Successful Blog

Thanks to Week 323 SOBs

by

muddy teal strip A

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

muddy teal strip A

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

deep purple strip

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

You’re Not Alone …

by

cooltext443860173_ive-been-thinking

about what we think about ourselves.

You’re not alone.
We’re all afraid.
How often I tell people that — wherever I go.
It seems to be my calling.

And our biggest fear, the one we live with daily doesn’t really sound big enough.
It’s not nuclear war, or terrorists, or even being homeless.
… though we have deep and sincere respect for dangers implied by those and more.

But our biggest fear is more dear and much closer.
We’re afraid of the ideas of ourselves we carry in our heads.
We’re afraid of not being seen, not being heard, not being understood.
We’re afraid of being lost without someone to show us how to find our way home again.

It’s not so crazy when the state of the economy has led us to question everything we’ve learned about authority and trust in leadership. It’s not crazy when we’ve learned to follow paved roads to everywhere we go. It’s not so crazy when we’ve learned what behaviors get us the right kind of attention … or they did when companies still cared about employees more than the bottom line.

The skies might be gray and you should know that.
But that’s a fact … not a mood-setting necessity.
Grey doesn’t have to mean bad times or things to fear.
Face the fear. Acknowledge the reality. And move on.

Put a new idea of yourself in your head.
Decide that people will see, hear. and understand — value the people who do and move away from those who don’t.
Move in the direction you would show your best friend or your child to go.

You’re bigger than the biggest fear.
Let yourself know.
Let the fear pass over you.
Move forward.

Be irresistible.

Liz's Signature

Be Still

by

A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

cooltext443809558_authenticity

“Still, still, still…one can hear the falling snow…” That’s the opening of my favorite Christmas carol.

It speaks to something buried deep inside us that craves absolute quiet and solitude. Picture a midnight snowfall, before the footprints. Picture being alone on the beach in the early morning. It doesn’t matter what your spiritual beliefs are, or your religious tradition, we all need to withdraw occasionally from the heat of battle and restore ourselves.

How does this relate to our online selves?

Here are some ideas:

  • White space on the website
  • Pause between questions in the conversation
  • Room to breathe
  • Remove one popup window
  • Say no to animated gifs
  • Clear every single thing off your desk
  • Offer a single button
  • Don’t pitch in every communication
  • Stop keyword stuffing
  • Think for a moment before typing a response
  • Don’t hold yourself to a 5 minute turnaround on all emails
  • Turn off the social alerts for part of the day
  • Cut back on the multitasking

And now that you’ve read this, sit up straight in your chair, close your eyes, and breathe in and out slowly five times. Be still for a moment.
_____

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee

How to Save on Business Insurance – And Why You Need It Now

by

Business owners face a lot of expenses. One way to lower costs is to shop effectively and look for how to save on business insurance rates since every nearly every commercial enterprise needs insurance.

Get the Right Insurance

Business owners need to be aware that when they drive their car, truck, or van for commercial purposes, they need to purchase commercial auto insurance. This can be for one vehicle or for several vehicles, but premiums can get expensive.

Just like people need auto insurance for the vehicles they drive for personal reasons, they also need to purchase commercial auto insurance for the cars they drive for work. Commercial insurance has a different risk category than personal lines.

Hire Safe Drivers

Safe driving is a key step to keeping costs low. If there is an accident when the owner or an employee is driving for the business, the business insurance policy will cover the vehicle and the protect person driving, but an at-fault accident will increase rates. This is why it is important to hire scrupulous drivers and screen them in advance.

Drivers with clean driving records are the best choice as they present less risk and can save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run. It may be difficult to find several drivers who have completely clean records, but business owners can weed out those with checkered records as they can raise
business owners’ premiums.

Also, if a business owner has multiple vehicles, it is best to combine them onto one policy so as to take advantage of multi-vehicle discounts. Many of the top auto insurance companies offer great policy options for business owners.

If you have drivers putting on a lot of miles, it may be wise to put them through a defense driving training course. Some insurance companies offer discounts to drivers who attend safety courses. By having their employees in these courses, business owners may be able to lower their insurance rates. Check with your company to see if this discount is available.

Raise the Deductible

As with personal insurance policies, business insurance policies have a deductible, the amount of money that the business owners will pay if their vehicles are involved in a car collision. When the deductible is higher, the insurance company will lower the insurance premiums. However, Business owners must be sure they have the funds available to pay the deductible if their drivers are involved in a vehicle collision before they choose one that is too high.

Consider Different Payment Options

By choosing the right payment options, business owners will save a lot of money on their insurance premiums. First, they can opt to pay their premiums all in one sum rather than on a monthly basis. This option helps them save on the administration fees the insurance company charges for month-to-month payments.

Business owners will receive up to a 10 percent discount from some insurance companies for paying their premiums up front. If business owners find it more affordable to pay their premiums by the month, they may be able to save on the administration fees if they sign up for electronic payments. This option also prevents them from being susceptible to having to pay late fees because the amount will be debited from their bank accounts on a set date.

What’s stopping you from having the right insurance for your business?

—-
Author’s Bio:
Jason Nelson writes about driving safety tips and how to save from top auto insurance companies at BestCarInsuranceCompanies.net.

Thank you, Jason! Great information!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Images & Words: Are You Ready to Make Opportunity and Change the World?

by

insideout logo

When I started blogging in summer 2005, I wanted to keep the writer’s discipline of writing every day. No one could have predicted, that it would lead me to several blogs, a fabulous business partner, a conference and consulting business, and place in a fabulous community. When I started photographing the sunrise in spring 2011, I wanted to keep a writer’s discipline of remembering to look out my window every day. The photos are starting to write stories with me. Now I’m starting to wonder where that will lead …

How to Make Opportunity and Change the World

Our businesses and our lives are in a constant state of change. We can try to tie things down, keep things where they are. It’s a battle that we’ll never win. On the other hand, they say some things never change. And the more they change the more they stay the same.

Change is like the rain. It’s not good or bad. How we see it is what makes us think that.
Do you see change as a problem or an opportunity?

See the opportunities.

Do you live in the sun or the shadow?

It’s your choice you know.

Do you see the clouds on the horizon …
or the color beyond them?

Maybe it’s time to move your focus.

Sunrise looks empty without the clouds

Notice how everything contributes.

Sunrise – sometimes it’s where you look for it.

Find and define new ways of seeing things.

Carry a sunrise in your heart today!

Shed light on the good things that you can make happen.

Problems and opportunities are the same things seen with a different attitude.
The minute we quit fighting a problem it becomes an opportunity.

To make opportunity, we need to trust enough to see what we’re not yet imagining.
To change the world, we probably should change how we see what’s wrong with it.

Are you ready to make opportunity and change the world?

Be irresistible.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Has Sexual Harassment Ever Impacted Your Ability to Do a Job?

by

For most female workers, sexual harassment and their paths will never cross. For some, however it is an all-too frequent reminder there is still a ways to go in society, relating to treating women with respect at work.

While sexual harassment cases against men on the job do occur, the abundance of cases involves female workers being the targeted victims.

Simply put, sexual harassment is defined as any unwelcome sexual advance or conduct at the workplace that leads to an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.

According to information for the year 2010 from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers who were unable to protect themselves from sexual harassment claims filed with the agency recovered damages with settlements accumulating more than $48.4 million.

If you’re unsure exactly of what sexual harassment in the workplace constitutes, note that it can take on a number of different forms, including:

  • Offensive and belittling comments directed one’s way;
  • Imagery around the office depicting women in offensive clothing or poses;
  • Outright hostility from another co-worker just because one is female;
  • An actual sexual assault on workplace property.

In the event you feel like you’ve been the victim of sexual harassment in the workplace but did not react, there are several steps to take. They include:

  • Deal one-on-one with the individual and tell them their actions are offensive and need to stop;
  • Go to a manager and explain the situation, providing as much detail as possible to back up claims;
  • Should the manager not be of assistance, go to his or her superior and continue on up until concerns are properly addressed;
  • Don’t fear for the loss of the job by reporting the alleged perpetrator. Everyone has protections in place regarding reporting such instances, although it is natural to wonder if it could lead to issues with job security;
  • All along the way, be sure to document each and every inappropriate confrontation with the individual who has been the aggressor. This is critical so that it can demonstrated to a court that all efforts were made to stop these actions should the matter end up with a lawsuit;
  • Should the higher-ups in the office not handle the matter, seek outside assistance from an agency set to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace.

At the end of the day, your employer is held responsible for the workplace actions of each and every worker under its employ.

To let sexual harassment actions go unpunished is not only a crime, but a slap in the face to the many hard-working women (and men in those cases who are harassed by women on the job) who simply want to show up day in and day out and do their jobs.

As a career woman, have you ever encountered sexual harassment along the way? If so, what did you do about it?

Photo credit: singlemindedwomen.com

Dave Thomas, who covers among other items business proposals and small business loans, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.