5 Scheduling Conversations to Have With Employees This Fall

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With each new season comes an opportunity to rally your team. Whereas business often slows down in the summer, fall is a time to pick things up.  

There are a number of tasks to accomplish before the new season arrives. Much of them are back-burner tasks, such as cleaning and reorganizing the office. However, conversations around scheduling should be at the top of your fall agenda. 

Getting everyone’s schedules together before fall is crucial for planning. Not only can it give you a better sense of your team’s capacity, but it helps you plan for the next fiscal year and finish up annual initiatives. 

While every business is different, certain scheduling conversations apply across the board. Take a look at the following topics to broach with your employees this fall and ensure that everyone is ready for what’s ahead:

1. Team Meeting Days

Like them or not, meetings are part of working on a team. Decide whether your current cadence makes sense, and if not, when and how often the team should meet. 

Maybe you don’t necessarily need a full team meeting every week. Perhaps every other week is enough. Or maybe you simply need to settle on a different day and time than before. 

See how your team members feel about your current all-staff meetings. Figure out what tweaks could boost productivity and efficiency. Simply shaving 15 minutes off the meeting time could jog conversation along and give attendees time back. 

2. Vacation Plans

One great thing about fall is the reduction in vacation requests. Most people are back from the summer, so there’s less maneuvering around those who aren’t present. But that doesn’t mean you should neglect this aspect of scheduling. 

There may be people who did not take time off in the summer. Ask whether they have a fall trip in the works. Encourage them to put time off on the calendar sooner rather than later. 

While planning for the season, take a moment to review your PTO policy. Talk through hiccups from recent vacations to ensure everyone is able to take time off work without a hitch. 

Discussing vacation plans also helps you and your employees identify loose threads that need to be addressed before they head out. That way, nobody is left high and dry when someone didn’t complete their tasks prior to takeoff. 

3. Summer Hours Assessment

Your company may have changed its business hours in the summer. If so, fall is the time to bring everyone together to reassess those changes. 

In terms of worker productivity, there are pros and cons to having summer hours. Reducing hours in the summer encourages better work-life balance. It can also boost productivity during business hours because people are more rested. 

With that said, summer hours can be stressful. Employees may scramble to get the same amount of work done in less time. And because there are fewer windows for scheduling meetings, collaboration can be tough. 

When evaluating summer hours, ask your team:

  • Who prefers summer hours and who doesn’t?
  • Does the data show summer hours cause an increase or decrease in productivity?
  • Did customer volume change during the summer?  
  • Is there more to accomplish in the fall than summer?

If there’s not a significant change and workers prefer the summer hours, you may opt to keep them. If not, summer hours might not make much sense. 

4. Schedule Flexibility

The new season might be a good time to give employees more autonomy with their schedules. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on workers’ routines, so go ahead and experiment. 

Flexibility doesn’t mean that everyone makes their own schedule without considering others. That would be chaotic. Perhaps people can work from home most days, but on designated days they can head into the office for a team lunch meeting. Different departments could even build their schedules together. 

Flexible scheduling is about doing what makes sense for your team and your company. If everyone is doing good work with a flexible schedule, there’s no need to force a more rigid one on people.

5. Performance Reviews

As you plan through the end of the year, performance reviews will probably happen in the late fall. You should always be preparing for these by giving feedback to workers consistently, but you still need to set a hard date for the conversation.

Getting these evaluations on people’s schedules is a good first step this fall. At least a few weeks in advance, give employees an idea of when they will occur and what they will be focused on. 

When team members are involved in scheduling conversations, they feel more empowered in their work. In a culture of flexibility and empowerment, everyone wins.  

17 Work-From-Home Opportunities Worth Your Consideration

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Work-from-home opportunities don’t pay you to hang at home, but they get pretty close. Between emails, you can raid the fridge, throw a pizza in the oven, or even help your kids with their homework.

But, like most things in life, work-from-home opportunities are not one-size-fits-all. Everyone has their own aptitudes and preferences. Know yourself, and then know your options.

What are the Best Work-From-Home Gigs?

The good news is, there’s a work-from-home opportunity out there for every lifestyle. Take a look at the list below to find one that fits yours.

Best work-from-home opportunity for single moms: Zirtual

Single moms can do it all, which is why they make great virtual assistants. Between managing their kids’ appointments, shuttling them around, and helping them with homework, single moms are already accustomed to doing most of the tasks VAs do.

Working for Zirtual doesn’t require a lot of qualifications, either. As long as you’re college-educated, based in the U.S., and have an internet connection, go ahead and apply.

Zirtual provides on-the-job training, and most of its team members make $12-$16 per hour. Zirtual VAs work for Fortune 500 companies, investors, and mom-and-pop shops.

Best work-from-home opportunity for passive income: Airbnb

If you want to make some extra money and have a space to rent out at home, why not list it on Airbnb? Airbnb hosts make nearly $1,000 per month, on average, simply for giving people a place to stay.

Sure, being an Airbnb host means keeping the rental space clean and tidy. But if you’re already on top of your household chores, it’s not a lot of extra work. Plus, you’ll get to meet people from all around the world in the comfort of your own home.

Best work-from-home opportunity for artsy types: 99Designs

If you know your way around graphic design software, 99Designs can be a lucrative work-from-home opportunity. There are two ways to do it: Either you can compete with other members of the 99Designs community on design challenges, or you can work directly with clients.

Our advice? Start with competitions. There’s no commitment, and you can choose projects that inspire you. Realize that you’ll probably need to enter a few before you start winning them.

Once you’ve won a few contests, brand representatives will begin to reach out to you directly. You can also bring your own clients to the platform, which makes it easy to save and share your work.

Best work-from-home opportunity for recent grads: Tutor.com

It’s hard out there for recent grads. If you’re not sure how to put your education to use but would prefer to work from home, check out Tutor.com. Whether your background is in math, science, history, or some other discipline, you’ll find students in need of support.

Affiliated with the Princeton Review, Tutor.com lets you work as few as 5 hours per week or as many as 29. Plus, you can pick up unscheduled sessions in your spare time.

Why can’t you set up your own tutoring service? You could, but finding clients can be a pain. And once you do, you may have to spend hours tracking down payments. Tutoring on an established platform avoids both time-sucks.

Best work-from-home opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs: Nu Skin

Opportunity platform Nu Skin makes it easy to become an entrepreneur. Nu Skin’s independent brand affiliates sell skincare products directly to consumers in nearly 50 markets. As they build teams, they also have the potential to earn commissions on the products which their team members sell to consumers, which encourages them to mentor the newcomers in their group.

Like other entrepreneurs, Nu Skin’s brand affiliates are responsible for their own expenses, but a unique leg up they have is that they have products that are tried, tested, and supported by a reputable company. Brand affiliates can set their own hours, manage their own teams, and they have the resources and tools to grow their businesses. This helps them be able to have some of the benefits of the gig economy, but have the potential to do more. Brand affiliates engage with customers remotely through social media, in-person meetings, and other platforms.

Best work-from-home opportunity for full-time hours: Amazon

In a lot of cases, work-from-home opportunities offer part-time or inconsistent hours. If you want a full-time job you can do from your couch, check out Amazon. Positions range from sales to software development to customer service.

Because positions range widely, however, so do salaries and benefits. Know your worth, and remember that you can always cobble together a full-time gig from two or more part-time ones.

Best work-from-home opportunity for writers: Verblio

Can you turn a phrase on a dime? Check out Verblio, an online freelance writing platform. Verblio writers pen a range of content, from 300-word blog posts to website copy to e-books. Editing opportunities come up on occasion.

If you want to work for Verblio, you’ll need to have great grammar, research, and content marketing skills. You’ll get to choose industries that align with your expertise, ranging from healthcare to cannabis to real estate.

Best work-from-home opportunity for social butterflies: Arise

Arise’s remote customer service representatives provide support for big-name companies, including Intuit and Airbnb. Earning up to $14 per hour, Arise workers choose their hours and need nothing more than a phone and a quiet space at home.

One plus of this work-from-home opportunity? You’ll never get lonely. The work is a matter of answering questions, triaging support needs, and helping clients deliver exceptional customer experience.

Best work-from-home opportunity for fashionistas: Stella and Dot

Do you want to have a future in fashion, but you can’t pick up stakes for a place like New York City? Stella and Dot’s work-from-home opportunities are second to none.

In a nutshell, Stella and Dot stylists get paid to share and wear jewelry. Many of them sell on social media, while others put on “trunk shows” — which are essentially Tupperware parties for the fashion world.

With that said, Stella and Dot is also a good way to earn some income on the side: More than eight in 10 of them actually hold full- or part-time jobs elsewhere.

Best work-from-home opportunity for multilingual people: Gengo

Are you fluent in two or more languages? Apply to work at Gengo. Gengo is a language translation service that serves Amazon, YouTube, The New York Times, and even the U.S. government agencies.

The company has more than 21,000 translators across all major time zones, covering more than 70 language pairs. Gengo translators earn an average of $417 per month, but income varies depending on customer demand, hours worked, and job availability.

Best work-from-home opportunity for English buffs: VIPkid

If you’re a “word nerd” or love to read, VIPkid has the perfect work-from-home opportunity for you: English tutoring. VIPkid students are primarily Chinese, but because it’s an immersive program, tutors don’t need to be able to speak the language.

Although VIPkid does require a six-month commitment, the pay is good. Tutors earn between $15 and $22 per hour, depending on their prior experience and hours worked. Tutors must be authorized to work in the U.S. or Canada and need a bachelor’s degree, but all majors are accepted.

Best work-from-home opportunity for role-agnostics: Kelly Services

What if you’re a multi-talented person who’ll take pretty much any work-from-home opportunity, so long as the pay is right? Kelly Services is an employment agency that focuses on remote work.

Founded back in 1946, Kelly Services employs almost 440,000 workers. It fills positions in an enormous range of industries, from accounting to automotive to IT to life sciences. Kelly Services fills temporary positions, as well as part- and full-time ones.

Best work-from-home opportunity for healthcare experts: United Healthcare

Although a lot of healthcare jobs must be done in person, a surprising number of them can be accomplished remotely. United Healthcare offers hundreds of work-from-home opportunities, ranging from customer service to clinical care to medical billing.

One of the world’s largest healthcare companies, United Healthcare employs nearly a quarter-million people across all 50 states. Plus, positions in the healthcare industry tend to pay handsomely.

Best work-from-home opportunity for home-decor junkies: Williams-Sonoma

Does a beautifully decorated room make you swoon? Consider work-from-home opportunities with Williams-Sonoma. The California-based retailer sells everything from bakeware to wreaths to barbeque grills.

Most of the remote-work opportunities with Williams-Sonoma are customer service positions. The perks and pay are good, though: Agents start at $12 per hour, with three weeks of paid training from home. They also get a 40% discount on most Williams-Sonoma products.

Best work-from-home opportunity for tech gurus: Dell

If you’re happy to spend all day writing code or troubleshooting consumer tech, a work-from-home opportunity with Dell might be right for you. Dell has team members in more than 15 countries and is consistently named a “best place to work.”

Although most people know Dell as a computer brand, it’s actually a do-it-all tech company. Partnerships with companies like SecureWorks enable Dell workers to get their feet wet in cybersecurity, a notoriously in-demand field.

Best work-from-home opportunity for travel fanatics: Dream Vacations

If you’d like to either be at home or on an adventure, Dream Vacations has work-from-home opportunities you might want to check out. As a franchisee, you get the flexibility of working from home — or on whatever beach you might be enjoying at the time — with the credibility of a brand.

Beware, though, that work as a travel agent is fast-paced. Not only do franchisees need to develop their own client relationships, but they also have to manage bookings and handle billing. To make it a little easier, Dream Vacations provides online training modules and social media support.

Best work-from-home opportunity for tax experts: Intuit TurboTax

If you’re a certified public accountant or enrolled agent, consider a remote tax preparation role with Intuit’s TurboTax division. Intuit welcomes tax experts at all levels of their career, but experience with tax-prep software is a must. Bilingualism is a plus.

One plus of this work-from-home opportunity? Overtime pay around peak times. Because tax preparation is a seasonal industry, home-based tax preparers can make a pretty penny around quarterly tax filing deadlines.

Work-from-home opportunities have never been more plentiful. But as is true of in-person opportunities, you shouldn’t take a position simply because it’s open.

Check out the company, talk to other members of the team, and find the right fit: Yours is out there, and the best part is, you don’t even have to leave your home to find it.

6 Best Vacations for Boosting Productivity

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People take vacations for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it’s to spend more time with friends and family. At other times, it might be to fulfill an obligation. Some vacations, however, are specifically meant to help you return to work stronger. 

 

There are times when things aren’t quite clicking at work. You start expending more energy to accomplish the same tasks as before. And while some would recommend pushing through, be warned that this approach can backfire. 

 

Whether you’re a business owner or employee, overworking will actually ruin your productivity and your personal life. So when you feel overworked, it’s best to step away before burning yourself out. 

 

Unfortunately, not every vacation will give you the desired result. Some vacations can actually leave you feeling more drained. To make sure to get the most out of your vacations, check out the following kinds of vacations proven to boost productivity:

1. Wilderness Adventure

One of the best ways to get more done is to spend more time outdoors. Spending a few days in nature is a great way to relieve stress and come back refreshed. 

 

Going backpacking or camping is calming while building resilience. Why not schedule a visit to a nearby national park? National forests are also good options: They tend to be cheaper and less crowded but every bit as beautiful as America’s national parks.

 

What should you do on your wilderness adventure? Favorites include:

  • Hiking
  • Nature photography
  • Fishing
  • Hunting
  • Kayaking or canoeing
  • Mountaineering

 

Whether you are renting a cabin or roughing it completely, you’ll come back feeling stronger and less stressed. If you’re looking to make it more social, bring your outdoorsy friends along.

2. Beach Trip

If camping isn’t your cup of tea, you can still enjoy the outdoors with a beach vacation. Here, you can soak up the sun and relax by a body of water. 

 

With this vacation, consider an all-inclusive resort. It saves the hassle of having to plan every little detail beforehand. And because food and drinks are typically included, it may not be as expensive as you might think. 

3. Wellness Retreat

Maybe you’re interested in a vacation that emphasizes wellness practices. Especially during a time like this, taking care of your mind and body is critical.

 

Wellness practices can help you be more focused, stay healthy, and grow in your personal life. Choose your retreat based on the specific area of wellness you want to focus on. Consider the following:

 

  • Intensive exercise 
  • Yoga 
  • Meditation
  • Spa relaxation
  • Diet transformation

 

4. Road Trip

Driving may not sound like a relaxing activity. But when you focus on the journey rather than the destination, it becomes a lot more fun. Think of the stops you make on the way as part of the experience rather than a nuisance. 

 

Being out on the road is a great opportunity to think and process life. The scenery moves around you in a way that can help you feel less stuck in your life.

Again, bring friends. Discover new music, enjoy deep conversation, and share plenty of roadside meals together.

5. International Vacation 

The Harvard Business Review reports that many of the most memorable vacations people take are to locations outside their home country. International trips are so fulfilling because everything about them feels new. They’re opportunities to both have fun and learn about new people and cultures.

 

With that said, these vacations can be the most stressful if you don’t plan well beforehand. Start planning this type of trip at least a month in advance. Think through everything from how you’ll get around to where you’ll exchange your currency, but also leave some room for spontaneity. 

 

Another key to an international trip is a local guide. Find someone to host your stay and tell you what to look out for. They can give you the knowledge you need to quell your fears of uncertainty. 

6. Activity-Focused Vacation

Everyone has a favorite hobby. This type of vacation is all about catering to it. Wine tastings, cooking trips, and artistic getaways are examples of activity-focused vacations. 

 

In the hustle and bustle of modern life, people get so busy that they neglect their hobbies and interests. They also don’t have the time to explore new things they might be interested in. 

 

On an activity-based vacation, you can explore a favorite hobby or establish a new one. You can also interact with other people who are interested in the same thing, helping you build new relationships. 

 

You have so many options when it comes to vacationing. The last thing you want to do is waste your time and come back even more stressed out than you were. With the right planning, these vacations can breathe new life into your work. 

How to Bounce Back from a Setback in the Workplace

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10 Deliberate Sacrifices You Must Make if You Want to be Successful

Business is full of pressure to succeed. As a leader, your team members depend on you to have a vision and answers to their questions. So what happens if you fail in front of them? 

Perhaps you dropped the ball on an important project. Maybe you misdirected your team in a way that hurt the company. Or maybe, you’ve upset your team in a personal way. These actions jeopardize the rapport you’ve built with them.  

As a leader, solving problems is an essential aspect of your role. But when you’ve caused the problem, solving it gets a bit more complicated. What’s more, the impulse to overcompensate is ever-present and can make matters worse.

Despite the complications, there are basic steps you can take to bounce back from major setbacks. Take a look at the following ways to do so without overcompensating: 

1. Accept personal responsibility.

Often when we fail, we may get defensive. These tendencies cause us to blame others or deflect from the issue. But bouncing back from a setback starts with accepting your mistakes. 

When you deflect and blame others, you become a victim of circumstance. But accepting personal responsibility gives you a sense of control. By seeing the ways that you contributed to a problem, you are able to be part of the solution. 

Accepting personal responsibility is a multi-step process. Get started by:

  • Reflecting on the process that led to the failure
  • Unpacking your thoughts and feelings associated with the failure
  • Responding graciously when others point out your mistake
  • Being intentional about rectifying the situation

 

Even if others contributed to the problem or failure, you’re better off focusing on your role. From there, you can begin to rebuild.

2. Don’t succumb to depression and anxiety.

Depression and anxiety are common responses to your problems and failures. And they can creep in as a result of accepting personal responsibility. 

When you’re going through these emotions, it’s best to take a step back. This might mean taking a short break from work. Or it might mean engaging in an activity that you love in order to recover. 

You don’t need to rush your recovery. Whatever it takes, take the time to get to a healthier state of mind. 

3. Reframe the issue.

One way to stop yourself from wallowing in your problems is to reframe the issue. It involves taking a step back and thinking of your situation from a different angle. 

Instead of viewing a setback as an insurmountable problem, try seeing it as an opportunity to grow. For example, if you’ve strained a relationship with an employee, focus on how reconciling can strengthen the relationship.

Reframing an issue is not necessarily about looking at the bright side. That approach can lead to toxic positivity. On the contrary, reframing is looking at the objective facts of a situation. Those facts will show you that failure is inevitable for everyone — but is also fixable by everyone.

From there, use those facts to embrace your potential. You are defined more by how you rise from failure than the failure itself. 

4. Address the problem with your team. 

Actions speak louder than words, but words are also important. It can be awkward in the office to carry on regularly as though nothing significant happened. You might think you’re saving face, but this is nothing more than overcompensation. You need to acknowledge these issues with your team. 

Doing so is key to maintaining transparency at your company. Unless you speak up, you’ll struggle to build and maintain trust with your team. This is especially important when your failure in leadership has caused persistently problematic team relations. 

A moment like this calls for a meeting. Give your team a heads up about what you’d like to talk about, and encourage them to bring their own challenges. After all, you’ll need everyone on board to move forward. 

5. Create a plan to remedy the situation.

Detailing the actions you’ll take to solve the problem is the final and most important step in a successful bounceback. As a leader, it’s also an opportunity to demonstrate your competence. 

The good news is, you won’t be in it alone. The input from your team members will help you refine your plans and put them into practice. Lean on them to build a healthier, more stable culture across the team. 

Good leaders are built through tests. A major setback might be hard to go through — but it may also be just what you needed to transform into a better version of yourself. 

4 Ways to Encourage Online Calendar Courtesy

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What’s the only tool I couldn’t live without? That’s a no-brainer. My Calendar.

From my experience, the online Calendar helps me succeed in all aspects of my life. My Calendar keeps track of all appointments and deadlines. In turn, having this information at my fingertips has helped me earn a reputation as someone who is dependable and always honors their commitments.

Outside of work, my Calendar helps me maintain a healthy work-life balance. Besides helping avoid getting burned-out, my calendar has helped me maintain important relationships. If I have family time scheduled — then I’m not going to accept a work-related meetings during that time.

But, the beneficial productivity has been possible because I not only live by my calendar, I’ve also made calendar civility and forward-thinking a priority. And, I’ve encouraged online calendar protocol by following the four strategies.

1. Use the right calendaring tools.

Have you ever wondered why we share things with others? Well, Jonah Berger, author of a study published in Psychological Science, says that it’s driven in part by arousal. In particular, it evokes positive and negative emotions.

“People’s behavior is heavily influenced by what others say and do,” explains Berger. “Whether you are a company trying to get people to talk more about your brand, or a public health organization trying to get people to spread your healthy eating message, these results provide insight into how to design more effective messages and communication strategies.”

Moreover, a New York Times report found that the five sharing motivations are:

  • Bringing valuable and entertaining content to others
  • Defining ourselves to others
  • Growing and nourishing relationships
  • Self-fulfillment
  • Getting the word out about causes and brands

While this research focused on content, can this also be applied when sharing your calendar? Absolutely. In particular, when it comes to adding a title or description.

For example, maybe you meet a new lead or land a high-profile client. In order to follow-up or begin a project, you need to meet with your team. You quickly share your calendar containing a message sharing the good news, as well as where and when you’ll have a team meeting.

However, for communication to be effective — you’ll need the right tools. At the minimum, you need an online calendar that works across multiple platforms. Having tools that cross boundary’s means if you’re an Apple user, but everyone else on your squad uses Android, your apple Calendar isn’t going to cut it. You’ve got to have something that integrates and plays well with others.

Use tools that integrate seamlessly with your calendar. For instance, Calendar syncs with Google, Outlook, and Apple calendars. Because of this, it can be used to quickly schedule meetings and organize teamwork — regardless of what calendar your team members are using.

2. Step-up your scheduling game.

If you want to encourage online calendar etiquette with others, then set an example by creating a user-friendly scheduling experience. And, you can achieve that lofty goal by:

  • Responding to invites. No one wants to be left hanging — especially when it comes to protecting their valuable. As such, always respond to calendar invites in a timely manner.
  • Include the location. Whenever scheduling a meeting or location, don’t forget to include the location. It makes life easier for the other party — even if it’s a VA or secretary. If it’s a physical location, you should also include a map so that it prevents tardiness. For virtual events, make sure to attach the phone number or meeting ID.
  • Compose a descriptive title. You don’t need to overstuff the title. But, you shouldn’t be vague either. After all, titling the event only as “Meeting” says nothing. However, “Meeting With Jane to Discuss Dinner Party” lets the attendees know exactly what to expect.
  • Add notes in the description. Just like with titles, you don’t need to go overboard here. But, you should include relevance notes and attachments, like the agenda. Why? It will give the invitees the opportunity to prepare.

And, most importantly, don’t schedule back-to-back events. You need to have buffers in-between events. When you do, participants have a chance to wind down, recharge, and prepare for the next event.

3. It’s okay to say “no.”

I’m going to blunt. Just because you received a calendar invite doesn’t mean you have to accept it. In fact, there are plenty of times when you have to say “no.”

One example would be a meeting request when the topic could be addressed over email. Another would be a meeting that takes place when you’re “off-the-clock.” And, yet another would be if the request doesn’t serve a purpose or has little-to-no value.

Of course, you don’t want to be a brute either. Instead, if you opt to decline an invite, by honest and polite. I mean how would you feel if someone rejected your meeting invite with a reply like, “No way! Stop wasting my time!”? I’m sure that would make you feel crummy.

With that in mind, pay the same respect to others. If your calendar is already full, let them know that. You may also suggest an alternative meeting date or a quick phone call instead. The easiest solution though would be sharing your calendar so that they can see when you are available.

4. Live by the golden rule.

I’m sure that you’re aware of the old adage “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” More simply known as the “golden rule,” it means treating others with fairness and respect.

“There is a lot of good, if emerging, scientific work suggesting people have an innate sense of fairness built into them and that the golden rule captures much of that innate moral sense,” says Kristen Monroe, director of the University of California Irvine Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality. “A lot of people instinctively follow it.”

“I don’t like to be kept waiting, so I try not to be late,” adds Monroe. “I don’t like to be lied to or deceived so I try not to do it, even if it might be more convenient to be just a few minutes late or tell a white lie occasionally.”

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, there are simple ways to follow this rule when sharing your calendar.

  • Show-up on time. If a meeting starts at 1 PM, then you must be their on-time. To ensure this happens, set a reminder in your calendar. I would also avoid scheduling before the event either in case it goes over the allotted time.
  • Don’t make last-minute changes. Things happen. That’s just life. But, unless it’s a life or death situation, never make a last-minute change. If you must cancel or reschedule a calendar entry, give some sort of notice in advance.
  • Don’t micromanage. Why use a calendar if you remind attendees every day that there’s a meeting or deadline due next week? There’s nothing wrong with checking-in or sending the occasional gentle follow-up. But, don’t be a nuisance.

What if someone won’t respect your calendar? While frustrating, try to be empathetic. A great reply if someone bows out of an appointment is, “Hey, we’ve all been there — no hard feelings.” A kind reply will help the other person play their best game and you’ll be on top of yours.

If skipping meetings is a frequent problem with this person — then you can adjust your strategy. If it’s a teammates, try to help them diagnose the problem so that it doesn’t keep happening. Someone else, you need not prioritize your schedule with them.

How to Inspire Your Team’s Creative Impulses

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Creativity is more than the ability to crack a clever joke or paint something beautiful. At work, it’s essential for growth and innovation. A team that thinks outside the box can solve difficult problems in new, cost-effective ways. 

The trouble is, genuine creativity is tough to incentivize.. Simply telling your team to be more creative certainly won’t work. But rewarding creativity can also have adverse effects. It can stifle a creative process that should be rewarding in and of itself. 

Because of this, some take an “either you have it or you don’t” approach to creativity. But creativity can be cultivated, just like sales or leadership skills can be. 

With the right leadership and culture, creativity can flourish. Here’s how to be that leader for your team:

1. Diversify your team.

There are plenty of reasons to be inclusive at work, but there’s no question diverse teams are more creative. If everyone on your team comes from a similar background, you’ll likely approach issues the same way. That may make coming to a consensus easier, but challenges are necessary to refine ideas. 

Diversifying your staff involves bringing people from different cultural, religious, ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds together. Gender, sexuality, and age are also important axes to consider. 

To deepen your team’s diversity, bring in a broad range of personality types, values, and abilities. This approach helps you appreciate the perspectives of a full person rather than a single demographic component.  

2. Empower fresh faces.

When people first start out at your company, they’re still getting used to your processes and culture. That doesn’t mean their perspective isn’t valuable, though. 

In fact, someone who isn’t fully integrated into your organization may be more valuable, creatively speaking. They can bring fresh ideas that aren’t hindered by the baggage that seasoned employees may have. 

Ask for their input during meetings. Run proposals and innovation ideas by them. Better yet, give them a project of their own to lead. 

A new employee’s creativity can also fuel the creative impulses of senior team members. In this case, a little competition can be healthy: Let employees of different tenures push each other to come up with new ideas and ways of working. 

3. Promote fictional media consumption.

The media we consume impacts us immensely. Fictional media, whether it be books, film, or television, positively impacts our creativity. 

Why? Because fictional narratives engage us in scenarios that aren’t found in the real world. They allow us to think through unfamiliar possibilities. Non-fiction and journalistic media simply can’t do that. 

The good news is, your employees are probably already watching TV and movies on their own. Encourage them to think critically about what they’re viewing. Consider following a series or franchise together and discussing it. Another option is to start a book club at the office to promote fiction reading. 

4. Support risk-taking efforts.

A primary reason people shy away from taking risks is they fear the consequences of failure. However, risk-taking is inherent to creativity. You can’t have one without the other. 

Ease the pressure of risk-taking for your team. Compliment people who are willing to take risks. And if an effort fails, don’t punish the people who gave it a shot. In fact, throw a party for the “biggest fail” each month.

A supported team is a risk-taking team. The more confident you can make people feel in themselves and their actions, the more willing they’ll be to try new things.

5. Don’t lead with limitations. 

When embarking on a new goal or plan, some leaders kill creativity by starting with the negative. Before the first dollar has been spent, they worry about costs. With no reason to worry about the team’s commitment, they wonder whether contributors are up to the task.

Don’t stifle your team’s imaginations. Give people the resources they need, empower them to try new things, and express confidence in them.

What if roadblocks come up? Worry about them at that time. When you set expectations around a project, what matters most is opening space for people to articulate their vision. Ground these ideas in practicalities later.

6. Visualize data. 

Words and numbers on a page can only do so much. Being more creative with how you construct and communicate data creates a flywheel effect, spurring more creativity. 

Mindmapping, flowcharts, diagrams, and hierarchical charts are great ways to represent information. They spark creativity by showing the relationships between sets of data and illuminating nuances.

Invest in a data visualization tool that even non-technical team members can use, like Tableau. Challenge people to come up with their own intriguing visualizations.

7. Enhance your office environment. 

A drab, depressing office environment doesn’t exactly encourage creativity. An inspiring office space feels fresh, exciting, and joyful. 

Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be expensive. Paint the walls a lively color. Bring in some plants and natural light. Hang your favorite art pieces up, and decorate your desk. 

While you’re at it, give employees more creative control over their personal space. Autonomy breeds creativity, which you can tap for work tasks. 

Creativity isn’t just for people in the arts. Just about everyone has a creative impulse that can be valuable to a team. The key is to invest in those impulses and bring them out whenever you can.

Calendar Spam is a Problem (How to Fix)

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Small Business Owners and Social Media: How Much Time to Spend Online

First, there was email spam. Then came text spam. Now, as more people use digital calendars on their computers and calendar apps on their mobile devices, many people get digital calendar spam. That means more clutter in our in-box from people we don’t know. Calendar invite spam has to stop.

A New Frontier For Spamming

Spammers are always looking for that way in to get their messages or links in front of more people. Now, they’ve found that they can take advantage of Google’s convenient email and calendar integration feature to inundate more people with their junk. Spammers previously went after Apple to exploit a similar calendar invite feature a few years ago.

Created as a way to help Google Calendar users save time with scheduling and meeting invites, the Google Calendar invite feature lets you  automatically add meeting invites to your calendar.  Although the meeting invite only appears as an outline until the recipient selects “yes” or “no,” the meeting invite still appears on a user’s Google Calendar.

The Calendar Invite Spam Threat is Real

Spammers have upped their game with this ploy. When a user clicks on the event description within that meeting invite, it reveals a spam message, which can have malicious links embedded in it. Spammers want users to cllick on those links, of course, because it can lead to the potential of capturing personal information. If a user does click on the link, it tells the spammer that it’s an active email account. From there, the spammer can inundate the user with unsolicited emails.

Except for the spammers, no one, including Google, is pleased with this new scheme. Google has reiterated its privacy policy and focus on protecting its users. Plus, the company has provided guidance on how to address calendar invite spam.

How to Remove Calendar Spam from Your Google Calendar

There are some quick ways to shut down calendar spam notifications from within your Google Calendar.

  1. Open your Google Calendar.
  2. Click on the gear icon, which is located at the top of the Google Calendar page.
  3. Select “Settings” from this menu.
  4. Next, choose “Event settings” from the list located on the left side.
  5. Change the “Automatically add invitations” option to the other choice listed, which is “No, only show invitations to which I have responded.” This means a meeting will only be added to your Google Calendar if you accept the meeting invite.

This process should remove all calendar invite spam from your Google Calendar so you can stop wasting your time opening invites that aren’t real and minimize your risk for becoming a victim of something more malicious.

How to Remove Calendar Spam from Your Apple Calendar

You may also receive calendar spam in your Yahoo Calendar. Yahoo has a very basic process for dealing with these spam Calendar invitations. Yahoo recommends treating the calendar invite spam like normal spam email by clicking the ‘spam’ button.

From there, you have to delete the individual event from your calendar separately. Choose the option that says “Delete” when clicking on the event. Don’t respond to the invitation itself or click any of the notifications within the invitation like where it says “Decline” because this will send a response to the spammer, which is exactly what you are trying to avoid. Then, you can also report calendar invite spam to Yahoo.

Remain Vigilant

Spammers will continue to “innovate” their exploitive tactics by studying new software and app features to get what they want. To slow the pace of spammers’ efforts and perhaps even discourage them, it’s important that we all remain vigilant when it comes to understanding and blocking their schemes.

Here’s to a spam free calendar in the coming years!

8 End-of-Summer Services to Schedule for Your Business

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7 Ways to Optimize Your 2021 Appointment Schedule

Work doesn’t stop in the summer, but fall still feels like a reset. As the hottest season of the year winds down, it’s time to prepare for what’s ahead.

Internally, this means brainstorming and strategizing for your business. But getting ready for the fall also involves accomplishing some back-burner tasks. These are items that we tend to put off until the last minute. 

Many of these items are more urgent than we might think. Accomplishing them can avert future crises and keep customers happy. Luckily, they also tend to be services that people outside your company can do. 

Why not get ahead this year? Before summer ends, set up appointments to handle these tasks:

1. Deep-cleaning the office

Especially as COVID-19 rages on, keeping the office clean is an ongoing task. But once in a while, it’s necessary to do a deeper clean than usual. 

Think about the spaces in your office that receive less attention. Grime can build up and attract pests over time. So before the fall, hire a company to clean every nook and cranny. 

Treat this as an office reset. Encourage everyone to take home old trinkets, snacks, and other possessions they don’t need to do their jobs. 

2. Repainting

Your walls might need a new coat of paint before the summer ends. Small marks and scrapes build up, especially if you regularly have kids in the office.

Repainting is an opportunity to rethink your office color palette. Choose wisely to make the space more relaxing for customers and employees. Earthy tones can help you cultivate an atmosphere that is both inviting and productive. 

3. Cleaning the gutters

It’s easy to forget, but getting your gutters cleaned is a critical part of protecting your office.You need to clear them at least once a year to protect your roof, your foundation, and your landscape from excessive rainwater. 

Make sure the professional you hire is insured. Accidents happen, especially when people are on a roof. 

4. Checking your heating system

As fall approaches, the weather is going to start cooling down. It’ll be a nice respite from the summer heat at first, but it won’t be long before the chill sets in.

Don’t wait until your heater fails to get it serviced. Before the mercury drops below freezing, make sure it’s ready to handle the colder months. Your customers won’t want to sit in the cold as they wait for their appointment. 

5. Scheduling a group counseling session

Unlike the prior suggestions, this service is not for your building. But it could transform the dynamics of your team members for the better. 

As people buckle down and vacation season ends, getting the team together for a heart to heart is a great idea. Scheduling a group counseling session can let people air grievances and bond in ways that an all-staff meeting simply can’t. 

Unless you’re trained, don’t try to facilitate this yourself. To make group counseling work for your team:

  • Explain how you think counseling would help the team.
  • Coordinate everyone’s schedule to find the right time.
  • Ask a licensed professional counselor to come to your office — or to chat with everyone on Zoom.
  • Prepare your employees for what to expect beforehand.
  • Conduct a retrospective by asking each attendee’s takeaways.

6. Prepping Q3 taxes

Tax day is coming on September 15, but don’t panic: There’s still time to sit down with your CPA. Still, you don’t want to find yourself scrambling to get all of your paperwork together at the last minute.

If you don’t have an in-house accountant, reach out to local accounting services. Determine who has capacity to squeeze you in. Before deciding on one, ask around: Have other entrepreneurs in your area had a good or bad experience with any of them?

7. Redesigning your website

Has it been a while since your company website got an update? Hopefully, it’s updated with your company’s information. But a full-scale redesign might also be in order

Redesigning your website is a good way to revitalize your brand and roll out something special this fall. You can also make navigation more user friendly so that customers can more easily book appointments and make purchases. 

Bring a web designer in, and brainstorm ideas that they can work with. The right person can take what you give them to another level.

8. Servicing company vehicles

If your company relies on vehicles, make sure that they’re running smoothly before the fall. Get an oil change, rotate the tires, check the battery, and make sure the antifreeze is in good condition. You don’t want a nasty surprise, such as a vehicle not starting, when a member of your team is heading out to an appointment. 

The sooner you get these back-burner tasks done, the better you’ll be able to focus on what your business does best. End the summer with these preparatory tasks, and you’ll set your business up for an even better fall. 

6 Ways to Make Venting at Work Productive

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While trying to think of ways to vent at work and make it productive — the idea came across as petty. I sure envy anyone who has never had to vent. I believe that it’s just a natural response to anything from unrealistic deadlines to handling toxic individuals. And, while it may feel cathartic at that moment — there’s an obvious dark side to any venting as well.

“Venting is kind of like an out-loud ruminating that can keep us stuck in negativity and the negative emotion longer rather than noticing it, letting it go and then being more solution-focused,” explains workplace psychologist Christine Allen told Moneyish. “In general … (complaining) tends to make people feel worse and not better. It tends to make the person that they’re complaining to feel worse as well.”

Moreover, because this can put us in a negative state, this adds stress — which is never good for your productivity and health. It can also put a strain on relationships and put your career in jeopardy. I mean, if you badmouthed employees or customers on social media, then why would they continue to support your business?

Even worse, venting can become addicting. “The more you vent, the more it becomes a habit,” wrote Nadine Greiner, Ph.D. in a previous Entrepreneur article. “When it becomes a habit, you’re acutely attuned to the negative things in life.”

“Since your brain is now more primed to register stressors, it is more challenging to appreciate the more calming or positive facets of work or life,” Dr. Greiner added. “Instead of letting stress become a habit or an addiction, you can choose what to focus on and what to talk about.”

On the flip side, getting something off your chest can also be a good thing. Here are six ways that you can productively use venting to your advantage.

1. Compose a “hot letter.”

You don’t have to be a history buff to know the impact that Abraham Lincoln had on the country. But, did you know about his “hot letters” method?

Whenever Lincoln got frustrated with someone, like General George Meade, he would compose an angry letter. However, he never sent the letter. Instead, he either burned it or filed it away so that there wouldn’t be consequences.

Here’s one example of such a letter he wrote after Meade disobeyed his orders:

“Maybe I ought not to be so hasty. It is easy enough for me to sit here in the quiet of the White House and order Meade to attack. Still, if I had been up at Gettysburg, and if I had seen as much blood as Meade has seen during the last week, and if my ears had been pierced with the screams and shrieks of the wounded and dying, maybe I wouldn’t be so anxious to attack either. If I had Meade’s timid temperament, perhaps I would have done just what he had done. Anyhow, it is water under the bridge now.”

Here’s what’s fascinating about Lincoln’s thought process here. Writing what he felt was a safe and healthy way to vent. More importantly, this allowed him to put himself in other’s shoes. In turn, this helped him develop empathy.

More recently, it’s been found that writing by hand is beneficial for both our body and mind. How so? Well, it can improve comprehension, unleashes creativity, eases anxiety, and enhances focus. Any journal writing seems to take the edge off of most things for me.

2. Take a walk.

You’ve probably come across this advice numerous times. But, there’s a good reason for it. Going for a walk outside allows you to back away from the situation and clear your head. Additionally, being surrounded by nature has a calming effect.

But wait. There’s more. Research shows that walking for just twenty minutes a day could lower your risk of developing depression by a third. It can also improve your overall cognitive function and decreases fatigue. Furthermore, a Stanford study found that walking increased a person’s “creative output” by an average of 60 percent.

3. Share your frustrations with a challenger-listener.

There aren’t too many times when venting can be helpful. However, research by Kristin Behfar, Ph.D., did find an exception, sharing your frustrations with a challenger-listener.

If you’ve dabbled in marketing, you may be familiar with the term. If not, here’s the jest. “In marketing, the idea of a challenger customer is that you don’t learn something from loyal customers who are already buying your products,” explained Behfar. “You learn from those who are resisting your strategy and rejecting your assumptions.”

“People really do believe that as listeners, they have to make people feel better. That’s just not true. There’s a big difference between being supportive and being helpful,” Behfar added.

“It’s counterintuitive and a little uncomfortable. When people come to us upset, our initial reaction is to comfort them. What we found across all our studies, no matter what you say, no one felt better. But you can help them solve a problem, which eventually leads to them feeling better,” she said.

“One reason why people vent so much is because it can be a good way of making sense of your problems,” Behfar continued. “You need to talk to other people to make sense of problems. It’s not an informal or formal grievance procedure.”

Unfortunately, most of us don’t seek these individuals out. We usually turn to those we trust. That’s a problem because they will only confirm our feelings.

Behfar recommends picking someone who can help reappraise the problem and shift preconceived notions. “The challenger listener gives you a jolt, a little nudge, to rethink,” she said.

Take a moment to think about why you are bugged about something. Take another moment to calm down. Take another moment to challenge your thinking. Find a friend or mentor who thinks differently than you do. Learn to respond to others in the way you want them to respond to you — and ask them to help you with your thought process.

4. Minimize your impact.

Growing up, I was close to my mom’s sister. As I got older, though, we drifted apart. There’s no bad blood or anything. It’s just that he’s a complainer and it got exhausting over time.

Before you vent, take a deep breath and think about the reputation you want to be known for. I’m sure a lot of words come to mind, such as “innovator” or “leader.” I doubt, however, that “complainer” is also included.

Additionally, studies have found that negativity is contagious. I don’t know about you. But, I don’t want to be dragged down by someone else’s pessimism.

Instead, when you do have to vent, Katie Douthwaite Wolf suggests doing “it with as little impact as possible.” That means not pestering the same person and reducing how often you gripe. Additionally, it’s making sure that you’re in a private setting.

“Or, create physical limitations for yourself,” adds Katie. “One of my co-workers and I, for instance, recently made a pact that we would only vent to one another if one of us physically walked over to the other person’s office, and we talked behind the closed door.” That’s effective since “this makes sure no one else overhears the venting.” And, “it really makes me think twice about each of my complaints—does this certain annoyance really warrant a trip to her office, where I’ll be distracting her from her work, just so I can vent?

It’s a simple approach. I’d also add that this may even give you more variety. Let’s say that you’re hung up on one particular issue, like dealing with unruly customers. Discussing this privately with different team members provides you diverse recommendations on how to address the matter.

I have learned something. Nothing makes a person angrier than to tell them to “calm down.” Another is, “lower your voice, please.” Merely continuing the conversation in a straightforward, non-threatening manner will usually accelerate your positive impact on the situation.

5. Balance the negative with the positive.

“In many (though not all) situations, it’s better for you to discharge negative emotions than to keep them bottled up inside,” explains Leon F Seltzer, Ph.D. “Whether it’s sorrow, anxiety, anger, or frustrations in general, repeatedly holding in what may need to come out has been related to compromised health—physical, mental, and emotional.”

In addition to the immediate relief you’ll feel, this helps restore your equilibrium. More importantly, you’ll be able to move on.

At the same time, you need to balance this with the positive. Through positive venting, you’ll be able to “release your frustrations productivity,” writes Lynne D’Amico in Force of Mind, Song of Heart: Shaping Consciousness, Connection, and Compassionate Cooperation. You’ll also be able to “deepen connections with others without having to criticize or make an absent person-object wrong.”

For example, maybe you have a team member who has trouble managing their time. While they are usually able to meet deadlines, there have been a couple of instances where they did not. Understandably, this made you angry. But, instead of belittling them, try to help them solve their time management problems.

6. Take action on solutions.

“Problem-solving makes you feel better, but getting things off your chest alone doesn’t make you feel better,” Behfar advises. So, whether you’re offering advice or soliciting it, have multiple solutions ready to solve the problem. After that, you need to take action. It’s a guaranteed way to avoid complaining just for the sake of it.

I know. That’s easier said than done. But, you could use this 10-step process from Brian Tracy to put your plans in motions:

  • Change your language about the problem from negative to positive.
  • Define the situation or problem clearly.
  • Use critical thinking to approach the problem from several different directions.
  • Clearly define the ideal solution to the problem.
  • Pick the best solution to solve your challenge.
  • Prepare for the worst possible outcome and how to overcome it.
  • Measure your progress.
  • Take complete responsibility for your decision.
  • Set a deadline for when things should be solved.
  • Take action and solve your problem.

Calendar Joins List of Zapier Integrations

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We are excited to announce that Calendar joins the list of Zapier’s integration partners. With over 2,000 apps, this means you can access more functionality and tools that help you automate your work and drive greater productivity.

There is an integration for every type of company and role:

Zapier by Role

How Zapier Integrations Work

Automated connections called Zaps set up in minutes with no coding. They can automate your day-to-day tasks and build workflows between apps that otherwise would not be possible.

Calendar Integration Details

Each Zap has one app as the “Trigger.” This is where your information comes from. It causes one or more “actions” in other apps where your data gets sent automatically.

Calendar Triggers

Right now, there is one Calendar Trigger that is supported by Zapier. When your time slot meeting is scheduled in Calendar, Zapier triggers that a new meeting has been scheduled. This information can be used and shared across applications and platforms that integrate with Zapier.

Connecting Calendar to Zapier

  1. Log in to your Zapier account or create a new account.
  2. Navigate to “My Apps” from the top menu bar.
  3. Click on “Connect a new account” and search for Calendar.
  4. Use your credentials to connect your Calendar account to Zapier.
  5. Once that’s done, you can start creating an automation! Use a pre-made Zap or create your own with the Zap Editor. Creating a Zap requires no coding knowledge. You get step-by-step instructions that walk you through the setup.

What’s Possible with Zapier?

One of the first apps available that integrates with Calendar on Zapier is Close, an all-in-one Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform. Features include built-in calling, SMS, and email channels.

There is so much you can do with Zapier:

  • Automate appointment and meeting reminders
  • Register leads for webinars
  • Personalize messages for new leads
  • Schedule meetings with prospects, customers, and colleagues
  • Notify your team about new leads and customers
  • Share content across channels
  • Provide automatic calendar adds for upcoming events
  • Notify about changes in the database or a spreadsheet
  • Add content across channels
  • Provide the team with updates, content, and information from surveys or support tickets

The list goes on. The question is — What can Zapier do for you?

But the real question is what can’t Zapier do?

Sign-Up Today!

If you don’t already have a Zapier account, check our Calendar integration page out and sign-up from there. Join now! Here’s where you can sign-up.

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