© Christophe Baudot | Dreamstime.com

The answer I’m hearing the most often now is that high-quality original content will win. Do I believe that alone will do it? Honestly, I don’t know. My experience designing and running websites goes back to the early 1990′s. Back then, a good site got traffic and brought the small businesses onto level footing with the big companies that had always had the budget to reach further for customers. Affiliate sales were relatively new, and Internet users eagerly looked for good quality and useful content.

Then, with the advent of more technology and paid links and black hats and white hats, not to mention blogs and plug-ins that do it all for millions of repetitious sales sites, the small businesses have slowly been sliding back down that hill. Facebook requires me to have 30 Likes to see my stats and 25 followers to get rid of the ugly number and get a real name for my page. That’s clearly designed to give priority to established businesses that already have a base of supporters. What happens to the new fellow on the block?

Many of the social media give a heavy advantage to those who can afford automated software. Individuals and small businesses work long hours and struggle to keep up. Some type of Internet connective device has almost become a required appendage. Although, social media is a different area that’s undergoing change, I have to point out that no one can read or follow 10,000+ tweets or followers. It’s clearly only a numbers game, unless you happen to be a movie star with a zillion followers. Do commercial companies really buy those figures when they look at your platform and statistics?

I hope they are smarter than that. The reality is that many of those rather strange looking followers follow you and then cull names and sites from your list of followers. Your followers’ profiles usually list websites, which have an email address or other information, if they want their readers to find them or buy from them. It’s a complicated world. In a very short time, it’s become just another venue to exploit. For people trying to do business, you can’t live without it and you can’t let it run over you or your followers. Personally, I vet my followers and block most of those. They aren’t real readers or followers anyway.

The final answer that evolves will depend on whether the new search criteria helps level the playing field again, as it’s purported to do. In the current economic climate, many small business people and individuals, such as authors and craftspeople, feel they are fighting a losing battle. They are tired of the pressure to keep up a dozen social media sites. They are tired of fighting spam and hackers. They are tired of working long days at their craft and long nights to maintain their web presence. They can’t maintain that type of schedule indefinitely. What’s more, they aren’t seeing a benefit to doing so. Does paying for help pay off?

Again, the answer depends on a number of things. In most cases, it helps marginally. Sometimes, it helps enough to recover the investment, but that’s all. The benefit in those cases is that the site is cleaned up and perhaps, the owner or a staff member learns how to do routine maintenance and updates without ongoing payouts. Other times, a business needs to make an investment in keeping quality content available and current, and they can’t produce their own and run the business. That’s when there’s a payoff to making a reasonable investment in ongoing marketing help.

If you aren’t one of my Twitter followers, I recommend you give it a try. Many of my tweets are about the technical side of social media, websites, and blogs. I try to select the majority of the material for an audience who isn’t highly technical. However, even if you aren’t a techie and never want to become one, you have to understand what happens behind the scenes. How else will you know whether an SEO person or website developer is ripping you off? How will you know what your publisher means when he tells you you need to add keywords to your blog posts? Even if you don’t do the work yourself, don’t be a sitting duck for a ripoff because you don’t understand the basics.

The most recent discussions of the Google search changes promise to change the landscape in many ways. One of the areas that could be hit very hard are the bloggers, most of whom aren’t techies and just do what everyone else does. Mommy Bloggers grew at astronomical rates, and many of them make a decent income from their blogs by reviewing products and services. Blog Hops are one way to get links and traffic that’s become very common. Unfortunately for the bloggers and the vendors, there are signs that those who participate by posting lists of links and different hops every day may fall victim to what’s being called “over linking.” Only time will tell, but watch your stats.

Another area that may be hit are syndication sites. Why? Because those sites usually have a lot of duplicate content. Some sites also require payment. Payment is still a very uncertain area in the new search algorithms. There’s no consensus yet of when it’s OK or when it counts against you. Even the tech professionals haven’t been able to sort it out and agree. Therefore, I won’t try either. The search engines are looking for the first time an article was published, the source. If your material is reposted to several different places, you may hurt your site’s ranking without intending to do so.

I’m not saying not to repost. Just don’t do it for every article and don’t put the same material on several sites. Be sure your site has unique content, and lots of it. When you want to spread your words, use an excerpt and link back to your site to read the article. Whatever you do, repost as little as possible. Write different content for other sites and get people interested in coming to your site. It’s harder, I know. People like to read a lot of blogs in the same place, and I have no idea how the blog aggregators and linking tools will fare when the dust settles.

Guest blogging is still a great bet, as are blog tours. Each site will have new writers, new visitors, and new content to offer. With some good posts, you can entice people to come and read more of your writing. For authors, writers, and people selling services, such as book cover design and consulting, this is great. I’m not as sure it will be great for vendors who’ve grown used to using bloggers to showcase their products. Of course, if it’s not good for the vendors, it won’t be good for the bloggers who’ve build blogs totally around selling products either. Many of the bloggers depend on rafflecopters and blog hops to draw traffic. Pages of links on dozens of sites and visiting other blogs is part of the business.

Good bloggers stop, visit, and leave appropriate comments. They aren’t spammers. The pros integrate their link into their signature or avatar too. Although, it’s perfectly permissible to leave a link in the comments too, as long as it’s relevant. However, it’s still a business. A few other bloggers probably become regular readers of a blog or two they find that resonates with them, but it’s a bit like selling your books only to other writers. Unless you offer writing advice, that’s not your target market for your mystery series. Why? Because those people will get tapped out. They can’t buy a new book from every author that belongs to their group indefinitely. If you write mysteries, you need to connect with mystery fans.

That’s where the Mommy bloggers got it right. They are largely moms or grandmas. They use the same products, which makes the other bloggers part of the target market too. The vendors know that and count on the bloggers and their circle of friends to buy long after the giveaway is over. Their kids aren’t going to be out of diapers tomorrow. It’s a special niche, and it works for this group. However, they may be facing a challenge with the new search algorithms. Only time will tell.

I’ve seen a few bloggers who manage to write quality content and sell products or services at the same time. My hat is off to them. I enjoy reading many of their posts and don’t care that they are being compensated for writing about that product. After all, that’s what marketing and advertising is too. People get paid for writing about products and services. These people often include wonderful content on their sites and write posts that are clearly not paid content. They give the readers a break from the constant sales pitches by offering other information of value, whether it’s recipes, kids games, or business tips. Regular posts count too, but today quality counts more, whatever your subject.

First on my list is Swagbucks. That’s right. If you haven’t tried it, don’t run the other way yet. I don’t sign up for many of the ways people can earn points. Some are
too messy (spammy and annoying). Others are too time consuming for me. You can pick and choose what works. My favorite way to use Swagbucks is to use the search engine. As a writer, I do a lot of research. I’m also a person who doesn’t like to shop and prefers to order online. The simple practice of using the search engine, nets me a $5 Amazon Gift Card about once a month. I can get more when I’m doing a big project. When I was Christmas shopping and building a new website in December, I earned $15. It’s money for something I need to do anyway.

Next on my list is Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. If you’ve never heard of it, you have a real education coming. Explore the jobs available, and you’ll get a whole new view of advertising and blogs when you understand how some of them get their posts–not to mention what they pay. On the other hand, there are quite a few simple surveys that really do take only a few minutes and pay you from $1-$3. I got a $10 bonus from one, as well as getting a notice from the survey company asking me to participate when another one came out. If you know anything about nursing homes or retirement communities in your area, there are regularly opportunities to post a review of 150-300 words that pay $3 each. Last December, I added $44 to my pocketbook this way.

As this CNET article shows, you need to pick and choose what you do on this site. Remember, that some workers in other countries can live on a few dollars a day. That’s where the competition comes in. Someone will do that job at that rate. As I said, it’s an education too. There are a number of other sites that operate in this manner and offer similar jobs. I found this one to be more transparent than most and easier to use.

If you’re adding this up, that’s $15 on Swagbucks, plus $44 on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk for a total of $59 in December 2011. See, I told you it won’t pay for a vacation. However, truth-be-told I don’t work hard at it, and I have other paying projects, like writing resumes and a chapter on social media for a book. This is “gap” money, but it’s enough to be worthwhile. Frankly, when my brain goes dead, I enjoy the stimulation of doing the research surveys (most are by big universities). I’m getting paid, and it’s more interesting to me than video games or Farmville.

For people who are searching for a job, this is a great bonus too. You should be able to earn a ton of points doing those job searches, especially if you really look up the company websites and do your homework on each company. You might as well get some points that you can trade in for an Amazon Gift Card to save money on a new shirt or blouse for interviewing.

There’s another plus to this  too. Turn the college kids on to using Swagbucks (most sites require being over 18) and let them earn some points to spend while doing their surfing and research. The same goes for Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. They’ll spend hours online playing games anyway. Tell them to spend some of that time earning part of their spending money. It’s a drag, but they don’t even have to get off the couch to work for this money. It could be worse.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have a Swagbucks affiliate account because I really support what they offer, which are ways to save money and make money at home doing what most of us have to do anyway. Although I’m an Amazon affiliate, I only work on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. I’m not sure they even offer an affiliate account for that service.

© John Hix | Dreamstime.com

legal documents. And, at the highest levels, it is a specialized field. But, many small nonprofit groups are very approachable. A wealth of online resources now makes research for learning and finding projects easy. Jump in, do your research, and you’ll come off looking like a pro, even though you may be quaking in your boots.

Start by joining a local group that helps a cause you support. In this field, networking and inside connections are vital. Next, attend a few meetings to get a feel for the group and their leadership. If you don’t feel comfortable, find a new group before you get involved in a paid project. These groups are always political, and you must feel a fit to work with them.

After you find a group that fits, volunteer for a committee or special project to let them get to know and trust you. Talk a lot about your career, hand out business cards so group members can contact you, and ask questions about the organization and their goals. Most professionals in these groups are members for networking purposes, as well as charitable reasons. This is not the time to be bashful, but don’t be too pushy either.

Above all, look at the written materials and web site. Then, ask yourself these questions:

• Does an agency write them?
• Does someone in the group write them?
• Can you find an opportunity to fill a gap in the information?
• Can you find a way to save them money?
• Do you own software that creates a special product—something they may want?
• Do you have special skills, such as photography, or desktop publishing, to offer?

Look for ways to create an opportunity to use your writing skills to help them. Then, make a few casual suggestions to test how well your ideas are received.

If your ideas are welcome, move forward slowly and be willing to take on small projects. Don’t go in like a bulldozer. On the other hand, you’re not required to offer your work for free just because you are a member. Offer a generous discount to get your foot in the door and get some clips in this field, and let them know the discount is a special rate because you believe in their work. Good PR nets a great deal of reward. Charitable organizations live and die based on their PR with donors and the community. So fine-tune your skills.

Much grant writing and nonprofit writing is creative marketing, and you do that everyday. You sell yourself every time you send a query. Now, your job is to sell the nonprofit group to donors and foundations that offer money. The formal foundation materials require professional business language and error-free documents, but the donors materials may, or may not, use formal language, depending on the group and level of donor targeted.

Nonprofit writing is not limited to legal documents and grants. These organizations use direct mail flyers, invitations, advertising, newsletters, brochures, websites, and more. They pay people to do the work, like any other company. The term nonprofit only designates their legal status for the IRS and donors. There are other designations in some states and in foreign countries.

One caution: If you agree to work with a group via email, check out the organization carefully. The proliferation of scams on the Internet makes it easy for anyone to appear legitimate. Clips from scams that hit the national news won’t boost your career, and bankrupt organizations won’t pay you.

If you find grant applications intimidating, start small. Many companies offer small grants to groups their employees support. Try to find one through someone you know, and write your first grant to help them make a donation to their favorite charity. These types of grants are very forgiving of mistakes. If they send the document back for more information, you learn the process and expectations without any cost to your customer or your reputation.

There is a lot to learn, but all of it is a variation of the things every writer does every day. Forms, formulas, and formats, exist for every aspect of this industry. If you can follow directions and think creatively, you can write for nonprofit groups.

The Grantsmanship Center

http://www.tgci.com

This is a key resource. The workshops are expensive, but the products section offers self-training materials at a very reasonable price.

Give Me the Money! Writing Grant Proposals

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/grant_proposals.html

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provides a cross-industry general outline to help beginners build a proposal.

Service Leader.org: Virtual Volunteering

http://www.serviceleader.org

Penny Leisch, author of the above article, contributed to the building of the virtual volunteering resources in 1996.

Idealist.org

http://www.idealist.org

Find volunteer opportunities and writing opportunities. When you get some experience, list yourself as a consultant. The listing is free.

Agency Specific Nonprofit Resources

http://www.firstgov.gov/Business/Nonprofit.shtml

Links are provided to government resources specifically for nonprofit groups.

Web Design Pros Nonprofit Resources and Reference Library

http://www.webdesignpros.net/nonprofit/npdirectory.htm

Nonprofit Career Network

http://www.nonprofitcareer.com

Bio: Penny J. Leisch is an award-winning freelance writer in Austin, Texas. However, she was born in Arizona and lived there most of her life. Her clients include the City of Tempe, Walsh America, Camping & RV Magazine, Warner Wrangler, Loving Pets Magazine, Garden and Hearth, and Cup of Comfort for Mothers & Sons. Penny also wrote three grant applications for the Arizona Pioneers’ Home, as a volunteer. All three were funded.

•             No one takes you seriously without a website.
•             Everyone gets rich as soon as they put up a website.
•             Everyone sells more when they have a website.
•             You can make easy money with affiliate links.

These are all popular beliefs, and there is at least a morsel of truth in the first one. However, the other three statements are myths. So how does a writer make a website work for them? And, what can you really expect? The answer lies in the purpose behind your website. Work through the ten steps listed below to develop a website that is as well-focused as your writing

1. Are you selling books and services? Or, are you promoting yourself to build brand recognition—in this case, your name? Analyze the purpose of your site content carefully. If you intend to do both, you need two sites or at least, two clearly defined areas on your website.

2. Who is the audience? Is your product designed to target a specific type of consumer? Are you showcasing a resume? Are you marketing services to other businesses? Define the market you intend to serve.

3. What is your budget? Do you have money to hire professionals to keep a large site up to date? Are you doing the work yourself while you build your career? More writers fall into the latter category. If you are one of them, you can have a great site using very simple tools that are available for free. Just don’t try to compete with major magazines and pros that hire professionals. A few pages that look nice are much better than a site that doesn’t work.

4. Consider your personal time and abilities? If you love the techie world and want to learn HTML, you can build a wonderful site on your own, and it probably won’t take you long to maintain it every month. Of course, WordPress is even simpler. Although, it’s a bit more limiting. If this description doesn’t fit you, don’t worry. Site pros don’t recommend using complicated flaming logos anyway. Your resume doesn’t attract more business by appearing in hot pink with ballerinas dancing around your name.

5. Stay informed. Keep an eye on changes in all areas related to business. Writing is only the product. You don’t sell writing without sales, marketing, packaging, equipment, and communication. Over time, trends change and savvy business people change the product to suit the customer.

6. Affiliate marketing rarely makes anyone rich in today’s market. The benefit of affiliate marketing is the ability to offer customers related products and to draw more people to your site. Customers like one-stop shopping. Of course, exchanging links within a specific market also offers exposure to more potential customers without additional cost.

7. Affiliate programs for your products offer more value in terms of branding and promotion than they do in income. These are market tools. Income is a bonus, but not something you should count on just because you sign up or set up a program.

8. Keep it simple. Learn and grow as you go. Messy sites with links that don’t work lose visitors instantly. The competition is fierce, and your visitors have no reason to stick around if your site doesn’t work properly. One page that works is worth ten pages with errors and bad graphics. Just like a neat, professional business letter, a clean website that works correctly makes a good first impression.

9. WIFM, or what’s in it for me? Those are the first words marketing students learn to answer, and they are the words every customer asks. If you answer that question, you make sales.

10. Everyone says you need a newsletter or mailing list. Well, maybe. There are more newsletters available than blades of grass on a lawn. If you market a service, newsletters are a good venue. They are also very time-consuming. Unless your primary product is service, spend your time writing and selling your writing to the people who will pay you. Recognition has limited value in terms of earning power when those people are not your primary buyer. Many people make the mistake of marketing to their own industry and not the public.

So build your website to showcase your work, and advertise yourself well with fresh, simple content. But, don’t let your website become a full time job if your goal is to write, design custom quilts, or make widgets.

© Alex Kirichenko | Dreamstime.com

© Roman Milert | Dreamstime.com

That may seem like an odd question. However, there are articles, magazine, websites, and contests about this subject. If you’re looking for a different topic or a new challenge, it’s not a bad place to look. I’m not talking about death in a murder mystery or fictional sense. I’m talking about discussing death in a very personal sense. At this point, most people get squeamish and decide to find a new recipe to publish. Do you? You may be missing good opportunities.

I understand that death is a painful subject for almost everyone at some point, and it can take time to be able to share your feelings. If that’s the case, consider writing about the controversies in families, ethical wills, the difficulties of enforcing living wills (also called medical directives), elder care laws, or other related areas. Maybe your area needs someone to review nursing homes, hospices, or lifecare communities for senior newsletters or websites. Some of the home health care company websites also ask for reviews. Reviewing lifecare communities isn’t much different than reviewing a resort. They are large, pretty, include everything within one community, and the staff and residents usually welcome guests. All you need to do is schedule a tour.

On the other hand, if you’re comfortable talking about personal experiences, there are places to do that too. It’s not a topic that’s off limits for writing contests, poetry, or creative non-fiction, unless the topic is specified. In addition, there are magazines for the hospice and funeral industries, as well as for caregivers. Another popular topic is green burials. The environmental impacts and choices available offers many topics and approaches. Of course, you can also glean information from others.

People who go through personal losses often want someone to talk to them and to be able to open up. They get tired of people not saying anything or avoiding them. They’re tired of being afraid to say anything because it might alienate friends and family. That’s one reason I include forums on the A Penny and Change blog site. Losing loved ones is a major life change, and I hope to build a support community for all manner of life changes. Good or bad, changes require adjustments. There’s nothing better than talking to people who are there with you or who’ve been there.

Writers can read and join forums and websites on my site, or other sites, in areas of interest. As long as you respect other people’s privacy and feelings, there’s no problem asking for their input or doing an informal survey. Eulogy and obituary writing, bereavement books, memory books, and poems for cards or gravestones, have to be written by someone. While many people pick something from a list at a website or funeral home, others would love something personal. I wrote my mother-in-law’s obituary and family members I’ve never met called to say it was the best obit they’d ever seen. A professional writer can make a difference anyplace written words are used.

If you’re also looking for new ideas to teach in writing classes, try the topic of ethical wills. There are more memoir writing classes than I can count. However, writing an ethical will is a topic that’s more focused and appeals to church groups and service groups, as well as individuals. It can be used as a new class in personal writing too. Ethical wills are also a great place to use video and audio to convey the full meaning and personal importance of the author’s wishes. This is a hot topic and not one that’s limited to persons approaching the end of their lives.

What does this writing pay? Honestly, no one answered my queries about the volume of business or annual income they receive from these services. Therefore, I can only say what I found searching online. Eulogy speeches came in at $275 for 3 minutes, with original poems for cards and gravestones at $100. One site charges a flat fee for meeting with the relatives and producing the first write ($200 for the meeting and $50/hour for rewrites). Workshops for bereavement books are offered on another site at $350 for ten sessions. Of course, many places don’t list prices, and it’s not likely to be a large market.

One important fact to remember is that this type of work is always needed immediately. Burials are often within days of a death, and the turnaround expected may be a matter of hours–a day or two at most. Don’t venture into this market without realizing this and being able to commit to meeting that type of deadline (no pun intended). However, with the aging population, it’s a fact that there is a market that will expand. If you think you can deal with grieving relatives and the funeral home environment, try leaving a card with neighborhood churches and funeral homes, or place a tasteful ad in a senior newspaper. You may also want to design a nice business card and leave it with a letter of introduction at the lifecare communities in your area too.

I could have sat on hold with customer service for a couple more hours the next day and tried to understand the person on the other end of the line, most likely without a better result anyway. By then, I may have had a couple more problems to untangle due to late fees and interest rate changes. Unfortunately, I also had to make another payment–this time to the correct account, which wasn’t in the budget. All of that brings us to the subject of customer service, which I get very nicely at my credit union. However, I’m caught in the middle because they don’t offer everything I need.

After several bad experiences with the “big bank”, I’m serious about shopping for a community bank or credit union with the services I need. My hang-up is that our household uses Quicken to handle our bookkeeping. That means all of my payments and accounts are already set up, and I can pay or download with the push of a button. To use an online banking program, I have to input that information again. Those of you who have cars, kids, insurance policies, homes, petsitters or babysitters, utilities, and a business, understand that the number of transactions add up.

There are limits on the number of transactions at some of the smaller financial institutions. At others, there’s a fee for each transaction over a specified number. In addition, I haven’t found one that I can connect with by using Quicken for the upload and payments, at least not where I live. My credit union only downloads the transactions and balances. What happens if I spend the hours required to find and input all of the accounts on their online system and that relationship doesn’t work out?

As a sole proprietor, I do everything I need to do with the basic Quicken program. I don’t need business accounts or credit card accounts with additional heavy transaction fees either. PayPal serves my needs when a customer wants to use a credit card, and I don’t pay a fee unless there’s a transaction. My system is simple to use and maintain. My goal is to get my banking simplified too. The big bank games and fine print wear me out. That one misposted payment could have cost a lot more than an extra payment, and I only found it by accident.

Worse yet, when I went online to review the accounts, the due dates didn’t match for the same account and payment on two different pages of the bank online system. Yet, I can’t get them to correct a mistake, and I have to spend hours of my time to try to prove they made a mistake. The last time I was in a branch, the manager couldn’t do anything I can’t do online. What’s the point in having a manager?

At this point, my advice is to keep it simple and realize that no relationship will last forever. It takes time to shop for new services, but you probably won’t have to do it more than every few years. However, the time you save by getting better customer service will pay off. The last problem made me realize that I’ve put this decision off too long. We refinanced our home over a year ago through the same bank, and it was a nightmare. The odd part is that they already held the loan–shouldn’t that make it easier?

Customers vote with their wallets, and it’s time to vote more often and sooner. After all, isn’t that why some of your customers come to you? Do you keep going back to a place that doesn’t treat you well? What about you? Is your bank holding you hostage because it takes too much time to start over?

We’ll start by defining what I mean by payroll service versus a PEO, and what they do. Payroll services and PEO companies are not usually on-site in small businesses. Often, they don’t even have a local office. That leaves you to determine when to call for help from a professional and frankly, that’s usually after trouble arises. If you contract for payroll services, they process payroll. They don’t deal with other HR issues. A PEO handles a full range of HR functions, but the services are often from a distance. On-site help may be an option, but the fee will be an additional expense too. What’s often missing completely is the area most of us know as an employee assistance program (EAP).

The majority of employee problems start subtly with people avoiding dealing with a specific person or an employee that always eats mints. Someone on-site who sees the staff regularly is in a position to notice changes and patterns. For example, eating mints may be because she had garlic for lunch, or it may be because she’s drinking during the workday. One is a problem and the other isn’t. Someone on-site is in a position to watch for changes in behavior and attitude that may indicate inappropriate use of alcohol or other drugs, or an attitude that may cause others to avoid dealing with her. Are watery red eyes from allergies or a hangover? A few subtle questions can often clarify the issue. However, this is just a simple example.

It gets more complicated when the employee with a problem is a supervisor or manager, especially over the HR area. It’s important to always have more than one avenue of trusted communication. Do otherwise good employees, contractors, or vendors keep quitting or getting let go for some reason? Could it be because they may have a valid professional opinion that you hired them to give, but a manager doesn’t want to be wrong? Or, are they leaving because they have no way to voice their problem because their supervisor IS the problem? Do customers give vague excuses for not doing business with you? Does a vendor avoid going to lunch if a specific employee will be present? If there’s a repeat pattern, it may be a people problem and not a product problem. Don’t be naive and miss patterns that tell you when you have a problem.

The most serious problems develop over time. For the same reason family members are usually the last to see a problem, co-workers and employers may not see a problem, unless it’s very visible, and by then, it’s visible to the public too. Why? Perhaps, it’s because that person has been there for years and never had a problem in the past or the individual has learned to cover it well. People change for a number of reasons. Other times, there’s no apparent reason that a social habit slowly grew into an addiction. Think about high profile individuals with money and power who party too much, treat people horribly, and think they’re above the law. Many of them die from overdoses or eventually kill someone in a DUI accident. Other stars and entrepreneurs develop charitable foundations. Success can breed charity  and growth or self-destruction. In either case, the changes don’t happen overnight.

Whatever the cause, your company is liable for many actions of the employees. (Please, tell me you carry liability insurance.) An employee who has an accident in a company vehicle will sky-rocket your insurance. Of course, it will be even worse if that person is transporting vendors, customers, or other employees. That’s not when you want to find out that she’s driving while impaired. Other times, the problem may cost in different ways. What if she gets annoyed when a customer says no, or she refuses to listen to the expert you just hired in another department? A bad attitude, arrogance, or poor social behavior alienates people. Some customers and employees won’t tell you their problem. They’ll make up an excuse and move on. In any of these cases, the person who may have been a great asset at one time has become a liability.

One of the key components of HR management, and general office management too, is communication. HR establishes consistent policies and communication standards, complete with form communications, documentation, procedural manuals, and time-lines for specific events. Consistency keeps you out of trouble and out of court. HR also establishes rules and procedures for the progression of key events, such as disciplinary actions, and even what the company does in the event of the death of a co-worker or a local disaster. Some of these things can’t easily be designed to fit your business and integrate with your work-flow from a distance. Employee assistance is not included and most companies don’t have anyone on staff that’s qualified or trained to deal with that type of problem. Therefore, the tendency is to use a loose top-level outline and ignore the rest.

Really small businesses usually flounder for alternatives to help bridge the gap between getting started and wimping out on the whole HR and EAP process. What can you do that you can afford? One solution is to find a good office generalist who can wear many different hats. Some take on duties as diverse as dog walking without a problem. Many experienced administrative assistants also handled HR extensively, before it became a duty that was outsourced. Other times, you can get a student from a college who’s studying HR management and wants to hands-on experience. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the student’s first job or that they don’t already have substantial HR experience. It varies with the student and where they are in their educational process, and he or she can organize the procedures and educate you too.

You might also look for an HR professional who doesn’t want to work full time because of small children or an elderly parent. It isn’t necessary to be in the office five days a week to see problems and documentation work can be done remotely. However, that doesn’t make the person a trained counselor who will resolve the problem on their own. The key is to have someone available who can tactfully and maturely guide a person with a problem toward help. Whatever you do, don’t be blindsided with a costly problem by ignoring the need to address this area.

For additional information and resources about HR issues, check out the previously recorded webinars and information at this link. If you want to know more about what an EAP does, this is a good link.

The attached article and information offers great pointers about what to do to make your profiles stand out, especially on LinkedIn. While the technical jobs get a lot of play, don’t make the mistake of thinking these tips don’t apply to other fields. It’s just a matter of time until the impact is felt in all industries. Be first and show what you can do.

http://www.businessinsider.com/get-hired-what-6-hot-tech-companies-want-to-see-in-your-linkedin-profile-2012-1#

If you don’t have time or aren’t sure what to do, ask for help from a professional. I offer this type of service, and there are many other services that handle social media development and strategies for professionals and job seekers. My words of advice on this are simply not to let anyone get overly exuberant. If you don’t feel it’s an honest representation and facts are being changed in ways that make you uncomfortable, listen to your gut. It’s probably not the right match for you.

Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1

From Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his collaborative production company, hitRECord, this is the first book in a new series. If you’ve never read a collaborative work before, take time now. It’s cute, quick, contemporary, and offers something for everyone.

The black and white format adds to the impact and keeps the focus on the artistic content. Red is the only color used, and it’s the background color of the cover, which is hard and enhances the quality and feel. It also makes the small format easier to handle.

Expect everything from tongue-in-cheek political humor to reminiscent pondering in this small work of art. What’s more amazing is that this little wonder includes work from sixty artists, which was culled from 8,569 original contributions. So, how tiny is tiny? It’s 4″ x 6″ in size. Perfect for a gift or a treat for yourself after a long week.

Wirrow is an interesting and talented person, and the interview that begins the book is an invitation to artists to get involved in the coming editions. Two more books are planned as of this review. Want to hear more about this type of publication and see samples? A short video is included below.

Christmas may be over, but Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Mother’s Day are just around the corner. However, this book isn’t just for women. The men I showed it to loved it and laughed out loud.

The verdict from this reviewer is that The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories is a big success. Congratulations to the artists and producer!

by Penny J. Leisch

(Penny J. Leisch received a copy of this book for review from the author, publisher, or publicist.)

Of course, there are legitimate internships which offer college credit or CEUs (continuing education units) in lieu of dollars. In essence, there is a form of payment with ongoing value to the individual. The majority of the situations are jobs for companies that don’t want to spend money. However, they want your skills. You may be reluctant to demand pay or decline because there are dozens of people in the market who will take the chance, regardless how slim, that a paying job might materialize.

Let’s look at where this leaves you though. First, your time and resources are spent without compensation. You can’t look for another job. You can’t spend time with your family. You can’t further your education. And, you spend money out of your pocket for clothes, food, paper, ink, gas, and more. You support their business, but they don’t support you. In addition, you can’t put it on your resume. Why?

If you receive unemployment, it will be viewed as making you unavailable for a real job. You lose the unemployment check if anyone finds out. If you are asked what you made, stating there was no salary makes you look like a fool or devalues your work, depending on the viewpoint of the employer. The other possibility is that a potential employer gets the impression you don’t really need a paying job. Therefore, you won’t have much incentive to work. See how this can backfire?

What about the old school chum or neighbor who wants to start a business and just needs a little help? It sounds like fun. Remember, all of the things I mentioned above apply. You spend time and resources without return. That may be fine in the short term. However, when the time comes to pull out because it’s costing too much or your situation changes, you may find yourself in the position of losing a friend too.

Alternately, you may begin to feel put upon if your business partner assumes you’ll work for free indefinitely. Casual business arrangements often turn into a major headache and develop complications no one expected, like projects that depend on you when you want out, professional bridges burned, lost friendships, and possibly even legal ramifications.

This isn’t high school folks. If you want a hobby, find one. If business is your passion, volunteer for a local non-profit or school business program. If you want to make more money, find a second job that pays. Society is litigious and friendships seldom rise above covering one’s own backside.

In the writers’ world, there are tons of “jobs” that pay only when the work is accepted or want a writer to write hundreds of words for a pittance. The problem is that time is spent producing work that may never earn a dime. Then, there are the job applications with skill tests that send every candidate ten pages to edit. When the “tests” are returned, the project is finished and no one gets hired. It’s an old scam. Spend the time to hone your skills, seek individual writing assignments, and develop a portfolio of high-quality work that fits a market you want to break into.

Other times, a company interviews a well-qualified candidate and offers an “opportunity” to work a few weeks on a special project to see whether it’s a good fit. Everything sounds professional and on the up and up. However, chances are there won’t be enough money to hire you after the time is up. They will be terribly sorry. You’ll be first on the list when they can squeeze it into the budget. They’ll assure you that you have great talent and they’d be happy to provide a recommendation–maybe.

Reread the paragraph above about working for free and how it can backfire. Meanwhile, you may have turned down interview opportunities, spent money for gas, and lost time that should have been spent on your job search. I’m sure someone someplace may have gotten a real job this way, but the odds are much higher that it won’t happen.

There’s no doubt the economic situation is rough, but don’t let desperation overrule common sense whether you are the employer or the employee.