The number of computers that are being rented has risen as a result of the recession. At first glance, this seems wrong, doesn’t it? Why would rentals go up when they cost money and people don’t have any? However, a deeper understanding of why people rent computers makes it clear why computer rental is on the rise.

The main reason that people rent computers is because they need them for a short period of time. In the past, many companies would go ahead and buy equipment that they didn’t really need to use often because it was a good tax write-off. These days companies only buy what they need. If they need a computer on occasion but not often then they choose the more affordable cost of a rental over purchasing a computer. For this same reason projector rentals and other equipment rentals have risen in the recession.

There are also some consumers who choose to rent computers. They do this before they buy a computer because they want to make a smart choice about buying a good computer. By renting a computer, they can make a choice that will last them a long time. In the end, this means that they save money.

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Just like most retail businesses, Christmas is our busy season.  It is the time of year when we get most of our sales (behind back to school season), and as such, it is important for us to pay attention to it.  In fact, it will start to get busy by the end of the month so with less than two weeks to go, there isn’t much time to get everything in place.

So, we have been in talks with some document management software vendors to see if we can get better deals during the Christmas season to pass along to our customers.  The response has been positive up to this point and it looks like we will be able to compete with the big box retailers this year.

We will also be starting to offer a document imaging service for our clients to help expedite their transition to digital document storage.  I know that a lot of our clients have been asking about it during the last couple of months, so it should go over very well.

We are also looking forward to seeing the sales on computers using the new Windows 7 – hopefully the public response will be better than when Vista was introduced.

Anyway, it looks like we have a lot of work to do, but it is also an exciting time of year – both for business and for us.  I can’t wait until the shopping season begins!

Technorati Tags: document imaging service, document management software vendors

Having your own small business is one of the biggest dreams for many people.  If you are lucky enough to have done so, and to have kept your business for many years, chances are you don’t want to just close the doors for good as you become too old to run the business any longer — but you also have worked hard and deserve to be able to retire.

Here are a few tips for keeping your business running as you age.

• Keep yourself in good health.  This means seeing the doctor frequently, AND taking his advice — wearing a back brace if you have back problems, or seeing an audiologist if you are suffering from hearing loss.
• Start designating duties to others to lighten your load.  A good approach is to slowly wean your business off of you — or wean yourself off of your business, as the case may be.  This can be done by starting now to designate duties to your employees, lightening your workload a little at a time.  My grandfather worked well into his seventies using this approach.
• Focus on hiring employees for the long-term.  This means finding people you can trust and who will stay with the company for years to come.  You want people who can represent your company’s and your best interests, even when you no longer come into the office every day.
• Start training someone to take over.  It’s inevitable — it will have to happen sometime.  Start thinking about it now.  Find and train a manager you can trust to rule your kingdom in your stead, with you just looking in on them from time to time.

Technorati Tags: audiologist, employees, hearing loss, small business

From an early age, my parents started grooming me for the career path that they wanted me to follow.  You see, our family is from a long line of Tampa criminal defense attorneys, and I was expected to follow suit.

Truth be told, it seemed like a good idea when I started high school, but by as I neared graduation, I had different ideas.  Even though I could see the potential income that being a Tampa criminal attorney provided, I was really worried about the mental effects that the job would have on me.  I was worried that by dealing with the scum and worst situations that you could find in the world that my currently positive outlook on life would be affected.

My other problem with following in my parents footsteps was that I loved art.  I not only loved it, but I was good at it.  In fact, I always believed that it was smarter to follow your passion than do something just for the financial reward.  Though the life of an artist could provide similar income levels as a lawyer would receive, there was less of a guarantee – some artists make next to nothing.

I have been accepted into an art school, but I haven’t told my parents yet.  I hope they let me go and understand that choosing my own career path is very important to me.

Technorati Tags: Tampa criminal attorney, Tampa criminal defense attorneys

Stair lifts are one of several devices that your business may have to consider in order to comply with a number of ADA guidelines for creating equality in the work place. If you have multiple levels where your employees work, or there are challenging transitions that might require some sort of smooth ramping, you’ll want to be ahead of the curve and take care of compliance sooner rather than later.

photo credit: macieklew

Not long ago, a business that had occupied the same building for nearly 100 years was cited for not providing a wheel chair bound employee with the necessary wheel chair lift that would allow them to get from the first to the second floor of the plant.

It was determined this was preventing that employee from doing their job better, which in turn was one of the main reasons the company had laid off that worker.

The irony of the situation was that in order to comply and pay out damages, the company would have been better off to have kept the employee and have the lift installed in the first place. The good news, however was that part of the settlement saw the ousted worker regaining their former position. Hopefully there was no animosity on either side of that equation.

Technorati Tags: stair lifts, wheel chair lift

Agility training is becoming quite a big thing in the dog training world.  It’s like extracurricular activities for dogs — people are teaching their dogs to run obstacle courses, and even competing with them!

If you have skill as a dog trainer, starting a dog agility training business might be a good business move for you.  Right now it’s so popular that if you set up classes, you are sure to have a lot of interest.  Here are a few tips for starting your own agility training business.

• Have some experience in professional dog training.  Training your own dogs doesn’t count!  If you haven’t ever done it professionally before, run puppy training classes for Petsmart or something before opening up your own business.
• Set up a good website.  Every business needs a website, of course.  Yours should be attractive, list classes and other services you offer, and offer some information on dog training for people who are considering whether they need your services or not.  For instance, you could list information on which breeds tend to be better suited for agility training.  People need to know whether their Pembroke Welsh corgi or their miniature schnauzer would make a good candidate for agility training.
• Network.  Go to dog events in your area, including dog agility competitions, and network with the people there.  Remember, you are there to represent your business, so be sure to dress and act professionally!  Keep a list of networking contacts for a rainy day — you never know when you might need to pull a favor or do some cold calling.

Be sure to watch the video.  This cute little dog comes on about a minute and a half into the video.  He has apparently no interest in the course — but when he does jump, it’s funny to see, because he looks like a little jumping bean.

Technorati Tags: dog agility training, dog training, miniature schnauzer, Pembroke Welsh corgi

One of the things that we can’t seem to escape no matter how much we try is time.  It creeps up slowly on us and is constantly counting down until the day we die.  I don’t want to sound too ominous here, but I guess it is a fact of life that I have been noticing a little bit more lately.

One of the first indications that I was getting older was when I started to lose my hair.  Though baldness does run in my family, I was hoping that I would be able to keep my blonde hair for as long as possible, but it seems that my body had other plans.  It started out gradually with thinning hair, and before I knew it, I had one of those “nice” bald spots on my head.

It continued to get worse from that point when I spotted my first grey hair at the age of 29.  It was one of the most horrible days of my life, but now, just ten short years later, I wish that it would all turn grey – I look goofy with grey and blonde hair.

The latest thing that happened is that my hearing is starting to go.  I had to go get a hearing aid just so I can hear now.  I suppose I shouldn’t complain as it could be worse, but now I am just really starting to look old even though I just don’t feel old inside.

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Ever since I was a little child, my grandmother had talked about the great life that we would live as adults.  She had taught us that education is important and that we needed to go to college and get an education so that we could have high paying jobs.  Basically, she wanted the best for us and from what it sounded like at the time, she was going to do what it would take to make it happen.

Though our parents started saving money for us to go to college, they never really put away enough that would pay for our education when we needed it.  In fact, there was really never enough money to go around anyway, and our education funds were a low priority.  When we learned of this situation when we were in high school, our hopes of going to college were pretty much shattered.

But we should have counted on our grandmother.

As it turns out, grandma had been stockpiling gold over the years in hopes that she would be able to find a gold buyer that would pay her more than what she invested.  Lucky for us, when she did decide to sell the gold jewelry she had amassed over the years, she made a huge profit and has enough for my brother and I to go to college.

I don’t know what we would have done if it wasn’t for grandma – chances are we would be flipping burgers right now.

Technorati Tags: college, gold buyer, sell the gold jewelry

There are a lot of people who take a retreat away from work in order to find themselves. What’s interesting is that so many of them all travel to the same destinations. India is a really common destination for this type of self-healing vacation. New Zealand is another popular choice. But you don’t have to go to these places to figure out how to restore balance and peace in your life. In fact, you can go to whichever place really beckons to you.

Think about the places that you’ve learned about in your lifetime. Which ones really stick out in your memory? Do you remember learning about the ice field in Banff Alberta when you were in grade school? Do you recall hearing about a friend’s brief trip to Venezuela ten or fifteen years ago? There is probably a reason that these places ring a bell for you. These are probably the places that you should go to find yourself.

As for me, I’ve got two spots in mind. One is Buenos Aires, Argentina. The other is Reykjavik, Iceland. I know, I know; these two places couldn’t be more different from one another. Nevertheless, these are the two spots that stick in my memory. If I ever need to get away from this city to find myself, I’m going to one of those two cities.

Technorati Tags: banff alberta, ice field

Employers are often among the first people to notice that someone has an addiction to drugs or alcohol. That’s because addictions cause people to engage in behavior that limits their ability to work. They show up late, are too groggy to get things done or make errors that they didn’t used to make.

What should you do if you notice that one of your employees has a drug or alcohol addiction?

The first thing that you should do is to discuss the situation with the employee. If you have a supervisor then this person should also be called in to the discussion. Express your concerns about the situation. Let the employee know what you are willing to do to help. Some offices will assist with time off for alcohol rehab and things like that. Figure out what the policies are where you work so you can let the employee know what his options are.

If the employee isn’t interested in getting help then you need to take your role as the boss seriously. This means that you don’t get involved with the personal issues surrounding the addiction. Instead, you focus on making sure that the employee does his job. Employee reviews and tracking of work performance are important to try to keep the employee on task. Your job is only to make sure that he does his job in spite of his problems.

Technorati Tags: alcohol rehab