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End of The Year Home Business Review

MsTiz — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:36:05 +0000

The end of the year is practically here. That means that it’s time for me to do my annual review of my home business. I do this every year to make sure that I am on track with my goals. It also helps to keep me on top of my game as far as making sure that I have the best services, equipment and co-workers for my company.

Some of the things I’ll be doing as part of my annual review include:

Reviewing all of my service providers. For example, I will read through web hosting reviews to learn about what the best rated web hosting companies are offering. I won’t necessarily change the web host that I have because I’m happy with the company but I will know if something better is out there.
Reviewing the year’s goals and setting new goals. I always make annual goals for the business. Some of these are financial goals and others are related to my desires for furthering the company. I will review last year’s goals to see if they were met. I will set new goals based on that information.
Reviewing how beneficial it’s been to work with certain people. I hire subcontractors and work with collaborators on various projects. I’ll make a list of these people and make sure that I’m happy enough with the results of the past year to continue to work with these people.
Reviewing how I spend my time. I think it’s important to know how many hours I’m working and what I’m doing during those hours. I’ll review that and see if any modifications are necessary in the new year.

Do you do an annual review of your home-based business?

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Should You Let Employees Take Online Classes at Work?

MsTiz — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:36:28 +0000

One of the biggest problems that offices have is the misuse of time. Many employees waste time on their computers. This ends up costing the business money. The business is paying the employee to be there while the employee is simply checking Facebook or watching YouTube videos. But what if your employees were doing something more useful with their time?

Some businesses are considering the option of allowing their students to take online classes during the hours that they are supposed to be working. The stipulation, of course, is that the classes must benefit their work in some way. For example, in an office place where Cisco Training is beneficial the employees might be allowed to do their online Cisco Training Courses during their working hours.

This is an interesting twist on the idea of an employer paying you to go to school. A lot of businesses still use the old model of paying for some of your education outright. In this case, the student foots the bill of the class. However he or she is getting paid a normal salary to complete the class during working hours. The employer probably doesn’t lose much money because that time might’ve otherwise been wasted on Facebook. It could be a win-win situation for employers and employees alike.

Technorati Tags: Cisco Training, Cisco Training Courses

Tips for Enjoying a French Restaurant

MsTiz — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:36:24 +0000

Dining at a French restaurant is different from dining at any other type of restaurant. It is not simply about enjoying French food. It is about an entire experience.

Here are some tips for enjoying the experience of dining at a French restaurant:

Fully immerse yourself in the experience. The French restaurant is designed to delight all of the senses.
Learn a little bit of French vocabulary before you go. It will be more fun if you can order some of the items in their natural tongue.
Dress for the occasion. Dress up to go to a French restaurant. If you’re taking your kids along then put them in some cute European boutique clothing like that sold by Catimini or Room Seven.
Plan for a long meal. Take all of the time that you need to enjoy a multi-course meal. Enjoy a little bit of everything. The trick to eating French food is to taste a lot of rich foods without overindulging in any of them.
Get a designated driver. You should always enjoy great wine with French food so plan on having someone who isn’t drinking there to drive you home.
Don’t skip dessert. It’s the best part of the meal!

Technorati Tags: Catimini, Room Seven

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A Little Piece of Earth from City Dirt for Urban Gardeners

MsTiz — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:11:47 +0000

City Dirt is a brilliant urban gardening blog. The founder will be publishing the book A Little Piece of Earth this coming winter. Don’t wait to start planting some seeds now and have fun experimenting with growing food in small spaces. It is truly possible!

Better Office Productivity? Use Daylight!

MsTiz — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:16:31 +0000

With so many recent initiatives aimed at combating climate change, energy prices have obviously taken a hit. To compensate for this change, though, many architects and builders have begun using Daylighting to a great degree in construction.

“Daylighting,” or “daylight harvesting,” has been growing in popularity recently because it uses natural sunlight to its advantage. A number of automated systems are able to measure free natural sunlight and figure out how it should use controlled lighting in relation to that. Then, a system will automatically dim or brighten the lighting so that only artificial light which is needed is used. From an architect’s standpoint, it’s an important thing that the most beneficial entry points of daylight are decided on before construction. North-facing windows are great because they will definitely reduce unwanted glare. A designer, in turn, would decide on a quality lighting control system for dimming indoor light fixtures. There are a lot of systems out there, so deciding on a single one has a lot to do with finding a balance between natural lighting availability and extra electric lighting needs.

3 Services Offered by SMS Providers

MsTiz — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:41:16 +0000

I’ve recently been doing some research into SMS providers. These are companies that work with small businesses to assist them in developing and distributing mobile phone content. I’m trying to see what these providers could offer my small business. What I’ve learned so far is that there are three core services offered by these companies:

Direct SMS messaging to your customers. This allows you to send messages to your customers to keep your brand name in front of their eyes. This helps them to remember to shop with you. You can also send coupons and news about your business through these messages.
Ability to sell mobile content. You can develop content for people to purchase from you. This might include social networking applications, mobile phone tips or games for the cell phone. This is a good way to get a bit of extra money.
Bill people through their phones. Many people are starting to use mobile billing. This helps you to be able to charge your customers in that way.

It seems like these three things could be really beneficial to a small business. I’m not done doing my research yet but I think that working with an SMS provider might be a smart move.

Technorati Tags: mobile billing, sms providers