Archive for August, 2009

Ten Tips to Reduce Stress at Work
Monday, August 31st, 2009

Stress affects us all at some time or other, and anxiety or stress is a constant factor in our lives. We can learn to peacefully coexist with it or let it ravage our lives. One place where stress is particularly high is in the workplace.

Learn to reduce your stress and enjoy your work life.

Stress at work is a normal occurrence in today’s society. With economic pressures everywhere, no one’s job is safe. Just knowing that you could be laid off creates enough anxiety to impact your productivity and your health. Here are some tips to help reduce stress at work:

Tip No. 1. Prepare yourself before work. It is easy to get caught up in the negative atmosphere in a workplace. Resolve each morning that you will focus on the positive and not indulge in gossip or any other activity that brings down the morale at the office.

Tip No. 2. Get plenty of rest. Sleeping between seven and eight hours a night gives the body time to repair you. Even your inner workings need downtime. Lack of sleep causes jitters, lack of concentration, irritability, and health problems.

Tip No. 3. Leave early in the morning. Traffic jams, accidents, and car problems can turn that easy thirty minute commute into a forty-five minute one. With no time built in for error, you’ll stress out easily. Give yourself an extra fifteen or twenty minutes to make the trip.

Tip No. 4. Keep yourself in shape. Exercise benefits the body and the mind. Stronger muscles and more blood flow to the brain increases clarity and decision making. Stress won’t get you down so easily when you are strong enough to combat it.

Tip No. 5. Eat a healthy diet. Eating the wrong foods can affect your body and your work. Eating a heavy meal for lunch can make you lethargic all afternoon which ruins your focus and productivity. Choose healthier alternatives to keep the body in tiptop condition.

Tip No. 6. Don’t overload your schedule. Keep your workload manageable. There will always be another day at the office to get things done. Leave a fifteen minute window between appointments in case one runs longer than you expected.

Tip No. 7. Delegate duties to others. No one said that you have to get every task done all by yourself. If you work with a team, share the duties to avoid stressing out over each detail.

Tip No. 8. Take breaks throughout the day. It could be as simple as getting up from your desk and taking a walk around the office to clear your mind. On your scheduled breaks, get away from your desk. You are more tempted to work when you stay at your desk and you won’t even feel like you got time away.

Tip No. 9. Learn to communicate effectively. You’d be surprised how many hard feelings come from misunderstandings. If you have a problem with a co-worker or manager, go to them and let them know. Letting the problem fester or spreading bad vibes around the office is one way to get a bad reputation, or worse, fired.

Tip No. 10. Avoid bad habits. Using alcohol or cigarettes to ease stressful times can lead to addictions you’ll have a hard time letting go of. Alcohol is a depressant and nicotine will only heighten your anxiety.

Stress can help you or hinder you. Be more productive and learn to manage it stress in the workplace.

Filed under: Health & Fitness, Pers. Empowerment — Tags: , , , , , — Danette Hibberd @ 10:11 am
Five Tips to Declutter Your Office and Your Mind
Monday, August 24th, 2009

If you’re feeling confusion, frustration or overwhelm, consider the suggestion that you may need to declutter your office and your mind.

Who realises that the state of your office would affect the state of your mind? Simplifying things around your office, whether at home or in another building altogether, will lead to greater peace of mind and a more productive environment.

Your office doesn’t start off in a mess. The desk is clean, papers are in piles, and you can see the telephone. Every time you walk in, you’re ready to work because everything looks so neat. Over time, all of that usually changes.

For a home office, clutter is not a unique problem. The clutter is not only papers and mail for your business but also other people’s stuff: family paperwork, bills, kids’ toys, newspapers, kids’ homework, and an assortment of odds and ends. The possibilities are endless.

It has been eluded to that an out-of-control office space can lead to a depressive state of mind. The process of finding what you need when you need it is frustrating. The thought of taking the time to slim down those towering piles of paper creates anxiety. Dealing with that adds to the pressure of work deadlines.

Don’t worry because help is on the way. Following are five tips to change your view in and of your office space.

1. Do a little every day. If your office is already a mess, the problem won’t resolve itself in a day. You don’t have to take a holiday to clean your office. Instead, create a plan of attack detailing what decluttering tasks need to be tackled around the office. For the first week or so, those piles might still seem daunting, but relax in the knowledge that you are whittling it away.

2. Stop junk mail at the door. Junk mail has a way of piling up…everywhere. Most people hit the highlights of their mail as they walk to their desk or back in the house. Anything that you know is an advertisement, throw it away right away.

3. Use of filing cabinets. They are there to help you. Use hanging folders inside to organize invoices, finished project paperwork, requisitions and more. If the paper is in a filing cabinet it is off of your desk. Easy to read labels assist you to find any of this information later.

4. Go paperless. In today’s society, more and more businesspeople are throwing off the paper for the virtual. Instead of keeping dozens of paper invoices, create computer files for the information. If you need a copy of the invoice, it’s as simple as accessing the file and printing it. To avoid losing the information, back it up on a flash drive or hard disk.

5. Put everything in its place. Every home or office has a junk drawer. That’s where the odds and ends we can’t be bothered with organizing seem to end up. Instead of creating a black hole in your office, find a place for everything right down to the paper clips, and stick to it.

Organizing a mess is not easy. However, once you’ve decluttered that office you will feel better about working there.

Make a deal to avoid future clutter by using the above five tips. You will not only improve your efficiency, but you’ll be more productive as well.
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Filed under: Business Tips — Tags: , , , , — Danette Hibberd @ 3:07 pm
Brand Recognition and How to Achieve It
Friday, August 21st, 2009

What is Brand Recognition? How does one achieve brand recognition?

In today’s society, we associate different products with tag lines and commercials. This is all a part of brand recognition. Just to hear the name of a brand brings to mind the type of quality and the type of advertising associated with it. Brand recognition is a desired achievement for anyone in business.

You might not be as huge as Nike or Pepsi, but who’s to say that one day your product won’t instill the same loyalty? Brand recognition is not just a tangible quality but also an intangible feeling. We can touch a product, use it, and determine if we like it. The intangible feeling is how a brand is perceived by the public.

A business that markets a product knows their product. How does it feel, taste, or sound? What makes it stand out from the rest? There are plenty of sodas on the market but Pepsi and Coca-cola are the names that people can quote you off the top of their heads. It could be the flavuor or the design of the logo.

You can achieve brand recognition with your product. Let the customers associate positive words with your product and increase your sales.

Here’s how you can achieve brand recognition for your business:

1. Determine what sets your product apart from others. It could be that you are a small business with home-made products. The home-made stitching or lettering spells quality and that is what you want people to know. Maybe prompt customer service is your brand or timely delivery.

2. Survey your customers. The best way to find out anything is to ask. What do they think of your product? Online surveys and quality assurance measures create information that you can use to tweak your product or service, until it reaches the level that satisfies customers completely. You can use focus groups or telephone calls to determine how well or not well you product is doing.

3. Make your unique brand a reality. Use the information from various sources to give life to your brand. If you offer home-made dolls or cloth napkins, or a dating service, advertise using your special quality. It can help with developing a daring new logo or a tagline. Demonstrate to each customer your brand in action every time they come to your website.

4. Use other media to promote your brand. Advertise on websites; make short videos, newspapers, and the like to bring attention to your brand. Customers can choose your product over a similar one because you have free shipping or an excellent return and exchange policy.

A brand helps a business to survive in the tough market where there are plenty of products to choose from. Yours will stand above the others with a brand that adequately represents your company and is demonstrated to each customer.

Consider what makes your business different from the rest. What features, characteristics or benefits can you offer to achieve brand recognition.
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Filed under: Marketing — Tags: , , , — Danette Hibberd @ 8:27 am
Accelerate In Business Stiletto Camp
Thursday, August 20th, 2009

What an awesome weekend we had at the Accelerate In Business Stiletto Camp. An awesome line up of speakers shared their expertise with a wonderful group of women and a few brave men, who are serious about taking their business to the next level.

Check out - Accelerate In Business and see what an amazing time that was had by all.

Thanks to all who participated. Let’s continue learning and growing, and make 2010 an even bigger and better event.

Cheers

Filed under: Live Events — Tags: , , , — Danette Hibberd @ 9:59 pm