One thing that I like to do when we hire new staff is to train them in even the most mundane of tasks.  I realize that this can take up a lot of time and money, but I feel that we need all of our employees to be on similar skill levels so that we can offer our clients the best and most consistent service available.

So, today, when we had a training session for our new cashiers, we left no stone unturned.  We started everyone out with the basics such as how to count the cash and proper etiquette at the tills.

Later on in the afternoon we covered proper credit card processing procedures as well as how to troubleshoot the debit card machine.

Out of the group, it looks like we will have to let one of them go, but the rest seem like they will be competent employees.  I guess we will have to see their performance on the floor before we will know for sure.

When my brother came to me and told me that he was quitting his job to start his own SEO service, I thought that he was crazy and I told him so. He had a great job that had excellent benefits and an excellent pension and I thought he was really stupid to give that all up for something that did not have any guarantees.

I will now admit that he did the right thing, as his company is doing really well. He has put everything he has into that business and the results are fabulous. He is one of the few companies that I know that offers affordable SEO, so he now has many customers that cannot afford to go to other companies.

The great thing is that, even though he is affordable, he offers effective SEO. We find that many of the other affordable SEO companies are not very effective and it really sucks to pay into something, even if it is cheap, and not get any results. My brother’s business is a success and I am now really proud of him for putting his dreams ahead of his security.

My wife has been working in the travel industry for a number of years now and she has finally decided to start her own travel company.  Sure, it will be a new experience for her, but at the same time, she has always dreamed of working for herself and this will be her chance.

So, we have set aside a room in the house to be her office and have set it up to be welcoming and attractive.  We have even purchased some worldwide travel guides for her to show to her clients and she is getting ready to open shop.

We are both a little nervous taking this route and giving up her steady paycheck, but honestly, we will both be fine with it once she has her first sale.  It will just be nice to have the opportunity to have unlimited earnings potential instead of being capped by the number of hours you can work in a day.  I think we will both enjoy the freedom.

As tax time approaches this year for our business, I have been really wondering if we have the best company organization in place.  The problem that I can see is that most of our company is taxed at a higher rate than other places in the world.

So, we have been looking into Belize company formation to help reduce our taxes.  If we did have an offshore corporation, we would be able to minimize our taxes and maximize our profits.

We learned that we could even us a mail forwarding service, and we would never have to step foot in Belize.  Sure, there would be some fees that we need to pay, but it would be more than offset by the tax savings.

We will have to get together with our accountant and lawyer to see if an offshore company would be the best thing for us to do.  I am sure that there must be other options, and maybe they will be able to let us know about them.

During the summer, I travel across the country attending fairs and exhibitions with my business.  We specialize in custom children’s books and we find that there is a large market for what we offer at the events we attend.

One of the largest challenges that we have had in the past few years was increasing demand for Interac and credit card payments.  We had previously used the old style carbon copy credit card processing method but had found that we received many chargebacks.

We contacted the merchant account services company that we deal with to see if they can provide us with the wireless payment processing machine.  They were happy to provide us with that service and am looking forward to the increased revenue that we should experience this summer as we will be able to accept all types of payments from our customers.

Though I am happy with the general layout of my website, the header graphic leaves something to be desired.  Even though the website is selling art online, or header image looks very much like a three-year-old drew the picture.

Instead of trying to attempt to create our own graphic, we submitted tenders to couple of graphic designers in town along with our requirements for them to come up with a header that would exemplify what we are offering as an art dealer.

Though it took a couple of weeks, the graphic designers that we submitted our requests to have come up with their own unique spin on the perfect header for our site.  We will have to get the design approved by the board, and then we will be able to put the winning header on our site.  It will be nice to finally have a professional image as opposed to looking like a child may the graphics for our site.

I have been looking at online auction sites and in forums in an effort to find a good web store to buy and take over.  You see, we specialize in buying and flipping websites, and our speciality is in shopping sites.

So we have been on the lookout for any e-commerce that is not performing well, but shows potential.  We use a system that we have developed to determine if a site qualifies or not for our needs.

Lately, we have been looking for sites that will work with the ecommerce package that we are currently using.  It would be a shame if we had to use another platform for our stores as we are very happy with our current service.

Speaking of our current service, they are nice enough to provide us with aspdotnetstorefront hosting.  It has been very reliable and there support has been great.

Well, I should look some more and hopefully we will be able to find a good deal today.

I would like to think that I’ve come up with some really good ideas for some great inventions.  Sure, I might be a little biased because they are my ideas, but I’ve had a good response from those with whom I shared my ideas with.

Even though I have had good feedback regarding my invention ideas, I have decided that I need an experienced and impartial opinion from a third party that has no vested interest in what I think.  I figure that way, I will be able to get a real answer to determine what to do from that point on.

I found a company that specializes in product development and offers consultations to inventors to help them decide whether they have a great invention or need to get back to the drawing board.  The meaning is scheduled for next week and I look forward to getting their verdict on my ideas.  It will be just nice to know whether I should be looking to develop my inventions or just realize that they are pipe dreams.

When my husband opened a sporting goods store I had no idea what we were really getting into.  I figured he would be selling ice skates and soccer balls.  I had no idea that the vast amount of items it took to have a good sporting goods store.

I stood and stared at him in shock and awe when he ordered a whole bunch of wall tents.  I asked him where he thought we were going to have room for these and he just shrugged it off as if to say our business would fail if he did not have them.  I guess this is why I let him do the ordering and I tried to ignore, as best I can, when I think he is making a crazy business decision.

Much to my surprise, the tents sold like hotcakes.  I guess it was a little to my dismay as I hate to be wrong and I hate it even more when he is right.  From now on, I think I will just keep my mouth shut and let him run his business as he knows how and I really don’t.

It is a very exciting day for my brother and his family. They are finally, after years of wishing for it, opening their own pet store. He and his wife have always been animal lovers and have dreamed, since before they were married of opening this store one day. I am so happy for them that the day has finally come.

They are expecting a huge turnout, so have recruited all of us family members to come and help out and mingle with the customers. I will probably be given the important job of handing out promotional keyrings or something like that, but I am happy to help out in any way that they need me.

It will be exciting, too, to see all the baby animals and all the fish and such in the store. Their kids will have hundreds of pets. I just hope that the girls do not get too attached and get upset every time an animal gets sold.