I once had a job that required a daily productivity report. The idea was that if you had to tell the boss everything you did—in 15 minute increments no less—then you would be more productive. Do you think this improved anyone’s productivity?
Tags: small business, productivity reporting, management
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Posted: 2/3/2009 | Comments (0)
The Prime Minister of Australia has come out with it, a call for a New World Order in which Democratic Socialism would be the norm since, according to the PM, the free market simply cannot be trusted. Maybe he is right, and a new world order really is necessary, but is it the democratic socialism that he is calling for? Not a chance.
Tags: small business, bailout, economy, recovery, obama, congress, pelosi, reid, new world order, democratic socialism
Posted: 2/2/2009 | Comments (0)
Will the deepening recession force a realignment from a unified national economy to one where local interests predominate? What would that mean for small business and is it the solution to our troubles?
Tags: small business, bailout, economy, recovery, obama, congress, pelosi, reid, shrinkage
Posted: 1/30/2009 | Comments (1)
It has been a nice little break, with our inboxes pretty clean and our spam filters pulling part-time duty, but those quiet days are over as spammers have come back with even more sophisticated and dangerous missives aimed right at your computer.
Tags: spam, mccolo, spammers, email, email marketing, malware
Posted: 1/29/2009 | Comments (0)
Complaint letters abound, there is now question of it, but how do you answer one? Here is one example, by way of Great Britain’s Inland Revenue, that I think takes the biscuit. We can only hope the IRS will develop a sense of humor like this, not to mention the style and flare to use it.
Tags: customer service, customer relations, complaint letters, complaint letter responses, inland revenue
Posted: 1/28/2009 | Comments (0)
A little girl is dead, her mother is awaiting trial, her grandfather is an attempted suicide, the whole thing has been more of media circus than the OJ trial (though happily without the Dancing Itos) and what does one Florida company decide is a fitting and respectful thing to do? Yep, you guessed it: the $29.95 Caylee Anthony doll.
Tags: caylee anthony, doll, showbiz promotions, awful product idea
Posted: 1/27/2009 | Comments (1)
Taking a more, shall we say, personal approach, to their economic woes, Japan has asked employers to let their workers off early to spend time with their families, hoping that this will stimulate the birthrate. Why? Because they recognize that economies grow and thrive when birthrates do likewise. Would that work here?
Tags: us, japan, birthrate, economy, stimulus, pelosi, birth control, bailouts
Posted: 1/26/2009 | Comments (0)
Mom always said that if you get something nice, you should always say “Thank you.” That is good advice in general and we at the Bottom Line heartily endorse it. However, Chrysler has just learned that this axiom does not apply to the receipt of tax payer bailout money. Who knew?
Tags: chrysler, bailout, thank you ad, backlash
Posted: 1/23/2009 | Comments (0)
As if the financial games in Washington aren’t bad enough, now we have the scum of the Internet crawling out from under their various rocks and rotted logs to try and suck the monetary life out of those who actually work for a living. Have a look at what I received over just the last two days! NOTE: DO NOT CLICK ANY LINKS IN ANY OF THE EXAMPLES IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE.
Tags: scams, fraud, trojan horses, 419 scams, internet scams, bank scam, iraq soldier scams, spam
Posted: 1/22/2009 | Comments (3)
Hidden among line-items that don’t seem to directly bear upon creating prosperity, there are a small number of provisions that deal directly with small business in the optimistically named American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Tags: small business, bailout, american recovery and reinvestment act
Posted: 1/21/2009 | Comments (0)
With the inauguration of President Obama and the coming of the change he’s promised, can we add one more change to the list? Can we create a tax code you don’t need Deep Blue to figure out?
Tags: obama, taxes, tax code, flat tax, fair tax, tax simplification
Posted: 1/20/2009 | Comments (5)
You can always count on the airline industry to serve up a morality tale in how not to enhance your public image, but who knew the hole these guys are digging for themselves could go this deep? Spirit Airlines wants to charge a cancellation fee to some of the passengers on Flight 1549 when it went into Hudson River. Apparently, the mere fact of a plane crash-landing in the Hudson River isn’t enough for Spirit to figure out the passengers would not need a return flight.
Tags: public relations, spirit airlines, us airways, flight 1549, cancellation fees
Posted: 1/19/2009 | Comments (3)
Where is Milla Jojovich when we need her? The zombies are coming, debt-ridden husks, they shuffle across the financial landscape seeking to feed on unwary taxpayers. How bad will it get? What can be done?
Tags: economic stimulus, failure, congress, obama, bush, bailout, zombie debtor, debt, red queen
Posted: 1/16/2009 | Comments (0)
Learn how to boost company morale and build teamwork at the same time.
Tags: small business, company outings, morale booster
Posted: 1/15/2009 | Comments (1)
Einstein, who is purported to have been a pretty sharp guy, defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time. It seems that the experiment in Keynesian economics our government has been engaged in is about to prove Einstein’s theory, or are we looking at something entirely different?
Tags: economic stimulus, failure, fdr, congress, obama, bush, einstein, insanity, stupidity, bailout
Posted: 1/13/2009 | Comments (3)
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