General

Data Storage and Small Business

September 29, 2012 by Melanie Bayon

How to Pick the Right Data Storage Site for Your Small Business

If you own a small business, you’ve probably already heard of the advantages of online data storage. Greater document security, the ability to send files with just a link, and online collaboration are all available for you through different storage sites. The problem, however, comes in choosing which site you want to use. After all, you are entrusting them with your important documents, so it’s important to choose a company you feel comfortable with. Here are a few things you should look at when deciding on a data storage site.

Features Available

Different sites offer different options. Some may be incredibly useful for you, while others would be a waste. Go through the available features and see what is useful for you. Online collaboration is great for some business owners that need multiple people working on one document at the same time. If that’s not necessary for you, then it shouldn’t be your big selling point.

For most people, features that are sure to be useful are those that help make audits easier as well as those that make the site easy to use, like icons on your desktop, a good customer support system, and good syncing capabilities so you aren’t stuck working from a single computer. Whatever features you need, check carefully with the sites to ensure [Read more…] about Data Storage and Small Business

The Key To Success in a Mass Communications Career

September 28, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Mass Communications Careers: The Key To Success

Mass Communications continues to evolve, and today’s cutting edge technology will quickly become the proverbial “yesterday’s news.” A few years ago, students studying journalism focused mainly on writing and interviewing, but 21st-century technology demands much more of college graduates looking for their first job. For example, students now need to know how Skype changes global communications, the social implications of Facebook and Twitter, and how YouTube impacts video production techniques.

College students seeking to advance to a career in Mass Communications will learn the art of effectively communicating with the general public, through training and education. Practicing their craft to gain experience helps them put principles into practice. An appropriate degree emphasizes a well-rounded education, and multiple opportunities exist in this career field.

What is Mass Communications?

A working definition of the term “Mass Communications” is the effective delivery of a specified message to large segments of the population. Those segments can be cities, states, the nation or even the entire world. Students majoring in this area take interdisciplinary courses covering a broad range of ideas and concepts. In addition to the traditional English and Literature courses, the required curriculum also includes:

• Advertising
• Marketing
• News Writing
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Public Relations
• Sociology
• Television Production

Starting a Business Harder in U.S. Now

September 27, 2012 by Tim McMahon

U.S. behind Rwanda

A country’s long-term financial health is often indicated by the ease of starting a new business. This would seem obvious as new businesses need employees and the majority of employment growth comes from small business. For this reason it is distressing to hear that over the last few years creating a new business in the United States has become more difficult, no wonder our unemployment rate isn’t improving.

As a matter of fact according to the World Bank’s “Doing Business 2012” report, the U.S. has fallen to 13th place world-wide when it comes to starting a new business. What is extremely distressing is that we are now behind such notable countries as Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus and Macedonia.

Starting a Business- Harder Now

According to another Investor’s Business Daily study, 80% of new jobs are created by small businesses. Unfortuantely, small businesses and new business start-ups are being choked by government regulations in a time when we need all the new jobs we can get. Interestingly, this is a rapid descent since as recently as 2007 when the U.S. ranked 3rd, we ranked 4th in 2008, 6th in 2009 zooming to 11th in 2011 and finally tied with Ireland at 13th in 2012. At this rate in four more years

6 Basic Budgeting Tips for the Unemployed

September 17, 2012 by Marie Into

Across the United States today, more than nine percent of adults are unemployed. Without a job, you might be receiving benefits from the government or living off of savings. Either way, you will be on a limited budget. Even small expenses can add up, taking away from your security and your finances. If you are unemployed, here are a few basic budgeting tips to help stretch every dollar.

Budgeting Tip #1: Get Rid of Unnecessary Expenses

Make a list of all the things that you spend money on in an average day, week or month. While the necessary items are things like the mortgage, the car or utilities, there are likely a lot of things that you can cut from your spending. Luxury coffees each day, eating out in restaurants or paying for cable are things that you can eliminate right away to reduce your spending. [Read more…] about 6 Basic Budgeting Tips for the Unemployed

Ways to Keep Car insurance Down When You’re Unemployed

September 1, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Keep Your Car Insurance Rates Down-

Unless your car insurance rates were based on your occupation, they won’t be affected by lay-off, termination or resignation. While your rates may not be affected by unemployment, your income certainly will be. It makes sense for you to look for ways to save on your auto insurance when you stop working. Here are five ways that you can save money on your car insurance premiums while you are unemployed:

Park the Car

Now that you won’t have to commute back and forth to work, it may make sense for you to park the car in the driveway and let it sit. If you have two cars, consider only using one and removing the insurance on the other. Talk to your insurance agent and see what can be done about lowering your insurance by not driving one of your vehicles. Depending on the laws of your state or the conditions of your loan contract, you may be able to drop some or all of your coverage on one of your vehicles.

Low-Mileage Discount

Now that you won’t be driving as frequently, speak with your insurance agent about a low-mileage discount. If you had a long commute to work, chances are that you didn’t qualify for this discount while you were employed. Now that you won’t be driving as much, if at all, you may be able to save a significant amount on your premiums.

Labor Immobility and the Labor Participation Rate

August 30, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Labor Immobility-

You may be wondering what exactly is labor immobility?

Defining Labor Immobility: The mobility of labor refers to the ability of workers to change from one job to another both geographically and occupationally.

What is the labor force participation rate?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the Labor force participation rate as: “The labor force as a percent of the civilian non-institutional population.” In other words, the percentage of the total population that is working. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines the employment rate as the employment-to-population ratio. This is a statistical ratio that measures the proportion of the country’s working-age population (ages 15 to 64 in most OECD countries) that is employed.

In the US labor market, around 29 million people are engaged in producing a wide range of goods and services. However, about 1.5 million among them are unemployed, indicating that the labor market is not currently operating at peak efficiency.

Some of the unemployed people may be simply changing jobs and thus they are out of work for just a short period of time. After all, an economy is dynamic and specialized. So we ought to expect some unemployment since jobs are continuously being created, but at the same time, some are also no longer needed. The typical example is that of a “buggy whip” maker. There is no need for [Read more…] about Labor Immobility and the Labor Participation Rate

Location, Location! It’s Important When Renting Industrial space, Too!

August 17, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Renting Industrial Space-

Do you know why you never see a real estate developer constructing an industrial park or industrial building in a downtown city area next to a movie theater or fancy restaurant? Well, one reason is the developer probably couldn’t get a building permit to start with… But also the location is horrible for what industrial space is mainly designed for, which is the storage of materials to be shipped or received.

Any realtor will tell you location is a key factor when considering the purchase of a home. The same holds true for renting industrial space or looking for a spot to build a small or large industrial warehouse. Ergo, in making a decision on industrial space, your thoughts should turn toward being close to airports, easy freeway access, and departure, and property that has reasonable railroad access, as well. Huge semi-trucks and 18 wheelers tend to eschew having to mosey through narrow streets and downtown areas where turning and parking becomes a real headache; not to mention the nasty looks they get from others driving small cars.

What Should You Look For In Renting Industrial Space?

First, these two things will be important: space size and square foot cost. Your third item will be critical: zoning! Your industrial warehouse space may not be legally useable for the purpose you need. Think chemical experiments and the like. So before you get all excited and sign any long-term lease, check with the city or county to verify zoning law restrictions. Some cities, in order to cut down on accidents and complaints, have industrial space restrictions you haven’t thought of, including hours of operation and loud noise.

What Is The Best Way To Find The Industrial Space I Need?

The answer is quite simple. New and older industrial parks and buildings are most times, without exception, located near the airport, freeways, and railroad terminals. These locations make it easy for trucks to enter and leave, eliminating much of the heavy traffic problems. In those areas, you’ll find plenty of “for lease” or “space available” signs allowing you to peek through windows, and check ingress and egress possibilities. However, you’ll find [Read more…] about Location, Location! It’s Important When Renting Industrial space, Too!

What is Frictional Unemployment?

August 9, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Frictional Unemployment

With the high unemployment rate these days and the bad economy people aren’t hiring, but one thing many people might not realize and that’s that there are different TYPES of unemployment. Interestingly, even during good times, there is something called frictional unemployment.

Different from the big picture assumption that unemployment is a result of lay-offs, budget cuts, and a bad economy, frictional unemployment is pretty much VOLUNTARY on the employee’s part and almost circumstantial, as it occurs when there is a job aligned for the individual’s skills, it just can’t be filled for the time being due to clerical issues, background checks and screening processes, relocation issues and more.

Yet, studies have shown that during times of economic downturns and recession, the number of people experiencing “frictional unemployment” drops drastically, as individuals begin to fear making any career moves. When the economy goes south, generally the number of available jobs decreases, which means there are a limited number of alternative opportunities for employees to pursue. Everyone seems to revert into survival mode and clings to anything that won’t rock the boat. Fewer people change jobs so the “friction” during the interim period is lower. [Read more…] about What is Frictional Unemployment?

5 Resume Mistakes to Avoid

August 6, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Resume Mistakes

Resume writing is a lost art, especially as we move into an era where we can find anything we may need online. Many people will do a quick search for resume templates to get the basis for their resume and then simply drop their own information into the prewritten template. While this is fine for the bare bones of crafting a resume, it does nothing in terms of submitting a resume that really stands out from the crowd. When writing your resume, keep these five common mistakes in mind:

Resume Mistake #1.

Not formatting everything perfectly. Formatting can be tricky when writing a resume and it’s easy for parameters to get off, which results in your resume looking sloppy and like it was hurriedly put together. Reformatting may be a nuance to do, but it makes the difference between looking like you care about what is on your resume and looking like you just slapped it together.

Resume Mistake #2.

Crafting a general resume. Not every job is a carbon copy of the next, and your resume shouldn’t be either. Your resume needs to be tailored to reflect your skills, attributes and experience for the position you’re applying for, which means you should take the time to beef up the parts that your prospective employer will find most appealing. You can find these in the job description in the Ad you are responding to. If the job requires someone who is “creative” or “detail oriented” be sure that shows up in your resume. [Read more…] about 5 Resume Mistakes to Avoid

Planning for a Carefree Retirement

July 28, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Retirement Planning

By Contrarian Investing

RETIREMENT…

Golden Rules for a Golden Era –

Just bring them into practice,

Reap the harvest of your careful ways

And Breeze through your retirement days!

The longer you have to plan for retirement the easier it will be to attain your retirement goals. If you wait until you are 50 or 55 to start planning you will have to save a much larger percentage of your salary. But if you plan ahead and stay committed to your retirement goals you can still have a happy stress free retirement.

Calculate How Much You Will Need For Retirement-

Consider the age of your planned retirement and estimate the amount of money you will need then for your expenses by considering that you will probably need about 70% to 90% of your before retirement income in order to maintain your present living standards. Be sure to take inflation into consideration– Adjust your estimate to take into consideration the effects of inflation on your cost of living. To do this you can use the Retirement Planning Calculator.

Become Debt Free Before Retiring-

It’s difficult to fund a retirement with huge debts hanging over your head and virtually impossible to actually retire in that condition. So start by living within your means now and clear any debts that you have accumulated. According to the Bureau of labor statistics, the average retiree retires at around 62 and lives about 17 more years. So you have a lot of years to spend in retirement and you need to prepare for them financially. [Read more…] about Planning for a Carefree Retirement