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Management Insider

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Marketing and Sales Insider

  • The Secret to Making Your Brand Truly Great
    November 20, 2009

    By Dan Huston Although many business leaders are obsessed with the concept of branding, few really understand what it means to develop a successful brand. Here’s what it really takes. (Biznik) H …

  • Your New Economy Customer
    November 13, 2009

    Recession Springboarding! By Tommy Jaye Positioning your business for the economic recovery starts now! It’s no longer “business as usual.” Small business owners and entrepreneurs …

  • Understanding the Buzz Around Social Media
    November 12, 2009

    Finding the Right Social Media Mix By Baltej Gill You might have heard that social media can help build your brand, promote your product and services, help collect feedback from your customers, incre …

  • 3 Things that Stop Sales
    November 6, 2009

    How comfortable are you in asking people to become a paying client? Once you know what’s getting in your way, it will be easier to overcome these issues. By Kaya Singer (BizNik) If you own a sm …

  • Stage Your Business to Sell
    November 4, 2009

    (Sacramento) – Before you put your business on the market to sell, be sure you are prepared so you can get the best price possible. The California Association of Business Brokers (CABB – a non-profit …

Legal Insider

  • RB Chamber Helps Stop Anti-Job Proposal
    November 4, 2009

    AB 793 and AB 943, two harmful legislative proposals that would have put businesses in Redondo Beach, were defeated in October when the Governor vetoed both pieces of legislation. The Cham …

  • 7 Simple Ways to Law-Proof Your Business
    October 27, 2009

    By Kurt Andrew Schlichter, Esq. The article appeared in Business Insider Magazine’s first issue of 2009 While the economic downturn will increase most businesses’ exposure to legal problems, it …

  • Protect Yourself When Making Written Offers
    October 20, 2009

    By DeAnn Flores Chase Attorney at Law There are many reasons why a business owner should have legal counsel when starting a business.  The following is an example based on a true story:An owner of re …

  • 7 Steps to Surviving a Lawsuit
    October 6, 2009

    By Kurt Schlichter, Esq, Attorney at Law This article appeared in Business Insider Magazine in the second issue of 2009 As the economy worsens, more businesspeople find themselves being sued.  Ge …

Human Resources Insider

  • Truer U.S. unemployment rate is 17.5%
    November 6, 2009
    (The Ticker – The Washington Post) Each month, as regular readers know, I like to unpack the new unemployment number and get behind the data. The news this month continues to be grim. Indeed, it …

  • Workplace Poster Needs Updating
    November 6, 2009
    Required Updates Due to EEOC Notice Change (The California Chamber of Commerce) A new mandatory change to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) notice in the Employment Notices Poster mus …

  • House Democrats Prepare For Close Healthcare Vote
    November 5, 2009
    WASHINGTON (Reuters – The New York Times) – Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives hustled on Thursday to count votes and round up support for a sweeping healthcare overha …

  • Health Plan “Hurts More Than Helps”
    November 5, 2009
    (Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce)  Consider the plight of the hard-working employee who’s earned the right to obtain benefits from their employer after years of loyal service – a coverage plan tha …

  • CalChamber Partners to Train Employees
    November 4, 2009
    CalChamber Keeps California Companies Competitive; New Partnership With ETP Will Facilitate Training for Thousands of Employees Statewide The California Chamber of Commerce and the Employment Training …

Real Estate Insider

  • Mortgage Holders Rent Back Their Homes
    November 5, 2009

    Fannie Mae: “Deed For Lease” Program Will Let Thousands Rent Out Homes To Avoid Foreclosure By Alan Zibel (Associate Press – The Huffington Post) Thousands of borrowers on the verge …

  • Goldman’s new role: taking away people’s homes
    November 2, 2009

    By Greg Gordon (McClatchy Newspapers) SAN JOSE, Calif. — When California wildfires ruined their jewelry business, Tony Becker and his wife fell months behind on their mortgage payments and experienced …

  • Wilbur Ross: ‘Huge’ Commercial Real Estate Crash
    October 30, 2009

    (Bloomberg) Billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross Jr., said today the U.S. is in the beginning of a “huge crash in commercial real estate.” “All of the components of real estate value are going in the …

  • New home sales fall 3.6%
    October 28, 2009

    (Associated Press – Los Angeles Times) WASHINGTON – Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a soon-to-expire tax credit for first-time owners started to wane. …

  • The Real Estate Weather Report
    October 6, 2009

    By Ken Roberts This article appeared in Business Insider Magazine’s second issue of 2009 If the real estate climate was reported like the weather, it might sound something like the following: “Expe …

Citizens Business Bank

Ten Questions with Jeffrey Pfeffer

(How to Change the World) Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. He is the author or co-author of twelve books.Dr. Pfeffer received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Ph.D. from Stanford.

He began his career at the business school at the University of Illinois and then taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and he has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, Singapore Management University, London Business School, and IESE in Barcelona.

Pfeffer currently serves on the board of directors of … Continue Reading

3 Things that Stop Sales

How comfortable are you in asking people to become a paying client?

Once you know what’s getting in your way, it will be easier to overcome these issues.

By Kaya Singer

(BizNik) If you own a small business you likely spend more time marketing than everything else put together. You also know that in marketing there’s an  order and a system to the process and when you follow the system correctly, it works and it brings you more clients.

One of the biggest mistakes small business people make is trying to sell to people before building a … Continue Reading

Leadership Without a Secret Code

articleInline[1](The New York Times)

This interview with Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.

Q. Do you remember the first time you became somebody’s boss or supervisor?

A. I became chair of the department of American civilization at the University of Pennsylvania, and so it would have been in 1980. But a department chair is an interesting kind of boss, because it’s not clear … Continue Reading

Managing: How to Work More Like a Start-Up

strategy-95-managing1_31[1]Rekindle that startup spirit with agile development

By Darren Dahl

(Inc.com) The first thing you notice when you walk into the Chicago offices of Total Attorneys, which provides software and services to small law firms, is the number of people on their feet. Every morning, the company’s 180 employees gather around the office in groups of five to 10. Close your eyes, take in the often raucous banter and laughter, and it’s easy to mistake Total Attorneys’s headquarters for a college cafeteria. But these meetings, which last for about 15 minutes, … Continue Reading

Building a Culture of Employee Appreciation

strategy-79-hands1_252[1]How Datotel overhauled its employee-appreciation, -recognition, and -incentive programs

By Nadine Heintz

(Inc.com) David Brown thinks it’s important to make his employees feel valued. So Brown, founder and president of Datotel, an IT services and data storage business in St. Louis with 38 employees, was dismayed when he realized his employee-of-the-month program wasn’t helping morale. Recipients didn’t seem enthusiastic about the award, which consisted of a $25 gift card, a perfunctory e-mail, and a mention on the company intranet.

It seems like a simple concept: Make employees feel appreciated, and they will … Continue Reading

My Business is Worth What?

California Association of Business Brokers says know the value of your business

(Sacramento, CA) The California Association of Business Brokers (CABB- a non profit trade organization) says if you are a small business owner looking to sell your business but are waiting for the economy to turn around, use this time to start preparing. One of the most vital steps in this process is to understand what your business is worth.

Ron Hottes, president of CABB and of several Business Team Business Brokerages says that a business broker’s opinion of value can provide you with an objective view of what your business … Continue Reading

Efficient IT Planning is Key to Recession Survival

David_Whitehead[1]By David Whitehead

The financial crisis may not be the only thing putting a strain on your business. If your IT upgrades didn’t keep pace with your growth during the boom years, chances are expensive inefficiencies are starting to get noticed. Surviving a tough economy requires all of us to be as efficient as possible, which means it’s time to take a hard look at productivity problems created by poorly planned IT systems.
I have worked for several companies that allowed their IT to become grossly inefficient because systems were allowed … Continue Reading


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