Posted: Jun 19, 2013 in Personal, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
“I sent out 200 resumes in the last month and haven’t heard anything!”
“I’ve been trying for so long, I’m about to give up on ever finding a job.”
“My job makes me miserable. I do the work of two employees and they still treat me like dirt, but I’ve got to pay the bills. My best work is always criticized and I never hear about a job well done. I feel like a prisoner.”
“I just got laid off after 20 years with my company. I’m not too hopeful I’ll find another job soon—companies are looking...
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Posted: Jun 11, 2013 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
The tight budgets and plentiful layoffs of the recent “Great Recession” spawned anxiety and insecurity throughout the American workforce. When members of the media began calling it the beginning of a “depression,” even the bravest most experienced business leaders felt afraid. Some companies were overcome by the fear, whereas others avoided failure—but how?
Fear can both help and harm. In the sense that it is an “awareness of danger” (to borrow from Webster’s Dictionary), it can help protect...
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Posted: May 22, 2013 in Personal, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
No one wants to talk about depression, yet at some point in life, most of us either experience it ourselves or know someone who has. Fourteen percent of Americans will experience serious depression in their lifetimes (according to Consumer Reports), and this number is unlikely to decrease. I, too, have lived with depression. Now, I want to share the story of how I passed through that dark tunnel and into the light to give hope to others who are fighting the same demons.
Temporary sadness is a...
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Posted: May 21, 2013 in Business, Technology, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
These days, many people do their personal and business communicating primarily via e-mail or text messaging. E-mail will only become more important as we move into the future, with the number of users worldwide projected to grow by one billion by 2016, according to research firm Radicati. The next generation of American workers will have never known a world without the Internet and text messaging.
One reason that e-mail is so popular is that it is a fast, easy, and convenient way to...
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Posted: May 09, 2013 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
In 27 years as UCLA’s basketball coach, John Wooden led his players to ten NCAA national championships, 88 straight wins, and four perfect seasons. No wonder ESPN named him a “Coach of the Century!” He was one of only three people to be inducted into the basketball hall of fame as a player and a coach.
Great coaches like Wooden exhibit many of the same traits as business visionaries like Jack Welch, Jim Collins, and Larry Bossidy. Although there is no guaranteed path to greatness, people who...
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Posted: May 08, 2013 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
All leaders dream of piloting their organizations to soaring productivity. Creating healthy, productive workplaces, however, requires engagement from employees and management alike—something many workplaces lack. Citing a Towers Perrin study of 90,000 employees worldwide, a 2010 Harvard Business Review analysis noted that “21% felt fully engaged and nearly 40% were disenchanted or disengaged. That negativity has a direct impact on the bottom line.” The study also found that “companies with low...
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Posted: Apr 18, 2013 in Personal, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
Traveling abroad enriches the mind, body, and soul. It allows you to taste new foods, interact with different cultures, and see where history was made. We have visited a good many countries, and Italy is our favorite due to its beautiful sights, great foods and wines, and friendly people. Most Italians speak English, as do citizens of many other countries whose economies rely heavily on tourism. Despite what you may have heard about France, our second favorite place to visit, the people there...
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Posted: Apr 05, 2013 in Personal, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
Download travel checklist here
Having flown more than 1 million actual flight miles, we’ve seen the insides of hundreds of hotels, rental cars, airplanes, trains, and cruise ships. We’ve had a lot of fun—and have made just about every travel mistake you can imagine! Our travels, including almost 30 trips to Hawaii alone, have taught us valuable lessons on flying, packing, and making our way around foreign countries. In this article, we’ll share packing strategies we have learned to help you...
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Posted: Mar 14, 2013 in Business, Social Media, Technology, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
Newspapers, radio stations, and other media outlets are seeing advertising revenues dwindle, and where those dollars are headed is clear: the Internet. As more and more people obtain their news and other services through electronic devices like smartphones, the web has taken over as marketing’s new frontier. Most businesses have reacted accordingly, shifting their marketing budgets from print, radio, and television ads to websites and social media strategies. As we outlined in the first part of...
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Posted: Mar 13, 2013 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
Read the attorneys' letters and legal complaint mentioned in the article below (PDF - Click Here)
If you’re like us, you’ve probably received countless misspelled e-mails (and even letters!) from foreign scammers promising $10 million in return for your bank account information. There are also the phony Yellow Page offers and invoices for supplies you never ordered—if you make the mistake of paying, thieves copy your checks and write more from your account! Scams are so plentiful right now...
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