Monthly Archives: February 2012

Financial Organization 101

Posted on by

Categories: Tax/Finance

Reply

The advice may not necessarily be new, but it’s especially relevant at this time of the year. Financial planner and author Rick Rodgers offers the following five steps to help you effectively organize your finances:

1. Out with the old – Discard the records you no longer need: Tax returns older than seven years; bank records and credit card statements that are not related to the tax returns you’re keeping; brokerage statements that aren’t related to purchases of current holdings. Be sure to shred all your old documents before throwing them out.

2. Go digital – Convert the documents you plan to save into digital images that are stored on your hard drive. Invest in a good scanner and scan as you go through your paperwork, shredding and tossing the hard copies as you go. On your computer, file by tax year, so your 2011 folder will contain your tax return for 2011 and all pertinent bank records and receipts. Organize the previous six years the same way. Next year you can delete the oldest folder when you add the 2012 folder.

3. Save a forest – All of the financial institutions you deal with would prefer to send your statements electronically. Stop receiving paper statements. Instead, download your statements electronically and store them in your new filing system.  Most banks and credit card companies keep at least a year’s worth of statements available.  You need to download these files only once a year to complete the year’s file.

4. Save backups in case of emergency – Make backup copies of your files on a CD. Choose a CD-R (recordable) as opposed to a CD-RW (rewriteable), because CD-R cannot accidentally be overwritten. Depending on your computer operating system, you may be able to continue adding data to a CD-R each year, until the CD is full. However, some operating systems won’t allow that, so you’ll need a new CD for each year.

5. Go paperless – Your new electronic filing system can be expanded to include all your financial records, from car maintenance receipts to pay stubs.  Wills and insurance policies can also be scanned and stored but, of course, keep the originals of those in a safe deposit box or fireproof safe.

Rogers is author of The New Three-Legged Stool: A Tax Efficient Approach to Retirement Planning.

Unlimited Vacation Days? Not That Crazy, According to Inc.

Posted on by

Categories: Human Resources

Reply

We could all use some good old R & R. Like most of us, I wouldn’t mind more days off to experience it. Just think of what I could do with all that extra time: go to state parks; make my own ketchups; or start a rock band consisting of only red heads — "The Ginger Blossoms." (Oh, also, it would strictly be a Gin Blossoms cover band — and we’ll probably just play "Hey Jealousy" over and over… enjoy the concert.) 

To my delight, an article in Inc. contends that the concept of limited vacation days might be getting a little antiquated. 

The 9 a.m.-to-5 p.m. workplace is almost dead. Throw your preconceived notions about vacation out the window and give your employees the no-strings-attached, unlimited vacation days they deserve or you’ll soon be a dinosaur.

With an unparalleled culture in which our people actually enjoy coming to work (see Your Employees Need a Treehouse and Let Your Employees Choose Their Titles) as the foundation, every last Red Frog employee is unflinchingly focused and devoted to our mission. Producing vast amounts of quality work is the norm, so we reward them with unlimited vacation and they, in return, reward Red Frog with outstanding work that blows me away every single day.

Taking vacation at Red Frog is encouraged (and even celebrated). And it’s not abused. Ever. By anyone. Simply make sure your work is getting done and make sure you’re covered while you’re away and that’s it—no questions asked.

The pessimists and naysayers have said this policy would either be abused or that it’s not entirely real—that our employees feel pressured to never take off. I assure you they’re underestimating a positive work culture and are simply wrong. Also, I feel sorry for their workplace.

Through building a company on accountability, mutual respect, and teamwork, we’ve seen our unlimited vacation day policy have tremendous results for our employees’ personal development and for productivity. There. I said it. I think Red Frog is more productive by giving unlimited vacation days. Here’s why:

  1. It treats employees like the adults they are. If they’re incapable of handling the responsibility that comes along with having unlimited vacation days, they’re probably incapable of handling other responsibilities too, so don’t hire them.
  2. It reduces costs by not having to track vacation time. Tracking and accounting for vacation days can be cumbersome work. This policy eliminates those headaches.
  3. It shows appreciation. Your employees will need unexpected time off and some need more vacation than others. By giving them what they need when they need it, you show your employees how much you appreciate them and they reciprocate by producing more great work.
  4. It’s a great recruitment tool. We hire a mere one out of every 750 applicants at Red Frog. When you combine fantastic benefits with a positive culture, it’s noticed.

Furthermore, the newsletter HR Specialist lists a couple of current examples:

  • At tech giant IBM, each of its 355,000 workers earns three or more weeks’ vacation each year, but the company says it doesn’t officially keep track of time off.

  • Netflix lets its 400 salaried workers take as much vacation time as they want, saying workers are evaluated on performance, not "face time."

Hat tips on the info to Chamber staffers Ashton Eller and Michelle Kavanaugh.

Canada Moving Forward After Pipeline Rejection

Posted on by

Categories: BizVoice, Energy, Environment

Reply

The January decision by the Obama administration to reject the Keystone XL pipeline drew plenty of criticism in the United States. Canadian officials, while accepting the explanation offered, are concerned, and they are not sitting back and waiting for a potential change of course from their southern neighbors.

Roy Norton, Consul General of Canada, spent last week at meetings and events in Indiana. Norton is responsible for Canadian interests in trade, investment, the environment and more in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. Norton provided his analysis of the Washington rejection of the pipeline that would transport oil resources from the tar sands of Alberta province to the U.S. gulf coast.

Norton says Canadians are “disposed to take at face value the assurances that President Obama offered Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper that this was a process-related issue, not a substantive decision.” In other words, Obama cited additional environmental review due to Nebraska seeking a rerouting of the pipeline and a deadline set by Congress as the reasons for the rejection at this time.

Although TransCanada, the energy infrastructure company behind the pipeline, has indicated it will reapply for a U.S permit, Norton described the significance of the relationship between the two countries and the next steps for Canada that are already in progress.

“There is concern. Ever since NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), our resources have been predicated on the notion that we would develop them to export them to you (the U.S.), and 99% of Canadian oil exports have come to the United States. The entire industry has been organized on a principle that suddenly may seem in question: Does the United States continue to want that oil? And if you don’t, we’re not going to just stop developing it.

“The prime minister made clear, in a little jocular way, that we’re not a northern national park for the United States.” Norton continues. “We’re a G7 country with an industrial economy. We happen to sit on the third largest reserve of oil after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Ours, other than the U.S., is the only one (oil supply) not government controlled; it’s total private sector investment.”

Harper traveled to Asia earlier this month and entered into an agreement on energy cooperation with the Chinese.

“Our objective, very much,” Norton adds, “is to build a pipeline to (our) West Coast and to be able to sell oil to China, Japan, whoever. Two or three years ago, the prime minister said Canada is an emerging energy superpower. Somebody challenged that and said you can’t be a superpower if you have only one market. So, in business terms, it’s probably true that it’s prudent for us to have more than one market. So we will seek to diversify.”

Norton closes with some of the numbers related to Canadian oil production and potential benefits for the U.S. and Indiana from the proposed pipeline:

  • Sixty cents of every dollar invested in the Alberta oil sands come back to the United States in consumption. “You benefit more from Canadian resource development than you benefit as a country from resource development (anywhere else).”
  • Currently, $160 billion in private sector investment is underway to take production of the oil sands from two billion barrels a day to three and a half billion barrels a day.
  • That increase, with the pipeline, could create “in the order of 343,000 jobs in the United States, 7,500 of those in Indiana” – citing Caterpillar and dozens of other Indiana operations that currently or would supply the oil production and the pipeline.

The Chamber’s May-June BizVoice® magazine will have more from Norton on issues important to Indiana and his country.

Pancakes on the House and for a Good Cause

Posted on by

Categories: Uncategorized

Reply

What does this have to do with the Indiana Chamber or helping you operate your business more successfully? Absolutely nothing.

But it’s pancakes, there are some interesting facts to report — and it’s for a very good cause.

Today is National Pancake Day. For the seventh consecutive year, IHOP restaurants across the country (between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.) will offer guests a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes. Guests are invited to make a donation to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Now, the fun flapjack facts:

  • IHOP served four million free pancakes on National Pancake Day 2011 and pancake lovers donated more than $2.5 million to children’s charities, exceeding the fundraising goal of $2.3 million.
  • All of the free pancakes served on National Pancake Day 2011 would create a stack nearly 16 miles high.
  • Since the inception of National Pancake Day in 2006, IHOP has raised nearly $8 million and given away more than 14 million pancakes to support charities in the communities in which it operates.
  • National Pancake Day 2011 was IHOP’s largest one-day event in the company’s 53-year history.

Good work, IHOP and all those who contribute to help those in need.

Should Your CEO Really be Blogging?

Posted on by

Categories: Business News, Technology

Reply

When blogs and social media really began to take off, there were some who argued that businesses should put their top executive’s face out there and get their CEO blogging about the company. Over time, that’s worked for some folks, and not so much for others. PR Daily offers further analysis on why it remains a challenging communications topic for many:

Mark Schaefer of Schaefer Marketing Solutions and the blog Businesses Grow says most CEOs will never get to that level of ease and comfort. Charismatic executives such as Steve Jobs and Richard Branson are atypical, he says, though that level of authenticity would certainly be an advantage for a CEO.

However, Schaefer says the interviews with the 10 bloggers show that they’re “out of touch with reality” in terms of what CEOs can and can’t say. “It’s naïve to believe that CEOs are going to be as authentic as someone who’s blogging about gadgets,” he says.

A key reason for that difference, he says, is the law. For example, a CEO whom Schaefer knows tweeted about a meeting with shareholders only to find he had broken a Securities and Exchange Commission rule. That CEO ended up paying a fine and having to appease angry investors.

“CEOs are under a tremendous amount of scrutiny,” Schaefer says.

The public isn’t the only constituency to consider, Olson says. Being critical of another company, another CEO, or the business environment in general may go over well in the public eye, but it “may threaten a CEO’s standing with his contemporaries or perhaps be read as disloyalty,” she says.

Likewise, saying doesn’t make up for doing, Olson says. Expressing sympathy for employees who lose benefits doesn’t mean much when a CEO is taking home a big salary or huge bonuses.

“PR can’t fix an inherently and systemically flawed corporate structure,” she says.

Bernstein points out that some points the bloggers make are contradictory. It’s hard to be fearless and authentically human at the same time, he says.

“Even Seal Team Six members feel fear,” Bernstein says. “However, coming across as confident despite any fear is admirable.”
 

Is Your Facebook Page an Indicator of Your Job Performance?

Posted on by

Categories: Technology

Reply

Not sure why parents are so irked about what’s on their sons’/daughters’ Facebook pages. They’re just showing potential employers how extroverted and — let’s call it "gregarious" – they can be. The Wall Street Journal wrote an interesting piece on a new study that was actually conducted by the University of Evansville, among others:

Could your Facebook profile be a predictor of job performance?

A new study from Northern Illinois University, the University of Evansville and Auburn University suggests it can.

In an experiment, three "raters"—comprising one university professor and two students—were presented with the Facebook profiles of 56 college students with jobs.

After spending roughly 10 minutes perusing each profile, including photos, wall posts, comments, education and hobbies, the raters answered a series of personality-related questions, such as "Is this person dependable?" and "How emotionally stable is this person?"

Six months later, the researchers matched the ratings against employee evaluations from each of the students’ supervisors. They found a strong correlation between job performance and the Facebook scores for traits such as conscientiousness, agreeability and intellectual curiosity.

Raters generally gave favorable evaluations to students who traveled, had more friends and showed a wide range of hobbies and interests. Partying photos didn’t necessarily count against a student; on the contrary, raters perceived the student as extroverted and friendly, says Don Kluemper, the lead researcher and a professor of management at Northern Illinois University.

The findings show that Facebook could be used as a reliable job-screening tool, he says, especially since candidates would have a hard time "faking" their personalities in front of their friends.

The legality of using social-media sites to screen job applicants is murky, as employers could open themselves up to discrimination lawsuits based on race, gender and religion.

Stop the Jargon, You Exclusive Solutions Provider!

Posted on by

Categories: Business News

Reply

Best. Leading. Top. Premier. Sustainable.

These words sound familiar? You’ve probably seen them in a press release. Perhaps you put them in a press release.

A post by Ragan relays that Schwartz MSL Research Group and Business Wire released a list of the most common buzzwords used in press releases. If you want your future releases to stand out, you might want to start by keeping out the words it lists.

Additionally, they reveal the top action words (over)used in headlines are:

  • Announces
  • Launches
  • Partners

Schmooze the Boss

Posted on by

Categories: Business News, Human Resources

Reply

Everybody has a boss. Even CEOs answer to boards. And sometimes, unfortunately, your boss is a miserable, miserable person who makes your career seem like (to borrow a quote from "Jerry Maguire") an "up-at-dawn, pride swallowing siege." PR Daily offers some thoughts on dealing with your personal Sorcerer of Suffering:

Here’s how:

  1. Establish work preferences with them early in the relationship. Ask them how you can best help make their job easier. Soliciting feedback is essential and helps to diffuse tense situations before they escalate.
  2. Don’t engage with craziness or take it personally. You are never going to win an argument with someone who isn’t rational. Instead, turn the demand or rant your boss spouted into a calm and positive opportunity. Don’t get defensive. Apologize if you truly made a mistake and arm yourself with solutions. “So it seems you weren’t happy with the situation. Here are some ideas regarding how we can fix things and move forward.”
  3. Always follow up with clarification, in writing. After a meeting or a call, send a quick email with a bulleted list about your action items and responsibilities based on the discussion. And make sure you include deadlines. (For example: “I will complete the report by 2:00 p.m. and appreciate your feedback by 4:00 p.m. so we can send it out by 5:00 p.m.”).
  4. Praise them. Yes, this is where some humility comes into play. Thank them when they provide you with clear direction. Tell them how much you learned from them by watching their presentation, etc. Most tough bosses thrive on positive feedback and want to be admired. Bonus points if you do this in front of other colleagues.
  5. Over communicate. Frequently provide positive email updates. Not only are you documenting your work and achievements, but you are preempting any complaints they may have about you not working fast or smart enough. These updates can be sent even if the project is not completed, or if it has hit a speed bump. “I completed half of the media list and although there are dozens of editorial changes, I’ve also uncovered some great new contacts. I’ll have something to share with you in another hour.”

    Understand that you can’t change others, but you can change how you relate to them. With some practice, you’ll become a pro at dealing with difficult clients and managers and enjoy a happy and productive career.

IRS Decision Good News for Small Businesses

Posted on by

Categories: Business News

Reply

You don’t hear this often: Kudos to the IRS. They’ve stopped plans that would have been a nightmare for small business recordkeeping. The Phoenix Business Journal reports:

The Internal Revenue Service has dropped plans to require businesses to reconcile their receipts from credit card transactions with reports filed with the IRS by third-party payment entities.

Legislation enacted in 2008 requires these third parties to report how much every merchant is paid each year through credit cards, debit cards or services like PayPal. For the 2012 tax year, the IRS planned to require businesses to reconcile their records with these third-party reports when they file their tax returns.

The IRS decided to drop this requirement after complaints from small-business owners, who said it would pose a significant burden on them. They noted that the amount recorded on credit or debit card purchases often does not equal the revenue a business receives from the transaction. For example, customers often get cash back on debit card purchases or receive cash when they return merchandise purchased with credit cards.

Legislation to overturn the requirement recently was introduced in the House. On Feb. 9, however, the IRS told small-business groups it would not impose the reconciliation requirement for 2012 tax returns, “nor do we intend to require reconciliation going forward.”

“We appreciate your work with us in this and other areas as we continually seek to improve our processes and to minimize compliance burden on taxpayers,” wrote Steven Miller, the IRS’ deputy commissioner for services and enforcement.

Business groups praised the agency’s decision.

“The IRS did the right thing, and they should be applauded for listening to the concerns of the small-business community,” said Giovanni Coratolo, vice president of small-business policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“We were very pleased that the IRS took time to listen and work with us to resolve this matter in a satisfactory manner,” said Bill Hughes, senior vice president for government affairs at the Retail Industry Leaders Association. “This will relieve retailers of an unnecessary burden while still providing the IRS with the tools it needs to ensure tax compliance.”

Dan Danner, CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business, called the IRS reversal on the reconciliation requirement “a small, but important victory for small business."

Fort Wayne’s Steel Dynamics Builds Strong Foundation in Pittsboro

Posted on by

Categories: Business News

Reply

Here’s an encouraging piece from the Indianapolis Star about how Steel Dynamics is turning a near-bankrupt steel mill in Hendricks County into a thriving source of production and jobs. Through heavy investment, the company ultimately hopes to enhance its production by over 50% and produce nearly one million tons of steel annually at the plant.

Designed and built in the late 1990s by Qualitech Steel Corp., the mill barely had come online, melting test batches of high-quality bar steel intended for automotive and appliance manufacturing, when the world steel market was flooded by cheap Chinese exports and the price of steel fell through the floor. Nearly a dozen "mini-mills" like Pittsboro’s were left in bankruptcy court.

Indiana’s investment of $40 million in incentives and Hendricks County’s $20 million bond issue were at risk if the mill didn’t reopen.

After a legally disputed auction, the Steel Dynamics offer of $45 million won the court-run bidding against North Carolina’s Nucor in 2002.

Steel Dynamics also invested nearly $100 million to redesign, remodel and reequip the plant to reopen in 2004. The trends have been up ever since.

Employment at the mill has increased steadily over the years from 400 to 500 workers. Steel Dynamics has not announced whether new jobs will be created in the next two years.

It will expand the facilities and add a second line for rolling out long bars of high-quality steel, the type suitable for machining into parts of cars, engines and other manufacturing. Companies such as Caterpillar are among the steelmaker’s bigger customers.

The mill occasionally has turned out other types and qualities of steel, including rebar used as concrete reinforcement in the $1 billion terminal building and other improvements opened in 2008 at Indianapolis International Airport.

Steel Dynamics said that with the latest addition, its engineered bar products division will be among the largest making specialty-bar-quality steel in North America.

It also will expand the mill’s bar-finishing capability, potentially doubling the amount of finished products that can be inspected.

The current production line rolls out long steel bars in diameters from 1 inch to 9 inches. The new line will focus on 1- to 3-inch-diameter bars favored for use in transportation, energy and automotive applications.