Category: Jobs

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Home Improvement

I have seen a lot of new houses on the market but personally, I love my older built home.  My home was built in the late 1940’s and has more charm than any of the cookie cutter houses they are building these days.  With an older home, you not only get better workmanship, but you get a work in progress.

I love doing home improvement tasks.  Something as simple as a coat or two of paint can make an enormous change in not only the look of a room, but also the feeling of that room.  My next home improvement project is the bathroom.  A little paint, tile floor and maybe a new cabinet is in order.  Sounds like a plan in the making to me.

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More great finds

Last weekend we found some great lawn furniture for our deck.  I don’t like the new stuff because of not only the price, but they just don’t seem to last that long.  I have a friend that does powder coating.  If you don’t know what that is, it’s this powder that is put on anything medal and then baked in a large oven.  It comes out looking like you have painted what ever you had powder coated but lasts a lot longer.

Not only does that make the medal look new, but there are a lot of different colors and textures you can choose from.  In other words, you can have your yard furniture match most anything.  Great way to restore antique lawn furniture.

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Be a trucker

When I was young back in the 70’s it was always a cool thing to be a trucker. We watched all the trucking shows on TV like Convoy and Smokey and the bandit. My brothers and I would always hang out the windows of our car and pump our arms at a trucker trying to encourage him into honking the horn.

Nowadays, truckers are more in demand than ever. The problem is that not too many people actually want to be a trucker anymore. Living on the road is difficult and getting the proper licenses is time-consuming and expensive. I think that for the right person though, it could be a great career move. Give it some thought.

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Green business

There are many areas of the economy that are not performing all that well. We all know that. The good news is that some areas of the economy are doing very well. Those who are smart and who get in on the ground floor of these businesses will have a bright future. That’s why I made a suggestion to my next door neighbors son Charlie that he should think about getting some training and starting his own business.

One area of business that is really taking off is green technology in homes. People want lower heating and air bills and are willing to pay for it. The government provides many tax incentives in many cases and it’s good for our environment. Many people are now looking to starting a home energy audit franchise. This is a golden opportunity for those who are willing to learn about it.

The internet will be the backbone of these new businesses and there are people who can help you get started. You can find training as well as marketing home improvement business plans. They can provide the knowledge and experience needed for contractors websites marketing. I think Charlie will be glad I mentioned this to him and I wish him the best in his new career.

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The name of the game

Anyone who is in business knows that the name of the game is marketing. Letting people know who you are and what your business is about is paramount to a good business plan. That’s why I like to take advantage of new marketing techniques whenever I can. One of my favorite methods is using logo mats or a logo canopy whenever I can. It’s a simple way to get your name noticed by the public.

We recently started going to trade shows. We decided that our outlet was not up to par. We wanted our name to be prominent and found that trade show flooring was a perfect way to get our name noticed. It has worked out very well so far and we plan to take things a few steps further in the future.

We are still a small company but we feel that we will get bigger every day by taking a few simple steps. We will work hard to please our customers, we will get our brand name noticed, and we will strive to use whatever tactics we deem necessary to do so. I am confident that we will succeed in fulfilling these goals and am proud that I am playing a role in it.

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Advertising our success

This was a pretty good week around the office that I work in. Everybody was excited to learn that our numbers were up for the third straight month. Business has really picked up and our employees are very busy and yet very happy. The best part is that we all know the reason why. We started a new advertising campaign about six months ago and the results have been very good. It seems that everyone knows our name and that’s a good thing in this type of industry.

We do have a couple of people to thank for all this success. The first person is me as I am the one who pushed for an increased advertising budget. I knew that it would pay off and it has. I would also like to thank the good folks at the Advertising Agency we picked to do the job. They were very professional as far as knowing what to do and introduced us to some new ideas we hadn’t thought about doing. It’s all going according to plan.

We will have our spring picnic soon and I am sure that we will be doing even more business by then. It will much better than last year as we were certainly struggling to get by. The good news is that our hard work is paying off and the coming year is destined to be one of our best. I am glad for those of us in the company who worked so hard to make this dream come true.

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Antiques

Since everybody knows I have a truck, I was helping a friend move the other day. When people know you have a truck, they always want you to help them move. Anyway, my friend asks if I wanted an old sewing machine that he had in the upstairs bedroom. It looked interesting and so I took it.

The machine was very old and it was a Singer. I looked up the serial number online and discovered that the machine was made in 1892. My first thought was that it may be worth a lot of money. It turns out that there are many machines like it and that they are a dime a dozen. I guess I learned a lesson today.

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Help is needed

The news out of Washington is not good. Today the white house announced that nearly one out of every two Americans are living from week to week and are being classified as low-income. Those without jobs are being hit hardest. It’s been years in the making but now it is true.

Senators and congressmen are busy blaming each other. That leaves the American people with a huge problem. What will happen to those who have some kind of mishap in their lives that will put them over the edge? I hope that congress and regular Americans will wake up and start to deal with this problem.

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Doing what you love

Sometimes in life, we must accept the inevitable. This is especially true with my cousin chip. While he is truly a great guy, he is not what you would call physically gifted. In fact, he is a bit ungainly when it comes to physical activity. That’s why there are some areas where I believe he will not be able to find a job. The good news is that he is very smart and has the attention to detail that is needed for the career he wants to pursue.

He wants to become a tax preparer. I think that this is a job that is ideally suited for him. He will be able to do most of the work from home and will not have to strain himself physically. He will be able to use his mind in order to do his job. I also happen to know that this is something that he wants to do. I think this will be good for him.

Another good aspect of this potential job is that he can learn everything he needs to know online. There are websites that offer the courses needed so that he can get a tax preparer certification. He will have access to study guides and will also be able to take practice exams. I know that my cousin will be alright and will have a gr4eat future doing what he loves. That’s always a good thing.

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Storage Problem solved

Since there are hundreds of people who work where I do, we always seem to have problems that need to be solved. It seems that whenever the shifts change, some people are having a tough time finding the things they brought to work. While I am sure that no one actually sets out to steal something, there might be times when they borrow it. That’s why we decided that installing some small lockers might help keep our employees items secure.

We started to look into having some office lockers installed. I found a good site called morelockers.com that had just what we needed. I talked with a representative over the phone and he was very helpful. It turns out that they carry a full line of products. The prices were well within our budget and that made it an easy choice. I was glad things went so smoothly.

Now things are so much better for everyone. When a person comes to work they can put their stuff in a locker and not have to worry about it anymore. I always say that “good fences make good neighbors” and it has turned out to be true for us. I am ready to take on the next problem we encounter as this one seems to be solved.