A Great Investment!

A supervisor of a company in the Colorado area granted an interview to a friend's son, a graduate business student, making ready his thesis statement. The young man asked questions about marketing, budgeting, and the most beneficial market procedures. The conversation and questions also including corporate and business risks and challenges, protecting assets and the problems and practices in increasing sales. The CEO admitted that managing a firm's long-term reserves had always been at the heart of his energy and determining stakeholders was important. Weighing choices in every aspect was his response to the question about best decision-making practice. The 60 minute interview was almost over when the graduate asked his last question about what was the biggest liability and what was the biggest asset in the company. After blundering through a list of financial jargon, the CEO stopped unexpectedly and thought carefully before saying that all of that was secondary because the employees could be the greatest asset or they could be the greatest liability. The folks working for you can make or break the company. Simple as that. The CEO then took our friend's son out to lunch and they continued to discussion. The conversation included examples from the CEO's working experience when he worked at a restaurant through college and when he managed various establishments. He had many examples of how good workers actually made the company money and the managers and owners did not always know it or recognize it. At the same moment, a rude or incompetent or an employee with a bad attitude could ruin not only the sale at the time, but later. They discussed about the television show Undercover Bosses where CEOs make as if to be new employees on the ground level for a week to actually get some in field experience and insight. The CEO confessed that he had thought of doing that. The two of them throughout lunch talked about different episodes and came to the conclusion that employees do make or break a company. And usually what they want most even more than money or raises is to be treated respectfully and to have their efforts acknowledged. They want a thank you of some kind whether it be just a sincere thanks, a gift card, money, a promotion of a gift. The graduate shared that his mom who had been an administrative assistant had just quit her job the week before saying she had just had enough. Her boss not only did not see what she had done but did not seem to care about rewarding anyone. When she suggested he give gift cards he said that was fine but she would have to give them and write the note and he put her on a small budget. After a year she suggested they give time off to employees but he refused saying. She observed morale was extremely low and he did agree and she was to come up with something. She told him to come into the next morning meeting, which employees hated, with food. He told her to get some cheap donuts from the supermarket. She started just standing up to him and said no, he needed to spend some bucks and get quality pastries or food and quality coffee boxes from the Panera Bread down the street. He appointed her to do it and to be sure it was there on time. It worked and employees liked it. She needed a totally different idea for the mid afternoon meetings. So when she saw the huge basket delivered next door with all kinds of treats for employees she was impressed and contacted the basket company, Baskets by Rita. For the same money they put together a large basket with goodies to put in the break room for everyone to enjoy. It was big and they delivered it to her that day. The boss walked in with the Thanks A Million Gift Basket and there were cheers from the once tired employees. The student made an appointment the next day with his adviser to change his thesis topic to center on the importance of appreciation and acknowledgment for employees contending that they are the most valuable long term investment.

Medical School Exams Stress Relievers

Persons who already know students who are either applying to medical school or preparing to take medical licensing exams already know of how stressful they are. Just because everyone is cheering on a student does not take off the intense pressure they feel. Whether it is the medical students entrance exam or one of licensing exams they have a lot at stake and feel their whole future is resting on that specific test. Financially each test not passed brings on more financial issues to them and they probably have already accumulated high loans. So whether a person is taking the MCAT the Medical College Admission Test as a med school entrance exam or the the USMLE the United States Medical Licensing Exam or FSMB Federation of State Medical Boards they all mean huge stress. No one can take the exam or go through it for them so all others can do is support them to continue the degree programs, whether it be for a Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine or Doctor of Podiatric Medicine or even a masters of physician assistant program. Since so much is riding on the licensing in getting the medical degree phone calls of encouragement are helpful but phone texts are even better since they can read them at their convenience. A med students schedule is heavy and free time and relaxation are limited. It is always good to let them know you are thinking of them and you know how difficult these times are and that they have your support. You can send a card. You can order a pressure relief gift to be delivered to help them through those long study hours. University of Colorado med students have enjoyed the Med Student Care Package and Board Exam Gift from Baskets by Rita of Aurora. Located just down the street Baskets by Rita does ship across the United States so care packages are not limited to the Denver area or just Colorado. They are pretty cute and come in a doctor RX box. They have also been used for doctors to send to special patients or students they have mentored or as a thank you from a med student to thank a professor/doctor. Set up as the med student care package and board exam gift for support might have been the intent but they will customize it for a patient to send to thank a doctor or even for someone to send as a get well gift with a card saying just what the doctor ordered for you to get well. Minimizing pressure and showing emotional support are a definite positive impact on good mental health. Treats and good wishes are always welcome and relieve stress and show thanks, concern, care, best wishes.

First Impression is very Important!

Making a awesome first impression is at the heart of management and job skill musts. Whether you are applying for employment or managing a assignment it is a strategy tool that ranks among the most valuable. You want to get off to a great start. One article contends that within 3 seconds someone appraises you by your appearance, your body language, you mannerisms, and the way you present yourself. We make impressions by our decisions, what we say and by what others say about us. To make a good impression you must know what was said about you or how you are perceived. If it is favorable you come with a good track record. If it was not you have a opportunity to change that impression. How you present yourself IS the impression. That first impression must be solid enough to show confidence to establish trust. However over-confidence can destroy trust. It is a fine line. Courteous, attentive, on-time, positive, appropriateness and sincerity go a long ways. Fortunately you do not have to sign up for a workshop or school, but simply google making a excellent impression to find numerous sites with free and useful information. The difficulty lies in finding out what others have said about you and what information they already know. That means researching. So that takes care of the first impression. The key is keeping a great impression. Once that you have landed that deal or sold that house or secured that client your impression skills are not locked in. You must expand that impression that they made the appropriate choice and that you truly value them. You do that in your words and phrases with a letter or note or a phone call. You do it in your actions with making face to face timely visits when possible. And you are sure to spend a few bucks to maintain that impression. It might be with food or gifts, and not just holiday expected gifts. When you first land the sale follow up with something. My neighbor is a real estate agent and used to send a restaurant gift card to her clients after the closing. He now walks into the closing with an impressive and festive gift basket from Baskets by Rita. He already knows the client, so whether it's a beer tub, wine gift basket, gourmet gift basket he pays the money for it to be a wow factor and make the tremendous impression as he walks through the door. He said the day he came into the room with a baby gift basket for the couple about to become parents they were so excited. Lasting impressions have benefits and he says that the wow factor and the oohs and aahhhs he gets from them carry through. As they thank him as they are leaving, he mentions he would appreciate any referrals they would send his way. When they refer, he has another gift basket sent to their house. He claims this impression has definitely increased his client list. So good impressions are beneficial.

A cool birthday ideas

  All my family know that they will get either beer, a bottle of wine or flowers I found on the way to see them. It was successful for a while, but now it seems to be just too expected. Looking for a unique birthday gifts can take a lot of time. Today I went looking for my best friend which should be easy. I know exactly what he will like so it should have been very easy. I ended up just heading to a big box store and buying a gift card. They used to have small cool wooden crate type things to put the gift card in but not anymore. So that was Okay but really mundane. Last Saturday my spouse was out of town and asked me to go out and get items to put in a basket for her cousin who was bringing her daughter to Colorado to start college. My wife emailed me a list of all the items to buy for the basket so I went to find it. She puts in mostly Colorado products like sweets, potato chips, salsa, tortilla chips, peanuts, Colorado water, tea, coffee, beef jerky, cheeses, crackers, and honey sticks. First I could not find a basket in the supermarket and only a few of the merchandise. I finally threw in the towel because it was taking forever to look and be sure I had Colorado made foods. My neighbor was also shopping and I shared my irritation when she suggested just going to our business district and going into the big home specialty shop and having them help me. I did that and it was helpful but I was shocked at how much it price, including the basket. They offered to help me put it all together in the basket and put on a nice big bow. It looked great and my wife was not shocked at the cost of buying the items there. She goes to 7 or 8 different places to buy all the goods and saves about twenty dollars. Now that is just too much effort. An less difficult way is just to go online and find a gift basket shop that will do it and deliver it. My wife and I argued over the expense, so to prove my point I found a number of baskets at Baskets by Rita which is a Colorado based company. They have a Colorado wooden crate that is cooler than typical baskets. Even after the delivery cost, it turned out it was less expensive than us doing it ourselves. So getting back to the birthday gift idea I saw the crate and decided to order one and have it delivered to my house so I could see how it looked. It came and was excellent. My wife and I agreed that they do a much more professional job of putting it together and it looks amazing. Plus it turned out to be more affordable than doing it ourselves. They have a great selection so that is my plan from now on when buying Birthday Beer Gift Basket. http://www.basketsbyrita.com

Ideas that could improve employees' attitudes!

Today's blog post features recommendations garnered from various firms about how to increase morale and not destroy great employees. Striving to keep the place of work positive should be of major concern to CEOs and bosses. Losing money and time is a great concern. If workers are happy and like to come to work production grows. If they feel that they are part of the team and that they are valued they become engaged to the company. Factory made thank yous and expected pats on the back even heightens and the common bonuses or gifts or treats lose their impact after awhile. In fact employees begin to bank on probable gratitudes and gifts and treats. If you get donuts every Friday it becomes the standard and just a common part of the work schedule. If you give a gift card for every 10 sales it becomes anticipated and if you miss one you will get anger instead of thanks for the gift cards you gave. Remember the movie with Chevy Chase in the Christmas movie where he banks on the yearly bonus from work and when it is not given one year the boss becomes the bad guy in everyone's eyes. In the movie and in real life people just assume the bonus, money gift, turkey, whatever is the norm every year. Often they order merchandise or spend the money before it even comes in. For that reason companies need to be very careful not to do the same thing week after week or month after month or year after year. Food treats should not be the same because they become anticipated and actually become rather boring. Some would say that money is always the best way to go because everyone can spend it however they want. True, but it also can get old. If you toss out a dollar at the weekly meeting one week for something, the next week you bring in a gourmet coffee cart. If you give a grocery card for Christmas one year you need to deliver a gourmet gift basket the next year. If you provide lunch a day one month you need to do something different the next month. Most executives feel that this type of creativity is not a part of their positions and it is not crucial. Morale boosters are very critical. business appreciation are the most effective way to say thanks for a task well done and to encourage hard work in the future. Most of the time organizations use secretaries to find ideas and put together the thank you. For women bouquets and spa packages and gift cards work. For men beer tubs, hardware/home improvement gift cards are great. Restaurant gift certificates are good too. You just have to get innovative. Corporate Gifts or Company gifts can be frustrating when you are including a lot of people in one office--it could be a gesture of empathy or a thank you gift to a whole office or company. You either have food delivered or if you are worried about food spoilage send a gigantic corporate gift basket with various items. My company has put the burden on me, the administrative assistant, to come up with two new options each month to spend only $300 on the 20 employees. They said I need to find gifts of tokens to include everyone. I am looking for new ideas for next month but this month we have seen a huge difference in favorable attitude around the office after my two appreciation gifts were done. The first was for each employee to find one dollar bills in various places during a week. This last week to thank them for their efforts, we had an Ultimate Choice Gourmet Gift Basket arrive to overpower the snack table. After hearing workers talking about the Aurora movie theatre shooting victims, we chose an Aurora gift basket company, Baskets by Rita and we were not disappointed. So remember to thank your employees and show gratitute for a job well done and to encourage really hard work.

Football Beer Gift for my wife!

So how is your favorite team doing this season? It is football time again and for those of us who enjoy football we live for this time of year. Not only is it beautiful weather to go to games but we begrudge the fact it has been a lengthy dry season in the sporting world since Superbowl time last year. Hopefully each of us is looking at the teams, playing fantasy football and making predictions. For guys it provides a piece of debate for any place we find ourselves. There is also the unfamiliar and best hopes for our popular football team to do well this season. Everybody seems to be talking about the replacement refs and how soon will normal football refs be back on the fields. It is way too convenient to get so upset about it that you find yourself ranting and raving. That is what has been happening at my house. I whine and moan and groan and am quick tempered with my wife and she does not warrant that. She is such a smart football wife that to get upset is not the manner she handles things. She amazingly uses good will and sense of humor. I am so blessed. After this weekend and my horrible mood I did not deserve to get anything for my birthday yesterday. I was in Denver and she had a beer tub gift from Baskets by Rita delivered to my hotel. Since one of my favorite teams was the Denver Broncos the tub she ordered was a Bronco one and she wrote a terrific message using her awesome humor to help get me grounded. It was great. I called her and made the decision to have flowers sent the next day. I normally do that. So since I'm gone for a week, I called the lady at baskets by Rita and she's sending a gourmet wine basket to my wife. Good move on my part because my wife will not expect it. We guys are not very creative or good about gifts but I am really darn happy and pleased with myself. My father is a diehard Green Bay Packers fan so I sent him a sympathy basket. He will appreciate it and really get a kick out of it. My mother was raised and is loyal to the Giants, have been raised in NYC, so I'm having a Congratulations basket sent to her arriving the same day. Can hardly wait to speak to my parents. They are always coming up with gifts and ways to help my wife and me so this would be excellent. This ref strike has certainly got everyone talking. The good news is that it gives people something else to talk about besides politics. Our secretary really gets on all of us though and she says we should be feeling sorry for those poor replacement refs. Without them we couldn't watch any football at all. I guess that is true cuz

Great baby gift

Excellent tip for mailing a unique, cute, adorable and unusual baby gift is to order a baby girl or baby boy welcome wagon. The cute small red wagons hold lots of baby gift stuff that are useful for newborns. Knowing that it is always pleasure to send something unique for the new baby is a challenge. Usually people call the medical center gift shop for the same, boring gifts they have. They have the usual blue and pink flower arrangements which are nice but do not last and are difficult to bring home. That type of baby gift is soon forgotten. They also have baby gift baskets but you may find that the parents have already received at least one or more from the hospital gift shop. Asking the gift shop worker does not assure you that visitors have popped into the gift shop and purchased the same gift. I was embarrassed to stop in and buy a cute basket and went up to her room to see two similar baskets from other people. That meant I had to go back down and exchange it for something really common in the gift shop. The most awful part was that it definitely took the pleasure of my gift giving away. They were apologetic as was I apologetic and embarrassed. When the the gift shop clerk just rolled her eyes about wanting to exchange it, I had just had it and instructed her I wanted a refund. In the parking lot of the Denver hospital I met a guy and girl carrying in these adorable pink baby girl and blue baby boy gift red wagons. That is exactly what I had wanted to walk in with something that caused the couple to ooh and aah about. I just flat out stopped them and asked where they got them. They had ordered them from a basket store near the Denver hospital called Baskets by Rita. Cut little Welcome Baby Wagon that were the great birth gift. They were definitely one of a kind baby gifts and pragmatic and fun. They told me Baskets by Rita also has a big brother/sister line of baskets that they gave one time. I got on my iphone and instantly called Baskets by Rita and ordered one of the little red wagon as a baby welcome gift for the newly born. It was easy to arrange to have it delivered to their house when they got home from the hospital. When they got home with the new baby and got the baby welcome wagon, they immediately called me and said I just had to come over to see the new baby and the adorable wagon. So from now on the hospital gift shop will not be my first selection for sending gifts or flowers.