If you really want to impress your clients and referral sources, make an end-of-the-year resolution to underpromise and overdeliver. This simple goal serves many purposes. First, you’ll stay out of trouble from overcommitting. Second, you’ll impress clients and referral sources by showing them you’re a valuable and reliable part of their team. If you’re estimating […]
Apprenticeship programs offer businesses a multitude of benefits in training new and existing employees to meet workforce needs. What is an apprenticeship? The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) website at www.cdle.colorado.gov offers this definition: “Apprenticeships are an employer-driven model and type of experiential learning combining paid, on-the-job learning with related instruction.” What are the […]
Layoffs loom in almost every industry. If your company hasn’t yet been affected, great. But if you’re looking at layoffs, furloughs or other reductions in force, you need to know about and understand the provisions of the Worker Readjustment and Retraining Notification Act — or WARN. What is WARN, and why should you care? According […]
Working from home has become the “new normal” and likely could remain that way for many more months. But if working remotely presents challenges requiring new or revised skills, what better time to provide staff with training and opportunities to build those skills? Remote work has probably emphasized areas where employees might benefit from new […]
Can you identify the connections that led to your biggest sales, clients or referral sources? If so, great. If not, consider tracing your path. How does this tracing process work? If you recall a column I wrote in July, I discussed the 80/20 approach and applying that to your business model. Tracing your path takes […]
You probably write dozens of emails and other documents over the course of a week: articles, manuals, performance appraisals, proposals, reports and more. Most of these materials are time sensitive and mission critical. But sometimes the words just won’t come. When you’re faced with a blank email, document template or sheet of paper — along […]
According to several reports, President Donald Trump ordered the Department of the Treasury to stop withholding payroll taxes for the balance of the year from federal employee checks beginning mid-September and running through the end of 2020. Perhaps the scariest aspect of this order is its 100 percent application to military enlisted members. Officers can […]
Your time is valuable and limited. Your dollars are scarce. Your expertise only goes so far. There comes a time when you have to make the leap and outsource some of the goods and services your company needs. How do you decide when to do something internally and when to outsource it? Here’s my simple, […]
Whether you’re working from home by choice or COVID-derived necessity or thinking of making the move to a home-based office, there are a few things I’ve discovered over the course of my 30-year work-from-home career you might find useful. When your commute involves a short hop from the bedroom to the coffee pot to the […]
What sets your business apart from all the similar businesses out there? Do you have a unique value proposition? Put yourself in the places of your clients, prospects or referral sources. What do you think they consider to be your value proposition? Have you ever asked them what they view as your company’s best or […]