You probably spend as many hours at work as you do awake at home. Thus, you spend as much time with your co-workers as with your family.

It is nice to be able to tell people at work important things that are going on at home. Sometimes it is nice to gain the insight of a co-worker about a personal problem. As a result, it is hard to determine where to draw the line with business friendships. Should you be sharing all kinds of intimate details about your home life, or should you keep totally quiet about what goes on away from work?

Sharing too much can make others think less of you

One of my first supervisors had problems with her husband. She began to come in to work late. Then she would sit and tell her assistant all of her problems. As time went on, she did no work, and neither did her assistant. When she decided to move out on her husband, her assistant took the day off and helped. From that point on, her assistant no longer respected her, and no longer worked very hard.

When you are at work, you would like to be judged by the quality of work that you do. If you are a wonderful worker, but share with everyone that you cannot control your home life, they will include that in their estimation of you. Read the rest »

If you are considering online promotion, this is the most important article you will ever read. I know this sounds a bit presumptuous and I apologize. However, we are hearing the same stories over and over again from our prospective clients and we feel it is time to help educate and to protect you from the various scams and blatant dishonesty that takes place daily as more and more companies try to take advantage of the growing demand for online PR services.

Let me clarify that have we been in business since 1999 and have helped hundreds of experts and corporations grow their businesses, using the fastest growing and most effective way to build your brand available today…the Internet. Based on our experience and the overwhelming numbers of disreputable operations that exist, we have learned some crucial points about protecting your interests. We want to share those with you. There is one distinction that you need to make right off the top. If your goal is to be an expert and to maintain a prominent position within websites of your choice, then you are an expert or contributor. Any company who offers you article syndication is NOT what you are looking for. Read the rest »

A change in your work schedule may give you the flexibility you need to better meet the needs of your family. There are many variations of flexible work that you can pursue such as reduced hours, a shift in schedule or an opportunity to work some from home. Such a change could lead to less stress and more time for your family.

Unfortunately, not all companies have policies or practices in place to support working with flexibility. Further, even companies that do have accommodating policies and practices often give individual managers discretion in granting schedule change requests. Therefore, you must be prepared to ask for the schedule you want and overcome your manager’s objections.

The best approach to making a schedule change request is to do so with your company’s best interests in mind. Think about how your request could actually benefit your company. Could your altered schedule or work arrangement be a solution to a problem your company is facing? Read the rest »

The work climate today is much different from what it was 50 years ago. A person who was born in the early 1900s could expect to get a job and keep that same job until retirement. A person born in the mid-1900s could expect to have at least two different careers during their prime work years. It is projected that those born in the later 1900s will have three to four different careers during their prime work years.

This difference is caused by the rapid changes in workforce requirements that our current economy demands. Often the job that a person starts their work career with will not even exist after 20 years.

Life is a Chess Game

Many people faced with the loss of a job lament, “I had planned to work here until I retired!” They are caught by surprise when the employer decides to shut down a factory, or move it to another area.

These days, workers cannot look at their employers as their guaranteed protectors. It is better if workers look at their careers as a chess game. Workers must always be planning what their moves will be, when changes in their current jobs come. Read the rest »

The Internet is now becoming a mainstream media destination for experts, authors and companies who want to access the millions of repeat visitors daily to promote their work. It is more important than ever before that you are aware of the various kinds of services available. You want to make the best possible choice in hiring an online marketing company to help you reach your goals. Here are three of the most common kinds of services you will find and what you can expect in terms of how they work and what can be achieved.

1. Word of Mouth Internet Publicity: This is the most common and can be very effective. In this case, a company will blast your excerpt, article or press release out to a multitude of websites in an attempt to play the numbers game. These services are hoping that at least a few sites will post the material. There is no personal relationship with the site and you typically do the follow up yourself to see if the items posted. Read the rest »

I have written quite a bit about how hard leaving my three-year old twins every morning is for me. To sum up: I hate it. I hate leaving them every morning and feel there is something fundamentally flawed with a society that makes it so difficult for parents to stay home with young children.

Yesterday that difficult experience took a surreal turn. Yesterday, I didn’t leave my children to go to work. Instead, I brought them with me! My wife and I and our children took the train and the subway together to get to where I work. I kept reminding them this is how Daddy goes to work every day and they seemed like they were trying to absorb it all.

I took the opportunity to bring them to work because my wife had a meeting elsewhere in the city. When we got to my stop, we all got off and said goodbye to Mommy. They handled it very smoothly and we started walking out of the subway into the building I work, while she got back on the subway to head to her meeting. Read the rest »

This month we have been working in the area I refer to as the home office. This area is wherever you store your paperwork; whether it is an actual office in your home, a desk in your family room, or simply a cabinet in your kitchen. I realize what an overwhelming task this can be, but need to stress how very important this is to your family. If you have questions, please contact your tax professional or attorney.

Last week we worked on the large filing drawer to keep important papers. These papers, although quite important, are not as imperative as the items I am going to ask you to keep in your smaller folio. Once completed this smaller folio will contain everything you need in case of an emergency. In addition, it is extremely important to instruct your family members as to where this folio is in case you are unable to get it. I suggest purchasing a fire box to store these items. Read the rest »