September 2014
Trivia Contest
Who Else Wants To Win A $50 Gift Card?
The Grand Prize Winner of last month’s Trivia Challenge Quiz is Melissa Rench from Up & Open Imaging! She was the first person to correctly answer my quiz question from last month: Through what part of the body do dogs sweat? The correct answer was D) Paws.
Now, here’s this month’s trivia question. The winner will receive
$50 Visa Gift Card.
The Which President declared Labor Day to be a legal holiday in the USA?
a) Benjamin Harrison
b) Grover Cleveland
c) Woodrow Wilson
d) Franklin D. Roosevelt
E-mail Us Right Now With Your Answer!
*Trivia winners are eligible to win again after 90 days of previous win.
Urgent Message For Anyone Not On Our AppAssure Backup/Disaster Recovery Solution
If you are not on our #1 preferred backup solution, please take 2 minutes to read this article as it contains a very important message regarding your company’s data integrity and your ability to be up and running fast in the event of a data-erasing natural disaster, server failure, virus attack or other “digital crisis.” And since September is National Disaster Preparedness Month, I felt this was an appropriate time to remind you about this.
3 years ago, we discovered a tremendous backup and disaster recovery system. When we first found this solution, I was skeptical that it could deliver protection and security for an incredibly low price. But after doing a ton of research and testing, we found that this is an absolute necessity for all companies concerned at all about securing their computer data.
While many backup systems are “good,” there are a lot of problems with older, inferior systems. Problems such as:
- Not backing up ALL of your critical data off-site.
- If a problem were to disable your server(s), it could cost thousands to restore and would take a few days (minimum) to get you back up and running.
- It may not back up open files or continuous backups; that means you could lose an entire day’s worth of work if something goes wrong.
- You have to do something manually in the process, leaving room for human error.
That’s why I want to make the switchover a no-brainer for you. When you replace your old backup system with this one by October 15, 2014, we will:
- Waive the setup fee (normally $400 – $1,000, depending on how many servers you have).
- Give you up to two months off the ongoing backup storage fees. And considering this off-site backup is already much cheaper than most, you’re going to save a ton of money.
This is not about us making money – it’s about YOU having the right backup in place to make sure you never have to deal with the costs and devastation of being “out of business” and without your data.
Are You Using Videos To Onboard New Employees?
Most small businesses give new team members an Employee Handbook that outlines (in approximately 43 mind-numbing pages) everything anyone needs to know about the company. We expect our new hires to read this brick and be ready to pick an insurance plan, a 401K choice, know the company dress code, code of conduct and even what they can and cannot do online. We often include a boring video for safety or sensitivity training.
Many companies are now fast-tracking onboarding into a series of short videos that go through everything they need to know. It’s revolutionizing the new-hire onboarding process, and here’s why it’s such a great idea:
- Your employees are already watching videos: Many spend 95% of their time at work in front of a computer, and even outside work, they’re still staring at their smartphone or watching YouTube videos. People are used to getting information in this format, so why not use it?
- It works for employees of all trades: Even if your employees aren’t at a computer all day, videos are still a viable solution. You can e-mail the video to them so they can watch it on their smartphones or at home. Companies like GuideSpark, who create training videos for employees, let you know that the videos were opened. You can’t guarantee that your 43-page booklet has ever been cracked, much less read.
- It makes participation easier: Training videos should be short…3-5 minutes at the most. You probably have more than 5 minutes of content, so break it up into chunks. It’s a lot easier for someone to read 2 pages and watch a 5-minute video than to read 43 pages, attend a class and watch a 30-minute 1970s training video.
- It makes delivery of information easier: Companies that are changing their insurance coverage, adding a rule or changing their dress codes may want to think about sending out a video e-mail with the explanations. Recent studies suggest two-thirds of employees would prefer to watch a video rather than go to a live meeting explaining the change.
- It cuts your orientation time: By cutting the time of your orientation with short videos that they can watch on their phone or laptop, you could save yourself some money and have the new employees you just hired out and doing their jobs much faster.
Virus of the Month: Spearphishing
Targeted phishing using spoof emails to persuade people within
a company to reveal sensitive information or credentials.
Sometimes the emails seem to come from a trusted department that might plausibly need such details, such as IT or human resources. Links in the emails will redirect to a bogus version of the company website or intranet for stealing credentials.
“Ransomeware.: Threatsaurus: the a-z of computer and data security threats. Boston: Sophos, 2009. 66. Print
Dress For Success
Among the first things people notice about you is the way you dress and the way you groom yourself.
Many highly creative people effect a casual indifference toward their personal appearance, but in reality, they are making a purposeful statement. They are saying, in effect, “I’m so good at what I do that I don’t have to dress for success.”
Henry David Thoreau was such a person.
“Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes,” he wrote.
If you plan to spend your life in the seclusion of a place like Walden Pond, follow Thoreau’s advice. If you want to make it on Wall Street or Main Street, pay careful attention to the clothes you wear and the visual impact you have on others.
When dressing for the business world, follow the standard advice: Dress for inclusion. Look at what the people one or two steps up the corporate ladder from you are wearing and be guided by their tastes.
That’s about the closest thing to universal advice that can be given in the realm of dress. Fads and fashions come and go, and what’s in today may be passé tomorrow. And the fabric of American culture is quite varied. String ties and cowboy boots for men may be perfectly acceptable business attire in Fort Worth, but they would mark you as eccentric in Boston. Three-piece pinstripes may be the uniform of the day on Wall Street, but may be considered a bit stuffy on Hollywood Boulevard. And if that’s true of America, it’s even more true of other parts of the world. Wherever you are — in London or Sydney, in Singapore or Luxembourg — follow the fashion lead of the successful people in your business.
The perennial choice for the businessman in the industrialized nations is the gray or blue suit, with lighter shades in warm weather, darker ones in cool weather. Muted pinstripes seem never to go out of style. Brown suits are generally regarded as less authoritative than blue or gray ones.
Women have greater latitude for individuality in fashions, but the general rule still applies. In most businesses, it’s best to avoid extremes. Seductive or coquettish outfits may draw admiring stares, but they won’t enhance your reputation as a businesswoman.
Solid colors in women’s clothing convey a message of seriousness and character. Plaids and prints are more whimsical. In the business office, successful women may be seen wearing suits, dresses, coordinates and skirts with blazers. Different colors flatter different women. Find your best colors and stick with them.
Shoes should always be shined and in good repair. Adlai Stevenson, the American statesman, may be remembered for the famous photograph showing the hole in the sole of his shoe. But he is also remembered as the loser of two presidential elections.
If your job calls for a briefcase, invest in top-quality. It will contribute strongly to your image of success. If you need to have a pen in your breast pocket, make it a high-quality and attractive one. Avoid cheap plastic pens, and never wear pocket liners for pens.
For men, beards are a matter of taste. Make up your mind whether you want one. Don’t go around looking as if you’ve forgotten to shave for the past couple of days. It may work for a Hollywood actor or the leader of a stateless people, but not for a sales and marketing professional. If you choose to wear a beard, keep it neatly trimmed.
Both men and women should avoid extremes of hairstyle. Again, use the look cultivated by the most successful people in your field as a guide, and adapt it to your own physical features.
Dr. Nido Qubein is president of High Point University, an undergraduate and graduate institution with 4,300 students from 40 countries. He has authored two dozen books and audio programs distributed worldwide. As a business leader, he is chairman of the Great Harvest Bread Company, with 220 stores in 43 states. He serves on the boards of several national organizations, including BB&T (a Fortune 500 company with $185 billion in assets), the La-Z-Boy Corporation (one of the largest and most recognized furniture brands worldwide) and Dots Stores (a chain of fashion boutiques with more than 400 locations across the country). As a professional speaker, Dr. Qubein has received many distinctions, including the Golden Gavel Medal, induction into the International Speaker Hall of Fame and as the founder of the NSA Foundation in Arizona.
To learn more about Dr. Qubein, go to: http://www.nidoqubein.com/
Shiny New Gadget Of The Month: Jawbone UP
UP is a system, wristband + mobile app that tracks how you sleep, move and eat so you can know yourself better, make smarter choices and feel your best. Jawbone UP (and UP24, for those who like Bluetooth capabilities and real-time syncing with the app) helps you understand how you sleep, move and eat so you can make smarter choices; this little wristband keeps you in touch with your body and on top of your health.
The new app displays movement and sleep, details and delivers insights, celebrates milestones and challenges you to make each day better. You can even team up with your friends in the UP app and share your accomplishments!
Because you can achieve anything when you take it one day at a time, the UP Insight Engine suggests daily goals based on your unique patterns. Go further, stay hydrated and sleep better for a sense of accomplishment each and every day.
Get your Jawbone UP at www.jawbone.com/up for $129.99.
How To Stop Cyberbullying
When I went to school, the biggest threat on the playground was getting roughed up by the class bully who was twice as big and twice as hairy as every other kid on the block. (What WERE his parents feeding him?) But cyberbullying is something very different.
Cyberbullying is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides because once adults become involved, it is plain and simple cyber-harassment or cyber-stalking.
Turns out digital devices and the web make it much easier for a bully to harass someone; the anonymity and use of social-media sites often make them bolder than they would be in a face-to-face confrontation, and give them more opportunities to badger their target. As a parent, this is just another good reason why you should be monitoring your child’s PC and cell phone, as well as their Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat and other social-media site usage. Most social-media sites have a way for you to report this type of abuse and get violators and hateful commentary taken down from their sites.
If your child becomes the target, you can try to get your school involved, but many schools have been shot down, even sued, for trying to interfere. If the abuse becomes physical, sexual or threatens physical or sexual harm, call the police. The schools aren’t equipped to handle that level of abuse. The police are.
The Lighter A Little Back To School Humor
Who’s there?
Dewey.
Dewey who?
Dewey have to go to school today?
Have you heard about the teacher who was cross-eyed?
She couldn’t control her pupils!
What school supply is always tired?
A knapsack!
Teacher: Why is your homework in your father’s handwriting?
Pupil: I used his pen!
Teacher: You’ve got your shoes on the wrong feet.
Pupil: But these are the only feet I’ve got!
What is white when it’s dirty and black when its clean?
A blackboard!
Teacher: How many seconds in a year?
Student: 12, January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd…
Mother: George, why does your geography exam have a big zero over it?
George: It is not a zero. The teacher ran out of stars, so she gave me a moon instead!
