August 29, 2008
What state is best to incorporate in: Feature Article
When you are trying to decide which state is the best choice to incorporate your business in one thing that you need to know is that there are several factors that you need to think about. In analyzing these factors you are going to be able to make the best possible decision for your business, but if you only glance at the factors and make a small attempt to figure out the answers than you will probably end up making a mistake when it comes to choosing the best state to incorporate your business in.
Here are the factors that you need to analyze when deciding which state is going to be best:
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- What is the state's regulatory climate?
- - What is the state's tax situation?
- - What is the state's stance on individual privacy?
- - What state will allow you the greatest flexibility to run your business the way you want to?
- - What state has the best body of statute?
- - What state offers the best business climate?
In looking at all of those questions and analyzing them it has been determined that there are two states that would be the best to incorporate your business in. The two best states would be Nevada and Delaware. But what state you choose to incorporate your business in will depend on your personal preference. So let's take a look at the reasons why people would choose each state so you can make your own decision.
Here are the reasons that people choose to incorporate their business in Nevada.
Continue reading "What state is best to incorporate in: Feature Article"Is a Sole Proprietorship right for me: Feature Article
If you are thinking about starting your own business than the first thing that you need to figure out is what type of business you are going to form. When it comes to forming a business you can form a sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership, or even a limited liability company. But the thing is you must decide which business form is right for you. And the best way to determine which business form is right for you is to take a look at the various forms to see what they are, how they work and what the advantages and disadvantages are.
What is a sole proprietorship?
Basically a sole proprietorship is a one person business that is not registered with the state as a corporation or a limited liability company. In fact this type of business structure is one of the oldest forms of business, but it is also one of the easiest forms to set up. In fact this form of business is so easy to set up and maintain that you could actually own one already without even being aware of it.
Incorporate your business online: Feature Article
What is a corporation?
A corporation is a type of business that is considered to be a legal entity that is separate from its owners, basically what this means is that the owners are not responsible for the corporations debts, including taxes. Corporations can also have an unlimited number of shareholders, but this is only true for C corporations, S corporations have their own rules.
One of the best things about corporations is that the corporation actually limits the personal liability of the owners for claims against the corporation. Most of the time the owners of the corporation are not going to be personally responsible for any of the claims or debts against the corporation, the only time they are going to be responsible is if the owners have signed a personal guarantee for some kind of credit approval. But another advantage to the corporation is that since it is a separate legal entity that also means that it has an unlimited life, which means that it can last longer than its owners.
Continue reading "Incorporate your business online: Feature Article"How to start a LLC: Feature Article
Before you can even begin to think about forming a LLC you need to know what one is. A LLC is a limited liability company and it is one of the many different structures that you can choose for your business. Here are some quick facts that you need to know about a limited liability company so you can get a better understanding of what one is:
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- A type of business ownership that combines several features of both the corporation and partnership structures
- - Is not a corporation or a partnership, is actually a hybrid
- - Is sometimes called a limited liability corporation, but this is not correct. The correct terminology is a limited liability company
- - Owners are called members rather than partners or shareholders
- - Number of members is unlimited and can be individuals, corporations or other LLCs
- - Harder to set up than a partnership, but easier to set up than a corporation.
When it comes to setting up a limited liability company one thing that you need to know is that they are now allowed in all fifty states, it used to be that only some states allowed them. But another thing that you need to know when it comes to setting up a limited liability company is that there are only two main things that you have to do:
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- Articles of Organization
- - Operating Agreement
Here are six steps that you can follow to form a limited liability company for your business:
Step one:
Choose a business name. This is the first thing that you need to do because without a name you cannot have a business. But when choosing a name for your business so that you can form a limited liability company you are going to need to find a business name that is not already in use in your state and one that also complies with your specific state's limited liability company business naming rules. In order to get the information that you need to know for the name requirements for your business for your specific state you are going to need to contact the Secretary of State's Office of Corporations in your state. But for the most part you can name your LLC's business just about anything that you want as long as it doesn't include the words `bank', `insurance', `corporation', or `city'. But the name of the business will have to end with `LLC' or other designations of `LLC' that are approved by your specific state.
The hard truth about firing legally
You may be a manager in any type of business and you have most likely had to address an employee that is not working out. You can talk to this employee and let them know what is expected of them and hope that it works. If the employee just doesn't get it or maybe the situation is more then poor performance. If this is your situation then you may need to fire this employee. Before you do that you need to make sure that you are fully aware of the hard truth about firing legally. If you are unsure of the laws to fire someone and you still fire that employee then you and the company can have a big problem. Let's look at some of these truths.
In today's society it is very hard to actually fire someone. There is a lot of paperwork involved in firing an employee no matter what type of business it is. Then even if you do follow all the rules in firing an employee your business can still end up with a wrongful termination suit against them.
Continue reading "The hard truth about firing legally"August 28, 2008
How to preserve your copyright: Featured Article
Introduction
When you create something, whether it is a piece of art, literary master piece, etc. you want to make sure that you protect your right to claim ownership of your creation.So you go through all of the hassle of filling out the paperwork to have your work copyright protected.You pay a fee; you may even pay for an expert to look over your registration paperwork to ensure that everything has been done properly.After all of this investment of time, money and effort, you want to make sure that you are able to not only hold a copyright, but preserve the right that having an official copyright carries with it.There is a lot more to protecting your work than just holding your copyright papers.You want to make sure that people have no way of mistaking that the work they are admiring is not theirs, it is yours.So what sorts of things can you do to take your copyright claim to the next level?In the paragraphs that follow you will read of more suggestions for the kinds of things that you can do to preserve the copyright that you have worked so hard to obtain.
Giving notice
One of the most common, practical, affordable and easy things that you can do to make progress towards preserving your copyright is to use a notice.In short, a copyright notice is a mark or statement that quite clearly makes it known that the material that the notice is attached to is protected by copyright law and that any wishing to use that material must fist obtain permission from the copyright owner.It used to be a requirement that copyright holders used copyright notices on their works, but this law has such been changed to only a suggestion that is viewed as beneficial to the copyright holder.There is however still an enforced law on copyright notices that are on older materials.
Continue reading "How to preserve your copyright: Featured Article"Take your child to work day, is it a good idea?
Take your child to work day is a day that is set aside annually to show your children what you do at work. This is a day that will also help your child to discover the link between what they learn in school and what they can do as a grown up. In most workplaces there are special hands on activities for your child to do and workshops that will demonstrate what your company does. So, take your child to work day, is it a good idea?
Take your child to work day can also be known as take your daughters and sons to work. This was started in 1992 so that kids could see the direct correlation between school and work. It is aimed to help your kids learn why schooling is important and to achieve their full potential whether they are your daughter or son. Taking your child to work can also help strengthen the bond between parent and child by allowing your child to see exactly what it is you do all day.
Most companies will only allow children ages 8-15. This is mostly because of safety concerns. Some companies will only allow the older kids because there will be less disruption to the work day. Older kids are more adept at listening and following directions. Taking your child to work may also be more interesting to the older kids depending on your workplace and the child's interests. Taking your child to work should show your kids what it is that your company does and what makes it important. There should be activities and workshops to help all age groups understand.
August 27, 2008
Managing when you have employees away on sick leave
Most companies or businesses at one time or another will have employees away on sick leave. As a company or business owner you will need to provide so much sick leave to each employee you have. Sick leave is more then just one day of work missed. If an employee misses too much work it can become a problem for your business or company. How are you to manage when you have employees away on sick leave? There are some options to look at and consider for you and the employee on sick leave.
Before sick leave even becomes an issue in your workplace you will want to make sure that you have employees that are cross-trained to do other jobs. When you have cross-trained employees it is easier to fill a void made by another employee that may be on sick leave. With this method of cross-training any of your employees can take over another employees work for a short period of time.
You may be unsure of how long the particular employees' sick leave will be. You should be in contact with this employee so that you have a good idea of what is going on and how long you should expect the leave to last. If your employee is under orders from their doctor not to return to work then there may not be much you can do. If your employee is allowed to return from sick leave on a part time basis there are a few things you can look at doing.
Continue reading "Managing when you have employees away on sick leave"August 26, 2008
How to copyright your work: Featured Article
Introduction
Many people have hobbies and things that they do for fun or in their spare time.Many people spend hours and hours of work on things that are important to them because they have a passion for what they work on.It is important to many people to protect the things that they spend so much time and effort on especially when they are hoping to gain from it financially.Especially when there is intent to market the product produced, it is important to protect it in as many ways as possible to protect the investment of time, money and thought that have gone into its production.If you have ever created something that you think would be able to bring you financial benefit at any future moment you should know about copyright law and how it applies to you.Here is some valuable information that can allow you to copyright your work and protect it.
Continue reading "How to copyright your work: Featured Article"How to choose a copyright attorney: Featured Article
If you have spent time creating a work, you deserve to have it protected from being stolen. If you want to protect your work with a copyright, patent, or trademark you will need a copyright attorney. Copyright attorneys specialize in published material, film, or art.
There are a number of different ways you can choose a copyright attorney. Follow the steps below:
Step #1
Start by asking your friends, family, and business associates for a referral. If you have a personal lawyer for other legal matters you can ask them for a referral for a lawyer who specializes in copyright law.
Step #2
Ask for experience information and specific case examples. You can find a copyright attorney from the Copyright Office. Your state bar association should provide a listing of copyright attorneys. Law schools should also have listings of copyright attorneys.
How to get your sales team fired up
If your company is lacking in sales you may be wondering how to get your sales team fired up. Your sales team is one of the biggest money makers for your company. If you have good sales for whatever product you are selling then you will have more money coming into your store. On the other hand if you have a lackluster sales team who don't connect with your customers or don't understand the product you may need to look at some options of How to get your sales team fired up.
Getting your sales team fired up can easily be done with some simple training. This training can be done on site making it easier for your sales team to attend. These seminars or training workshops are geared especially for your sales team. In these seminars or workshops your sales team will learn how to effectively answer questions so they are not guessing as to what the customers are asking for. Your sales team will learn how to better interact with existing customers to make sure all their needs are still being met. They will also learn how to up sell or use add-ons to generate more sales with existing customers or new customers. Your sales team will learn new and innovative ways to sell your existing products.
Continue reading "How to get your sales team fired up"August 25, 2008
Digital millennium copyright act: Featured Article
Introduction to the Digital millennium copyright act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law by United States, President Clinton on October 28, 1998 after a unanimous vote by the United States Senate (which occurred on the 12th of October).The legislation implements two 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties: the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.The DMCA is also recognized for its distinguishing of penalties against those who violate copyright laws on materials that are found on the internet.The DMCA addresses a number of copyright-related issues that will be discussed in more detail in the paragraphs that follow.
DMCA infringement claim requirements
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act allows for the infliction of more severe consequences on those who violate copyright laws.In order to make a claim that one has violated a copyright that you hold, the DMCA requires that all infringement claims must be in writing and must include the following information:
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- A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or the person authorized to act on its behalf.
- - A description of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed upon.
- - A description of the infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit the proper authorities to locate the material.
- - Your (the one filling the claim that copyright has been violated, usually the owner of the copyright) contact information, including your address, telephone number, and email.
- - A statement by you that you have a legitimate and convincing argument that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
- - A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. (source: www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf and https://www.harvard.edu/copyright.html)
The five titles of the DMCA
The digital millennium copyright act consists of five titles.These titles are summarized below.To read the titles of the DMCA and the provisions therein in their entirety, you can do so by visiting the U.S. Copyright Office website, by downloading the PDF version of the DMCA from www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf or by requesting that the written version of the DMCA be sent to you (the contact information for this request can also be found on the U.S. Copyright Office website).
Continue reading "Digital millennium copyright act: Featured Article"How to choose the right new-hire from several qualified applicants
Your company is hiring and there are many qualified applicants. So how are you as a manager to hire the right person for the job?Here we will look at the different areas you need to look at to make sure that your new-hire is a good candidate for your job position. How to choose the right new-hire from several qualified applicants can be done in many ways. Here are some ideas to help you choose the best applicants for the position.
If all your applicants seem to be equally qualified you will need to look beyond their qualifications to do the job. These other types of qualifications would include their behaviors, personality, the way they dress, and their attitude. Your potential new-hires may be qualified equally on paper but when you begin to look deeper one of the candidates may stand out more then the others. This may require more then one interview but to get the best candidate for the job it is well worth the extra time involved.
Let's first take a look at your potential new-hires behavior. They should show up on time if not a little early to the interview. This shows that they value their time and yours. While in the interview do they look you in the eye or down at your feet. Your best applicant will be confident and be able to answer all your questions. During the interview there will not be a lot of mumbling or I don't know answers. The better your potential new-hire answers all your questions the better candidate they will be for the job they are applying for. The potential new-hire should not show fidgety behaviors. This shows their confidence that they are the right hire for your company.
Continue reading "How to choose the right new-hire from several qualified applicants"August 22, 2008
Great employee incentive ideas
Incentives are a great motivator for your business. Not only can incentives improve the morale in your workplace they can also improve the productivity of your group. Incentives can also generate more sales giving your company more money. The overall quality of your employees work will improve. Incentives can also help you motivate any of your employees or help in implementing new systems. All of this can be achieved with great employee incentive ideas.
Great employee incentive ideas will be different for all the different departments in your business. For any incentives to work in your business you will also need to know what you want to improve and in what time line. Set the goals you want your employees to achieve to high levels. Make the goals step by step and clearly written so there are no arguments or questions. Nothing is unachievable with a great employee incentive program in place. There should also be many incentives for the employee to choose from.
You can make the incentives according to the years the employee has been with the company. Giving an incentive every 5 years is common in most workplaces that have an incentive program. Your incentives can also be geared towards any sales goals that your company may have. The monetary incentives can be made just for your sales team or for the whole company. You can also give monetary incentives according to the profits that your company gets quarterly.
Continue reading "Great employee incentive ideas"August 21, 2008
What is copyright infringement?: Featured Article
Copyright infringement happens when someone copies another person's work without permission. Anyone who copies another's work without their permission can faces serious problems. Legal action can be taken against the offender and they can even face possible prison time. In today's society the most common forms of copyright infringement are the Web. The images and content on website's can easily be taken without the consent of the owner.
What is a copyright?
In order to understand how copyright infringement works; you must first understand a copyright. Copyright laws protect your work from being redistributed or duplicated without your permission. Most copyrights are used for written work, but can be used for many other things such as photos. If you have your written work copyrighted, the protection will last the length of the author's life plus 70 additional years. Copyright infringement has become a large problem for many writers. The United States copyright laws state that "copyright is legally established the moment a work is created." Although this means you legally own this work, it is still a smart idea to register at the U.S. Copyright Office.
The best practice you can take is to put a copyright notice on every work you create.
There are 3 things that represent a copyright notice:
- The word "copyright", the symbol "c", or the abbreviation "Copr."
- The year of the first publication of the work (for example, if you created a work in 2003, and then added changes to it in 2007, you should still put copyright 2003 on the document)
- The name of the copyright owner
What can I copyright?
Copyright laws apply to several things. The most common things that you can copyright are as follows:
- Written work such as books, stories, journals, articles, and HTML coding (computer programs)
- Pictures or graphics
- Music or song lyrics (phonorecords)
- Architectural blueprints
- Scripts for television, plays, screenplays, or movies
- Audiovisual recordings
- Sound recordings
- Web site content, design, or graphics
What is Copyright protection?: Featured Article
Protecting your hard work with a copyright is important to keeping it from being stolen by others who did not spend the time creating it like you did. In order to understand copyright protection, you must know a little about copyrights:
How a copyright works
The copyright is owned exclusively by the author of the work, unless written permission is granted to other individuals. If you sign over the complete work to someone else, they become the copyright owner and can do what they wish with your work. Many companies have people working for them that create the work and are unsure of who the real copyright owner is. "Work for hire" is considered any work done by an employee of an organization. The employee is the copyright owner, however your company may require signed documentation that states all work created by that employee is owned and copyrighted by the company.
There are several reasons to copyright your work. If anyone has duplicated or stolen any piece of your work, you have the right to file a lawsuit against that person. In order to take legal action, you must register your work at the U.S. Copyright Office. The U.S. Copyright Office will send you a certification of registration showing you have physical proof of legal protection to your work.
By registering your copyright, it will also hold up in other countries that have established a copyright agreement with the United States. If you should choose not to register your copyright, you can still use the copyright sign or copyright symbol to inform people that you are aware of your legal rights.
What does a copyright protect?
A copyright will protect the work you create. Here are the works that you can copyright:
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- Literary, dramatic, and musical works
- - Graphics and pictures
- - Architectural plans
- - Computer programs, and HTML coding
What is not protected by copyrights?
There are some works that are not protected by copyright laws:
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- Works that have not been recorded or written down
- - Slogans, names, short phrases, titles, designs, coloring, and ingredients or contents.
- - Ideas, discoveries, methods, systems, concepts, and processes
- - Common property that does not contain original authorship such as calendars, weight charts, tape measures, rulers, height charts.
Trademarks versus Copyrights: Featured Article
Many people often tend to confuse copyrights and trademarks because they are not aware of what they are. But people also tend to confuse copyrights and trademarks because they have some things in common. One of the main things that they have in common is they are both used to protect intellectual property and they are both referred to as intellectual property protection. But what you really need to know is the differences between trademarks and copyrights because they are very different from one another and both of them serve different purposes. So in order to ensure that you apply for the right type of intellectual property protection you need to learn what each type is, what they cover and what the differences are between the two.
What is a Trademark?
The first thing that you need to know about trademarks is that they are also referred to as a servicemark. A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device that is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of goods. But the trademark is also used to help distinguish certain goods from others. So basically a trademark is something that allows goods or services to stand out from other goods and services, such as the logo for a company or a slogan for a product. A servicemark is pretty much the same thing as a trademark except that the servicemark identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. In most cases the terms trademark and mark are used to refer to both trademarks and servicemarks.
Monitoring office communication and making needed changes
Communication isn't always easy among others, especially in the workplace. There are many different personalities and many different agendas that people function on. It is important when working in an office to monitor the communication of your staff. A lot of times communication problems can be easily fixed by taking some simple steps. Frequently monitoring office communication and making needed changes is important to ensure your business runs smoothly.
Talking to others may be extremely easy for most people, but when it comes to real communication that's where the problem usually sets in. Communications requires that we listen and speak competently, not just mindlessly. There are some good tips to ensure your employees are participating in good productive communication.
Watch reactions:
Monitor and observe the way your employees speak to one another. Advise individuals not to take another persons reaction or anger personally. Individuals with rotten moods are usually due to their own fears or frustrations, not you personally. Give proper time for them to vent before reacting to their emotions.
August 20, 2008
Managing disputes with clients and customers
Regardless of where you work, there always seems to be problematic customers. So how do you manage these occasional disputes with your customers? The key is to resolve such disputes before they escalate and get out of hand. Here's taking a look at some key steps in managing disputes with clients and customers.
The first step is to try to avoid disputes all together. Some disputes are just bound to happen, but avoiding them all together can save you a lot of time, headaches and money. Some guidelines to avoid disputes are:
- Deal with customer complaints fairly
- timely and professionally
- Make sure all employees treat customers with respect and show good customer service when interacting with them.
- Develop and train employees on how to negotiate with customers.
- Comply with all representations and other promises made to your client or customer.
- Have easy and fair ways with addressing customer concerns, such as: return policies and in-store credit if necessary.
- Always treat customers with respect and kindness.
What are some common disputes seen in small businesses?
Products:
- quality
- service
- price
- packaging
- delivery and customer service
Financial:
- the ability and willingness to pay accounts
Leases:
- the term
- relocation
- price increases
- quality of location
Breach of contracts:
- termination period
- quality of product
Misleading conduct:
- failing to meet expectations
Continue reading "Managing disputes with clients and customers"
August 19, 2008
Trademark searches - how you can conduct them: Featured Article
Why you need to do a trademark search
When it comes to doing a trademark search there are a few different reasons why you will need to conduct the search.
Here are the main reasons why you need to do a trademark search:
- The main purpose of the trademark search is to determine if someone has already trademarked the trademark that you are intending to use. The reason that you have to do the search to ensure that the trademark is not already registered is because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will not register the same trademark twice.
- Another purpose for doing a trademark search is to ensure that your trademark is not similar to another company's trademark, to help avoid trademark infringement. The reason for this is that if your trademark is similar to another companies then the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is going to reject your application because of trademark infringement. What this means is your trademark is going to be denied because it is too close to another company's trademark and that means that consumers can confuse the trademarks.
What is a common law search?
Most of the trademarks that you will be searching for are going to be found in the federal government's record because a lot of companies actually register their trademarks because that option provides you with more protection. But since you don't have to legally register your trademark to use it you can still own a trademark because of common law trademarks. So in order to do a detailed search not only are you going to need to conduct a federal trademark search, but you are also going to need to conduct a common law search.
A common law search for trademarks involves searching beyond government records. Common law searches can entail checking phone directories, yellow pages, industrial directories, state trademark registers, the internet, and many other places. The reason that you are searching through all of these places is because you are trying to determine if a certain mark is being used by others when they have not filed for federal trademark registration.
Continue reading "Trademark searches - how you can conduct them: Featured Article"Trademark law basics: Featured Article
What is a trademark?
A trademark is a word, symbol, or phrase that is used to identify a particular manufacturer or seller's products and distinguish them from the products of another manufacturer or seller. For example the trademark "Nike" and the Nike "swoosh" are both used to identify shoes and other products that are made by Nike and to distinguish them from shoes and products that are made by another company. But if a mark is used to identify a service rather than the products, such as "Jiffy Lube", then they are called service marks, but they are treated the same as trademarks.
In some cases trademark protection can extend beyond words, symbols, and phrases to include other aspects of a product, such as its color or its packaging. A good example of this is the unique shape of the Coca-Cola bottle that serves as an indentifying feature. These types of features usually fall under the term "trade dress" and they can be protected if consumers associate that feature with a particular manufacturer rather than the product in general. But these features will not be protected if they have any type of functional or competitive advantage. What this means is if the bottle is easier to stock or easier to grasp because of its design it cannot be protected under the "trade dress" laws.
What sources of law govern trademarks?
No matter what kind of trademark you are applying for they are governed by both state and federal law. In the beginning, state common law provided the only source of protection for trademarks. But in the late 1800s, the United States Congress enacted the first trademark law for the federal government. And every since that has happened the federal laws for trademarks have done nothing but expand, and they have also pretty much taken over the area that was initially covered by state law. In fact the main federal statute is the Lanham Act, which was enacted in 1946 and was just recently amended in 1996.
How to step up your management skills
Managers have an important job in any business. It is through the managers that schedules are made, company goals are met, and employees are managed and developed. A lot of times managers get into those positions will little or no training on how to carry out such tasks. If you are a manager looking to better your managing, then here are five important tips on how to step up your management skills.
Be organized:
Get a planner if you don't already have one. Write down appointments, daily goals, things that have to be accomplished that day (a "to do list"), things to talk to your employees about. Prioritize this list and with every item you finish, then cross it off and move to the next one. Don't make this an overwhelming list, just keep it simple, but with enough information to get things done throughout the day. Being organized in all aspects of your work will help step up your management skills tremendously.
August 18, 2008
How to set policies for office relationships, coming to work sick, etc.
Setting up policies for your business is probably one of the most important things you can do to help it run smoothly. Employees need to know what to do in any situation and how the company stands regarding it. Clear policies will help your business recognize and avoid potential risks to your employees and ensure that you abide with the law. They will also help to create an environment where issues are dealt with fairly and consistently.
You are probably wondering where to start and what to do when setting policies for your business. Here is how to set policies for office relationships, coming to work sick and other important matters.
Plan ahead
It is important to have all policies and procedures in order before you hire your employees. You will easily be able to solve any problems just by referring to the business handbook. This is a much easier way to handle things then waiting until the last minute to try and fix it.
August 15, 2008
How to keep queue times short for customer service
One main complaint customers seem to have time and time again is that most stores they shop in have long lines they have to wait in. Checkout lines and customer service lines alike can be long and frustrating to stand in. Whether it is the busy shopping season or not, there are some things you can do to keep your customers happy. Here are some tips on how to keep queue times short for customer service.
Better technology
One way to speed up queue times is to have more updated technology. Some businesses continue to use older equipment that may take longer to ring a purchase up or return an item in a customer service line. This problem can easily be solved by upgrading to faster digital equipment and programs. With just using faster technology, it can cut wait times down substantially. This alone can get customers in and out in a faster manner.
August 14, 2008
How to ensure no one is padding their time clock
Your employees' time is your company's most precious resource. Time is a vital component in the cost of doing business. But what happens when your employees are being dishonest about their time? This can essentially cost you hundreds and thousands of dollars per year. There are some specific ways you can know if they are cheating your time clock or not. Here is how to ensure no one is padding their time clock.
There are many instances where employees are "padding" their time clock. What this essentially means is they are not clocking in and out at the right time during their work day.Padding a time clock can be done a few different ways:
Personal time
One common way padding is done is when employees take breaks or take personal time without clocking out. For example they choose to: talk on the phone to friends, email or chat online, go out for a smoke break when they are on the clock and should be doing company work. This is one of the most common ways people pad the time clock.
August 13, 2008
Deciding if you should go to an automated call system
If you run or manage your own business and you would like to ensure all your customers are taken care of, deciding if you should go to an automated call system might be the way to go. There are some things to look at first to see if your business would benefit by switching to an automated call system. Here are some guidelines to look at.
An Automated Call System can be critical to your business. Automated call systems are a crucial part of phone systems that handle customer care numbers. They are essentially a telephone facility that manages all incoming calls and handles them based on the number called. This ensures that the high demands of customer calls are taken care of quickly and professionally. If you find that keeping up with all customer calls is beginning to be an almost impossible task, then deciding if you should go to an automated call system could make things easier on you and your company.
Many companies offering sales and customer service support use automated call systems to validate callers, make outgoing responses or calls, forward calls to the right individual, allow callers to record messages, gather statistics of users, it balances the usage of the telephone lines along with a number of other services. A large number of calls are received constantly through these customer care numbers. Management of these calls is critical when it comes to achieving long-term productivity goals. This guarantees the callers to convert into potential customers or clients if calls are handled in a professional manner, without keeping the callers constantly waiting.
Continue reading "Deciding if you should go to an automated call system"August 12, 2008
Creating a unique style of management that works for your staff
The success of your business depends largely on a unique style of management that works for your staff. The right management makes a tremendous difference for your business. With the right management team and the right staff, you can be very successful. There are surely some key things that go into creating a unique management for your team. Here's a look at creating a unique style of management that works for your staff.
So, how do you get started?
Selection process:
Select the candidates that will make up your management. Have one-on-one meetings with each one of them. Make sure that they are the individuals that you want managing your staff. You should pick those people that have unique and positive things to bring to your business. Remember, good personalities, skills and experiences are all important things to look at.
August 11, 2008
Working with managers of other departments
Each corporation has mangers that have to work with other managers in different departments. It is inevitable that department issues can arise when trying to collaborate with other managers. Building trust between departments makes working with other professionals easier. Building trust between managers makes it easier to value one another.
Holding regular meetings makes it easier to work with other departments. This allows each manager to discuss their department issues. Having open communication between the departments will help the overall production of the company.
Keeping your priorities straight with each department is also a must do. Everyone likes to think the project their department is working on is the highest priority. When the department managers meet together, they can discuss department issues and their deadlines. Many conflicts can arise from insufficient scheduling between departments.
Continue reading "Working with managers of other departments"August8, 2008
Steps for proper conflict resolution
Conflict is viewed many different ways. Conflict is definitely a part of human interaction and can have a positive or negative influence. The biggest question is how do you resolve conflict? Managing conflict requires a safe and supportive climate where people can express ideas and opinions without scrutiny. Let's go over some steps for conflict resolution:
Create a Supportive Environment
People must feel free to discuss their concerns and ideas without being belittled by coworkers. The ultimate goal is to come up with a mutually acceptable compromise. Having your team working together to create a constructive solution is essential. Of course you will have conflict between staff, but try a few tips.
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- Inspire your staff. Having positive influences around the office helps to encourage employees. When staff has a mutual respect and behavior toward one another, conflict tends to disappear.
August7, 2008
Making Decisions about Raises
After you have hired a new employee, you are faced with the decision on setting the employee wage. Of course, this is never an easy choice to make on setting the employee wage and it is the same choice you toil with when you decide on raising employee wages. Making decisions on this requires time and evaluation. There are two basic approaches to giving raises:
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- Give everyone the same percentage or dollar amount raise
- - Give employees different raises based on performance and equality between base raises.
One way to tell if you are paying your employees fair wages is to compare your companies' employee wage amount with your competitors. Do some research on what jobs are out there and what the starting salary is at for their jobs.
When starting the evaluation process, you primary concerns will probably be related to hoe much the employee wage is at now. You want to pay your employees enough to keep good ones, but at the same time you don't want to pay too much that your business's cash flow is jeopardized. When debating a few concerns, make sure to look at the overtime laws and minimum wage laws to be in compliance.
Continue reading "Making Decisions about Raises"What is trademark infringement?: Extended Entry
Trademark infringement can cost your company thousands of dollars. Many companies accidentally embark on trademark infringement without knowing they broke any rules in the first place.
What is a trademark?
When a manufacturer creates a symbol, word, or phrase to describe their product or company image, they have a legal right to trademark their products. This can identify their products to be separate from other company's products. Some companies can go as far as trade-marking their colors or design of certain products (such as a bottle).
The purpose of a trademark is to help consumers easily identify their product or company. Consumers can look for a product by a symbol, such as the Nike "swoosh". In order to qualify for a trademark, the symbol or mark must be distinctive. There are 4 categories defined by the courts in order to qualify for a trademark:
1. Arbitrary or fanciful - These are given a high degree of protection. This mark bears no logical relationship to the product, such as the Nike "swoosh". This mark is identified with athletic shoes, but it does bear an inherit relationship to the shoes.
2. Suggestive - These are also given a high degree of protection. This trademark is suggestive of the product, but does not describe the product. Such as "Victoria's Secret", it is suggestive of women's lingerie but it doesn't come out and state this.
3. Descriptive - This trademark clearly describes a product. A good example is "Dish Network", it represents satellite television. A descriptive trademark must tell you something about the product and can only be obtained if they have a type of secondary meaning.
4. Generic- This mark describes a general category that relates to the underlying product. A generic mark is not protected at all by the trademark laws since they are used only useful for identifying a product.
Your symbol or image must fit into one of those categories in order to obtain legal protection under the trademark laws.
August6, 2008
How to trademark a logo: Extended Entry
Many people think that to trademark a logo all you need to do is to register the trademark. But in actuality to trademark a logo requires many additional considerations then registering a trademark that is simply a slogan trademark. The basic difference between registering a slogan trademark and a logo trademark is that trademark logos require that a design search be performed for the trademark or company logo. This is to ensure that the logo doesn't already exist and that your design is not going to infringe upon another companies design. During the search you are going to want to enlist the help of a trademark lawyer so that you can be sure that your logo does not infringe upon other trademark logos and then after the search the attorney can advise you on whether it is safe to proceed with your plan to register the company name as a trademark.
When it comes to doing trademark searches you can hire a trademark lawyer to do a very comprehensive search or you can do a search by yourself, which is the cheaper option. To do a basic search to see if your logo is already somebody else's trademark or if your logo is too similar to somebody else's trademark all you need to do is go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office's website at www.uspto.gov and do a search. But the best news is that you don't even have to do a search before you try and register your logo. But you want to keep in mind if the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office determine that your logo is already being used by somebody else or is too similar in design they will deny your application and your filing fees will not be refunded.
How to preserve your trademark: Extended Entry
If you are going to take the time and energy to obtain a trademark and properly register it with the federal government then you are going to want to make sure that you preserve your trademark. One of the best things about trademarks is that they are protected for life, but you do need to make sure that you renew the trademark on occasion by filing a trademark renewal application. One thing that you need to know about renewing your trademark is that the protection is good for about a period of ten years, which means that every ten years or so you are going to need to renew your trademark to maintain your protection. This process will help to preserve your trademark, but you are also going to need to make sure that you constantly use your trademark. The reason for this is in order for your trademark to be protected and in order to renew it you have to give the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proof that the trademark is being used, otherwise they can cancel turn the trademark into a generic trademark because of abandonment.
How to resolve conflict between employees
Most professionals in the workplace will tell you they feel pretty neutral about their coworkers. Many times they like some and dislike others. There are times coworkers absolutely despise one another. This can make an unpleasant workplace environment for the entire company. The real problem arises when there is conflict between employees. Your company better have a good policy in place for how to resolve conflict between coworkers. If you don't, let's go over some helpful tools to resolve conflict.
1. Resolve a dispute as soon as it starts.
Most companies have a human resource department who is in charge of resolving conflicts between coworkers. Employees should know when they are hired that a disagreement should not become such a large problem that they are not willing to resolve it.
A meeting should be set up with the HR department to talk to each coworker individually. From there a strategy can be drawn up of how to fix the problem.
August5, 2008
Copyright law basics: Featured Article
When you have something that is valuable to you, you always want to protect it properly.The property may be something tangible like a home or a souvenir or trinket received from a family member, or it could be something more intangible like a memory or the rights to an idea.There are ways to protect both tangible and intangible assets.The way most people protect tangible objects that are very valuable is through insurance.One way to help people protect intangible or intellectual property is through the use of a copyright.Copyrights give exclusive rights to the owner to make copies, or make something derived from the idea contained in the copyrighted information.The copyright owner can decide if other people will be allowed to use their ideas and information or not.Of course there are different laws and regulations that govern these types of property when you cross international borders, but the idea is basically the same.A copyright owner can also sell the rights or license the right to their ideas if they want to mass produce it or to make money off it too.
People use copyrights when what they have created could be considered a creative work.So of course, one of the biggest issues is deciding what qualifies something as a creative work.Copyright laws state that the item or thing to be copyrighted has to exist in some physical or tangible form.You can't copyright something that is in your head or that you thought of.It needs to be on your computer, on paper, physically assembled or some other form of actual existence.One of the most important criteria about something that makes it creative is that it can't just be raw date or numbers.However once you write something down, it could still be considered creative, like a computer program or language.Words cannot be copyrighted unless they are recorded and put on tape or some other form of digital media.You can also edit something creatively to make it copyrightable.So even though just information or facts can't be copyrighted, the creative organization or outlining of that information can be.
How to choose a trademark attorney: Extended Entry
When it comes to trademark law you need to be aware of the fact that this is a niche area of law that has many unique principles and requirements. And because of this the service of an attorney who specializes in trademark law is actually required for many situations, such as to file a trademark application, evaluate a trademark search or trademark product name. But the problem that many people face is how to choose a trademark attorney. And one of the main reasons that you want to ensure that you have chosen a good trademark attorney is because they are going to be there to counsel you on all of the aspects of registering a trademark and trademark filing. But they are also going to be able to work with the USPTO to answer any objections the trademark lawyer for the USPTO has about your trademark application, so they will need to be able to write briefs that address any objections that are brought up in the course of registering your trademark.
Here are some things that you are going to want to keep in mind when it comes to choosing a trademark attorney.
Number one:
You never want to pick an attorney based solely upon a lawyer referral service. The reason for this is that lawyer referral services usually do not evaluate the abilities of the attorneys in their listings. They actually accept any attorney who is willing to pay the membership dues of that referral service. Then what happens is that the referral service refers you to these "trademark attorneys" on a rotating basis. And it is usually the attorney's own subjective determination that they are a trademark attorney, and the hard part is that these attorneys can have little experience and knowledge of trademark law.
August4, 2008
How to make employees feel valued
Gaining the loyalty of your employees is done by making them feel valued. Having a good employment relationship builds trust and value to the job. When employees feel respected, they perform better and respect their bosses and the company in return.
So how can you gain the respect and trust of your employees? Here are a few tips from other companies:
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- Be ready to listen to the employee's questions and concerns about the job.
- - Treat your employees with respect, not as inferior people.
- - Be polite to your employees.
- - Recognize and reward your employees for a job well done.
August1, 2008
How to evaluate employee performance
Many companies take the time to do a six month or yearly evaluation on their employees. This is a great idea to assess employee performance, set goals, and determine compensation. Employers who do a routine evaluation of employee performance reap tremendous benefits. It sets certain standards for the company and the employees:
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- Expectations for employees and company. Regular feedback obtained from both.
- - Reward good work; and discuss shortfalls in performance.
- - Open communication to discuss employee performance and keeps the needs of the workforce in check.
When you are evaluating employee performance, it is a great time to address problems and find solutions for them. Having documentation of issues that have arisen with employees will help keep your company out of legal battles if that employee leaves the company on bad terms. Having that written proof before the employee leaves, goes a long way in court.
Starting the employee evaluation process to address their performance requires a few plans you need to have in place. You need to have some performance standards and goals set up so you can evaluate each employee's performance against it. Below are a few tools you can start with.
Continue reading "How to evaluate employee performance"