Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Work911 Ezine - Free Stressbusters, toolbars, small business stuff, the poor economy and more.

February 23, 2009 Contents - Our Toolbars, StressBusters Helpcard
Giveaway, Workplace Conflict Articles

We welcome you back to our newsletter. This time, we'll be covering
recent news and updates, and focus on workplace conflict.

Content:

1) Stress Busters Helpcard Giveaway Still On
2) The ToolBars Update
3) Our Participation In Twitter
4) Our Small Business Resources Site
5) The Training and Development List at Penn State
6) Feature: The Poor Economy
7) Odds and Ends - Perfect Phrases For Managing Your Small Business

StressBuster Giveaway

As promised our free giveaway of our StressBusters Helpcard has
started. To download your free copy, however, you must be using one of
our Toolbars. The download instructions, including the password codes,
are included in the Messages section (or the Talk To Us) section,
depending on which toolbar you are using.

I'm even more amazed about the toolbars than I was before. The easy
access to learning, management and/or training and development
resources, all free, is remarkable. (see below)

2) The ToolBars Update:

There are now THREE toolbars available. There's one for management and
leadership topics, one for training and development topics and a more
generic one to do with busy learners, careers, success, etc. You don't
actually need to choose since you can install all of them, and rotate,
or view any one you'd prefer when you want to.

Just to remind you, we've hunted down tons of audio, video and text
articles, all free, and made them available to you at the top of your
browser. We've tapped sources such as Harvard Business, Review, Fast
Company, ASTD, and tons more. The point? Convenience. Great tools at
your fingertips.

The best place to go to access any and all of these is:
http://busylearners.com/toolbars/index.htm

3) Our Participation In Twitter

Bacal and Associates is now participating on Twitter, a Web 2.0 social
thingee. I'll probably write some on it, once I have a better feel for
it, but here are our addresses.

Robert Bacal (@rbacal) or http://twitter.com/rbacal

Pat Stark (@TrDev) http://twitter.com/TrDev I believe Pat will be
focusing on training and development.

4) Our Small Business Resources Site

The site that time forgot. So busy completing Perfect Phrases For
Managing Your Small Business that we forgot about the Small Business
Site. We've revamped the Blog part, and started posting there, and
we'll be working on the rest of the site too. If you have or want to
run a small business, check it out at: http://smallbusiness411.org .
Feel free to comment on the blog. We love to hear from people.

5) The Training and Development List at Penn State

There's a hint of bad news coming about this. I believe that if
interest in the new training and development list does not increase,
and participation remains low, that Dr. Passmore may terminate the
list. So please pay special attention to this if you are in the
training and development field.

The original Training and Development List (TRDEV-L) hosted at Penn
State U. has been restarted after a hiatus of 9 or so years. So, if
you are a trainer/refugee, make sure you sign up. The instructions are
as follows:

To subscribe to TRDEV-L (the original Penn State list), send an email
to:
LISTSERV@LISTS.PSU.EDU and include the following, and only the
following, in the body of the message:
SUBSCRIBE TRDEV-L

Once you have received a confirmation email, you can post to:
TRDEV-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU

I have subscribed.

Feature: The Poor Economy:

Preparing For Layoffs While You Still Have A Job Helpcard

Just a quick note. In today's climate you should be anticipating the
possibility of job loss, even if you feel secure. The time to prepare
for a layoff is when you still have a job. Our helpcard can assist you
in being prepared. We know that the degree a person is financially and
mentally prepared for layoffs, the higher the chance they will
actually end up ahead of the game if and when there is job loss.

If you've already lost your job, you might still want to take a look.
The same principles apply with respect to what you might be doing
during the periods of job loss.

Here's the link: http://busylearners.com/products/i-clayoff.htm . And
yes, there's a free preview you can download.

We also have two other helpcards that might be of interest, both with
free previews.

Crafting Your Resume Helpcard http://busylearners.com/products/i-cresume.htm

Preparing For The Interview Helpcard http://busylearners.com/products/i-cinterview1.htm

--
I'm not a particularly Rah-Rah guy, but the following article, apart
from reminding us to stay positive, contains a few truths that are
worth reiterating. Particularly about getting through poor economies
and not getting weighed down.
--

Your Career - Is it Possible to Thrive in Spite of a Poor Economy?
By Rebecca Metschke

Absolutely.

There's always growth if you know where to look for it. Sometimes the
biggest opportunities arise when things on the surface appear fairly
bleak.

Here's the hard truth: the market is going to be weak for quite a
while. This won't be a short, shallow recession. Even when the economy
improves, the employment outlook will continue to deteriorate for up
to a year and a half. Employment is a lagging indicator.

If your strategy is to put your head down and wait until this passes,
prepare for a long wait. Instead, maybe it's time to figure out how to
capitalize in spite of - or perhaps even because of - the economy.

Businesses have done it - you can do it, too.

Don't believe me? Do a little sleuthing and you'll find quite a few
successful and enduring companies that were launched during downturns
- or worse. Take Hewlett-Packard, which was founded in 1939 - during
the Great Depression and on the brink of a World War.

Or how about Microsoft? The 1974-1975 recession was considered at the
time to be the worst downturn since the 1930s, yet Microsoft was
founded in the midst of it.

Then there are the companies who opt to continue advertising during
downturns (sometimes increasing ad spending) and end up significantly
improving their market share as a result.

There's something to the contrarian approach. While other people
hunker down and are paralyzed with fear, you can make strides by doing
the opposite. Doing nothing is not the winning strategy.

You may need to change tactics, yes. You'll need to get creative, you
must have a good understanding of industry trends, and you'll
definitely need persistence.

Sometimes what you need more than anything else, though, is a little
dose of courage.

I suspect you've heard this quote from Mark Twain before, but it's
worth repeating:

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear-not absence of fear.

The economy is lousy; nobody knows what's coming next. Uncertainty
breeds fear. It's normal to be fearful. Just don't let it paralyze
you. Turn it into something constructive; use it as a catalyst.

Make sure your fundamentals are solid. Are you as marketable as you
possibly can be? What might you do to improve that? How can you adapt
yourself so you can migrate into more robust sectors? How's your
network? Are you paying attention to it and actively seeking to widen
your circle of contacts? What are you doing to contribute to your
company's bottom line? What's your strategy in terms of your career
management? What do you need to do to get from point A to point B?

Take a look at the lay of the land. Who is still hiring? Pay attention
to the employment report each month. Read the trades. Some sectors
(like health services and education) continue to grow. Specific job
categories within other industries are growing - do you know which
ones? Then there are cases where you'll find opportunity in unlikely
places. Take the financial sector. Many who were laid off in the
recent meltdown are finding new jobs - overseas - in places like
Shanghai and Dubai. Yes, it's a global recession. But there are
pockets of growth, just as there are in the States.

If you've been laying the groundwork for a foray into
entrepreneurship, don't assume that you now must wait until the
economy improves to move forward. This might be a fortuitous time to
continue to execute your plan.

Lost your job? Worried about your job? Feel like the chances are good
you'll make it through unscathed? Whatever your circumstance, you
should have a plan. Immediate future, 5 years out, and so on. Know
what course you want to plot and how you're going to get there.

Change is inevitable. This recession is a reminder.

Rebecca Metschke is the author of The Interview Edge, a comprehensive
career guide for those who are serious about their careers. Gain a
professional advantage using proven [http://blog.theinterviewedge.com]
tips, tools and strategies that will help ensure you're as marketable
as you can be. http://www.TheInterviewEdge.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rebecca_Metschke
http://EzineArticles.com/?Your-Career---Is-it-Possible-to-Thrive-in-Spite-of-a-Poor-Economy?&id=1733686

Odds and Ends:

Our book, Perfect Phrases for Managing Your Small Business, published
by McGraw-Hill, is now in stores, and available at amazon. If you want
to buy from amazon (and we hope you support us, since we get a small
referral fee from amazon), you can go to:

http://smallbusiness411.org/cgi-bin/library/jump.cgi?ID=12890

It's about 10 dollars, and it's full of hints, ideas, and cautions
about small business. Ideal for even experienced business owners, but
also great for those who might be interested in starting up a small
business. Given the current economic instability, a good investment.

Our Sites:

Just a quick summary of our sites that have information on the
following topics:

Leadership Resource Center: http://work911.com/leadership-development/index.html

Communication Resource Center: http://www.work911.com/communication/index.htm

Conflict (both workplace and family) http://conflict911.com

Business, Strategic and Personal Planning: http://www.work911.com/planningmaster/index.html

Performance Management & Appraisal: http://performance-appraisals.org

Customer Service: http://customerservicezone.com

Our Main Site: http://www.work911.com

Multi-Purpose Articles Database: http://www.articles911.com

To new subscribers: The work911 newsletter is published no more than
once a week and contains articles on all things work related, and
contains other work related resources, and updates about our sites,
and their contents. Past history indicates we publish about every ten
days. Subscribe at http://work911.com/newsletter.htm

Don't forget that you can access free, useable previews of over twenty
of our books and helpcards at:

http://busylearners.com

and that we continue to offer special freebie offers and discounts to
our newsletter subscribers! (and our toolbar owners!)


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