A big thank you goes out to Helen for bringing this article to my attention.   Posted over at Bankaholic.com this article gives some good tips on how to keep your small business afloat.  It has some basic concepts such as start small but think big.  There is however one point I would modify slightly.

6. Paying your bills late.

Whenever possible, meet your expenses with the cash that you have one hand. Rack up big bills on that shiny new business credit card and you could end up putting as much money towards accumulated interest and late fees as you are towards growing your business.

Now, paying your bills late is bad.  Nearly everyone knows that.  However, spending the cash you have on hand could be a liquidity error.  Credit cards can be a good tool when used correctly. My mother (and she is of course the expert on everything) always told me that using a credit card to make purchases is fine… as long as I pay it off every month.  Now, that may seem to defeat the purpose of charging it in the first place, but it keeps that much needed liquidity in the bank for the longest amount of time possible.   Just keep track of your expenditures and don’t go overboard… but they cover that in points 1, 2, and 5….

So here it is: 8 easily avoidable causes of business debt

I saw this posted over at Marketing Headhunter today, and I just had to post it here.  This chunk of Gary Halbert’s retoric seems to exemplify the general concensus about marketing that I was taught in my college courses.  The main point being: Building the product your customer needs is more efficient than building a product and then convincing your customer that they need it.

I happened to be meandering across Adage today when I came across this article.  Every one of these points struck a chord with me.  I could either relate them to people I know from college or to myself.  I specifically related with these:

1. ELIMINATE AMBIGUITY.

Millennials are experts at calculating what it takes to meet expectations. Once locked in, they have a GPS-like approach to navigating toward the goal. I have learned that the flip side of this laser-like focus is a lack of patience for any hint that the rules are being changed midstream.

LESSON: Set clear goals and timelines — and resist modifying them. Once the syllabus is printed, I never change it.

….

4. MAKE IT WORTHWHILE.

Students are sick of busy work and exercises; they long to do something “real” and meaningful. What’s more, they are convinced they are ready for it. Whenever possible, I incorporate real-world consulting problems and clients into class assignments. Many students have told me years later that those were among the most meaningful experiences they had in their college careers.

LESSON: Assign the tough problems, not just the ones you think they can handle.

For those of you who are managers, what strategies do YOU use to relate with the younger work force?

I was surfing the cyber waves recently and stumbled across this post on the Mind Cafe blog… It struck me as good advice for anyone looking to make their life riches, or just make their business better.  The problem with some of the suggestions, is that they are easier said than done.   Everyone is struggling to find the next greatest item, but very few will succeed.   A decent article to read anyways.

The first suggestion is….

1. Give something of value to the world. You want more of the material treasures of life, but are you willing to give something of value in return for them? In checking the lives of over ten thousand famous and rich men and women, I found that the value they received in money, recognition, fame, or power, was directly in proportion to what they gave the world.

More… 

I saw this today and it made me laugh… HARD!

Contrary to popular beliefs, very few people are actually able to blog for money. WordPress actually does not allow it, unless you pay for their “professional” hosting. However, I have found that blogging provides a great example of writing skills. I can actually credit my blog for helping me land a job! It provided me with a way to show examples of my work without having to carry around a bulky portfolio.

Have you blogged today?

Since I am so interested in advertising I have decided to dedicate an entire blog just to advertising critiques. Feel free to visit the new blog at: http://ad-mouse.blogspot.com/

The first few posts will be repeats from this blog as I trace back some of the memorable campaigns I have previously spotlighted here.

In addition to having the best weather of the year (in my opinion)  November is also National Novel Writing Month or in other words NaNoWriMo.

 National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

When I was in high school, several of my friends got me started with Nanowrimo and I have participated every year since.  It’s a great opportunity for people who have always wanted to write a story but never seem to know when to start.  It also is a short time frame and the emphasis is on quantity not quality.  This is to encourage a rough draft.  And the best rough drafts occur when someone just pours the story onto the paper, not worrying about what may be strange or unfounded.

Unfortunately, I’ve never reached that ever illusive goal of 50,000 words.  This year will be different.  Please excuse me if my blog posts suffer, and rest assured that my writing is going towards a worthy cause.

If you would like more information or would be interested in participating in Nanowrimo please visit NANOWRIMO.ORG

Yesterday Liz Sweney, Executive VP and GMM of Women’s Apparel for JCPenney came and spoke at my university. At one point during her presentation, specifically speaking about JCP’s corporate culture, she mentioned that they were flying back that evening to be at Headquarters for the Halloween celebration. At the main campus, they provide daycare for their employees. Day care for approximately 600 children! In celebration of the holiday, the kids (and often times their parents) dress in their best costumes and participate in a parade around the Campus. I thought it was amazing that a company of this size would have an event so large to celebrate a non-official holiday.

However, this may not be as rare as I first assumed. According to a new survey released by Vault.com Inc., (www.Vault.com), 37% of employees say they celebrate Halloween with their co-workers, and 27% dress up in costume.

Does your company celebrate Halloween?

And beware… Not all halloween costumes are appropriate!

A pharmaceutical sales representative dressed up as the Grim Reaper and went into an intensive care unit of a hospital on Halloween. He was trying to be funny. Neither the patients nor the hospital staff was amused.

Viral Marketing is one of the best ways to snag your audience in the saturated market. Viral marketing is best done with integrated marketing campaigns that combine stellar commercials, great websites, and overall, creative ideas!

One of the best examples (in addition to the Smirnoff Raw Tea commercial that I have discusses previously) is the Snapalope campaign put together by Slim Jim.  The campaign is built around the hunting of a fabricated creature called the “Snapalope”  a cross between an Antelope and a barrel of Slim Jims.   The Snapalope Hunting Association of America or the SHAA (www.shaa.com) has entire hunting guides devoted to how to catch the illusive prey.  On the website, they include copies of the commercials which have run nationwide (I’ve also linked to the commercials in the VodPod)

Healthy employees are more productive say many reports published in the past year. And, one of the biggest epidemics currently facing the United States is obesity. A sedentary lifestyle and bad food choices have seen our waistlines and our healthcare bills rising.

Now, I have always enjoyed my food and like most people who do I have put on a few more pounds than I would have liked. About 9 months ago I began looking for weight loss help online. Like most college students, I tend to spend a lot of time online, so it seemed like a good option. I needed something that would teach me Healthy Habits as well as help hold me accountable for following them.

Two of the “heavyweights” of online diet help are Weightwatchers.com and eDiets.com. However, both of these services have fees involved. Instead I ran across Sparkpeople.com. While the name doesn’t give it away as a diet website it offers all of the top notch services you should expect. Everything from a nutrition tracker, meal plans, exercise plans, recipes and best of all, a great community. Sparkpeople is not just for the individual who wants to lose weight though. They market their Spark Teams to businesses as well. Sparkteams allow a company to have its own private “leaderboard” and forums. A great way for employers to get involved in their employees weight loss.

And I have to brag a little as well. Thanks in part to Sparkpeople, I have currently

Here’s a link to a Fox News story about Sparkpeople.com