5 Areas Where Businesses Typically Spend Too Much

Small business owners are the backbone of the United States. They started with a vision, worked harder than they ever have before to make it happen, and they should be taking pride in their drive and determination. Unfortunately, a staggering number of small businesses fail and, with them, the dreams of their owners.

Most small business failures are due to money management mistakes. Understanding some fairly simple ways that small businesses waste money can help entrepreneurs avoid these pitfalls and increase the likelihood of their own success. Continue reading →

Does the Big 40 Mean “You’re Fired”?

According to Bloomberg TV, the median age of the U.S. worker is 42. In the established tech industries, the median age is around 31 and, in tech startup companies, it drops to around 22.
Many of us who have passed our 40th birthday feel it was a watershed moment when we came into our own. We will tell you, “At 20, we knew it all; at 30, we realized we didn’t; and, at 40, we had gained enough maturity to know that the more we thought we knew, the more we had to learn.” Yet today, 40 can signal the approaching end of a career. What’s wrong with this picture?
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5 Things Football Can Teach You About Running An Office

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They say that sports have a lot of life lessons to offer. There is a lot of truth to that. This is particularly true for team sports like football. Football is the biggest of the team sports as far as the number of players that are needed to form a team.

With so many components to manage in a football team, football coaches are a lot like office managers. They have to find a way to mesh many individuals together to form a cohesive team that gets things done. With that in mind, here are five lessons football can teach you about running an office. Continue reading →

Five Personal Finance Lessons To Pass On To Your Kids

Most parents know that they should talk to their child about drugs and alcohol, and many adults are willing to sit down and have a conversation about the birds and the bees. However, when it comes to money, many parents are lacking. About twenty percent of parents have never really spoken with their kids about the importance of managing finances. Continue reading →

How to Regain Your Team’s Mojo

By MJ Plaster

Remember the pizzazz your team had when it first began to come together and click? It was electrifying, like Fourth of July fireworks set to the 1812 Overture. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but just like all relationships, teams go through stages. What started out with a bang is bound to go stale unless you reinvigorate it from time to time. Team players who lose their mojo are detrimental to your business, so let’s look at symptoms of complacency followed by prescriptions for regaining the spark.

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Who You Gonna Call When Your Brand Fails? BrandBusters?

By MJ Plaster

When your brand turns on a dime and loses its luster, who you gonna call? BrandBusters? There are firms that make a fortune restoring a damaged brand. However, the object is to maintain your hard-earned brand rather than restoring it. First, we’ll look at a few brand failures. Then, we’ll look at the single best way to avoid busting your brand so you don’t have to restore it.
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Does Your Small Business Need To Hire An HR Director?

When you have a great idea for a product or service, you might want to build up your company’s workforce gradually. Of course, you don’t want to increase your head count before it is financially feasible to do so.

At a certain point, you might need to hire a Human Resources (HR) Director. When do you know that it is the right time to hire an HR Director?

Human Resources by Industry

Are there any industries that should add an HR Director sooner? The service industries – contractors, landscaping and beauty – might be able to handle more workers without adding someone to oversee a department. Many of these jobs are on-site, so there is less time spent in any formal office environment. Continue reading →

Five Personal Finance Lessons You Didn’t Learn In School

The typical education curriculum generally leaves a disappointingly large amount to be desired when it comes to financial education.

The following things are some of the most important financial lessons that just aren’t taught in school, but should always be taken to heart.

Saving is more important than earning

Plenty of people love the idea of making lots of money, but one of the biggest financial lessons to learn is that it’s more important to focus on not losing money. Unnecessary spending is one of the biggest personal obstacles for people of all income levels, and so it is essential to learn how to set up a budget a precisely as possible. Continue reading →

Taking a Hard Look at Your Employee Benefits Packages

Providing reasonable benefits to your employees is a standard part of procedure. However, you want to do more than offer just the basics. Instead, you want to ensure that you examine the packages to offer your employees fair benefits for their work. Doing so can help to increase morale, which can then have a positive impact on the success of your business. Continue reading →

Onboarding Can Make or Break a New Hire

By MJ Plaster

Businesses go to great lengths to recruit the right employees for their workplaces, but that’s only half the battle. The first day on the job is often as unsettling for new employees as their first day of school was. They’re entering foreign territory, and they may feel like an interloper until they get their bearings. They’re hoping to blend in as quickly as possible—just like the new student who enters a new school in the middle of the year. Employers can help to make the new hire welcome and ease their transition into the workplace. And you don’t need us to tell you how important it is to have a happy workforce.

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