Don’t be ashamed! I’m one of them too. Yes, we wait in line at Starbucks for ten painful minutes in the morning with all the coffee drinkers except we get strange looks from the teller at the front when we ask for a cup of hot tea. At least we pay 30 cents less. That saves us tons of small cash over a long period of time. We’re caffeine junkies too…we’re just not so much into the “coffee break”. When you go to work, is all you find in the kitchen a coffee machine?
You don’t have to be British to like tea breaks! There are hundreds of different choices with teas and tea places. It’s time to come out and let your co-workers know that you just don’t drink coffee. That the liquid in your Starbucks “coffee cup” is really Jasmine scented, full of antioxidants that enrich your body, and you are tired to letting coffee drinkers take over the office kitchen! Tea contains a whole array of healthy and exciting vitamins and minerals, while coffee is proven to elavate blood pressure and intensify stress levels. It’s time for a change.
Besides, who has ever heard of anyone have an addiction to tea?
Sometimes it seems like the world runs on coffee. Around half a billion cups are drank in the U.S. every single day. Most offices provide coffee as the beverage of choice during the work day. And walking down the coffee aisle at a grocery store lets you know just how many choices you have. How do you get the best office coffee for the money?
Fair trade, shade grown, organic coffee is usually a good bet, giving you both good coffee and piece of mind.
Starbucks has a house blend that can be bought in bulk at wholesale stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, or BJ’s.
Coffee Review can always help you find a good coffee at a great value.
Ask around, try some options, and you’re sure to find a favorite.
Client work can have pitfalls that you don’t come across in other kinds of work. The unique relationship between client and agency can be mutually beneficial and satisfying or frustratingly difficult. Setting a price for a service rendered isn’t always as easy as it should be. Here’s a funny YouTube video that points out some of these situations:
How do you decide when to keep a difficult client and when their business just isn’t worth the hassle? How do you spot a client that will understand and appreciate the value you provide?
On the other side of the coin, how do you decide that an agency is a good fit for your business? And how do you decide to end a contract and find a different agency when things don’t work out?
As you may have noticed, Plugged In Business has a whole new look. We’ve switched over to WordPress and added useful features such as highlighting our top stories so you can see the best of the best quickly and offering search capabilities to let you find just what you need to know. In addition, now you can read the latest comments, search posts via a calendar, or sign up for our RSS feed. We hope you like the new site!
Microsoft has a new player in the search space. Millions of dollars are being spent on advertising in an effort to change search habits and gain market share. It has some nice features. Like Yahoo, Bing provides related searches in an effort to help.
If it succeeds in gaining market share, small businesses may be using Bing to search, buying advertising on there, and optimizing websites to appear in the new search engine. Many companies will be taking a wait and see approach. But Bing has already enjoyed at least a day as the second most popular search engine out there, so early adopters have much to gain.
Microsoft is offering advice on advertising with Bing and search engine optimization tips will surely be available somewhere online soon. Now may be the perfect time to position your business on Bing and then wait for the searchers to come.
Okay, so you might not be taking that cruise this year, but that doesn’t mean you should stick around town all season. At the very least you probably have some vacation days building up and could use a break from the office. Whether you plan to stay home, head to the beach, or take the opportunity to visit friends, you want to be able to relax and recharge. That means not worrying about work while you’re gone. Here are some ways to prepare for that vacation so that you can enjoy your time off:
- Leave contact information and set guidelines for when to reach you. As long as you keep a cell phone on you, you won’t have to worry. If something was seriously wrong, you’d have heard about it already.
- Set a clear chain of command in your absence. That way, things won’t grind to a halt just because you aren’t there to lead the team. Just be sure to have a discussion with your command team before you leave to prep them on what is expected.
- Schedule a meeting for right when you get back for updates. It will save you some time catching up on email if you know the gist of what happened in your absence.
Book your trip soon to take advantage of the travel deals and enjoy your trip!
What kind of presence do you have on Facebook? This social media site has millions of users, including many potential customers you can reach through this medium. It might be hard to justify the hours keeping a successful group up to date, but the thing is that you really don’t have to spend much time on it. Set a time limit and a goal and give it a try. You might be surprised how successful your Facebook efforts can be.
What’s the quickest way to start? Create a business fan page. You can add some company information, a logo, and an intro Wall post. Before publishing the page, consider building a little content and adding some useful apps like a poll or a YouTube box. Once you have published the page, start inviting friends and colleagues.
You don’t need to have a complex plan. Just dip a toe in the water and see what it’s like.
Your employees are doing a great job, helping with the business at a difficult time. Unfortunately, raises are probably not in the cards, but how else can you let your employees know that you appreciate what they are doing?
There are a lot of small things that can make a big difference. Tell employees how much value they bring to the table. It’s quick, costs nothing, and really helps to boost morale. Consider writing a card or getting everyone a treat, like some candy. Get pizza for lunch one day. These small tokens can keep everyone going and feeling appreciated in these tough times so that you’ll come out of the downturn stronger.
What have you done recently to reward your staff?
Everywhere you turn, someone is jumping on the YouTube bandwagon. How many dollars are spent every year by corporations trying to cash in on the next great viral video? And yet, there are so few videos out there that truly get emailed around and become a web sensation. What are the tricks to making your video a success? You don’t have to make a video and then keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best. You can do something about it. Here are some articles that will help unlock this intricate puzzle:
How to Make a Viral Video–the Right Way
Check AllTop.com to see if there is a page on your industry. If there is, this can be a great way to keep tabs on the industry from one page. Recently, AllTop has added more and more topic pages and done a surprisingly good job at identifying the most influential voices. You can skim the new stories, looking for trends.