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Advanta Credit Cards Closed for Business
Advanta credit card customers must find other ways to finance their small businesses, starting June 10th. Reacting to mounting losses from credit defaults, company officials decided to close down all of the firm’s outstanding credit lines. In a press release, the company indicated that it took the move in advance of a June deadline that…
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Viral Video Attracts Audiences in Unexpected Ways
Cutting through the noise of today’s media environment to find new audience members requires a different approach. “Branding” is still important, but the way you attract new audience to your brand may require you to reconnect with your broader artistic tendencies. Read more at spinme.com…
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Can You Pass the Financial Literacy Quiz?
Two years ago, author and entrepreneur Braun Mincher developed FinancialLiteracyQuiz.com, a fifty-question test that mimics the kind of final exam on money that is missing from most schools. Many respondents get a score of around 57 on their first try, hinting at a lack of understanding about how money works. Mincher answered some questions about…
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Underground Restaurants Take Culinary Education to the Extreme
(From the archives, first published in 2006.) The world has become fascinated with today’s celebrity chefs who boast top culinary educations and own mega-popular restaurants. Two quieter culinary trends, however, are focusing on just the opposite. A growing number of “underground restaurants” and “wandering supperclubs,” held anywhere from crowded living rooms or two-car garages, to…
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Elements of a Communication Plan: Viewing Stakeholders as Audience
Professional media producers understand how to tailor information to meet the needs of a target audience. Viewers of a cable news channel want details about money, politics, and crime updated throughout the day. Readers of a morning newspaper may prefer deeper insight, context, and analysis. Lovers of public radio enjoy soothing, thoughtful interviews. In most…
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How CRM Software Can Help Hotels Through Travel Downturn
A few months ago, I wrote about some B&B’s that were using CRM software to compete head to head with large hotel chains. With businesses experiencing unprecedented travel budget cutbacks and consumers thinking twice about their vacation plans, even the most successful hotels are thinking about how they can get through 2009. Hoteliers who can…
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Obama’s Credit Card Reform Pledge
(From April 2009) Credit card reform tops the agenda at a meeting of banking executives at the White House on Thursday. Treasury officials originally planned the event as a discussion about pending credit card legislation. However, the meeting made front page news when White House officials announced that President Obama will personally address attendees… Read…
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Summertime Online Degrees Help Job Seekers Beat the Heat
Though the summer months offer plenty of leisure activities, career-minded students are using summer sessions at online colleges to prepare for a challenging job market. By popular demand, colleges are making it easier than ever to transfer credits between online schools and traditional institutions. Here are five ways that students can leverage the power of…
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Everybody Wants You: High Demand Job Skills
Raw talent alone isn’t enough to qualify for most of today’s most in-demand jobs. In a recent survey, one out of every five Americans polled admitted to knowing a qualified job candidate who had been passed over because they hadn’t completed a formal career training program. Government data reveals eleven fast-growing careers that allow job…
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Your Job, Your Salary on Steriods–How Graduate Training Pays Off Bigtime
Few managers like to discuss salaries and raises outside of annual appraisal season or one on one meetings with employees. Why? Because many employers know that team members doing similar work could have salary gaps as significant as 50%. Yet, as veteran managers can attest, they rarely yield to employees who ask for more money,…
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Top 10 Careers Requiring Two Years of Training or Less
Changing your job doesn’t always have to mean completing a four-year degree. With help from government statisticians, we’ve compiled a list of ten exciting, well-paying jobs that you can start with just a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. Many of these jobs even allow you to start earning money while you train. That…
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10 Ways to Punch Your Own Timeclock–And Make Great Money
Recent studies indicate that today’s working professionals desire control of their time even more than a bigger paycheck. Job seekers can often uncover flexible jobs in businesses that serve customers around the clock, and in industries with a backlog of projects to process. Telecommuting offers professionals the ability to eliminate long commutes without cutting connections…