The responsibility of leading a company takes a toll. One of the largest differences is the amount of sleep that CEO’s and business owners get each night.

Typically, the leaders of a company average 5-6 hours of sleep a night However, these people are predispositioned to do well with less sleep or they wouldn’t be where they are today.

Since these people get less sleep, it’s important that they sleep well when they do.

Stress and snoring are two of the biggest reasons why people don’t sleep well at night.

As far as the stress, there are a number of things you can do to lower your stress levels. These include exercise, eating well, meditation and any other activity that relieves stress for you.

If you’re a snorer, there are stop snoring pillows and medication that you can take. If you’re going to take medication you should get advise from your doctor on the type that will work best for you.

Since you’re already getting less sleep, make sure you have a comfortable bed as well. It can make all the difference in the quality of sleep you receive!

There are many parts to supply chain management, each one of which needs to integrate seamlessly with the others for your supply chain to operate efficiently. The transportation management system is part of supply chain execution, and is basically the technology behind the transportation processes. A TMS collects and presents data in ways that allow you to plan, track, analyze and optimize the supply chain execution.

Transportation management systems generally come in the form of licensed software or hosted software. Hosted software offered in a SaaS (Software as a Service) format can be implemented quickly and without a large investment. Using sophisticated rating and freight optimization software, a quality TMS can identify and exploits cost savings opportunities, including LTL consolidation and continuous move routing.

A transportation management system is designed to lower costs, yet many systems entail hefty price tags and lengthy implementations. It may be years before a company realizes an ROI. TOTAL, a top TMS in the logistics industry, delivers an ROI (return on investment) within 90 days.

TOTAL gives users fingertip access to a variety of transportation management tools. This comprehensive application enables logistics professionals to accurately optimize, build, route, assign and track shipments via any computer with an Internet connection. The database is protected by three layers of security to offer users global access to logistics data within a secure environment.

The most useful transportation management system also offers endless reporting options. Users can choose from a library of standard reports or create ad hoc reports. The more sophisticated the reporting tools, the easier it is to facilitate a quick, accurate and insightful analysis of any segment of your transportation management operations.

About the Author:

Kerry Schoemehl works for LMS Logistics, a non-asset-based third party logistics firm based out of St. Louis. LMS is one of the top 3PL firms in the industry, bringing freight management solutions and millions of dollars in savings to some of the world’s best-known companies, including BASF and Monsanto. Schoemehl has exceptional knowledge and experience in the field of transportation logistics, and is happy to share her expertise with others in the industry.

If you enjoyed this post, check out the LMS blog at http://blog.lmslogistics.com.

Demand side management can make a drastic difference in the energy consumption of a business. Today’s economically trying times call for innovative ways to cut costs, and potentially increase earnings. Energy demand programs can help business achieve these by helping to curb their power consumptions when needed, while also being compensated for such efforts.

Demand Side Management

This is possible through programs which monetize energy reduction efforts. These programs are offered by companies that provide energy management services and solutions. Often, they give businesses various options to control the energy consumed by their facilities. For example, they could choose to regulate electricity depending on the supply in their region or if their consumed energy exceeds a certain price.

The presence of options in energy management programs allows for companies to control what they want out of managing their power consumption. Just as well, businesses that deal with energy management may also offer other tools and services to better regulate the power being fed to facilities. Providing strategies for optimum power consumption is among the services an energy management business may offer. These strategies may even cover facilities where no equipment can be switched off, such as hospitals or data centers.

No matter the strategy or program used, the amount of revenue earned by a business depends on how much electricity it is willing to cut down. The energy management service might also help to determine what the best amount is to pledge in order to keep the business operating normally despite cutting down electricity usage through demand side management strategies.

With an energy demand response program, CPower offers companies a way to optimize facilities and operations. Through the various program, demand side management becomes easier for companies while at the same time netting them extra revenue for the amount of power conserved. To learn more, visit CPowered.com or call 212-361-6300.

Companies that actually work in any regulated industry will have to implement extra measure for control and management on their documents and processes. This could easily be very hard to do manually, but with the proper software systems, possibly to maintain compliance with those regulations and increase the productivity and efficiency in the company.

Document version control software is something that a majority of companies employ to attain and observe after compliance with industry standards because the exact amount of data and information flowing through businesses keeps growing, and agencies exactly like the FDA and ISO will expect companies to trace every change that any user makes to a new given document. Nevertheless this is an easy task to do when a company implement software to automate your entire process.

Some organizations waste plenty of cash and time searching through countless documents and unstructured information. Might be detrimental in a couple ways. One, it helps it be very difficult to produce the suitable versions of the right documents when regulatory agencies demand them. Two, it will make it much more difficult to produce reliable customer satisfaction and service.

Electronic Document Management Software

These lenders can make use of document version control software to take care of these problems, though. These solutions were created to track every change that was created to a document and to control the authorized users so just one person can edit the document at one time. This makes sure the version is correct as well as the document will hold its integrity and transparency. It will likewise maintain a centralized and secure location.

That allows you to be effective, reliable document version control software need to be qualified to make use of your existing numbering systems (for the smooth integration along with the company’s systems with no need of to join in a complete migration), automate versioning and numbering, and run advanced analytics. Some programs will even automatically assign metadata to each version to make search functionality more attractive.

Most companies are employing such a software which means that then they can lower your expenses, improve efficiency, and meet industry regulations. What’s more, it helps it to be possible to use some auto routing features in order to make sure that documents are properly accepted by the right people, after which it generates detailed reports that companies make use of to help streamline their processes. These types of information can certainly companies discern specifically what is happening with their important documents and what they are able to do to increase efficiency.

Document control may be very greatly important in any regulated industry, and companies have to even more than simply collect and store their digital information available as one location. Regulatory agencies expect companies to watch and track every changes or revisions that tend to be created to the document, who made the alterations, and in what ways it differs originating from a original.

One of the very outstanding ways to handle this compliance issues shall be to implement document version control software. They will be certain that you choose to always be permitted access into the documents you require, and whenever the regulatory agencies conduct any sort of audit or inspection, you’ll be able to grant them access.

Electronic document management software (EDMS) is a system which gives firms the ability to get ready for regulatory examinations and audits that could take place whenever. If you find the right software solutions, you will be able to streamline your operations, keep costs down, and maintain total compliance.

Essentially, there are three levels of communication. These are passive communication, assertive communication and aggressive communication.

If you are having trouble getting the balance right, then you may need to take the following steps.

Make firm decisions about what you want

In order to be assertive you need to have something to be assertive about! So, be sure that you have decided, in any situation, what is your outcome.

Ask and answer this question: What do you want to happen next?
Passive people are passive, because they tend not to be goal focused so they tend to drift with the tide, and go with the flow. Assertive people however know exactly what they want. So, to be assertive, think about what it is that you want.

Explain your ideas with a prepared message

Prepare your message in advance. Don’t go into the meeting ill prepared. Assertive people are assertive because they already know what they are going to say (and NOT say). To be assertive, do the same things: figure out and decide what you will say and what you need to avoid saying.

Listen for the others message and critique it if necessary.
Assertive people listen carefully to other people and point out:

1. Contradictions in the other person’s argument
2. Flaws in their facts.

And suggest their own answers instead.

So, to be more assertive, be ready to critically analyze the opinions of others through the lens of your own intelligent observations. Don’t assume that “he must know”. Note that: Passive people tend to overestimate the intelligence of others and UNDER estimate their own intelligence.

Emphasize your voice and body language

Passive people tend to speak too quietly.

Speak up!

Let your volume come up 10%, and you will make yourself and your ideas appear more assertive.

In terms of body language

Passive people tend to be passive in their use of body language: i.e. not much use of gestures and facial expression.

So, if you wish to be perceived as more assertive, reverse this trend and

1. Move more!
2. Use more hand and arm gestures
3. Use your facial expressions to greater advantage

Be More Assertive

If you are having trouble getting the assertiveness balance right, then take the following steps.

1. Make firm decisions about what you want.
2. Explain your ideas with a prepared message.
3. Listen for the others message and critique it if necessary.
4. Emphasize your voice and body language.

Simple!

Chris Farmer is a Management Training Consultant specialising in Time Management Training Courses. The courses provided by Corporate Coach Group have helped hundreds of managers become immediately more effective.

On December 17, 2008, the prime rate in the United States was dropped from 4.00% to 3.25%, the level that it currently stands at right now. The lower interest rate was initiated by the Federal Reserve to stimulate lending to individuals and businesses, the first salvo in the war to combat economic recession. On the surface, it appears to have made very little difference. The economy in the United States still declined and unemployment rose to a record high rate of over 10% in some states. Despite that, there’s no way of knowing how much worse things would be, were it not for the lower prime rate. Today, as the nation crawls out from the hole it’s been in, businesses are beginning to look for funding to expand or in some cases just to stay afloat.

There is a process involved in getting this funding, requiring a step by step approach and some knowledge of exactly how to get a business loan. That process begins with an evaluation of needs, continues with an examination of loans and funding options available, and hopefully culminates in a business loan which will help your company achieve its goals. It’s not as simple as it once was, when all you had to do was show up at your bank and put some collateral up to get a loan. Credit score is now a factor, as is credit and payment history. The nature and success rate of businesses in your industry will also be taken into account. After what was a horrific three year period for banks and lending institutions, you’re not going to be approved for a business loan without some heavy duty footwork on your part.

Evaluating Your Needs for a Business Loan

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should. Before you apply for a business loan, evaluate the reasons why you need one. The economy is improving. Are you running in the red right now or are you managing to pay your bills and make a small profit? Taking out a loan to increase profit margins is one thing, but is the debt you’re taking on worth the return you’ll get back from it? Make sure when you calculate these numbers that you include the interest payments and any fees the bank charges. Add up total cost and then project returns and how exactly those returns are going to be realized. There has to be a plan of some kind and the bank will want to see it before they give you anything.

Where to Go for a Business Loan

A Treasury report released at the end of last year showed that major banks had decreased business loan balances by $1 billion in the last quarter of 2009. These were the same banks that received TARP funds from the federal government’s bank bailout. Justifying the cuts as prudent management, they nonetheless all pledged, after some pressure from the Obama administration, to increase lending in 2010. Some of those pledges of more business lending came from major players in the banking industry. Bank of America (5 billion more), Wells Fargo (25% more), and JP Morgan Chase ($4 billion more) have all increased their lending this year, though much of the JP Morgan Chase lending is in the form of business credit cards.

There are also online resources available, including sites that will shop your loan request around to various banks, financial institutions and private lenders. There are different types of business loans, including working capital loans, merchant account advances, secured and unsecured loans. You can borrow against money that is owed to you and you can use your credit card receipts from recent months as proof of your ability to pay. You can even sell your future credit card sales or accounts receivables, an act that doesn’t technically qualify as a loan, but bears mention here. No matter which way you go you’ll be facing the same questions and need the same set of numbers to back up your request for funding.

What do Lenders look for in Business Loan Applicants?

A simple rule of thumb when doing a self-evaluation of what the bank will look for is to look at the five C’s: Character, Capacity, Collateral, Capital, and Conditions. Character is about you and your credit score and history. Capacity is proving your ability to pay. Collateral and Capital are very similar. They both offer a guarantee to the bank that you’ll pay them back. Conditions refer to your knowledge of your own industry and the plan that you have for use of the money you’re going to borrow. If you did your homework in the earlier step “Evaluating Your Needs for a Business Loan” this should not be a problem. The bank or lending institution will see that you have a definite plan for the improvement of your company and look upon that favorably.

Communicating with the Lender: How to finally get a Business Loan

Once you’ve evaluated your needs for a business loan, asked yourself all the difficult questions about credit-worthiness, and chosen a lender to apply to, it’s time to walk through the door and present your case. Communication is the most important element at this stage of the loan process. You need to have the ability to explain what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to pay it back. Have a solid business plan in hand, with a detailed explanation about how you will use the money from a business loan and what you plan to do about paying it back. The financial information you present about your company should be current and accurate. The bank will turn you away of you try to rely on the successes of yesteryear. You’ll also want to present alternate sources for repayment should the first plan not succeed. Remember the climate you’re running a business in right now and what the banks have been through recently. If you cross all your t’s, dot your I’s, and anticipate any questions you’ll be asked, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be approved for a business loan.

Copyright (c) 2010 Trey Markel

More Information on how to get a business loan. It requires a good solid and credible business to be approved for business loans.

Logistics management has become a corporate focal point as companies look to trim costs without compromising safety and service. More C-Level professionals are realizing how successful supply chain management can significantly contribute to bottom line performance. Lean, efficient, reliable supply chains can translate into savings of up to 15-20%.

Receiving and delivering your freight intact and on time is vital to the sustainability of your business. Improving and maintaining service levels enables you to sustain your customer base and attract new business to increase market share. How do you compare to your competitors? Is your service top notch? Examining and refining your logistics management practices can make all the difference.

Effective supply chain management requires strategic and tactical approaches. It is often nearly impossible to handle all of this in-house effectively. 3PL providers handle the logistics management so your company can focus on quality products, service and smooth operation.

A good 3PL provider utilizes the latest technology to provide clients with exceptional analytics that can lead to greater operational insights. Using sophisticated software and supply chain expertise, your company can work with your 3PL to identify opportunities for operational improvements.

Successful logistics management is about details. Working with clients and carriers, moving freight and ensuring smooth operations requires strong leadership and flawless execution. The ideal 3PL excells at all of this and employs experienced and highly trained transportation planners. These planners partner with your transportation and customer service staffs and act as an extension of your business.

Effective logistics management can bring about competitive differentiators. Successful supply chain management leads to lower costs and improved service. Both rely on choosing a quality 3PL provider.

About the Author:

Kerry Schoemehl works for LMS Logistics, a non-asset-based third party logistics firm based out of St. Louis. LMS is one of the top 3PL firms in the industry, bringing freight management solutions and savings to such companies as BASF and Monsanto.

Schoemehl has exceptional knowledge and experience in the field of transportation logistics, and is happy to share her expertise with others in the industry. If you enjoyed this post, check out the LMS blog at http://blog.lmslogistics.com.

Beckley, WV (PRWEB) November 6, 2010

Following a 7-year IRS investigation, a jury in Beckley, West Virginia has acquitted Dr. Randy M. Brodnik and Mr. Anthony I. Kritt of all 14 counts of an indictment for alleged tax evasion, conspiracy to commit tax evasion, and obstruction of justice. The indictment stemmed from their participation in an offshore employee leasing transaction. In 2003, the Internal Revenue Service classified the transaction as a “listed transaction” and abusive tax-shelter. Furthermore, the IRS included the offshore employee leasing transaction as a member of the “Dirty Dozen”—a list of transactions that the IRS would devote substantial resources to contesting.

Attorney Anthony Gasaway zealously advocated that the offshore employee leasing transaction follows the black letter of the law, and the IRS failed to provide adequate notice to taxpayers concerning the alleged illegality of the transaction. Attorney Gasaway was assisted in representing Dr. Brodnik by local counsel, Attorney Michael Gibson, of Princeton, West Virginia. Dr. Brodnik was formerly represented by Attorney Robert Stientjes who stepped-down as lead attorney to testify as a key witness for the defense in this case.

The acquittal of both defendants emphasizes that transactions are not illegal simply because such transactions involve offshore business transactions. Furthermore, the decision of the jury recognizes the validity of offshore transactions that comply with U.S. tax laws and treaties. Attorney Gasaway emphasized during the trial that there is nothing wrong with maintaining a foreign bank account where proper tax reporting requirements are met.

During the trial, which lasted nearly four weeks, the IRS unsuccessfully alleged that Dr. Brodnik and Mr. Kritt diverted over six-million dollars to foreign accounts in violation of U.S. tax law. In addition, the IRS unsuccessfully alleged that Mr. Kritt masterminded a scheme with the intent to defraud the U.S. In IRS Notice 2003-22, the IRS classified similar transactions as abusive tax shelters. Mr. Kritt, represented by Attorneys Paul Harris and Joseph Wallace, maintained that he properly approved the transaction pursuant to U.S. tax law. The attorneys for both defendants also maintained that any tax liability was wholly paid by Dr. Brodnik pursuant to changes in the U.S. tax law that became effective in 2007.

In 2003, the IRS raided Dr. Brodnik’s home and business, as well as the home and business of Mr. Kritt. During the raids, the IRS seized approximately twenty thousand documents, of which less than 100 were presented at trial. The evidence at trial showed that a witness for the prosecution had illegally accessed Dr. Brodnik’s email account in order to produce information to the IRS. However, several former IRS attorneys testified on behalf of the defendants and opined that no tax laws had been broken by the defendants.

Although the trial lasted three weeks, the jury was able to reach a unanimous verdict in less than five hours. “We have nothing but praise for the jury and the judge who participated in this case,” stated Attorney Gasaway after the verdict was read. “While Dr. Brodnik has nothing but respect for those who enforce our tax laws, clearly, the truth came out at trial; and the truth established that Dr. Brodnik complied with U.S. tax laws & paid his tax liability in a timely manner.”

United States v. Randy M. Brodnik, case no. 1:09-cr-00067

United States District Court for the Eastern District of West Virginia

Attorneys Anthony Gasaway and Robert Stientjes represent clients in various criminal and civil tax liability cases throughout the United States. Both are former IRS attorneys who left the Office of Chief Counsel to the IRS to defend criminal and civil tax issues before the Department of Justice and the IRS. Paul Harris and Joseph Wallace are criminal defense attorneys in Wheeling, West Virginia. Michael Gibson specializes in civil and criminal litigation.

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Emerson states, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm” A majority of the issues related to worker productivity stem from enthusiasm. Individuals simply go to work because they abhor their employer, the monotony, and the products. There is no passion or pride. Much of this issue stems from issues embedded within organizational culture. We find that organizational Issues affecting morale and productivity include:

Causes of morale also correlate back to the organization, its culture, and its management. After 25 years of research in this area, we find five factors contributing to organizational morale. A study by the Corporate Leadership Council reveals managers have a tremendous impact on an employee’s level of commitment. It is imperative to note that individuals do not leave companies they leave poor managers. Organizational management contributes to the negative morale. As recent as 2006 the Gallup Organization estimates there are 32 million actively disengaged employees costing the American economy up to $350 billion per year in lost productivity. Such loss includes absenteeism, tardiness, and poor work. Helping to dilute the productivity issue, research depicts that taking time to build relationships with employees through personal interactions is a key step managers can take to keep morale high. Employees need to feel trust and respect from managers. Employees desire feedback to build management relationships to understand their work matters. Ending the morale issue is not easy but there are cures

Increase Morale at Work

1. Begin with talent acquisition – Start with the right people. No firm we work with ever hires on a proactive basis. Most firms conduct employment searches reactively. Seek employees that fit with the organizational culture and with the obligatory skills. Never wait!

2. Hire for skill – Talent is innate. Organizations hire for personality and behavior first and skill second. Skill is not interchangeable, behavior is. A great hire might have a wonderful temperament and lack the skill to plug a socket into an outlet. I recall a fire star hotel that sought advice to correct housekeeping flaws. After five minutes, it was easy enough to terminate staff and find those without flaws.

3. Look at best practices from best people – Management focuses on repairing those that cannot rather than improve those that can. Avatars exist in your organization. Discover what they do right and emulate it.

4. Passion – In the 1980′s Sylvester Stallone appeared again as Rocky this time with a theme, “Eye of the Tiger”. What a great metaphor for valuable talent. Seek to acquire talent that truly loves work. Passion too is innate.

Employees must love what they do and how they do it. In addition, managers, the organization, and the employees must vehemently focus on the customer. When passion is high so too is morale. Remember Winnie the Pooh, try finding Eyeor amongst staff at Disney; Southwest Airlines and FedEx, all intensely focus on servicing the client.

Lastly, management must focus on vital areas for improving the success of morale and productivity. Managers must constantly strive to provide feedback to employees. Feedback is not an annual event- Performance Review. It is imperative that daily communication exists for good information and improvement.

Coaching, counseling, and mentoring are components of organizational morale. In addition, many attend church and hear the words, “It is right to give thanks and praise”. Many watch professional sports and view coaches coddling athletes. We can learn something here; simple words of thanks and praise constantly improve morale and employee relationships.

Finally, the first item terminated during economic volatility is training. Research finds that employees are assets and require that treatment. Never stop training; this improves productivity and morale at all times. Issues of morale and productivity are onerous, volatile, and difficult to control. There is a need for management, the organization, and the individual to assist with success factors. Much is dependent on the desire to change; methods chosen and consistent follow through.

However, if you do nothing you still have a morale issue. Take the time, seek remedies, and keep morale high. Doing so, lowers attrition, improves productivity, increases profitability and most importantly- reduces stress.

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I bet just the very title of this article is enough to make you run for cover! Along with paper piles, budget and cash flow is another area that can drive solo business owners over the edge! In your corporate days you would have had a bookkeeping/accounting department that took care of all of this for you – they paid the invoices, they tracked the receivables, they tracked the income, and they told you the bottom line!

Now that you’re running your own business you are also the Chief Financial Officer, and it can be very overwhelming. However, it needn’t be… let me share with you three simple steps that you can put in place to manage your budget and cash flow.

What is a cash flow projection?

One important area of your Financial Management System is that of a cash flow projection. Put simply, a cash flow projection shows whether your anticipated income will be able to cover your expected (projected) expenses and this report is very beneficial to you in your business.

It is an annual report and, if set up correctly, will show you how cash will flow through your business throughout the current financial year. I’ve been using a cash flow report in my business for many years and find it invaluable. Just recently the chance to participate in a high-profile teleclass series came up, and because I have my systems in place, I knew straightaway that it was something I could take part in!

Step 1 – Create Your cash flow report

This is very easy to do using a spreadsheet. Create a column that lists all of your expenses, i.e. office supplies, legal & professional fees, membership, advertising etc. and a column for each month of the year. You will need to create formulas that will tell you your total income, total expenses, and subtracts the expenses from the income, and also carries forward any amounts from month-to-month. This is so you can see how your finances are ‘flowing’ throughout the year.

Step 2 – Input Your Data

Taking your financial data from your bookkeeping system input your actual income and expenses, and list any projected expenses in the appropriate row/column. Your cash flow report will now show you at-a-glance any time periods for which you will need to be especially aware of. For example you may have a lot of expenses in one particular month so you’ll know that the previous month you’ll need to make sure that you have the funds kept back in your bank account to take care of those upcoming expenses.

It will also show you if you can afford to make an investment in your business, whether that’s signing up for a new service or membership club, taking out an advertisement, or buying new equipment.

Your cash flow projection can also be used as a budget planner. You can plan out when annual memberships are due and put those in ahead of time. You can also add in an amount for when your taxes are due. This will provide you with a really good feel of how cash is flowing through your business, month after month, throughout the year, and you can also tell how much you can take off for owners draw, but still leave enough to cover the anticipated expenses.

Step 3 – Schedule In The Time

Now that you have your cash flow report in place, it’s important that you update it regularly so that you can stay aware of how cash is flowing through your business, and take any actions necessary so that you have enough to cover all of your anticipated expenses.

I recommend scheduling in at least 30 minutes once a month to update this critical financial management report.

A final thought…

Having an annual cash flow projection will provide you with all of the information you need so that you can keep on top of your business financially and know where you are.

If you have a bookkeeper taking care of all your financial records for you, ask them to prepare your monthly cash flow report for you.

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Office organization expert, Tracey Lawton, teaches professional speakers, coaches, and authors how to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business. Learn how to create an efficient and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com