Friday, July 22, 2011

Little Things that Annoy your Colleagues


Author: Matt Hallaran

Working the night shift is hard enough as it is. The life in a call center in a BPO company, the clients that you constantly need to please, and the virtual boss whose products you need to cover are all part of your daily routine. But nothing ever gets as irritating as when the person next to you begins to act unpleasantly. It's tough to tolerate people who get your goat, so make sure you don't fall prey to being everyone's major irritation.


At the top of your head, what's the one thing that annoys you? Here are the top five habits that irritate:


Gossip. It's no nail clipping, you can get rid of that. But the noise that gossip makes festers and becomes unruly. Those who come to work for work couldn't care less about who did what and when. So don't be the employee who likes to start things. In the end, nothing good is going to come out of it, and it will find its way back to you.


Micro-management. Yup, even managers can be irritating. So don't make too much of a fuss as a manager. Trust that when you delegate, the work will be done. You can only stifle so much. And they will grow fangs towards you in the end.


Not cleaning up after yourself. You know that one person who just gets up and leaves without packing away? Or caring to throw out his/her trash? That's annoying. And everybody will have something to say about it. Do your colleagues a favor and pick up after yourself. It will be a good way to show them the respect that they deserve. This goes for toilet etiquette as well.


Taking credit for someone else's hard work. We all put in the hours, and we all fumble once in our lives, but taking credit for someone else's work is just plain disrespect. This goes for every single kind of position there is possible. If the idea came from the Janitor and you happen to be the manager, credit them. So fine, maybe not the janitor, but you know what I mean.


Walk around with an unpleasant attitude. Our eyes are telling, and no matter how calmly you say things to people, they can read all your non-verbals. Smile a little bit, lest you become the butt of all jokes. Nobody wants a frowny. Lighten up, and share good energy with the rest of your team. God knows, they will need it.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing-articles/little-things-that-annoy-your-colleagues-5055310.html


About the Author

Matt Hallaran is the founder of Sidekiiks Incorporated a BPO Company. Sidekiiks is an offshore outsourcing company that specializes in providing a wide range of business solutions such as Call Center Services, Executive Virtual Assistant & Online Marketing Management for lead generation to entrepreneurs and SME's.

Best Home Business Ideas - How to Start a Home Business Online and Succeed


Author: relyonhim7

One of the most sought after goals for the average person is the start a home business online. Have you been in search for the best home business ideas lately? Everyday there is a rush of traffic to numerous sites where a person can throw down some capital and begin a business venture from anywhere in the world. The problem is most people have a hard time succeeding once they get started. In this article, I am going to show you how to start a business from home, and the ideas you need to keep in back of your head for true success.


Mindset Switch


The one thing that will set you apart in any business venture is the way you think. The great Henry Ford said is well himself. "If you think you can or can't, either way you are right." Our minds have the ability to take us where we want to go if we don't doubt that we can make it. There will always be negative thoughts that will try to creep up in your conscious, but the best way to deal with those thoughts are to dismiss them immediately. If you ponder them, you will end up believing what is actually not true.


Capital


Starting a home business online and succeeding takes money. You know it takes money to make money in this world we live in, and there is no difference if you plan on starting your own empire. Be prepared to spend some time researching the opportunity you are interested in going into partnership with. The key in success is to find and/or locate your passion, and find the vehicle that will suffice your need. The more passionate you are about a particular business, the more chance you have at becoming successful.


Marketing


Along with capital comes the marketing aspect of your business. Marketing is simply preparing your prospect to make a purchase. Make it a point to get some marketing training under your belt. Try targeting your warm market and local market first before expanding out to the entire world. Once you have exhausted your warm market, now it's time to take your efforts to another level. The beauty of internet marketing is the ability to create a piece of content that stays online forever (24 hours a day). I highly encourage you to get some video marketing training under your belt.


Support System


These home business ideas will help you get started in a profitable business for absolute success, however, having a support group of people who are like minded as you are is critical. Starting a new venture can prove to be scary in the beginning. But, as you surround yourself with others who are doing the same thing, you will be amazed at how easy things just start to flow smoothly in your behalf.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/best-home-business-ideas-how-to-start-a-home-business-online-and-succeed-5055403.html


About the Author

Make sure you take these home business ideas and apply them. Are you ready to embark upon the best home business out there for low cost start up? Be sure to check out the videos.

Custom Calendars: Printed Marketing Materials worth Investing in


Author: Kate

Printed marketing materials matter! If you think that these materials are already obsolete, you better think again. Until you can ensure that all your customers and prospects will use the internet to shop and buy their own smartphone to share and exchange contact details with you, it would be best to still create printed marketing materials.


There are plenty of printed materials you can use in your marketing activities that won't cost you a lot to produce. These materials have actually been used by businesses for a long time now, but they still prove to be effective in reaching out to customers and prospects. They will help you reach out to your customers in a more personal level.


If you are thinking of the best printed marketing materials to use in your business, why not start with custom calendars. Although your first thought would be to create business cards, you can be different and invest on marketing calendars. There are actually a lot of things you can do with these materials. If you use your imagination and creativity, you can come up with decent calendars that will let you stay visible to your customers for the entire year or even beyond.


Styles


There are different styles of calendar you can use in your business. You have a choice among wall, pocket, or desk calendar for the style. The wall calendar is basically the biggest among the three types. This is use to hang on walls and carry huge and vibrant images. If you want to showcase something, you might want to use this style. Make sure though that you use high quality images in your calendar so they look impressive and eye-catching.


If you want people to carry your calendar anywhere they go, use the pocket style. In most cases, these cards are the same size as a business card to allow them to be stored easily in the wallet or business card holder. Because of the space constraint in this type of calendar, you have to pick carefully the information you will put in it.


The desk calendar, as the name implies, is often placed on table or desk tops at home or in the office. Because this calendar is often placed in front of the customer, you need to make sure that it is designed well. You can also put images in the pages to make the material look eye-catching.


Formats


In terms of the format, you have a choice if you will use one-page, four-page, or twelve-page calendar templates. Each cost differently from each other with the twelve-page being the most costly. Whichever format you use, make sure you are using it for the right reasons. If you have a lot of images to put in the templates, go for the twelve-page format. But if you want to save money, use the one-page format.


Design


Be sure to come up with the perfect design for your calendars. Remember that they will stay with your customers for the entire year. If you want them hanged or carried everywhere, you need to ensure the design is impressive and interesting enough. Make sure your complete and correct contact details are included in the template so people can contact you easily when they need to.


With the perfect style, format, and design, it would be easy for you to get good results with your marketing calendars.


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-ideas-articles/custom-calendars-printed-marketing-materials-worth-investing-in-5055439.html


About the Author

Visit this site to read more about calendar templates and custom calendars

We All Make Mistakes – You Just Shouldn't Have To Pay For Someone Else's


Author: Joseph Lizio

How many times have you received a bill or invoice that was completely wrong or that severely overcharged you?


How many times has your supplier or vendor short-changed your order or miss calculated the price of that order?


How many times have you been charged for a purchase that you or your business never made?


Most business owners are extremely busy running the day-to-day operations of their business.


The servicing of customers, completing orders, landing new business, putting out fires and developing the overall, long-term growth strategy of the business tends to take priority over even some of the most simplest of housekeeping tasks – like keeping your service providers honest.


Early on in the life of my company, I had a vendor hit my bank account, not only for my normal monthly charges but also for an additional charge that was twice my monthly rate.


Luckily, I caught this charge early and was able to get it reversed before I got hit with additional bank fees.


Apparently what happened was when a newer employee at my vendor's company was inputting billing information to ACH or draft the payment from my account, they got a little confused and imputed my bank information on another customer's account. Thus, my bank account was drafted for another customer's payment.


Now, this was early in the life of my company and at that time we kept very little cash in our account as all our spare funds were being plowed back into the company to grow the business.


Had I not seen the charge or waited another day I would have not only paid that other customer's bill but would have been hit with a bank overdraft fee.


And, even though I might have been able to get all of this reversed, it would have taken my time away from growing my business and servicing my customers – time I just did not have to lose.


The moral here is that everyone makes mistakes from time to time including your most paramount vendor or service providers. Therefore, you have to take some time, each day, to monitor your accounts or oversee your partners, suppliers and vendors.


Just image if I never saw this charge? Not only would I have been out that money (money I really needed to build my business), but they could have charged my account over and over again without my knowledge - bad for me and great for that other customer.


And, know that it does not just have to be your monetary accounts. One time, I even had my Internet service provider erroneously switch my account to a lower level service plan.


Thus, until we figured out what happened, our Internet speed was so slow that my company could not process new orders and without those new orders I don't know what would have happened to my company – it definitely would not be where it is today.


My suggestion is to take time (even though time is scarce) each and every day and review your accounts.


Review invoices as they come in – it only takes a minute or two. The little time spent here is much better than wasting many times that amount trying to fix a bad situation.


Or, if you set up automatic payments (making your life that much easier) make sure that you are signing into these accounts each day and comparing all transactions (deposits and expenses) to your own accounting system (know that your bank or credit card company will make mistakes too).


What works for me is every morning before my day starts, I check all of my accounts for proper credits and charges. I just want to keep my service providers honest for the safety of the business I have worked so hard to grow.


You might think I am a bit OCD here but I can tell you that what this has saved me in both time and money has far outweighed what it would have costs had I missed the mistakes made by my suppliers, service providers and vendors.


All businesses make mistakes from time to time (to err is human). But, when another company makes a mistake against your small business, you should not have to pay for it.


And, with a little daily diligence, you won't ever have to.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/we-all-make-mistakes-you-just-shouldnt-have-to-pay-for-someone-elses-5055542.html


About the Author

Joseph Lizio holds a MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship, is the founder of Business Money Today, has a strong commercial lending background and is regarded as an expert in business and finance.

Rural Building Energy Situation is Grim But Have Great Potential


Author: Lanbo Jiang

Since reform and opening, with the improvement of their living standards, upgrading of rural housing has entered a peak period. In the majority of farmers towards the well-off, while the energy consumption of residential villages coincided with an unprecedented level of change.





Now, China's rural civil goods and use of energy per unit area of the total energy consumption of goods should be higher than in urban construction. In China, rural area of 24 billion square meters civil construction, accounting for 60% of the total building area. How to promote the new rural construction and to ensure their living standards to further enhance the premise of creating a healthy, comfortable and safe indoor environment for rural construction, and not caused by substantial growth in energy consumption, China's new rural construction must face and resolve strategic issues.To do this, visit the Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, rural building energy discussion group, understand that building energy efficiency in rural China has great tap potential.Grim situation of rural building energy consumption.





According to Building Energy Research Center of Tsinghua University from 2006 to 2007 large-scale organization of rural research found that consumption of rural life has reached 190 million tons of standard coal, accounting for China's energy consumption 37% of the total construction. 60% of coal, electricity and other non-renewable energy, 40% of firewood, straw and other renewable energy sources, the proportion of non-renewable energy use to improve the standard of living as farmers has increased significantly. In such a large energy consumption in rural house in northern annual heating energy consumption reached 090 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 45% of the total rural energy consumption, and coal is the main heating fuel.





Meanwhile in Beijing rural areas through construction and energy status of targeted research and analysis, the heating energy consumption is high because of the following three aspects:





First, dwelling in their poor thermal characteristics of envelope structure . More than 97% of the agricultural house envelope had no insulation, and windows, roof and other poor seal. Second, inefficient heating equipment. Over 50% of households use heating to Kang and soil heating, but the thermal efficiency of only 40%. Third, farmers awareness of energy conservation is weak. With the improvement of economic level, farmers pay more attention to the aesthetics of rural house, rural house, but on the functions and consider more than energy efficiency.





Because there is a large number of non-agricultural house clean fuel inefficient combustion, coupled with the existence in the countryside are some unhealthy habits, the health of farmers caused great harm. Such as coal, the direct burning of straw and firewood, the irrational layout of the room functions and personnel in the room smoking, lack of ventilation and smoke extraction measures, as well as casual backyard poultry, so that the indoor environment in rural areas and the beautiful outdoor environment for the formation of a sharp contrast.Building energy efficiency technology in rural areas.





Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, building energy conservation discussion group from the rural areas started in early 2006 a number of aspects of building energy efficiency in rural areas of theoretical research and practical attempt to clear the fundamental way to address these issues, and conducted a series of energy-saving agricultural technology integration house engineering practice and research on rural house wall insulation and passive solar use, energy-saving behavior, use of active systems in areas such as the optimization analysis, and energy saving effects of various technologies have been evaluated and creative significance.





Experimental results show that the maturity of the technology developed by topic group easy, safe and reliable, can really achieve the improvement of rural living conditions of existing and new construction to save energy, reduce pollution target, will cut more than 50% of household heating in winter coal consumption, and the winter temperature can be increased from about 10 to 16 or more. The deepest impression to reporters outside the living room of a glass corridor, between technical staff called the sun. According to reports, in the rural house where good thermal insulation, cold air infiltration load on the building while the effect of the open window again farmers cold air infiltration capacity of the direct impact. Thus, in some suitable additional housing structure between the sun certainly is a good choice.





In the case of setting the sun between 60% energy savings.Summary of experience in the demonstration project, based on the discussion group explored a suitable strategy for rural energy development and energy conservation strategies that rural energy development should be based on local production of straw, firewood and other biomass sources of clean, efficient use of , with solar, wind and small hydropower and other clean renewable energy, and then assisted a small amount of electrical energy, to develop a sustainable development of rural energy solution to really solve the rural energy dependence on conventional products.





Promote the application of technology and future prospects.Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, building energy conservation discussion group of rural countryside in the new building energy efficiency research is the first large-scale attempt, in the energy-saving evaluation system, system optimization, technology integration, integrated demonstration leading position in many areas. CCTV science research has been taken into thematic television channels. U.S. National Academy of Sciences Shi Ke? Smith on the study spoke highly of China and promote the declaration of the first clean energy in rural areas of developing special. Prestigious academic journals "Nature" magazine also carried a special report of the results.





Currently, the research group has been completed in Beijing Fangshan district village of ecological energy-saving demonstration project focused on rural house, and the Joint Association for Sustainable Development in Beijing and other units, in Pinggu, Shijingshan, Huairou, Miyun and many in the County completed a 500 multi-family dwelling in the actual reconstruction project. If the entire northern region to promote, coal consumption for heating can be saved each year about 050 million tons of standard coal, equivalent to 50 billion yuan, with significant economic benefits.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/rural-building-energy-situation-is-grim-but-have-great-potential-5055568.html


About the Author

I am a professional editor from China Manufacturers, and my work is to promote a free online trade platform. http://www.cheaponsale.com/ contain a great deal of information about ice fishing heater,turkish apple tea,carlisle atv tires, welcome to visit!

The Right Mannequin for the Rite Store


Author: Peggy Aauyeung

Like the clothing you wear, it takes taste and talent to know what goes with what. Mastering your style is a critical step in your self-expression and allowing you to expose the parts of yourself that you want others to see. People are going to judge you one way or another and being able to influence their judgment not only puts you in control of their impressions but helps you get to where you need to go in life.


The same concept applies in store design. You have to have a vision of what kind of environment you want to project. You have to know what you want your customers to think and what you want them to feel. This is the art of interior decorating. What I will do today is focus on a specific part of in store design in an attempt to aid those of you who have not yet giving this aspect of your business the amount of thought is needs to make a difference.


Our topic today is mannequins and dress forms. But before we got to that lets take a moment to understand what kind of store you are running. There are three general types of stores; teenage, family, and upper end. The reason for dividing the store in this way is based on a lot of thought a research but I will not spend the time going into that now.


If you are running a store that caters to teen and young adult or college kids you have to know your crowd. And in this case of mannequins you don't what to have somber looking or over classic mannequins staring down at them, they already have parents for that. You need to have relevant mannequins. The same thing goes for family of children's clothing stores. You do not want to have seductive cat walking mannequins in stores like these it completely defeats the purpose. You need to have responsible looking adult or fun loving children mannequins. Nothing else will work.


The thing to keep in mind is that the whole point of mannequins and dress forms it for them to look like the people who are going to be seeing them. If you have a high class store you need to make sure that you mannequins are classic and distinguished looking not sleazy or careless posed ones.


The bottom line is, and I'll leave you with this; you got to know your customers. Make your mannequins and dress forms look like the people who are going to be shopping in your store and them your investment will begin to be useful. Otherwise you are wasting your time and money. Good luck.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/the-right-mannequin-for-the-rite-store-5055781.html


About the Author

Why You Don't Know That- You Need PR


Author: Anthony Mora

Many people still feel that Public Relations is for celebrities, politicians and professional athletes; those people are missing a huge marketing opportunity to build their business. Do you need to sign more clients, sell more products, increase your cash flow, establish your brand, interest more prospects, or broaden your target market? Then read on.


Do You Need To:


Sign more clients?


Sell more products?


Generate a better cash flow?


Interest more prospects?


Get in front of your target market?


Establish your brand?


Grow your business?


Establish yourself as an expert in your field?


Get in front of decision makers?


Broaden your market reach?


Separate yourselves from the others in your field?


Fill your seminars, telseseminars and workshops?


Market and sell your book?


Find a distributor for your film?


Create a buzz around your concerts and your CD?


Land more speaking engagements?


Achieve the validation and credibility that only comes by being featured in the media?


If the answer to any of those was yes - You need PR


Many people still feel that Media Relations is for celebrities, politicians and professional athletes; those people are missing a huge marketing opportunity to build their business. Public relations is not primarily for entertainers or politicians. It is one of the most powerful marketing tools available for growing your business, landing clients, finding customers and growing your brand. PR can achieve a variety of goals. Some clients are looking to establish their product and reach their target market, others are primarily looking to establish themselves as experts in their fields, while others are looking to build their business and increase their cash flow. Others are looking for a way to reach their target market, or broaden their reach into new markets.


Understanding that PR is vital is particularly important in a challenging economy. What good is it to offer a quality product or service, if no one knows it exists? What good is all of your hard work, if you keep it a secret? You could have the best product or service that there is, but if you don't build a bridge between yourself and your clients or customers, your success is unlikely.


An effective public relations campaign is an integral and extremely necessary part of any business plan. Developing and implementing an effective public relations campaign should be as integral a part of your business as paying your bills, or buying your materials.


Keep in mind that your job is to reach your market, your customers and your clients. Once you do decide to move forward, begin with some clear specific objectives. Do you want to increase your business by a third in one year? Do you want to open another store or branch? Do you want to take a product national? What are your long term goals?


Keep your eye on the future. This is a long-term, cumulative process. Write down your short-term and long-term objectives, then put together a campaign with those objectives in mind. Interviews do not come about overnight. They are part of a long term commitment to achieving PR objectives.


So even though the chances are you don't think you need PR, if you're looking to build your business, land more clients, generate more sales, establish your brand, give it a shot. As they say, you'll be glad you did.


Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/public-relations-articles/why-you-dont-know-that-you-need-pr-5055794.html


About the Author

Anthony Mora began his media career as a freelance journalist for such publications as Us, Rolling Stone and other local and national publications. He served as editor-in-chief of two Los Angeles-based entertainment and lifestyle-oriented publications, and co-founded Phillips & Mora Entertainment, a public relations and personal management company, which ventured into video and film production. In 1990, Anthony formed Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. a Los Angeles-based media relations company that specializes in media placement, image development, and media training. AMC Inc. has placed clients in: Time, Newsweek, 60 Minutes, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other local, national, and international media outlets. Anthony has been featured in: USA Today, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The BBC, CNN, Entrepreneur, Fox News, MSNBC, and other media. He has written three books. The most recent, \\\\\\\"Spin to Win,\\\\\\\" is a step-by-step guide on how to define goals and utilize the power of the media to achieve success in any field. Practical and user-friendly, \\\\\\\"Spin to Win\\\\\\\" can be utilized by heads of major corporations, small business owners, and entrepreneurs.