We all know someone who, like Oklahoma's Ado Annie, just "cain't say no." These folks accept every project. Every volunteer job. While everyone around them loves and appreciates them (or not), they're often tired and do little for themselves. Some people who fall into this group may not even realize they're on automated mode when … Read more
Many types of cuisine are award winners and require a variety of special ingredients to be flavorful. It would be easy if one award-winning recipe existed for all newsletters, but newsletters, too, are as different as Creole gumbo is from Korean dumplings. One recipe won’t do the trick. Fortunately, two newsletters can be opposite in … Read more
Stock investors always say, “Diversify!” Imagine if you had all of your stock in one company and it went bankrupt. This scenario is what happened after the dot com crash. Putting all your eggs into one basket labeled “email newsletters” can also spell disaster. The eggs might meet the same fate as Humpty Dumpty. But … Read more
How good is your boss? If the person resembles the average boss — probably an OK boss. Neither awful or great. According to Kate and Dale, only one boss out of every 20 is what they consider “gifted.” Those with bosses new in management have to be patient as the boss has to practice to … Read more
I want to thank the folks especially Sally H. behind ChangeThis for accepting and publishing It’s a Big Blog World Out There: Five Quick Tips to Building a Better Blog. I’ve been nervous about its release because I feared the manifesto was too simple, not forward-thinking, and not a true manifesto — three areas that … Read more
Over the last few years, comments have popped up on how PowerPoint ruins many presentations. That’s backward. Presenters ruin presentations by using PowerPoint. PowerPoint isn’t the criminal here. The crime comes from people not using creativity in designing their presentations. Weird Is Good took an ingenious approach in a lecture on the Civil War. Here’s … Read more
Seth Godin started a debate over small businesses versus entrepreneurs in his blog. Follow the trackbacks and the debate spreads. The fruits of the debate began at SmallBusinessBrief. Everyone is right and wrong. Both sides have people who are happy and people who aren’t happy. I want to remain a one-person business, but this doesn’t … Read more
Who doesn’t like to be quoted in an article? Not many folks, but when you’re talking to big companies or consulting firms — they have gates and policies that make it tough to get a quote and fast. I discovered that not many consulting firms will provide a quote on recent news because they haven’t … Read more
I value handwritten notes and use every time I need to thank someone. I won’t resort to email for such things as the person took the time to do whatever I’m thanking him for. So I believe I should also take a few minutes to put in the effort of writing a nice thank you … Read more
Outsourcing is here to stay, regardless of how employees feel about it since businesses continue to save money as a result. It is, however, evolving into something less threatening to employees as companies discover savings–by using other companies to manage a part of the business that’s not considered one of their core processes. Smartsourcing looks … Read more