Legal Liability in the Workplace

America is a fairly litigious society, although we’re not quite as bad as our reputation suggests. The truth is, there are good reasons for many of the civil lawsuits that are currently winding their way through the court system.

Harrassment in the workplace

There are far fewer frivolous lawsuits out there than it may seem. When we think of “legal liability,” we often think of in terms of someone slipping and falling on a wet grocery store floor because the employees didn’t put out a “caution wet floor” sign. Or we might think of it as someone suing for medical bills after a texting driver plows into their car at an intersection.…

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Boosting Information Retention During Staff Meetings

According to Harvard Business Review, 15 percent of an organization’s collective time is spent in meetings. This percentage has increased year-over-year since 2008, meaning many organizations are now devoting even more time and energy to meetings than in the past.

Staff meeting

Staff meetings can be invaluable for disseminating important information across a company and encouraging collaboration. But these sessions must be genuinely impactful to achieve such goals. Otherwise, organizations risk meetings becoming a distraction from other work or even a source of frustration for employees.

Boosting information retention during staff meetings is key to making them count. You want everyone to leave the room having digested and understood the key points.…

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How to Get More Millennials Coming to Your Restaurant

Millennials rank dining out as one of their top guilty pleasures. Ranking this activity even higher than buying electronics, apparel, beauty products and accessories. It’s a fact that over half this group of diners eats out at least three times a week, regardless how much money they make or if they have a family or not.

Why?

Millennials at a restaurant

People who’re aged 18 to 34 are the biggest demographic on the planet, recently taking the crown from the baby boomers who used to dominate the consumer marketplace. Most make good money and most important, they like convenience.

If you’re not catering your marketing to millennials you’re setting yourself up for an uncertain future.…

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3 Key Ways Your Small Business Can Save

Keeping down costs as much as possible without sacrificing quality is critical to any small business if it’s going to stay competitive, maintain a high customer satisfaction rate, and ultimately grow into a medium or even large-sized business somewhere down the road.

Business setup

Many small businesses these days can be run by only one or a few people, at least in their “infant stage,” and sometimes can even be run entirely from a home office with no physical business property.

But no matter how minimalistic your business may be, there are three areas you probably can’t do without: a quality business phone system, a good website hosting service, and fast, affordable shipping.…

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How to Trade Penny Stocks: The 101

Day trading is one of those pursuits that cannot be quantified into a perfect analytics style that anyone can accomplish. Understanding trends and being able to read charts is important, so you need to have a head for numbers, but you also need to be able to think in abstract terms.

Penny stock analysis investment

You can make money by news trading, or jumping on stocks that could bounce on earnings reports or the United States job reports. But learning how to trade penny stocks is a different story.

Penny stocks trading is never easy

Penny stocks, as far as day traders are concerned, can run from $2 to $10.…

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4 Reasons Why Every Business Should Use ID Cards

Identification badges have become an important part of the business world today, evidenced by the fact that one of the first things a new employee gets upon joining an organization is their ID badge. Employee badges help in enhancing security as well as serving to boost the integrity of an organization, working not only as a quick form of employee identification, but also helping businesses streamline their relationships.

Employee badges

Below are some ways that a business can benefit from issuing identification badges to their employees.

Prevent Security Breaches

Most employee badges have a photo and name of the owner, making it easier for the security personnel to differentiate between a visitor and an employee.…

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Negative Restaurant Reviews: Best Ways to Respond

A common misconception among many local restaurant owners is that it’s best to take the high road and ignore negative reviews. The thinking being that it’s better to walk away than fight, further damaging your reputation.

Bad restaurant review

There’s a big problem with this thought process. Over 90 percent of consumers now read online reviews of a local business before deciding to make the trip. Of those who make up this rather overwhelming group, only 13 percent will consider visiting a business that has a 2 star rating or lower.

You can try using all the tools in your arsenal, like a kitchen display system that can help you in preparing and quoting orders more efficiently, to improve overall guests experience; but you know how it goes: No matter how well you run your restaurant, you just can’t expect all of your guests will be happy with your services.…

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How to Beat the Competition: 24/7 Phone Answering Service

A common complaint among small business owners is the battle to beat out the competition that exists in this day and age.

Since businesses open and close every year, estimates as to how many companies there are in the world are hard to make. Some experts place numbers well over 100,000,000 global businesses operating at any one time.

Business competition

So how then is it possible to compete, even beat the competition operating in your industry?

There are a number of things a small business can do, but today I’m going to suggest setting your business up to be able to take more calls — immediately!…

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6 Employee-Motivation Strategies to Try (and 3 to Avoid)

According to a 2013 Gallup study, unhappy workers cost the U.S. economy as much as $550 billion. That’s because workers who aren’t feeling their best are less productive than those who consistently wake up on the right side of the bed.

In a piece about the study’s implications, Entrepreneur contributor Catherine Clifford encourages bosses to do more to motivate down-in-the-dumps employees. She notes that it’s “not rocket science.”

Motivated employees

“Workers want to be recognized when they do good work, have their personal life respected and have friends at work,” she writes.

Clifford identifies three important facets of what’s increasingly become a core concern for managers and business owners: employee motivation.…

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Why Home-Based Businesses Need More Than Homeowners Insurance

A potential client comes to your house to take a look at your portfolio. Being the gracious host that you are, you offer a beverage. A martini? Sure. Extra dry? Fine. Have you got olives? Of course you do. Client is thoroughly blown away by your superior mixology skills. Just as you’re about to cross the t’s and dot the i’s, said client trips over your laptop cord.

Home business insurance

No big deal, it happened at home and you’ve got that top-notch homeowners insurance just in case of such wildly unlikely incidents, right? Incorrect!

Your homeowners or renters insurance almost certainly does not cover bodily injuries that occur in your home while conducting business.…

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