Problem Solving

PDFs are one of the most useful and reliable file types for communications, invoices, and so much more. In fact, you probably deal with at least a few every week. However, they can also be one of the most frustrating…

More and more, people want to mitigate their impact on the environment, and the commute is a big part of that. 28% of America's greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, and 60% of that is light vehicle traffic. You don't…

With colder weather approaching, flu and colds follow closely. This is especially true in the workplace. Luckily, there are easy solutions for stopping viruses and bacteria in their tracks. From cleaning with the right products to encouraging healthy employee practices,…

You have an idea that would bring in more business or improve production and the company's bottom line. How do you go about getting your boss to take on your project idea or request? Here are six steps to give…

Have you ever found yourself with a pre-printed form that needs to be filled in? Using a typewriter is out of the question. One solution is a template that you can use and reuse to print the required information on…

Jarelyn was pleased at how the meeting had been going. It seemed her efforts to encourage collaboration were paying off. Then, the door banged open. “Sorry I’m late,” Michael announced, noisily taking his seat. Michael, a fellow department head with…

Many businesses have anti-cell phone rules. Companies want employees to talk and text on their own time. (Emergencies are usually an exception.) Many companies ban social media from being accessed on their intranet. Personal social media use wastes time and…

You have just started a job you are excited about. Congratulations! As you spend the first week in the office, it becomes clear that there are ways the company could be doing things to improve productivity, save money, work smarter…

We all know the holiday office party cliché about that one coworker getting so snockered it costs them their next raise or promotion. If you can’t ever see yourself as that one coworker, if you rarely drink alcohol and don't…

If you’re like most Americans, you spend a lot of alone time in your car. Seventy-six percent of American commuters drive to work by themselves every day, and the average American spends 54 minutes per day commuting.Unfortunately, many people don’t…

We all know the type. If you did something, chances are they did it better. The dreaded “one-upper" coworker. You went out for a burger at lunch. It was delicious. Well, the "one-upper" had a burger you couldn't dream of…

In the southern states, especially Texas, New Mexico, California and Florida, it seems impossible to run a business without a Spanish speaking person or translator. This is also the case in many places throughout the United States. There are several…

Team members are fed up with meetings.That’s the conclusion of countless studies, including a report by Harvard Business Review, which found 70 percent of survey participants believed meetings are both inefficient and unproductive. Those surveyed felt meetings can be a…

As offices continue to eliminate paper records in favor of digital filing systems, you may be asked to dispose of dozens or even hundreds of old paper office files. Having a plan to quickly and efficiently dispose of them, after…

You sit down at your desk with a fresh cup of coffee and notice the red voicemail light blinking on your phone. Almost immediately, you get an email notification. Without checking, you know exactly who the voicemail and email came…

You forgot the sales person’s name again! And you can’t seem to master the art of certain office procedures. Why do you keep forgetting? Because you haven’t yet transformed these pieces of information into chunks of digestible data. And you…

If you've got extra office, warehouse, parking or other business space you're not using, you might be able to get others to pay for it. Take time to do a little research and you might find you can decrease your…

“Toxic managers” come in many shapes and sizes. There are jerks, avoiders, egomaniacs, dreamers, micromanagers, schemers, and screamers, to name a few. There is one simple key to working with all of them: behavior -- not character-- makes a workplace…

Hurricane season, earthquakes, wildfires, tornadoes – at some point during your career, you might need to evacuate your workplace for days or weeks. If you're a business owner or an office manager, having an emergency plan in place will not…

Is the customer always right? In many cases, no. But if you try to explain, even courteously, why your company is right and the customer is wrong, you can lose a customer forever. Not only that, you might motivate the…