Are Unions Rising From The Ashes?   For the current generation of workers, the idea of a union is a foreign concept. Something that their grandparents may have been involved with. An archaism from a simpler time, or something once needed to protect workers from an all-powerful company.    Ronni Sandroff, writing in Investopedia, explains "Winning gains for all workers and citizens—such as a shorter workday and a minimum wage—has been a key part of union activity. In 1866, the National Labor Union was created with the goal of limiting the workday for federal employees to eight hours.7  However, the private sector was much harder for unions to...

Monetize Your Knowledge     Greek philosophers coined the phrase “knowledge for knowledge’s sake.” Aristotle stated, “wisdom at no end but itself… is one of the excellent natures of human action,” while St. Augustine wrote that the specific role of wisdom is “loved for its own sake.”   In our businesses, knowledge is critical to our success. Knowledge is our product, whether directly or indirectly. Basically, if we don’t know what we’re doing, we won’t be in business very long.   In the business world, for better or worse, we treat knowledge as transactional. Essentially, we ask ourselves, what do I know that I can monetize, or...

Brainstorming Your Way To Success   Brainstorming for Your Business   We often worry that our business may be becoming outdated or stale. That our competition has better ideas. And we wonder – why didn’t I think of that? Why can’t I be creative?   Creation takes imagination, inspiration, understanding, insight, and even a little serendipity.   Although a few people can easily tape into their creativite side, the majority of us have a hard time doing that. We have to work at it. We have to take time away from our normal activities, and we have to be in the right mindset. It’s not so much about...

Leadership is More Than Just Being in Front   If you are a solopreneur or small businessperson, why should you be concerned with leadership?    As a business owner, you are automatically in a position of authority and leadership, even if you are the only employee in your business. If you have a small cadre of employees, you’re their leader, like it or not.   The most important task of a leader is to move those around you from where they are to where they should be; to the best place their natural abilities can take them. A true leader will never hold someone back for...

Employers Added 528,000 Jobs in July   Last week we were looking at the specter of businesses being hit with a double whammy of inflation and recession. Even with the hot labor market, some experts were warning of recession. We all knew that the labor market was hot, but we didn't know exactly how HOT it really is.   In fact, economists and White House officials had expected to see a slowdown in job growth in July, due to troubling economic indicators as well as the lost of trillions of dollars of value in the financial markets this year. However, that didn't happen.   The addition...