Redsplur.com

For anyone making a donation and you don’t know how to or to what organization.  _Current has provided this list…please feel free to view their video online.

Red Cross – http://redcross.org
You can also text ‘HAITI’ to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross via your phone bill.

UNICEF – http://unicef.org

Oxfam – http://oxfam.org

Doctors Without Borders – http://doctorswithoutborders.org

Mercy Corps – http://mercycorps.org

Internal Medical Corps – http://imcworldwide.org

Americares – http://americares.org

Well…Colorado is the first state to drop it’s minimum wage by 3 cents per hour.  It’s minimum wage was set last year at $7.28 and will be reduced to $7.25 this week.  Colorado is one of ten states that the minimum wage is directly tied to state inflation and the goal was to protect low income workers from getting hit on their paychecks as cost of living rises. 

But this change in minimum wages has some side effects…such as the this would allow state wide wage decreases.  Many people that are unemployed or have been working part time jobs to make ends meet have already been struggling on a daily basis. 

There are 13 states including Alaska that offer higher minimum wages than the federal minimum wage.  We have attached a couple of links to help you take a closer look at your wages in comparison to other states. 

Fact Sheet on Fair Wage Act 2007 – http://www.vtlivablewage.org/Fact_Sheet-FEDMINWAGE.pdf

Overview of Minimum Wages – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_States

Salary Comparison – http://www.salary.com/

PayScale – http://www.payscale.com/

Cost of Living Calculator – http://www.bestplaces.net/COL/

We hope that this information is helpful and useful. 

A recent survey shows that the majority of people that are currently employed are not satisfied.  This is no surprise to anyone out there…but in case you want to read the entire article…click the link below.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34691428/ns/business-careers

Recruitment Professionals at Spectra Personnel Services

Looking for employment?  Over the past year, the unemployment has been continuously rising and many workers are finding themselves unemployed for the first time. 

Several weeks back, one of our bloggers wrote their one of their first blogs about being unemployed and that they had tryed for several months to acquire employment.  So the people at Redsplur decided to find some strategies to helping people find employment.  We have outlined a few pointers to help everyone….we hope they will prove to be useful.

• Updating your Resume – One of the biggest challenges that unemployed workers have is using an outdated resume.  Remember that old saying….your first impression is what counts?  Well in this case…your resume is your first impression.   Don’t apply to jobs using an outdated resume….this is a major no-no.  Make sure you have accurate and current information.  Specifically with your dates, your job functions, company information, and check for grammatical errors. 
• Cast a Wide Net – Make sure you tapping into several job posting websites.  We all know the big ones….careerbuilder.com, hotjobs.com, and monster.com.  But there are several smaller ones that are more niche based.  This can provide you a more detailed and indepth look at your industry.  Don’t think that just because you have your resume on a large site that you will get a job….remember that just like you several thousands of people are doing the exact same thing.  We would even suggest using job search engines to help you identify more jobs such as indeed.com and simplyhired.com.   In our blog section you will find an indeed banner just for this post…try it….its free and we think its a valuable resource.
• Be prepared - When you begin looking for job opportunities be realistic.  In many occassions, applicants sometimes feel that because they had performed a job 5 or 10 years back that they could still perform the job functions.  Be prepared and study the exact requirements.  Many things have changed over the past few years such as technology, laws, and certifications.  By no means are we telling you not to apply….what we want is for you to be prepared….study the job description, the company, and be ready to answer questions about your work history pretaining to this job.
• Stay updated – As the ecomony continues to change and the workplace environment tightens, many employers have been making salary cuts and reductions in order to maintain operations through these rough times.  Use salary guides to stay updated on what employers are currently paying for the type of job you are seeking.  Dont over shot or under sell yourself…stay focused.
• Last but not least…Temp? – Many companies have been outsourcing some of the work to temporary agencies.  It might not be your first choice but it will provide a paycheck and an opportunity to get introduced into a permanent position. 

We hope these bits of information are useful.  Good luck!

Ok…so you have a great new product and no way to get it out in the market place. Here are few helpful hints that might help generate some new BUZZ for your product.

• New Trends – Often times you will find that retailers like to be trendy.  It’s a higher risk to invest in a product that you know is trendy and that at any given time the fad can come to an immediate stop.  But the rewards or the ROI is extremely good and typically trendy products sell well during their phase.
• Extensions – Most new products really focus on servicing as an extension of the functionality of the original product they are trying to replace.  Usually products that try to replace the same existing product, tend to fail in marketing themselves…it’s better to try to enhance the functionality and use that to distinguish your products.
• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – Actually just keeping your product in front of your target market is much better.  Remember to position your product in front of the pack…also make sure you have a creative packaging designed to be noticed when placed on a shelf. 
• The Pro’s have it – So you are trying to do everything yourself huh?  Ok…that might not be one of your best ideas…try seeking expert advice…especially from marketing specialist. 

Well I hope these little hints or bits of info help you find the right interest in your product.   Good Luck and success!

Still not convinced about Social Networking?  Wondering if there really could be any benefit to having a blog or is this just another media hype?  We have be wondering the same thing but our research showed that there are several key advantages to developing a blog and updating the world on your business.   Here are a few advantages I think you could find interesting….take a look.

• Creating a global business presence.  Thats correct…the Internet brings the world closer and closer to one another that you will find people in China reading about people in Mexico.   This intertwining connection gives small companies the same advantage that large companies have to market there products across the world.
• Collaboration.  Yes it’s true…through your blog, open forums, and discussions you can find experts in almost any subject matter.  (And just between us…we have been listening and asking and evolving through help from others)
• A Recruitment Tool.  Although this one is still relatively new…many HR professionals are using social blogs to discover and recruit unseen talent.  Thats right!  Tapping into new markets and talents to help create recruitment strategies.
• And the most important.  Cheap Marketing!  Yeah we said it.  Cheap marketing.  No longer do small and mid size companies have to empty bank accounts to afford marketing and advertising campaigns like the big boys.  In fact we are a prime example….we don’t have the heavy budgets like other social blogs…and guess what?  We are fine with that! 

Well we have given you 4 top reasons to change your method of doing business and to evolve with everyone else…but the final decision is yours. 

One of the biggest challenges that face companies today is implementation.  Correct…many companies have great employees with brilliant ideas but getting them to move forward from desktop to implementation is something else. 

Here are a few suggestions that could help you move faster…

1. Tracking – During one of those fabulous brainstorming sessions make sure that you are jotting the ideas down and then make sure you are tracking them.  Tracking them can help establish a flow and time frame of when an idea came from conception to implementation. 
2. Checkpoints – Make sure that when you track your innovative ideas and you begin to set a flow chart, that you begin to establish checkpoints.  This helps ensure that you stay true to your basic core concept and lets you identify key areas of improvement before they become overwhelmingly large. 
3. Deadlines – Try to establish a quick prototype date by creating effective and realistic deadlines.  This helps the concept move forward by continuously meeting on deadlines and checkpoints. 

We hope this tidbit of information was useful.  And as always we recommend that you research more on this material before embarking on large projects.