Friday Fun Infographic: Business Cards are Still in Business

I’m sharing this infographic, found on Visual.ly, for several reasons:
  • The topic interests me. I have business cards but I never know quite how to use them and have often wondered about their relevance in today’s society.
  • It includes several interesting things. History, tips and etiquette when it comes to business cards; I found it fascinating!
  • I love the color scheme. It’s basically black and white with the right color blue/green just looks really great I think.
  • I adore the inclusion of the “runway trends”. Not necessarily relevant to anything but just a fun addition to the infographic.
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Does It Take Money to Make Money?

money Does It Take Money to Make Money?

My kid brother and I are both entrepreneurs. However, we’re very different in the way that we approach business. A fundamental difference between us is that he wants to start a business with a lot of startup capital from investors so that he can get in at the top level of the business as quickly as possible. In contrast, I prefer to invest as little money as possible in a business while exploring whether or not it’s what I really want to do. Either approach is fine for starting a business as long as you know why you feel the way that you do.

Thinking about this topic has brought up an interesting question for me – does it take money to make money? Ultimately, despite the fact that I approach the initial startup of a business different from my brother, I do believe that it takes money to make money. This doesn’t mean that you can’t start a business with no money but it does mean that I believe you have to re-invest your immediate earnings into the business if you want it to actually get off the ground.

What do you think? Does it take startup capital to make a business work or does a gradual process of starting with what you have and then re-investing regularly in the business work just as well?

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Should I Hire Someone to Re-Do My Website?

web design 300x163 Should I Hire Someone to Re Do My Website?

I don’t really know anything about web design. Nevertheless, I was able to make a website that I like using a template and some basic creativity. It was even easier for me to make my blogs myself since I use WordPress which offers a lot of great free templates and widgets to customize the blog site. I’m fairly happy with how these things turned out. However, sometimes I do think that perhaps I should hire a professional web designer to re-do my design.

I think that there are a lot of benefits of professional web design services. Web designers can create unique websites that really enhance what you’re trying to say through the site. I also think a web designer might be better at organization than I am. I’m happy with the layout of the information on my site but I don’t actually know if it’s the best method of organizing the portfolio and links that I have. I’ve gotten some feedback on the site from others and it’s been mixed.

I think that I’ll stick with the free templates for my blogs for now. I’m happy enough with them and I don’t really feel like I need anything fancy with the site. However, I do think that I might consider redesigning my actual freelance writing website at some point in the near future. It’s something to think seriously about anyway, especially since I’ve been changing some of my writing goals and may want a new site to reflect that. I suppose that I don’t have to make a decision until I know exactly what I want though.

As a freelancer, do you recommend getting someone to do your website for you are you happy with doing it on your own?

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How a Business is Part of a Bigger Picture

globalization 299x300 How a Business is Part of a Bigger Picture

When you choose to operate your own small business, you are probably thinking primarily about your own interests. You want to do work that you enjoy and you want to be your own boss. However, every business is part of a bigger picture. That’s something that a smart business person is going to realize and work with.

Some of the ways that a single business is part of a bigger business include:

  • There is a chain of events that occurs before a product reaches a customer. When you provide a product or service to a customer, you are not participating only in the simple transaction that you appear to be participating in. You are also participating in a small section of the chain of events involved in the bigger picture. This chain includes all of the businesses that came before you in the transaction and any that the customer will then continue on with. For example, Maverick Hammers sells hydraulic hammers to businesses that do mining. All of the people involved in the invention and construction of those hammers come before them in the chain. All of their customers (such as mines) and the customers’ customers (such as jewelry designers) follow them in the chain. If any of these people don’t do their jobs, the chain breaks.
  • Every business contributes to competition within the industry. The chain of events requires that businesses work together. However the nature of business is competition between similar businesses. The amount and type of business that one company does directly affects the other companies with which it is competing.
  • Each business is a part of a global industry. The choices that the business makes affect the rest of the Earth. For example, if the business decides to outsource its labor to a developing nation then it may improve job prospects in that nation but will contribute to unemployment problems at home. Likewise, a company that pollutes during manufacturing is contributing to global environmental problems. The company doesn’t exist alone but affects the entire world around it.

Even small businesses have to realize that they play a role in a bigger picture. The independent jewelry maker may not think about who manufactured the hydraulic hammers that allowed for the mining of the stones used in the jewelry but that doesn’t mean that the chain of events is irrelevant to the business. Recognizing this encourages every business owner to do their part as well as possible in order to maintain high standards across the industry.

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Survey Others About Your Website

web 300x209 Survey Others About Your Website

If you have your own website then it’s really important that you know what your website says about you. Many people create a design that they like only to learn later that it’s sending the wrong message about them and their business. It might be worth it to take a survey of others to find out what message is really coming across with the website that you’ve created.

There are a few ways that you could do such a survey:

  • Ask your family and friends to share their opinions with you about your website. The downside of this is that they may not be honest because they won’t want to hurt your feelings.
  • Put the word out on your social networks that you’re seeking feedback on your website. You reach a broader audience than family and friends this way.
  • Post an ad online looking to trade website feedback. This is a good way to get feedback from other people who have websites.
  • Pay people to take a survey about your website. You can advertise a job online giving money to people who take your short survey.

The survey should give you an idea of what you need to improve on your website so that it says what you really want it to say about you. Since most visitors won’t spend long on your website you really want to make a good first impression!

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Learning About Hydraulic Hammers

maverick hammers 225x300 Learning About Hydraulic Hammers

One of the best things about the Internet is that it allows you to rapidly read up on a topic that you don’t know much about. I love this because it means that I can explore new interests without having to invest a lot of money (or even much time) in finding information about them. I think this lets me learn about things that I wouldn’t take the time to learn about otherwise.

One of the things that I’ve been researching recently is hydraulic hammers. Just a few short weeks ago, I didn’t know anything about hydraulic hammers. Now I have a really good understanding of the purpose of these tools (which are primarily used in the demolition of large buildings).

The hydraulic hammers that I’ve been looking at recently are Maverick Hammers. This company seems committed to providing high-quality demolition equipment at a fair price. They also provide tech support which I’ve learned is important since the average buyer wouldn’t know what to do if this type of heavy equipment wasn’t working properly.

What’s been really interesting for me about this research though has been the chance to learn about the issues related to manufacturing heavy equipment. One of the biggest issues seems to be the fact that a lot of this work has been outsourced to developing nations. This has put local workers out of jobs and created changes in the industry.

Maverick Hammers has been active in bringing the business back to the U.S. Reading about that has allowed me to learn about the things that U.S. businesses can do to reduce their own costs so that it’s cost-effective for manufacturing to take place here rather than being outsourced.

See what happens when you start to research something online. You start with one topic and end up learning a lot of other great information. Without access to the Internet, I might never have learned about these things!

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Ideas for Improving Productivity

productivity 300x199 Ideas for Improving Productivity

People sometimes ask me how I manage to stay on top of all of my work when there isn’t a boss at home telling me to do so. I joke (half-joke, really) that I can’t stomach the idea of having a boss hanging over my shoulder so I’m motivated to stay productive!

The truth, however, is that I’ve learned a lot of little tricks over the years that keep my productivity on track. Here’s a few of those tips:

  • Stick to a schedule. One of the things I love about my work is that my schedule is flexible. Despite this, I try to stick to one more often than not because that’s the way to stay productive.
  • Set goals. It’s so cliche but setting your own goals really helps you to stay on top of productivity.
  • Hold yourself accountable. Do productivity checks throughout the day to make sure you’re meeting your goals. Make a phone appointment with a friend to touch base about how productivity you are (or aren’t) being.
  • Use technology in a productive way. Your mobile phone, social networking sites and access to the Internet are all great tools for productivity but only if you’re careful not to let them distract you.
  • Cut yourself some slack. Sometimes it’s okay to slack off a little bit. If you beat yourself up when you do, you’ll actually reduce your productivity.

Mostly being productive is about knowing what you want to get done and finding a way to motivate yourself to do it. Do you have any specific productivity tips that have helped you out?

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Recent Thoughts on Business

business woman 300x199 Recent Thoughts on Business

I do a lot of writing about different issues in business. Some of these are things that I write about for clients who are interested in having research done that will assist them in their own businesses. But some of these articles are just things that I research and write about because I find them to be interesting. The majority of these articles are articles thatI post to HubPages.

Four business-related topics that I’ve covered on HubPages recently were:

  • 10 Tips for Improving Marketable Job Skills. The job market is competitive right now. You really need to make yourself marketable if you’re going to get hired by anyone. I thought I’d learn some tips on how to do that. Most of it’s common sense but it’s good to freshen up on it.
  • The Pros and Cons of Using an Online Backup System. I have been thinking seriously about using an online backup system to make sure that my work gets saved. I’ve been burned by lost writing one too many times. Right now I just back things up to another computer and store some things in Google Documents but I think I might look into using a formal system.
  • Green Commutes. I don’t have to commute anywhere to work but if I did then I’d like to find a way to do it with public transportation or carpooling.
  • 5 Great Female CEOs. I read a cool article in PINK magazine about fifteen leading women in business. Five of them were these interesting CEOs that I wanted to research further. I think they’re really inspiring as female leaders.

There are a lot of different aspects of business that you can research and write about. I like to try to cover a lot of them!

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SmartChick at the Blog Carnival

blog carnival4 225x300 SmartChick at the Blog Carnival

One of my articles on productivity was recently featured in a blog carnival. There were a lot of other great posts in the carnival that you might want to check out as well. The carnival is all about internships, careers and employment so the articles all relate to business in that way.

My post was about employee monitoring. It was included in the general employment section. Other posts also included in this section were on the following topics:

There were also other posts related to jobs and internships. This is such an important topic right now so hopefully these articles will be useful for people!

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I Want to Do Too Much!

do too much 200x300 I Want to Do Too Much!

I am one of those people who isn’t ever going to be satisfied by doing a single job for the rest of my life. I’m not even particularly satisfied doing only one job at a time now. Instead, I’m one of those people who wants to do a million different things with my life. In addition to work, I want to pursue hobbies and generally just have new experiences.

There are a few things that I’ve found to be really important if you have this type of attitude about life:

  • Staying productive. You aren’t going to get a lot done if you can keep your productivity levels high.
  • Enjoy downtime. In spite of the fact that I believe in being productive, I also believe that you need to intersperse some downtime into your productivity. You have to relax if you’re going to be able to keep doing lots of things.
  • Staying inspired. I read a lot of blogs and books that inspire me to stay productive and to stay creative.
  • Enjoy varied activities. It’s too tough to keep going and going at a single type of thing. To enjoy more diversity in your life, you need to immerse yourself in activities that are truly different from one another.
  • Accept that you can’t do some things right now. You can pursue every single hobby right this minute. Accept that and enjoy what you can do right now.
  • Keep a life list. I have a list of things that I want to do, see and experience throughout my life. I keep it posted where I can see it. I check things off it (and add to it) regularly. When I’m planning out my schedule for the week or month, I check the list to see if I can do any of those things.

Maybe I want to do too much but I’ve found ways to make it possible to do more with my life. I believe in having full days!

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