Dec 9

Politics is a serious part of any organization. It is important to consider inner-office politics, such as who is friendly with whom and why. Unfortunately, office politics can sometimes get out of hand. The best ways to make sure you don’t get sucked into office politics is to make sure you always act professionally, work to the best of your abilities, and avoid gossip at all costs. As for government politics, it is important to make sure we don’t force our views on others. Don’t wear political buttons or shirts to the office. It is not the time or place to spread your private political views.

However, when you are finished with work, make sure you are up-to-date on the latest in politics. It is important to participate in our democratic process. Read the newspaper or magazines like The Economist, Newsweek or Time. Also, there are so many websites and television shows dedicated to politics. Take The Daily Show or the Colbert Report for example. They both are funny and show different points of view. Think of it this way; if you know what’s going on in the political world and you take advantage of your right to vote, you at least have the right to complain if things don’t go the way you’d hoped.

Dec 8
Offering More
icon1 admin | icon2 Business | icon4 12 8th, 2008| icon3No Comments »

If you own your own business or work for a company, most likely you either sell products, services, or both. To many business owners, the services they sell can be considered products as well. For example, my friend teaches horse riding lessons. She sells her services; her coaching, horse training, and horse buying and selling services. These services are her products. She advertises them online, in flyers, and in the newspaper. When people purchase her services, it is as if she is selling them a product that she has created. To be the best business person she can be, she wakes up each day and thinks about how she can make her services the best product possible; by giving people quality instruction and individualized attention.

What products do you offer to clients, and how can you make them the best products possible? How can you advertise your product as cost-efficiently as possible while still reaching the widest audience? These are questions to ask yourself in order to achieve the best results for your company.

Dec 6

Seems like there’s a product for everything these days. There are products to give you energy, products to calm you down, products to help you read better or write better….anything you can imagine! My favorite new product is a pen that doubles as a voice recorder and also translates what you write into a Word document. How handy! I use it for note-taking, working, and I even dream of writing a book with it!

However, whenever I hear the word “product” I think of my hairdresser. Every time I get my hair cut, he’ll say to me afterward, “Now don’t think that just because I gave you a fabulous cut, you don’t have to use the right products. Let me show you this new one.” And you know what? It usually works; he’s right, and I’ve got to try it every time. We can all learn something from our hairdressers about up-selling; we go in for a haircut and leave with a bagful of products we didn’t plan on buying!

Dec 5
Heal Already!
icon1 admin | icon2 Health, Injury | icon4 12 5th, 2008| icon3No Comments »

When a person gets injured by spraining their ankle, hurting their back or whatever it may be, one of the most common mistakes made is that they do not completely rehabilitate their injury. People do it for a variety of reason: laziness, overconfidence in their ability to heal, ignorance to the severity of the injury, etc. This is a terrible mistake to make because if you do not completely rehab, this injury can linger and cause much more pain and frustration than it should have.

I had a friend who sprained his ankle playing basketball one night and he did not ice it or anything because in the past his ankles had always healed themselves. He kept waiting and waiting for the swelling to subside, but it did not for the longest time. So, he became impatient and instead of going to see a doctor or specialist, he figured he would play through it. As he was playing, since the ankle had never been given time to repair itself due to the swollenness and lack of care, he resprained the ankle. After the resprain, my friend decided to see sports therapist and was told it would take roughly three months to heal, as opposed to two weeks if he had taken care of it the first time.

Dec 2

Looking for a new place to live can be a daunting task to say the least! Moving to a new city or even moving down the street can be so much work. But real estate is still a safe investment, even with the economy going a bit crazy right now. Investing in real estate (as long as you plan on holding onto it for at least a few years), is usually a win-win situation. You have a place to live, you aren’t throwing money away on rent, and your money will grow as long as you choose the right area.

When choosing the right piece of real estate, start by selecting an area that is right for you. If it’s right for you, it most likely will be right for other people (your future buyers) as well. For example, I bought a house on a quiet street in a small, eclectic neighborhood filled with friendly people. It’s located near a school and a theater. I’m pretty certain that despite what is going on with the economy, the real estate I bought will retain its value.

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