October, 2015

7 Ways to Get Happier, More Productive Employees

New research into attitudes and work has consistently shown that happy employees make their employers more money. While it can be tempting to believe that happiness is something that has little to do with a person's employment, most people's work environments actually have a lot to do with whether or not they're happy. Whether you're a small-business owner, a brand-new startup, or the CFO of a well-established Fortune 1000 firm, invest in your business by investing in your employees' happiness. Here are seven ways you can transform your workforce into a smiling, horde of productive and happy moneymakers.

Get More Mobility Into Your Brand's Plans

Social media is a huge presence in branding and marketing for your business.

Without it, you'll miss out on big marketing opportunities to gain valuable customers. The more innovatively you utilize a social, mobile presence, the more benefits you'll see from it.

How to Keep Your Small Business Records Safe and Secure

Data security should be a vital area of concern for all small-business owners. Considering all the important data stored virtually, it is easy to see why a single breach can cause serious damage to your business. According to a 2012 Verizon Data Breach study, about 174 million records were compromised the same year. 74 percent of these cases were from external sources.

The records you should keep vary depending on your business, location, and industry. They may include:

4 Reasons Small Businesses Are Going Paperless

As creatures of habit, we’re resistant to change, especially when it sounds like it might interrupt business as usual. While a paperless office may sound like a vague and unachievable goal, the dream of going paperless is not a “pie in the sky” objective. It’s attainable — and imperative to your future success as a small business.

Becoming a paperless office is a win not only for your business, but also for your customers. With the right document management system, you can access accurate information faster, increasing not only workflow productivity, but also your customers’ perception of quality.

Five Hacks to Combat Workplace Distractions

People feel free to interrupt others with that innocent-sounding question, “Got a minute?”  And the interrupted people think they have to be polite and say, “Sure, how can I help?” – even when they are desperately busy on a deadline.  They let the Time Bandit steal their time because they have been acculturated to believe they must.
 
But the Interruption Culture persists for a very good reason:  We like it. We perpetuate it. We love our smart phones, our routers, our search engines, our unfettered access and exposure to everybody and everything. We demand to be immediately informed, via alerts on our stash of devices, what’s happening with the weather, traffic, stock market, politics, crime, sports, celebrities, our favorite Twitter feeds and our Facebook friends. Who can wait for the evening news or the morning paper when a story might be going viral?

Is Your Hadoop Project on Track?

When it comes to your company's data management practices, it's important to keep big data initiatives on track. This is exactly where open source software such as Hadoop comes into play.

With efficient data processing in mind, here are just a few ways your company can get the most out of Hadoop on its next project:

How to have a Servant Mentality in Business and Life: Help yourself by helping others

From my years as a successful small businessman in printing, marketing, and business development in South Dakota, through my time as the CMO of a Fortune 100 company, and into my current work as a speaker, bestselling author, host of a national TV show, and creator of the C-Suite Network, people have asked me one question more than any other: “Jeffrey, how did you do it?” My answer is: “I think big and act bigger.”

Are Humor and Sales Training Your Business?

When it comes to training your staff, a little humor oftentimes goes a long way.

Whether you're in retail sales, medical sales, or any other industry, adding some humor to your training initiatives can make all the difference in the world.

Here are just a few reasons humor and sales training make a great match:

What’s Your Secret Weapon?

I have a secret weapon that I use to market my business. It’s so secret, in fact, that sometimes I forget I have it and don’t take full advantage of it.

Is it my superior intellect? No, but thank you.

Perhaps it’s the band of merry elves who live in my attic and attend to my every need? Still a pipedream, I’m afraid.

Financially Stuck? Check Debt Review as a Way Out

Numbers help give a new perspective to every kind of situation. Take for instance the Federal Reserve report indicating the consumer debt now stands at $3.37 trillion. It gets worse when you consider another study by National Small Business Association (NSBA), indicating that over 53% of these enterprises are in debt.