Performance Chaser or Business Builder?Written by Patty Gale
Performance Chaser or Business Builder?Patty Gale © 2005 - all rights reserved Having worked in investments for many years, "performance chasers" are those people or investment managers who are always looking for "hottest stock" that will get them most bang for buck now. There's nothing wrong with optimizing performance, but they lose site of long-term investment goals. You know.. tortoise and hare sydrome. The same applies to business. Are you looking only to make most sales now or are you taking long-term approach to where you want your business to be? Are you truly taking your customers needs to heart or are you only looking to sell them latest and greatest? Are you looking to build a loyal, long-term customer base or to make most money you can now? One of my favorite movie scenes is from Miracle on 34th Street where customer is in Macy's and can't find what she needs. Macy's doesn't have item and sends her over to Gimbel's. The customer is shocked that in this day of age of materialism (yes they thought that back in 1940's, too), that a store would make sure her needs were met first instead of trying to sell her something she didn't need or want. As a result, you know she'll become a loyal customer of Macy's.
| | Corporate Security for your Home BusinessWritten by Nick Smith
The words Corporate Security may conjure up images of a group of techies working in a wire-filled basement room of Microsoft or HP, combating hackers and terrorists online using words like algorithm and encryption. If you own your own business, do not allow yourself to think that security is only for big corporations. Every company, big or small, technological or traditional, has two major security concerns: protecting information, and protecting hardware. Corporate Security: Information Information is commodity that makes companies unique. That information could be a process your company does better than others; or it could be how to make unique product you sell; or it could be a collection of information that you have that others want access to. In any case, protecting information that makes your company viable could mean financial life or death for your venture. There are three simple corporate security solutions you can implement to decrease likelihood that your information will be leaked or lost. Make back ups often. If you are like 90% of computer users out there who use Windows, pressing [ctrl] + S is a habit well worth forming. Besides information, time is one of your most valuable resources, so you can’t afford to lose hours of work every time system crashes. Save your work as often as you stop typing. Making additional copies of master files in other places beside your hard drive will mean you won’t lose everything if your hard drive becomes corrupted. Keep these discs in a safe place where you can easily access them if you need to. Keep secret passwords secret. This may seem like a no-brainer, but too often we think of passwords as annoyances slowing us down. Systems are password-protected to ensure that only those persons who should be allowed access are granted access. If you are working out of a home office and have little face-to-face interaction with clients or customers, you may be tempted to leave your system unlocked or pin a list of your user names and passwords near computer. Remember that children are both curious and smart, and in only a few clicks of mouse they can accidentally erase important files. Do yourself favor of memorizing your passwords and changing them on occasion.
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