Business Finance Article – How to Evaluate Your Business & Improve Your Bottom Line During a Recession

Do you really have a handle on the things that cost your business money? Are you as prepared as you need to be to handle incidents? Do you know how to improve your bottom line in this tight economy?

Projections for the rest of 2009 are not good. Job shops aren’t getting orders and they’re failing to hit their production run projections. Schedules are being pushed off a couple of months.

So, how should you spend the rest of the year if you want to remain profitable? As tax partner at Porte Brown LLC, an Elk Grove Village accounting firm that serves privately held businesses, I suggest you:

- Thoroughly review your business processes
- Become willing to reinvent the business
- Get aware of Lean Manufacturing principles, even if yours is a service business

Why You Need to Evaluate Your Business Now

The processes and structures that worked before may not work now in this new economy. You may need to develop new processes or adapt existing ones to meet your immediate needs. For example, your business may benefit from:  Read more...

Posted: 1st September 2010 under Business.
Tags:Accounting Firm, Article, Automa, Bottom, Business, Business Finance, Business Money, Customer Requests, Customer Satisfaction, During, Elk Grove Village, Employee Meetings, Evaluate, Finance, Gloom And Doom, Improve, Increase Customer Loyalty, Lean Manufacturing, Line, New Economy, New Processes, Porte Brown, Quality Control Processes, Receivables, Recession, Self Fulfilling Prophecies, Service Business, Tax Partner, Tight Economy
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Book Review: How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About it (2007)

Patricia Love, Ed.D. and Steven Stosny, Ph.D. are contrarians in the book How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It (2007). Instead of endorsing traditional talk therapy methods for improving relationships such as, well, “talking”, they offer a more behavioral approach based largely on psychological differences in the genders as gleaned from research and their vast clinical experience. Early on the authors assert that couples “are not disconnected because they have poor communication; they have poor communication because they are disconnected” (p. 5). I have reread that sentence dozens of times sensing the paradigm shift this statement represents.

The cross cultural nuances of this approach appear to be fertile ground for investigation and clearly the bulk of the material is based on western heterosexual couples in monogamous relationships; still, many of the concepts may find transparent translation. Seasoned therapists and laypeople alike are likely to find some enlightening if not challenging concepts presented in a straight forward manner. Love and Stosny assimilate reams of scientific literature in the area of gender, human development, biochemistry, and romantic relationships. In order to increase readability there are few sources cited; this may leave some mental health professionals wanting.  Read more...

Posted: 31st July 2010 under Books.
Tags:2007, About, Behavioral Approach, Book, Clinical Experience, Deep Sense, Fertile Ground, Heterosexual Couples, How To Improve Your Marriage, Improve, Improving Relationships, Inadequacy, Infant Boys, Laypeople, marriage, Mental Health Professionals, Monogamous Relationships, Paradigm Shift, Poor Communication, Psychological Differences, Reams, Review, Romantic Relationships, Steven Stosny, Straight Forward Manner, Talking, Transparent Translation, Without
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Turn Book Reports Into Podcasts – Improve Reading Fluency & Promote Enthusiasm For Literature

It is very common to have students give a book report. There isn\’t any faster way to bore your class than to have each student stand up and share the summary of a story.

What can you do to improve student attention and reading fluency all at once? Create some podcasts to share! By adding the element of a real-world audience, the quality of your student book reports will improve extensively.

One way would be to put children into groups of four. One child can pretend to be Oprah and interview the main character of each of the other books. Add some music at the beginning and end, and then post on the class or school webpage. You\’ll be amazed how many students from the whole school will be inspired to listen.

Another podcasting idea would be to do a reader\’s theater from a story. Have a couple kids read the same book and build the reader\’s theater themselves. This can be done faster if the students choose the scene to present and then copy the text and cut and paste it into play format. Recording the short section of the book will greatly enhance fluency as nobody will want to stumble around on the words on something that the whole world will hear!  Read more...

Posted: 18th July 2010 under Books.
Tags:Amp, Book, Book Report, Couple Kids, Element, Enthusiasm, Family Members, Fiction Book, Fluency, Historical Fiction, Improve, Into, Ipods, LITERATURE, Newscast, Olden Times, Oprah, Podcast, Podcasts, Promote, Reading, Reading Fluency, Real World, Reports, School Webpage, Student Attention, Student Book Reports, Turn, World Audience
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Five Tips to Improve Your Writing Today

At some point in your career you will have to produce some type of written content, and this can be stressful for many people who think their writing skills are less than perfect. Written content is an important part of business—especially these days when such a huge amount of business happens online. Poorly written content can send the wrong message and potentially hurt your business, but virtually anyone can write great content and make their sales letters, business proposals, promotional copy, and articles successful.

1. Make it Reader-Friendly

Even if you are not the world’s greatest writer, making your writing reader-friendly will greatly improve its overall impact and how well you communicate with your readers. The best way to make your writing reader friendly is to organize your ideas or points in a format that is easy to read and follows a logical progression. Before you start writing, take some time to write down what you want to communicate with your readers and put your ideas in a logical order.

2. Let the Words Flow
 Read more...

Posted: 10th May 2010 under Writing.
Tags:Business Proposals, Career, Five, Improve, Letters Business, Logical Progression, Many People, Natural Tone, Organize, Personal, Phrase, Sales Letters, Tips, Today, Word Sentence, Writing, Writing Process, Writing Skills
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How to Improve your Writing by Standing on your Head

by Philip Yaffe

You may not have thought about it, but newspapers provide the best examples of clear, concise, dense (factual) writing you can find anywhere. Otherwise people wouldn’t read them.

Journalists not only write superbly well, they do so extremely rapidly. When a news event occurs, they don’t have the luxury of spending several days to put together their text. At best, they have a few hours.

Learning how journalists work their “daily miracles” can help you write better at your much more leisurely pace.

Here is an article from an international newspaper.

Britain yesterday has once again called for the United Nations to mount a peacekeeping operation in the violence-torn Darfur region of Sudan in response to increasing complaints from aid agencies on site that international efforts to help Darfur’s desperate, displaced population are woefully inadequate.

At the same time, Her Majesty’s Government is joining with other European Union countries to threaten sanctions against Sudan unless its government energetically moves to end the “ethnic cleansing” against black villagers in Darfur by the mainly Arab Janjawid militias. UN officials report that the conflict has already claimed from 30,000 – 50,000 lives and about 1.2 million people have been displaced, with about 200,000 taking refuge in neighbouring Chad.  Read more...

Posted: 3rd May 2010 under Writing.
Tags:British Government, Darfur, Ethnic Cleansing, European Union, European Union Countries, Head, Improve, International Assistance, International Efforts, Journalists, Leisurely Pace, Majesty, Militias, Miracles, News Event, Officials Report, Paragraph, Peacekeeping Force, Peacekeeping Operation, Philip Yaffe, Sanctions Against Sudan, Standing, United Nations, Writing
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How to Improve Your Writing Skills

Recently, several people have asked me various questions about how to improve their writing. I love writing and I encourage anyone who wants to write to try. Many of you have amazing stories, valuable information to pass on to others, or dormant imaginations yet to be awakened.

WRITER’S BLOCK

Most writers experience writer’s block at some time or another. Most of the best authors and writing instructors say that the underlying problem is FEAR! Fear of criticism or rejection. Here are a few useful tips to overcome this:

1. Address your fears by acknowledging them. Like public speaking, writing is an avenue to allow the world to hear you. Know that fear is understandable and yet often unwarranted.

2. Find your reader. Picture your target reader in mind as you write – and write solely to him or her. Your target reader is someone eagerly awaiting your message.

3. Get some positive feedback on what you have already written. Find someone to give you constructive, yet positive, feedback on your writing. Positive reinforcement is always the best cure for fear of rejection. Steer clear of harsh criticism at this stage.  Read more...

Posted: 8th April 2010 under Writing.
Tags:Active Voice, Address, American Indians, Authors, Fear Of Rejection, Fears, Guidance, Harsh Criticism, How To Improve Your Writing Skills, Imagination, Imaginations, Improve, Native American, Passive Voice, Positive Feedback, Positive Reinforcement, Public Speaking, Running Water, Skills, Target Reader, Waterfalls, Writers Block, Writing
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Ten Top Tips to Improve Your Writing

As a writer, teacher, and attorney, I can tell you that no matter what field you are in, you use writing every day and people often get their first impression of you through your writing. Whether you transmit a text electronically on your cell phone, send a memo by email at work, or write formal correspondence and briefs, your writing says a lot about you. That’s right. When you write something, the subject is about you every bit as much as it is about the topic. What you say and how you say it will tell people who you are. How well you say it may determine whether the date is made, the sale is closed, or the motion won. And what all of that leads to is how successful you will be in your work and in your life.

We can all improve our writing by following ten simple tips which the best writers use to be successful. I share with you here the ten top tips you can use to improve your writing:

Choose your topic well.  Read more...

Posted: 6th April 2010 under Writing.
Tags:Briefs, Business Today, Cell Phone, Company Newsletter, Email, First Impression, Formal Correspondence, Hot Topic, Improve, Leads, Lot, Million Times, Professional Paper, Tips, Writing, Writing Tips
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How to Improve Business Financing and Credit Card Processing

Most businesses which accept credit cards can obtain a business cash advance by using their future credit card processing activity. This strategy is also referred to as credit card financing and credit card receivables factoring. However, there are a number of critical business financing problems to avoid when using this strategy, and a merchant cash advance is not the only source to consider for additional working capital.

Business cash advance and credit card processing management is frequently one of the most overlooked sources of working capital for a business. This article will provide a concise and practical introduction to what a business needs to know about using this business finance strategy and how to obtain a merchant cash advance.

Businesses should not overlook the substantial working capital business loan benefits which will accrue to their business by effectively coordinating merchant cash advance and credit card processing programs. Key results from successfully coordinating these business financing services will include reduced costs and improved cash flow. Perhaps most importantly, a business cash advance based on credit card processing is one of the few viable options for reliably obtaining short-term commercial financing for many service and retail businesses.  Read more...

Posted: 10th March 2010 under Business.
Tags:Advance Programs, Business, Business Cash Advance, Business Finance, Business Financing, Business Loan, Business Owner, Card, Cash Advances, Commercial Financing, Credit, Credit Card Processing, Credit Card Receivables, Critical Business, Financing, Financing Receivables, Financing Services, Improve, Improving Credit, Loan Benefits, Processing, Receivables Factoring, Retail Businesses, Viable Options, Viable Strategy, Working Capital
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