Business

Emotional support animals can bring calm to people who need them – and legal confusion to employers.

A midday gym session can be the best way to boost your energy levels during the workday. But the thought of redoing your hair or taking that second shower can be daunting.

Up to 40 percent of food grown, processed and transported in the United States is never eaten, yet 1 in 8 Americans – or 40 million people – suffers food insecurity. The average four-person family wastes $1,500 a year on food.

It started with passion. Then the idea. Now you even have the whole business plan with all the details addressed. What you likely do not have is the money. A business pitch competition could possibly be just the thing to get your startup truly started.

Many business owners and marketers recognize the importance of social media but don’t realize that their social media practices might be affecting their website’s Google rankings. Here are a few quick tips to boost your SEO while continuing to grow your following:

Brand ambassador programs are catching on. However, rather than selecting a few influencers with high followings to promote their product or service, brands are taking another approach: building brand ambassador armies.

Most of us spend lots of time with our co-workers. What could you do differently to be a better one? Sources from human resource blogs to Reader’s Digest offer tips on how to be a better co-worker.

Cyber security threats are out there every day for businesses, regardless of their size. That’s why business owners should lead by example and teach employees how to protect confidential information, like company finances.

Job seekers are enticed by work-from-home options according to research from staffing firm Robert Half. More than three quarters of surveyed professionals (77 percent) said they are more likely to accept a job offer if there is an option for telecommuting. Those in San Francisco and Los Angeles are most likely to seek this perk, citing long commute times.

Ideal circumstances for productivity don’t always present themselves while traveling. It’s all about finding your zone amidst chaos. Stay focused with a few tips:

Are you tired of stocks, bonds and mutual funds? Incorporate alternative investments into your financial strategy. Alternative investments can increase returns and build a stronger retirement. They are not just limited to hedge funds but can include private investments such as equity, credit and real estate and also real assets such as commodities, precious metals, MLPs and REITs.

Many companies are looking at different ways to market their business, product or service. In the past, hiring a marketer or communicator was sufficient. Today, considering how people consume information and make purchasing decisions, those positions have morphed into something new, with titles and skills to match.

There are plenty of things people love to hate about meetings: They’re too long and too frequent; certain people dominate the conversation and other people don’t pay attention; and nothing gets done. Take charge of your next meeting by following these steps:

How many times have you clicked or read an email just to get that unread number to zero? You just wasted a microdecision on opening an email, reading it, and not doing anything with it.

Now more than ever, digital marketing is changing the way we communicate. Social media helps brands connect with target audiences with the click of a button.

It’s easy to make conference calls from almost anywhere. But while they’re convenient, conference calls aren’t the best option for building a relationship.

How each piece of a company’s visual identity works together to communicate the brand’s essence is important. Good graphic designers don’t begin concepting in isolation.

Have you recently received a lot of emails from companies notifying you of changes to their privacy policies? It’s because a European law — which includes the strictest data privacy rules ever written — the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Project: Time Off discovered half of Americans don’t use their vacation time.

According to “The Mind of a Strategist,” effectively negotiating requires practice, not to be left dormant and tapped at will. At 4, my granddaughter Emily gets it.

Running a business comes naturally to me, but managing a staff is still a challenge. It’s review time in our office and after 22 years, there is no magic formula to lead and motivate. Here are five tips to help those of you like me.

Forming audit committees is becoming more common in the nonprofit sector, offering an unbiased outlet to monitor an organization’s finances. Here are three things to consider when building an audit committee:

PR can be summarized as telling your story to a target audience. Most people are satisfied with how they tell their story; however, an element many forget is empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. If you don’t consider the viewpoints of others, communicating with a group may not be effective.

A recent Columbia University experiment concluded that men value intelligence and ambition in their female counterparts – up to a certain point.

The key to being happier and more productive at work might just be bringing your best friend to work with you. Your furry bestie, that is.

Universities around the world are offering their courses online for free or partially free. Over the past five years, almost 800 universities have created more than 8,000 of these massive open online courses (MOOCs). Universities with offerings include Stanford, Duke, Rice and Harvard, to name a few.

Is your job killing you? According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, sitting for long periods can be a risk factor for early death. Move every 30 minutes.

Known as the “cooler” social media platform, Instagram gives people what they desire at their core when it comes to social media – a place to engage and connect through images and videos, without having to be buried in all the “Facebook craziness.”

The authoritative management style is fading.