When some people think of incentive programs, they automatically think that these kinds of programs will end of costing thousands of dollars in unappreciated merchandise, but this does not have to be the case. Many times, your employees just want to feel recognized. And you do not have to go about this is extravagant ways. Here are some affordable and thoughtful examples of how to recognize your employees’ achievements:

1.Treat your employees to lunch. After a long, stressful week reward them with a nice meal at a local favorite restaurant. It’s really amazing what a full, happy belly can accomplish.

2. Create a fun, relaxing work environment that encourages the sharing of ideas as well as concerns. There is a big difference between fear and respect. Remember, you don’t want employees be afraid to voice their opinions. Just as you demand respect, it is only fair that they receive respect in return.

3. Start a birthday program and have a nice gift delivered to each employee on his or her birthday.

4. People love swag! When someone goes above and beyond, reward them with a company sweatshirt. Give out real gifts that your employees will enjoy, like jackets, T-shirts, and hats-all with your company logo. Leave the pens and mugs for the clients.

See? Starting a customer rewards programs is a lot easier than you may have originally thought!

Technorati Tags: customer rewards programs, incentive programs, swag

I met this guy online who’s studying to be a Washington DC dentist.  Well, not specifically that there’s a special “DC Dentist” degree or anything, but he definitely wants to go live there.  He loves being at the center of the nation’s power and thinks it’s all very intriguing and exciting.  He loves history, too and I’m down with that.  We currently live in Denver, which has a good dose of it’s own history, but once you’ve lived in the West all of your life, you get tired of Indian and mining history. 

I don’t think I’d mind living in DC if I had money and could actually live in Georgetown or something.  But I’ve heard parts of DC are actually quite crappy.  And I think that at first, that’s where we’d most likely have to live. Mostly, though, I’m against living there for one reason:  the threat of terrorism.  No one’s going to bomb Denver, but DC, yeah.  I guess we used to be a bit of a target due to our proximity to NORAD, but not anymore-they’re closing down the place.  After New York, wouldn’t you think that DC is the number one target? Doing Sedation dentistry DC won’t protect us much.

Technorati Tags: NORAD, Sedation dentistry DC, Washington DC dentist

If you operate a small business then you may eventually require the services of a self storage provider. This is a place where you can store items that your business needs to keep but doesn’t need to have on-site.

Follow these tips to make smart use of business storage units:

• Shop around. You don’t want to spend too much money on a storage unit but you do want to get one that is secure.
• Remember it at tax time. Don’t forget that the expense of renting a storage unit is a tax deduction for your business.
• Know what’s in there. You should always keep an inventory of everything that you have in storage.
• Insure what you need to. You may want to get insurance to cover loss of the items in storage in case the storage locker is damaged or it gets broken into.
• Put items you may need up front. You don’t want to have to go digging through the whole locker to get items that you may actually need.
• Be careful about who has the keys. Not every employee in your office needs to have access to the storage locker.

A business storage locker makes sense for a lot of businesses. Use it correctly so that it makes sense for yours.

Technorati Tags: business storage, self storage

Usually I look forward to the summer, but this year, I am not really looking forward to it.  Due to our financial situation, both my wife and I need to work this summer, and we needed to figure out some sort of childcare for our children.  We were really concerned that we wouldn’t be able to afford daycare.  Thankfully, my wife’s parents volunteered to take them, so at least it won’t cost us anything.

But we want to make sure that our children don’t get bored while they are there, so we decided that we would get them some activities to do while they are out there.  Grandma and grandpa don’t really have much for kids outdoor toys, so we thought we would get some to have at their home.  They already had some jigsaw puzzles (my son’s favorite), but they couldn’t stay cooped up inside all day

Since they live at the lake, we also picked up some beach toys (and a lot of sunscreen) so they can play at the beach every day.  I think the kids are really looking forward to it, though I hope we can handle it - neither one of us has been away from them that long before.

Technorati Tags: jigsaw puzzles, kids outdoor toys

I’m glad to see that there are many many more Incontinence aids out now than there used to be.  It used to be that by the time you were around 50, you definitely needed a little help because of Bladder problems, but the only solutions seemed to be those bulky underpants.

Now I see on tv that there are everything from paper products to medicine.  I’m 46 myself, so I am very grateful that they are taking advantage of technologies for soaking up fluids from all walks of life to help people with this problem.  And it’s not just elderly folks:  pregnant women come to mind as people who desperately do NOT want to put on bulky paper padded pants!

So why when I walk into a nursing home do I still see patients there with their adult diapers so soaked that it’s now soaking up onto their shirts?  Somebody is still really missing the boat on taking care of those unable to care for themselves in nursing homes.  Doesn’t it stand to reason that if you can find every type of thin diaper and kotex designed for all kinds of silhouettes, ages and movement, that there should be that many options for the recluse?

Technorati Tags: Bladder problems, Incontinence aids, kotex

If you are planning on working up through the late stages of your pregnancy then there are some things that you should keep at the office during this time. Those things include:

• Snacks. We all know that you’re going to get cravings. Try to keep an array of different healthy snacks at your desk.
• Water. It’s really important to make sure that you’re not dehydrated during pregnancy so keep water at your desk all day.
• Extra set of clothes. You should keep an extra set of pregnancy maternity clothes on hand. You just never know when something might spill on your outfit.
• Yoga mat. Pregnant women may find that they need to nap during the day. Keep a yoga mat at your desk to stretch out on for a quick nap in an empty office.
• Doctor’s number. Make sure that your doc’s number is handy. It should be accessible not only to you but to others in your office. You just don’t know when you might go into labor!

These are just a few of the things that you want to keep on hand if you’re going to keep working until the baby is ready to come out. Are there any other things that you can think of that should also be at your desk?

Technorati Tags: pregnancy maternity clothes

One of the things that I miss most about working in an office is that it provided a built-in support system. Specifically, the people that I worked with were often the best support that I had for self-improvement projects. They provided a daily way to check in with myself about self-improvement goals and to provide me with thoughts and feedback about what I was doing.

This was true for several different types of self-improvement. For example, when I went on a cookie diet to lose weight it was my co-workers who supported me in that. Several of them joined the diet with me. We reported to each other and kept each other on track. This was also true when I decided to start doing creativity workbooks to get to know my artistic urges better.

I still manage to find support for the things that I want help with even though I work from home now. I join online groups and get my friends together to support each other in self-improvement goals. Still, these things do take effort. Having a group of people in an office didn’t require me to do anything more than to just show up at work and talk to people there.

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While doing some online research about taking Canada tours and other vacation options in the frozen land to the north, I discovered something pretty amazing. Canada actually has more than just a winter season!

In fact, I discovered information about the Sulphur Mountain hot springs and immediately became enamored with the concept of heading up that way during the summer months.

I had always simply considered that Canada was covered with snow. Year round. Nothing but snow and skiing and winter sports. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. While there are clearly world class ski resorts in that country just to the north, there are also other very attractive vacation destination opportunities that attract hundreds of thousands of tourists year round.

It was while checking into a Banff vacation package that I learned more about the hot springs and a host of other non-winter time activities. There are numerous attractions, themed festivals, art shows, and so much outdoor adventure opportunities that you may not know where to start.

After just a short time of researching, I realized that I was going to have enough knowledge to last me the next 10 years of vacation going. Not that I’m complaining mind you. I’m always up for a lot of R&R!

Technorati Tags: Banff vacation package, Canada tours

Whenever you get a service provided to you for the technology that you use in your place of business that service should come along with some sort of guarantee about the security of your technology. If it doesn’t then you’re going to want to make sure that you understand the risks that you are taking when using the service and the technology that it goes along with.

For example, let’s say that you decided to set up a networked scanning system for your business so that you could easily scan and share documents within the office space. You would want to ask the networked scanning system providers if they offer a security solution for this type of technology. If not, you might be putting your business at risk because of security threats related to the documents that you are scanning, storing and sharing.

The majority of business service providers are going to recognize that security is an important issue for all business and they are going to have solutions in place to make sure that your business is safe. Despite this, you shouldn’t just assume that safety and security measures are in place. You should ask to be sure so that you don’t have regrets later when using the technology!

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If you are self-employed or the owner of your own business, you may need to think a little harder about your retirement than the average person.  Instead of having a pension or a company-sponsored (and sometimes matched) retirement plan, you are left to handle your retirement savings entirely on your own.

Unfortunately, retirement isn’t cheap, particularly since things are a bit different than in our grandparents’ day.  People don’t buy a house when they’re young, pay it off by the time they’ve retired, and then significantly reduced bills for the rest of their lives.  These days, retirement costs just as much as your life when you were working  — if not more, because you have things like elder care to worry about.

There are a lot of things to pay for in your old age, such as going into a nursing home or paying for home care.  And you’ll want to be able to pay for the good stuff, to make sure that the people taking care of you have had training in home care providers and know about things such as fall prevention in home care.  And if you aren’t able to make the decisions for yourself, you’ll want there to be enough money for your kids to make good decisions for you.

So don’t wait to start saving for your retirement, and be sure you look into what retirement plans are available for the self-employed!

Technorati Tags: fall prevention in home care, retirement, self-employed, training in home care providers