Biz Screener » Office

Worth Finding a Bargain

bizr — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:06:26 +0000

There are some things in your office that it is worth it to spend a lot of money on. For example, it’s generally worth it for most businesses to pay for a good space and a good computer system. However there are some things that are worth the time it takes to find a bargain because there are good deals on high-quality options for these things.

Such things include:

Web site hosting. You can get very affordable web hosting without compromising the quality of the service that you get. Shop around and get a great host that will work with you to meet your website needs on a budget.
Internet service. You should be able to get high-speed Internet at your office without spending a lot of money. Unfortunately this does vary by area; areas with less Internet service competition may have fewer options for cheap high-quality Internet service.
Cleaning service. If you hire a cleaning company to take care of your office cleaning needs then it’s worth it to get one that offers a fair price. Don’t go too cheap; you want a company that has employees you can trust in your space. But shop around because there are fair prices on this service all over the country.
Car rental. If your business needs to rent cars for in-city or business travel then make sure you work with a rental car company to get a good small business price on this service. These companies are generally happy to offer good prices for long-term customers like you.

Knowing when it’s worth it to spend some money and when it’s worth it to spend the time it takes to find a good deal can make a big difference to your bottom line.

Technorati Tags: affordable web hosting, web site hosting

What are the Weirdest Clients You’ve Dealt With?

BScreen — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:06:07 +0000

As a freelance writer, I deal with some weird clients from time to time. The weirdest ones I ever dealt with was an obviously uneducated couple from England, who had evidently gotten hooked on one of these pyramid marketing schemes, also known as multi-level marketing — you know, the kind of thing where someone turns you on to a company’s products, and then you get other people to buy from the company too, so that you make a commission off of their purchases.

Anyway, this couple had gotten into a pyramid scheme for some kind of miracle-cure vitamins. You were supposed to take it every day and it would fix what was wrong with you. They were setting up their own website for the product, where the people they referred to it could buy it, and they hired me to write the copy for the site.

Unfortunately, these people had absolutely no clue on things like marketing and running a business. I had a hard time explaining how they could benefit their business with search engine optimisation in London, for example. And they seemed to have a problem identifying what they wanted me to write — that was a major problem, since I am good at writing, not mind reading.

But the real kicker was when they disappeared for weeks, or was it a couple of months? Right around time when payment was due, of course. I tried sending nice emails for a while, but when they ignored them time and again, I finally sent an email threatening to let the parent company know they weren’t paying their vendors. And what do you know, I had a response the next day! As soon as I was paid, I made sure to let them know the relationship was over — I wasn’t going to work with them again.

The experience was a lesson in avoiding weird customers, I’m afraid. What were the weirdest clients you’ve ever worked with? How did you handle it, and what did you learn from the experience?

Technorati Tags: freelance writer, multi-level marketing, search engine optimisation in London

Where is the United States Constitution?

andik — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:10:53 +0000

Have you ever wondered where the United States constitution is stored? Maybe you saw a movie with Kevin Costner where he tries to be like Indiana Jones so he steals it from a highly fortified vault. Well while it is stored in a vault in the National Archives and Records Administration, it is not quite the way it was in that movie.

Of course this isn’t your average every day document. So document storage experts have gotten involved along the way to make sure this precious piece of paper will last forever. Even though a document imaging service or two have certainly stored it for all of posterity with pictures, it is important that we take care of the original.

But what if something did happen to the original constitution? What if the building burned down or something? Here is something that most Americans don’t know. The one we have stored in the vault in Washington DC in the National Archives and Records Administration isn’t the only copy! There are 20 known copies that date back to the original constitutional convention. These copies are for the most part held in collections owned by universities, state governments and even some in the hands of private collections.

Technorati Tags: constitution, document imaging service, document storage

Beginning our Christmas Marketing

andik — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:16:28 +0000

Though Christmas is far away for most people, for businesses in the retail sector, Christmas season has already started. We have been preparing our displays and marketing materials for the last couple of weeks to make sure that we are ready for the busiest time of the year.

One of our challenges for this year is to increase our market share in the small city that we operate in. There are just a couple of big box retailers and us, but last year our sales were down by a few percentage points. The owner decided that this year needed to be different and we are going to be more aggressive in our marketing campaigns.

He has decided that if we buy mailing lists and send them a promotional coupon book that we will get more people to shop at our store. We tried the same marketing tactic a couple of years ago with great results, so we are hoping to duplicate them this year.

We are in talks with a couple of companies that provide consumer mailing lists and we should find out in a couple of days which one we will be working with. We should have all the marketing materials out by the end of the month and should start seeing the results of our efforts.

With any luck, this year will be better than last year and the store should enjoy a profitable Christmas season.

Technorati Tags: buy mailing lists, consumer mailing lists

Learning the Language of a New Job

bizr — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:48:42 +0000

Every job has its own language that you need to learn when you start working there. Sometimes this language is specific to the industry. Other times it is unique to the job position. Still other times it might be relevant only to the culture of the office where you work.

For example, if you started to work in a job that involved doing web hosting then you would need to learn the language of web hosting. When someone mentioned an SFTP file transfer, you would need to know that this is the same thing as an SSH file transfer. You would probably learn that these stand for “secure file transfer” and “secure shell” respectively. This is language unique to this industry and only really known by people involved in these types of jobs.

Now, let’s say that your company had a code name for each type of business that it did file transfers for (such as Alpha company). That’s a language unique to the job site itself. When you start to work there, you come in with knowledge about some of the language but you also have to pick up some of it on the job. A new job is a never-ending source of education.

Technorati Tags: SFTP file transfer

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Downtime at the Office

bizr — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:21:22 +0000

I used to waste a lot of time at the office every day. Whenever I would have downtime, I’d let it fritter away. Then I got smart. I realized that I could use my downtime to engage in small tasks. These tasks were often things that I used to have to do at home after leaving the office. Now that I do them at work, I don’t have to do anything when I get home. I can simply sit down and enjoy being with my family.

Some of these tasks are work-related tasks. For example, I often check my email or answer my social networking messages during downtime at work. I was doing this from home before even though the messages were mostly for business. Now I do them during the time that I get paid to be at work.

However, some of the tasks that I do during downtime are personal tasks. For example, I’m interested in going on a Canadian vacation next year so I spent some time making a list of Canada vacation ideas. I’ll still be doing the research for these ideas at home but I got the first part of the task done during work. It makes me feel good to be using my downtime this way.

Technorati Tags: canada vacation ideas

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Cost Cutting Solutions During The Economic Downturn

bizzy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:41:42 +0000

As the economy continues to be on the forefront of people’s minds, companies across the United States are looking at ways to eliminate unnecessary costs from the bottom line. The economy continues to show signs of recession and customer confidence continues to flounder, finding ways to reduce costs while maintaining efficiency is important for organizations desperate to remain relevant.

Companies suffering from the economic downturn are reducing costs and trying to find ways to do more work for less money. Travel budgets typically cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars annually. While business travel has a purpose for all companies, determining where travel is prudent and where it can be eliminated could realize cost savings. Companies who bring in members to common locations for business meetings might consider video conferencing services. While some business must be conducted in person, other business could be conducted by using video-conference facility where company employees meet virtually.

Utilizing video conference facilities instead of purchasing equipment internally can save money on investment of resources but give company employees access to the technology. If usage of the equipment proves to realize a cost savings then selecting video conferencing equipment for purchase will ensure cost savings by decreasing travel costs and cost of offsite meeting rooms.

Technorati Tags: company, video conference facilities, video conferencing services, video-conferencing facility

Promotional Pens

bizzy — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:48:55 +0000

Promotional pens are arguably one of the best ways to get your name—and your specific brand—out to other companies. Consider walking into a doctor’s office; perhaps you know someone in the medical field. As a field that relies so heavily on the relationships between businesses, it provides a concrete example of business to business marketing and promotional strategies. In any doctor’s office, there are highlighters with the names of new medicines, there are note pads with the name of a supply company, there are scads of pens with various businesses on them, none of which are ever intended to land in the hands of a consumer. No one likes to think that their doctor would ever consider promotional tactics when choosing their prescription, but it is obvious that prescription companies are spending a lot of money targeting doctors businesses. And it’s effective. Having to write with a branded pen every time a prescription is jotted down is stunningly targeted advertising. And pens are wildly cheap. For a very nice looking pen, the price is only $.32 at XPress Pens. They are a great option for inundating the client field with a certain brand at maximum cost efficiency—which, of course, is really the whole point.

Technorati Tags: pens, promotional pens, promotions, xpress pens

Email Privacy in the Workplace

bizzy — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:59:20 +0000

In today’s fast-paced working world, email is a quick and efficient communication tool that also serves as a convenient record of correspondence. Despite the advancements email has brought about in the workplace, however, it can also be a dangerous tool when used unprofessionally.

One important factor that’s often overlooked when it comes to email is the issue of privacy. To stay on the right side of email etiquette (and in some cases, the law) always assume that emails which have been sent to you solely have been sent in confidence. Avoid forwarding these emails without the consent of the person who sent them to you, whether the sender is within or outside of your organization. When it comes to emails you send and receive from your work account, remember that they are the property of the organization you work for, and could potentially be retrieved by a tech administrator–even after you’ve deleted them.

If you’re sending a bulk email that includes people outside of your organization, use the Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) function. Exposing someone’s email address to a large group of strangers invades their privacy, and also makes them vulnerable to spam, should someone decide to copy the list and send out unsolicited emails. Email privacy may seem like a little thing, but it all adds up to a bigger picture.

Technorati Tags: email privacy, workplace privacy

What are the Weirdest Clients You’ve Dealt With?