsworthy quotes or statements by well-known people and you are helpful, too.
8. Insert multimedia content. (For an explanation, see: Inspiration from Raymond Loewy for the Best Business PR)

Keeping in mind the eight basic tips, search-engine press releases should follow this  procedure:

• Unless you know how to submit a press release to Google, Bing, Yahoo and others, you’ll have to use an online press release service. For maximum circulation in the search engines’ news and Web-search sections, expect to pay hundreds of dollars. There are also free press-release companies. You won’t net as much prominence, but if the company has a good Google Page Rank, you’ll enhance your SEO. 
• Write a motivating headline. Use a factual, but brief headline with an action verb in present tense whenever possible.
• Follow it with an overview — two sentences – to inform readers what to expect in the press release.
• The body – the content – should effectively tell your story. The lead paragraph should capsulize your points with pertinent information.
• At the bottom should be a brief profile about you and your company followed by contact information.
• Incorporate SEO elements. Insert relevant links to your Web site — it’s best if your Web address is inserted in the second paragraph. Use a maximum of 10 relevant keywords that will attract Internet surfers. It’s best to insert the most important keywords whenever possible in the headline, overview and last sentence.
• Promote your press release in all your social media.

You can see samples of my press releases here.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are three relevant resource links:

• Getting the Most from Your PR Requires 5 Basic Elements 
• Need PR, But No Budget? Here’s How to Leverage News Media 
• Fact Check on PR Newswire Advice – Some Inaccuracies 

“Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.”

-Harry S. Truman

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

Facebook – Fewer Users, Drop in Consumer Satisfaction and Share Price

 

Updated Sept. 13, 2012 

Get out the black balloons for Facebook.

As a new public company, its stock made a bit of a comeback after announcing plans for more mobility to keep users happy. But its stock is still down from its initial public offering.

Facebook’s first quarterly loss wasn’t the reason for its share-price decline.

Its user-rate and consumer satisfaction ratings are dropping, according to two authoritative published reports.

One reason for Facebook’s decline appears to be the popularity of Google’s social network, Google+. (There are other reasons – this business-news portal has been critical of Facebook, but more on that later.)

The two reports show:

• Facebook may be the world’s largest social network, but its number of users dropped in the first half of 2012. About the time of a report (Facebook Falls as Use on Social Site Drops), by Capstone Investments, Facebook’s share price dropped nearly nine percent in two days.
• A report (Facebook down, Google+ up with customers) indicates Facebook’s consumer satisfaction score has dropped this year by eight percent. That’s from a survey of 70,000 consumers by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index and Foresee, an analytics company.

According to a Capstone analyst, Rory Maher, the report on Facebook’s user-decline shows two developments:

• The number of U.S. users declined 1.1 percent.
• Worldwide in Q2, the social network showed little growth or a decrease in 14 countries where it had at least a 50 percent market share.

“This could be an issue for Facebook growth since we estimate that outside of Southeast Asia and some countries in Latin America, most markets are approaching 50 percent penetration,” the report quoted Mr. Maher.

ForeSee says Facebook’s consumer-satisfaction decrease was ostensibly prompted by increasing privacy concerns and dissatisfaction with its Timeline feature.

“Facebook and Google+ are competing on two critical fronts: customer experience and market penetration,” said ForeSee’s President and CEO Larry Freed. “Google+ handily wins the former, and Facebook handily wins the latter, for now.”

The American Customer Satisfaction Index ranked Facebook with a 61 – among the lowest of 230 ranked companies. On the other hand, a news release said Google+ won a 78 score because of its mobile product and sans any advertising.

The average for all social media companies was a 69. Twitter held a 64 and LinkedIn followed at 63. These mediocre scores confirms a warning published in this Biz Coach column: Despite Hoopla over Social Media, Web Searchers Stay Longer.

Not to gloat, but Facebook’s demise is not a surprise – note these Biz Coach columns:

1. Is Facebook Approaching the End of Its Product Life Cycle? Ostensibly, Yes.
2. Aside from Privacy, Security Issues — Facebook is a Threat 2 Ways

Still, some companies can make money via social media, and it teaches businesses valuable lessons in understanding customers.

From the Coach’s Corner, for additional columns about Facebook, see:

Facebook Privacy: Advice for Job Seekers and Employers

8 Tips to Optimize Sales with Social Media, But Beware of a Red Flag

11 Tips to Make Money on Facebook

“Our head of social media is the customer.”

–McDonald’s

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

6 Tips to Save Time and Money by Hiring the Right Tech Consultant

 

If you need to hire an information technology consultant, it can be costly in time and money, if you choose the wrong person. Use due diligence. Sophisticated tech vendors and consultants of all sizes have been known for cost over-runs.

Again, certain precautions are needed. Your technology dilemmas can worsen with the wrong choice – whether the person isn’t up-to-speed or simply isn’t the right fit for your organization. Either can cost you time and money unnecessarily.

In hiring a tech consultant look for five values: Efficiency, information, innovation, objectivity, and productivity.

To help you make the right decision, here’s a checklist:

Make certain the person is competent in security issues. Cybercrime is here to stay. You need to protect your business in two ways: 1. Keep your customers’ records safe. 2. Protect your business by making preparations with precautions and response philosophy.

See to it that the person understands your company requirements. Ask the person the right questions about understanding your industry and your specific project needs. A Web site developer is not an expert in accounting systems. Check references.

Don’t pinch pennies to your detriment. It’s important to hire a pro. In that way, you’ll get an agreement in writing about the services you’ll receive. Make sure your employees will understand how to operate your new technology before the job is done.

On the other hand, be as economical as possible. Discuss the budget and the proposed plan for new technology. If you have to take baby steps and make additions when you can afford them, make certain the old technology isn’t adversely affected.

Insure that communication is adequate. You need a person who can provide a written action plan, and can fully explain the necessity of any recommendations. Don’t allow mission creep and monitor the situation on a regular basis. Some vendors want to own the intellectual property rights for custom work – don’t allow it – and see to it that it’s part of your contractual agreement.

Make sure you’re getting objectivity – not a biased sales rep. Clarify you’re not hiring a biased vendor.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are a few tech resources:

• Risk Management – Picking the Best Cloud Storage Provider
• How Small Businesses Can Capitalize on Cyber Strategies for Profit

Some consultants are like the bottom half of a double boiler: They get all heated up but don’t know what’s cooking.

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Parents: 6 Tips to Help Your Teen to Get a Summer Job, Beat Boredom

 

A major concern of many parents in the summertime is their children – how to get a job, avoid boredom or to stay out of trouble.

That was a concern of my mom when growing up in Palm Springs, which largely became a ghost town in the summer. She wanted me to be productive and didn’t want me loafing around the house. She insisted I get a job. If there were no jobs, I was encouraged to take summer classes. Most often, I got a job busing tables at exclusive restaurants, where I also enjoyed serving customers like J.C. Penney, Doris Day and Paul Harvey.

Later, as a college journalism student, one summer there were no jobs and my morale suffered. So I contacted some former high school teachers for advice. Some were teaching summer school classes, so they were accessible.

One of them asked about my career aspirations, and suggested I go to broadcasting school to get a first-class Federal Communications Commission license. At that time, it was great way for entry into radio (they’re no longer a non-engineer requirement for radio stations). I toured all the southern California broadcasting schools, and selected my best option.

During a six week course, I stayed at the legendary Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood (the school and hotel had an affordable deal for students) and got my license thanks to an electronic theory class at the nearby Don Martin School of Broadcasting. I was immediately in demand at radio stations in small to medium markets as I finished my undergraduate studies.

Candidly, my employment in college taught me as much as my academic studies. Plus, the work experience gave me an advantage over competitors later after I graduated.

But summer jobs in this day and age are hard for kids to find. They face high unemployment rates. Creativity is the ticket to success.

My sense is that it’s vital for a teen’s self esteem to get advice but conduct a job search without parental help. Long-term for your teen’s self confidence, I don’t advise parents to do the actual footwork.

Some ideas are obvious, but here are some reminders that worked for me, including:

• Suggest your teen check around to create a job. Canvass the neighborhood for odd jobs. Can lawns be mowed? Does an elderly neighbor need help?
• Suggest considering volunteer work. It will enhance your child’s self esteem, and will provide valuable experience.
• Teens can contact local businesses and nonprofits, and inquire about being an unpaid intern or volunteer. Whether it’s a nursery, TV station or homeless shelter, some lead to paying positions.
• Students can contact successful businesspeople in their majors asking for a meeting to get advice on their studies or career. (As a junior, a TV station executive invited me to the station that same day for a job interview.)
• Whenever possible, make the inquiry in person. Your child will stand out in the crowd.
• In the event an inquiry doesn’t lead to a job or internship, ask for two referrals. (“What are the names of two people, who might be able to use me?”)

You can’t solve the economy and there aren’t any easy solutions. But with a little creativity, your child can stay busy, earn some money, learn a work ethic and possibly lay the ground work for a career.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are related resources: 

Study: 10 Best Career Options for College Grads

Sales, Networking Strategies to Build Strong Relationships

Why Accounting, Finance Can be Ideal Careers for Women

Is Higher Education Doing the Job to Prepare Grads for the Workforce?

At Long Last, More Focus on Critical Thinking in Business Schools

“Information’s pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience.”

-Clarence Day

 

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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?

 

Is Your Workers’ Comp Insurance Affordable? See these 5 Worker Safety Tips

 

Nearly 4 million U.S. workers are hurt annually on the job at a cost to companies in excess of $179 billion. To promote safer workplaces by reducing injuries – resulting in higher productivity – Cintas Corporation has issued five safety tips.

“Workplace injuries can occur to any employee regardless of experience, so it’s beneficial to continually review best practices to keep safety top of mind,” says Rick Gerlach, Cintas’ senior director of safety and health.

“From slips and falls to cuts or burns, there are many potential injuries that can impact cleaning staff and building occupants, so facility managers should take the proper steps to prepare and prevent these types of incidents,” he adds.

The Cintas recommendations:

Limit employee exposure to chemical concentrates –By implementing a comprehensive chemical dispensing system, facility managers can safeguard against the painful burns and eye injuries associated with cleaning solution accidents. Frequently, the manual dilution of chemicals will cause hazardous liquids to splash into eyes or onto skin, causing painful burns.

Or worse, the accidental mixing of chemicals can lead to dangerous fumes and even death. By limiting employee exposure to irritants, chemical dispensing systems provide a complete solution to preventing a common workplace accident.

Prepare for Sudden Cardiac Arrest –According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, sudden cardiac arrest claims more than 250,000 lives each year. The consequences of this potentially devastating event can be largely offset by ensuring that facilities are equipped with Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) and employees are properly trained in their use.

Along with purchasing an AED, the facility must also establish a service maintenance program to ensure the unit is always up-to-date and functioning properly. The correct implementation of an AED program can be life-saving and prevent the numerous liabilities associated with sudden cardiac arrest.

Implement a comprehensive matting system – According to the National Floor Safety Institute, a slip and fall accident occurs every eight seconds, making it a key focus during National Safety Month. To help protect against slips and falls, strategically place matting around entryways to prevent water and debris from entering the building.

Additionally, safety matting provides increased traction in high traffic areas of a facility where slip and fall accidents frequently occur. While proper placement of matting is key, facility managers should also ensure that matting is regularly laundered to properly capture and remove contaminants.

Stock appropriate first aid and medical supplies –While not all workplace accidents are completely preventable, many can be effectively treated with the contents of a customized first aid cabinet. A well-stocked cabinet should contain products to treat lacerations, soothe burns and ease pain. Contents can also vary depending on the type of facility; for example, a foodservice operation would be likely to keep more burn supplies available.

Additionally, certain contents of the first aid cabinet should be supplied on a rotating basis to treat seasonal ailments such as allergies or the common cold. By ensuring that the first aid cabinet is up-to-date, businesses can provide immediate treatment of injuries, keep workers productive and efficient and reduce overall business costs.

Create a culture of safety –The importance of workplace safety needs to be effectively communicated throughout the organization. Facility managers should regularly conduct training sessions to ensure that all employees are educated on best practices. Training sessions can be done in-house, via an online platform or by bringing in a certified instructor – whatever meets a facility’s schedule and budget.

Regardless of how employees are trained, managers must understand that safety initiatives are not a one-time event, but rather an ongoing commitment. By creating a culture of safety, facility managers can keep their employees and organizations safe and productive throughout the year.

Cintas Corporation, www.cintas.com, is a publicly held supplier of uniforms, first aid, fire protection and other products. Based in Cincinnati, the company serves 900,000 businesses.

Safety is a cheap and effective workers’ comp insurance policy. Besides, safety is the right thing to practice.

From the Coach’s Corner, see this HR study that reveals challenges for management in teamwork, culture and diversity.

Safety glasses: All in favor say “Eye!”

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

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