by Mike Faber

Choosing to work from home as an entrepreneur in the coaching and professional speaking business has been the single most freeing, and terrifying decision of my work career. At first, the “flight from cubicle” life seemed idyllic: I could wake up when I wanted to, pursue exactly what made me happy, and move from the office to home in a matter of seconds. No more battling traffic on the freeway at rush-hour! Reality started to hit as time passed, along with the first and third of every month. Instead of a comforting pay-stub in the mail, all I saw were bills. The cubicle seemed like a prison when I worked at my last company, now it beckoned like a siren’s call. I had to make a choice — get active and engaged in my new career, or start looking for another six-by-eight cube to call home.
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by Orvel Ray Wilson

This weekend I traveled with Denise to New Orleans to speak at the City & Regional Magazine Association conference. I was doing break-out sessions on Guerrilla Selling and Guerrilla Marketing with Social Media.

We were nearly next in line to check our bag when a burly ticket agent turned on the crowd and barked, “WHOSE BAG IS THIS?!”

“Mine,” I said, sheepishly raising my hand. I had scooted it under the queuing strap so as not have to carry it an extra 20 feet, and was standing less than 6 feet away.
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by Ashley Andrus

If Starbucks had a Most Valued Customer club I would have it made in the shade.  Those 600 locations they are closing?  Not my fault. Between my 6am get-‘er-done dose, various meetings, and insane afternoons that scream “get me a mocha STAT!” I estimate that I make an average of 2.3 daily visits to some Starbucks somewhere.

This has been my routine for the last 3.5 years. In that period I calculate I’ve consumed somewhere in the neighborhood of 35,259 ounces* of coffee.

That’s 275 gallons of coffee.

1100 quarts.

Heck, if coffee came in beer kegs, I would have consumed almost 18 of them. By myself.

And I did it all one “tall” serving at a time.
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by Ashley Andrus

I recently took 7 little boys to play laser tag for my son’s 8^th birthday.  As I was headed out the door my friend and team expert Nora Burns (who very politely declined an invitation to come along) said, “I suspect there will be some life lessons learned with this adventure…”  She was totally right.

It’s not so much that there are brand-new lessons to be learned, but the experience was a good, solid reminder of what you can accomplish with sheer, unstoppable energy and a “you’re goin’ DOWN, Mary!” attitude.  You don’t need a college degree.  You don’t need to have read all the latest business best-sellers.  You don’t even need a driver’s license.
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by D.J. Vanas

With the mountains of the Front Range watching over me like guardian soldiers, I began my journey from Colorado Springs up to Rocky Mountain National Park, about three hours away, for a speaking engagement. I put a book on CD in the stereo, the sun was shining, the weather was perfect and thankfully, the traffic was moving quickly and smoothly on the highway. All seemed right and good… and then it appeared.

Out of nowhere, a decrepit white van with mismatched hubcaps shoved its way into traffic and began a battle of epic proportions. It dodged, weaved, cut several people off and tailgated others, receiving blaring horns and a few one-finger salutes from fellow travelers. I’d watch the van accelerate to find an opening and then suddenly its tail end would lift as the driver slammed on the brakes. This impatient driver wasn’t just a pain to endure; he seemed to be an outright menace. The mysterious white van went through this agonizing routine for almost the entire hour it took to reach Denver, suffering his own obvious frustrations but also attempting to force everyone around him on the highway to suffer them as well. All this and here’s what the van accomplished – he was a mere three cars ahead of me after an hour!
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by Tara Powers

It doesn’t take very long for most new managers to become disenchanted with their new role. In many cases, I have seen extremely capable “would-be” STAR managers ask to be demoted or quit because there was no plan in place to set them up for success. If you are promoting from within — good for you! Just be sure you follow these important steps to help your new managers get rockin’ in their new role!
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By Ashley Andrus and Linda Anderson

An April 2009 New York Times article confirmed that unemployed baby boomers are facing some steep odds in the current depressed job market. They noted, “workers ages 45 and over form a disproportionate share (pdf) of the hard-luck recession category, the long-term unemployed — those who have been out of work for six months or longer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” On the bright side, some seasoned workers have avoided layoffs as employers utilize a “last hired, first fired” practice to ensure they are avoiding age discrimination.
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by Ashley Andrus

“Tell me and I may forget. Show me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll understand.”—Confucius

You can learn sitting in a classroom. You can learn listening to somebody talk to you. You can learn watching a webinar or listening to a teleconference or sitting around a conference room table or reading a manual. But it’s not the only way you can learn.

Why not invite some “fun and games” into your meetings and workshops and daily office routine? Incorporating some get-up-and-walk activities with your sit-and-talk sessions can be an effective catalyst in taking the team and the discussion to the next level.
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by Ashley Andrus

If you’re like most people, you finished that saying with, “…it’s WHO you know.”

That was true for a long time…but in the age of online social networking, it’s more accurate to say, “It’s not who YOU know, it’s who THEY know.” More than ever before, the internet makes it easy to access the networks and circles of influence of the people you know.

As networking expert Sarah Michel explains the equation in today’s market: The value of others + the value you bring to others = your netWORTH (™) . In this economic climate of free-falling 401(k) values, your network has become quite literally your netWORTH (™) . Are you putting social networking tools—especially LinkedIn and Twitter—to work for you?
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by Lisa Niederman

Time is such an elusive topic and even more difficult to capture, to conform to your bidding. You know the familiar recant: here today and gone tomorrow. This can also be said about your favorite time management strategies, tools, and books conveniently hidden in corners of your office, again having fallen victim to here today and gone tomorrow. In fact, when people are polled about their favorite time management tools and practices, we received a surprising response — many have returned to using the traditional paper and pencil list. Why? The reason: the current time management tools are complex, confusing, and consume too much time to learn! Too much time to learn, but isn’t the science of time management supposed to save us time?
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