• LEADERSHIP: Develop Trust and Get the Most from Employees



• MANAGEMENT: 12 Steps to a Healthier Office



• MANAGEMENT: Let Go with Dignity - the Art of Ending Corporate Romance



• MARKETING: 5 Tips for Marketing to Millennials



• MARKETING: How and Where Older Americans Shop and Play Online



• RETAIL: Attitude is Everything -Spark Sales in any Economy



• STRATEGY: What to Do When the Going Gets Tough



• TRENDS: Trading Car Keys for Keyboards



• TRENDS: Why are Women Dropping Out of the Economy?



• Website of the Week: National Association of Women Business Owners
  This membership-based organization also includes a number of free public resources, articles, and links online. Their vision is to propel women entrepreneurs into economic, social, and political spheres of power worldwide.

July 25 , 2008

LEADERSHIP:  Develop Trust and Get the Most from Employees
- seattlepi.com
 
While many business owners and managers espouse that they want their people to take more initiative and "get their skin in the game," it's surprising how few actually give their people the authority and support to do so. In an empowered organization, employees take personal responsibility for the day-to-day running of the business under appropriate leadership direction. Effective leaders delegate and empower talented employees, coaching them to use discretion and good judgment when faced with obstacles and opportunities.

MANAGEMENT: 12 Steps to a Healthier Office
- seattlebusinessmonthly.com
 
Employers search for the least-expensive way to cover employee benefits and employees struggle to afford high co-pays and deductibles. It’s easy to see how health care can turn natural allies into adversaries. There is a more effective way to approach employer-employee health needs: bring both sides together to work on this common problem. Studies show that 72 percent of executives believe that keeping employees healthy is crucial to business success, and 93 percent of employees are comfortable taking responsibility for their health care, but everyone struggles with how to do so. With such high levels of interest, it only makes sense to “slug” this issue out together and create a healthier workplace. In these pages, Bob Rosner and Sherrie Campbell, syndicated columnists with Workplace911, will take you through a practical, 12-month plan that not only creates a healthier workplace but just might reduce health-care costs for both employees and employers.


MANAGEMENT: Letting Go with Dignity: The Art of Ending a Corporate Romance - bizjournals.com
 
No matter how well your business does, sooner or later you're going to be faced with the fact that someone has to go. It may be a disgruntled co-founder or it may be the intern that looked great on paper but turned into a disaster when they walked into the office. While parting company is a tough thing to do, there are definitely good and bad ways to go about it. There's an art to ending a corporate romance on a positive note, and it starts with looking past the moment of departure and into the future.

MARKETING:  5 Tips for Marketing to Millennials
- businessknowhow.com
 
Improving the effectiveness of your marketing to Millennials is no small undertaking. To be truly successful, you need to understand the social dependence these individuals have when communicating and the value they place on the opinion of others. Although much of Millennial marketing needs to happen online, don’t lose track of some tradition media like direct mail. As much as marketing has changed, traditional media can still be effective -- just make sure it has a social component.
 
 
MARKETING: Where Older Americans Shop and Play Online
- marketingvox.com
 
Older Americans online behavior mirrors that of younger surfers, even teenagers. The research, part of the Digital Future Project, also found Older Americans embraced Web 2.0 and often use the web — and several forms of social media — as much as, or more than, younger and more tech-savvy counterparts. Instant messaging and video downloading still remain more popular with a younger crowd, but Older Americans check the 'net for news more frequently than younger users and are logging onto online communities, researching purchases, becoming socially active and playing games in increasing numbers.
 

RETAIL:  Attitude is Everything: Spark Sales in Any Economy
- managesmarter.com
 
Many companies and independent sellers are ringing alarm bells instead of ringing up sales. Fear-based thoughts—such as declining profits and potential downsizing—dominate these sellers' every move. Regrettably, many professionals don't recognize that they're in the driver's seat. The ability to be successful is within their control. Even in times of economic uncertainty, there are those who actually increase their sales. Right now, many sellers are reporting record sales. So what's up?

STRATEGY:  What to Do When the Going Gets Tough
- usatoday.com
 
Recent surveys indicate an unease has set in for small-business owners, who are less able to cope with economic hard times than are large corporations, writes USA TODAY columnist Steve Strauss. "Starbucks can close 600 stores and save a wad of cash when things go south, but all we can do is to try to somehow wring out a tad more savings by tightening the belt and to keep hustling for business." Strauss offers strategies for lean times that he has gleaned from other small-business owners.

TRENDS:  Trading Car Keys for Keyboards
- nytimes.com
 
To go shopping these days, more Americans are trading in their car keys for a keyboard. Online shopping is gaining at a time when simply filling up a gas tank to head to the mall can seem like a spending spree. A number of retailers — including Gap, Victoria’s Secret and J. C. Penney — are experiencing double-digit sales growth at their shopping Web sites, creating a surprising bright spot during an otherwise gloomy time for sales in brick-and-mortar stores.
 
 
TRENDS: Why are Women Dropping Out of the Workplace?
- nytimes.com

Across the country, women in their prime earning years, struggling with an unfriendly economy, are retreating from the work force, either permanently or for long stretches. When economists first started noticing this trend two or three years ago, many suggested that the pullback from paid employment was a matter of the women themselves deciding to stay home — to raise children or because their husbands were doing well or because, more than men, they felt committed to running their households. But now, a different explanation is turning up in government data, in the research of a few economists and in a Congressional study, to be released Tuesday, that follows the women’s story through the end of 2007.  
 

GOVERNMENT AND REGULATORY:  PBA Tax Alert for Businesses on Stimulus Package - Professional Beauty Association
 
There is more to the Economic Stimulus Act than the rebates that most of us will be receiving this summer. Included in the Economic Stimulus Act are two provisions to help small businesses. These opportunities are only available in 2008, so if you want to take advantage you must act quickly. These provisions have not received as much press as the rebates have. But, overlooking these provisions could be a costly mistake. Here is what you need to know to take advantage of the new law.
 

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Make a Difference! Salon Services has partnered with David Hanen, Founder and Owner of LOMA-Pearatin, to donate a dollar for each bottle of "Pink Bow" Fortifying Repairative Serum that you purchase between now and October 2008. Proceeds will benefit the Susan G. Komen foundation's annual 3-Day Walk - our own Stacy Kurtz is walking! Read about her story or make a donation online [click here].