You help your employees work through business challenges and take an active interest in their professional growth. So why should you care if your top performer spends $20 on spider rolls for lunch every day? Financial stress can have a profound impact on your employees’ ability to focus, manage work-related stress and be productive on the job. According to a recent study, nearly half of American full-time workers say they spend work time worrying about personal finances. Twenty-nine percent said they manage financial issues on the job, and 46 percent admit to doing so up to 2-3 hours per week. While most wellness programs focus on physical fitness, stress management, preventive care and chronic disease management, they often ignore financial health — a factor that can be the primary cause of stress and distraction. If you’re ready to help your employees get their financial health in order, follow these seven simple and relatively hands-off steps. (Click here to tweet this list.) 1.  Know where you stand Measure the levels of stress your workforce is under and investigate the causes. Many Fortune 500 companies give employees comprehensive assessments of personal, organizational and financial health. Make sure to tailor your assessment to the specific needs of your company and your employees. Questions like “I am satisfied with my current financial situation,” “I live paycheck to paycheck,” or “Financial stress is taking a toll on me,” will give you a sense of the pulse of your workforce. 2.  Educate, encourage and force choice about 401ks Saving for retirement with […]

Entrepreneurs share the best practice they’ve borrowed directly from a large company and implemented at their startup: No. 1: Customer Service From Aaron Schwartz of Modify Watches From day one, we’ve focused our energies on making customers happy. Each of our team members is a Zappos customer, and we all prefer to shop there. We try to deliver that exact same “wow” experience to our fans. Our reality as a startup is that we have a small marketing budget — so we invest a ton in delivering exceptional service, and hope our fans will tell their friends. No. 2: Sales From David Ehrenberg of Early Growth Financial Services Our firm is a sales organization; everyone at EGFS needs to be directly involved in the sales process. I took inspiration from Cisco on creating this culture within our organization. I’m working to create that same culture here and impress upon our team that sales is not just the responsibility of our dedicated sales team. No. 3: Company-Wide Emails From Kim Kaupe of ZinePak As a former Conde Nast employee, I enjoyed company-wide emails that kept me informed of what other departments and magazines were doing. Startups move even more quickly then corporations, no matter their employee size, which means it is impossible for everyone to know everything! ZinePak’s company-wide weekly email gives a slice of what each department has accomplished and is striving for. No. 4: Strategic Stability From Lauren Perkins of Perks Consulting Big brands succeed because they have strategic stability: thinking and planning […]

We all define success differently. For some, it might be the ability to purchase a nice car or take a fabulous vacation. For others, it might mean being able to provide for one’s family. I think it’s important to take the time to explicitly define what success means to you. And of course, you don’t have to settle on just one definition.  I’ve been doing some reflecting lately, because my youngest daughter is about to graduate college. It’s an exciting time, but she’s also wracked with nerves, unsure of whether she’s making the right decision in regards to what she does next. Her decision-making process has me thinking about the choices I’ve made over the years — in particular, what actions have lead me to be the most happy in my personal and professional life. When I think about my successes, and the successes of my peers, several practices immediately jump out at me. Want to be a successful person? Do the following: 1. Seek out new experiences. It’s easy to get caught up spending your time doing the things you already know you like. If that’s all you do, you won’t grow as much as a person. The wider the range of experiences you pursue, the more you will be exposed to different people, lifestyles and perspectives. If you can put yourself in someone else’s shoes, you will have more empathy. Seeking out new experiences means you’re willing to challenge yourself and want to keep learning about the world around […]

In reference to undertaking a new and arduous endeavor, Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu is quoted as saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” If he were reincarnated as a modern accountant or business lawyer, he might tell a client about to start another type of new and arduous endeavor, “The key to a successful small business is choosing the right legal entity.” These entities vary widely in terms of difficulty to create and maintain, as well as in their tax and legal advantages. Knowing which one will work best for you — and when you might need to change it — can often be confusing, so let’s take a closer look at four of the most common types. Sole Proprietor Structure: An unincorporated business owned and run by one individual. Difficulty: This is the simplest, least expensive and least painful way to start a business. Just the act of conducting commerce qualifies you as a sole proprietor, though you will have to obtain certain licenses and permits, depending on which state you are in. Pros: It only involves one person (you) so you don’t have to worry about anybody else telling you what to do. As sole proprietor, you can arbitrarily decide when to start your business and when to terminate it, and if you die, it automatically ceases to exist. Taxes are simple as there is no difference between you and your business –- you are taxed as one entity –- reporting your gains and losses with […]

Welcome! Welcome to our guest blogging page! Please read our blogging guidelines before getting started. If you have any questions, shoot us an email and we will get back to you with an answer. We are excited to have you post on our site. Guest blogging is a great way to share valuable information and generate some traffic to your business or personal website. What can I put in my blog post? Your post must consist of original work and may not be taken from any other sources. If you decide to use quotations for other peoples work, please cite your source. Please only write about information relevant to the topic, whether it is entertainment, finance, marketing, ect. Think from a reader’s perspective. What would he or she be interested in? Could they benefit from any of my personal experiences? Could I give them any advice? Images We encourage images to make your post more appealing There is a limit of one image per post Images size must not exceed 8MB Please make sure you have permission to use an image Please cite the image if it is from another source Links We allow two links One link may be in the content of your post if it relates to the topic The other link may be linked to your personal site or blog, but must be added to the byline of your post Keep in mind; we will check these links to see they are not leading to any […]