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Feb/10

23

Organize Meeting Notes Using Mind Mapping Software

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Mind Mapping software has been thought to be instrumental in helping people to organize their thoughts around a variety of topics. One area in which Mind Mapping software is useful is in organizing notes for meetings. Whether it is a business or personal meeting, presenting the notes for the meeting in an organized manner that everyone can understand is paramount. Using a Mind Mapping software tool to help with this organization can make the process much simpler, through the use of its various “mapping” components. Meeting presenters, thus, have the advantage of using Mind Mapping software to create an intuitive, visually stimulating, meeting presentation.

What is Mind Mapping Software?

Mind Mapping software is any software that is used to create diagrams, pictures, and other graphic visuals in order to show the relationship between ideas or other types of information.1 With Mind Maps, the key concept or main idea of the information being presented is represented by a central image, located in the center of the map. Any themes surrounding the main idea are shown on “branches” that are attached to the central image, with subsequent themes of less importance attached by “twigs”. The resulting diagram is a “map” of the ideas and information shown in a spatial, rather than linear, format. Moreover, along with the ideas shown on the map are visual graphics, images and colors that the constructor of the “map” associates with each of the themes and ideas. Mapping out information in this manner is believed to allow the brain to process the information in a manner more consistent with its natural functioning.

Using a Mind Map to Organize Notes for a Meeting

Suppose that your advertising team is having its weekly meeting to discuss advertising projects. The organizer of the meeting has made notes for the meeting so that everyone can follow along as she covers each topic. Using a traditional meeting outline to organize these notes would likely look like this:

Weekly Advertising Meeting

I.Report on the Status of Advertising Accounts Already Underway

A.Movieflix In-Home Rentals Account

B.Teenage Blog Commercial Account

C.On-line Dating Site Account

II.Discussion of Upcoming Advertising Accounts

A.Nationwide Gym Account

B.Local Library Account

III.Suggestions From the Team Regarding Possible Future Accounts

IV.Overview of This Week’s Schedule

A.Team Assignments for New Accounts

B.Finalize Deadlines for New Accounts

V.Questions

Contrast this outline with the attached Mind Map diagram of these same meeting notes. On the Mind Map, the topics to be covered are presented in a spatial, colorful, graphically stimulating manner. In addition, the colors and pictures on the Mind Map relate to the topics and the topic sub-points. The information shown in the outline and on the Mind Map is the same, however, the information presented on the Mind Map is much easier to process.

Giving the Meeting Presentation Using the Mind Map

The attached Mind Map not only exemplifies the inherent creativity and visual ease that it has over a traditional outline, it also exemplifies a more intuitive form of organizing information. This intuitive form makes it easier to present information, because the information can be quickly processed and recalled. For example, the meeting’s presenter may not immediately recall the topic for point three and, therefore, needs to consult her notes to jog her memory. With the traditional outline shown above, she would have to scan the list of words to attempt to find the point she is supposed to talk about. However, with the Mind Map, the presenter can easily spot the second topic on the map, as well as the associated picture. She can regain her place with just a glance at the Map, versus the more tedious search of the outline, facilitating an easier presentation.

 

 

  1. Farrand, Paul; Hussain, Fearzana and Hennessy, Enid (May 2002). “The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique”. Medical Education 36 (5): 426–431.

 

 

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Feb/10

11

Manage Office Supplies Using Idea Mapping

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Office managers and those in charge of office supplies have the task of making sure that the office has everything it needs to function smoothly and effectively. Therefore, it is necessary that these managers be extremely organized in order to stay on top of their office’s supply needs. Many office managers resort to using lists or other computer programs in order to help them remember what and when to order. However, these managers may find the use of Idea Mapping a much more intuitive way of keeping track of office supplies. With an Idea Map, the manager can “map out” all of the necessary steps to managing office supplies in a way that helps him or her quickly and efficiently maintain daily office supply needs. Thus, Idea Mapping can make managing office supplies a very simple and easy thing to do.

What is Idea Mapping?

Ideal Mapping is a means of organizing information using an Idea Map, which is a “colorful, single-page visual that captures [a person’s] thinking in key words and images.” Idea Mapping is widely believed to be a more effective means of conceptualizing information than traditional outlining, because it uses a spatial, rather than linear, approach to help define the information. When using an Idea Map, both hemispheres of the brain are engaged, allowing the brain to process information in a manner consistent with its natural functioning. The result is the ability to “plan, remember, innovate, organize, communicate and learn” information quickly and efficiently.

Using an Idea Map to Manage Office Supplies

Suppose that an office manager has been using various lists to help her keep track of the supplies her office needs. These lists contain the items and quantities needed, when to place the orders and from where to reorder these items. Hoping to convert these lists into one, simple diagram, she decides to create an Idea Map. She constructs the Idea Map by first representing the purpose of the map, the office’s supply list, in the center of the map. She then lists the main categories of supplies, such as “Kitchen Supplies”, and “Conference Room Supplies”, on “branches” that are attached to the central topic. She next lists the items and quantities she needs to order for each category on “child branches” attached to the “branches”. Attached to each item are “twigs” that list from where the item should be ordered and when. Throughout the map, the manager has used colors and visual images to make the map more intuitive. For example, she has used the color red for all items she needs to order from X Supply Warehouse, because red is the color of the store’s logo. When she has finished converting her lists into an Idea Map, it might look similar to the attached Map diagram.

The Advantages of An Idea Map vs. A Traditional List for Managing Office Supplies

Contrast the above-mentioned Idea Map with a traditional list of these steps. The traditional list would likely contain several pieces of paper that the manager would have to keep up with. Moreover, the list would contain only words, rather than visual images and colors, making the list tedious and more difficult to process and recall. The Idea Map, on the other hand, contains all of the information a manger needs in one, spatially laid out, document. Because this document contains colors and visuals, rather than just words, the manager has the added advantage of several points of association with which to conceptualize and remember the items on the list. The process of Idea Mapping has, therefore, simplified the office manager’s job and made her much more efficient when performing her duties.

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Jan/10

17

Time For Some Office Pranks

Although there are many traditional office games out there like wheeling around on your office chairs or of course moving your serviced offices furniture out of the way to throw paper planes at each other. However this list of office games go beyond traditional and focus in on some of the ones people may not already be doing.

Mess With PCs

This is one of my favourites as it is such a fun thing to actually take part in. This is great for the younger generations as this used to happen at school all of the time, messing PCs up was great fun! One of the best ideas to go on here is to take a screen grab of their desktop and save it as an image file. Then put it in as a background and move all of the icons down under the task bar. Now all you need to do is sit back and relax and watch all of the desktop items not work. Load up a random homosexual site to their PC to get some seriously funny reactions.

Innuendo-Thon

This is one of the great ones as the boss will never get too suspicious of it. All you have to do here is make smutty remarks about all the random people that visit the offfice. Great for the thinking power and for having a laugh.

Throwing Things

By throwing things I am really talking about shooting things like spit balls at people from across the room. Aim for the face with these but if you are using elastic bands just be careful of the eyes. Spit balls of course are just going to annoy you if they hit you in the eye so just go for it!

So take cover and buy office chairs and try out some of these great games before someone else does!

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Domain forwarding will assist you to earn money through internet marketing. You say you want to promote affiliate products you find on clickbank. You will be assigned clickbank link based on your nickname. Affiliate product marketing is a great way to make money online because you do not need your own website. You can use pay per click to promote affiliate products simply using your clickbank affiliate link. Or you can post your affiliate link in forums or via email.

You will use that link to send people to that product website to buy the affiliate product you are promoting. When you see the nickname and the link clickbank assigns you will see that the link is very hard to remember. Of course you could put the long hard to remember link in an email or on your pay per click advertising so people would not have to remember the link but you need to use domain forwarding if you want to be serious about your affiliate marketing business.

It is very simple to do this. First visit one of the many online companies that sell domain names. You will use their domain forwarding tool to make it easy for people to find your affiliate website using your new domain name.

First, let us go to a website company that sells domain names. Next create a name for your domain. Follow these tips.

Firstly, always pick a dot.com domain name. Avoid dot.info, dot.org, dot.tv, or any other suffix other than dot.com. We are all used to seeing dot.com and you do not want to cause confusion with your domain name. Never put dashes or hyphens in your domain name. Dashes make your domain name more difficult to remember. And do not place numbers in your domain name. Numbers unlike simple words are not easily remembered.

You have to create a good domain name. No need to be clever or funny. You simply want a memorable domain name. For instance if you are promoting a weight loss product, you will want weight loss or some related term in your domain name. Keep it simple.

Try to keep your domain name simple two words is best, three if you have to. But never have more than three words in your domain name. When you have purchased your domain name go to the domain manager on the site where you purchased your domain. Choose the domain forwarding option. You will then follow the instructions. Choose the domain we used as an example, the strawberry domain name.

The tool will ask which domain name you want to forward and to where you want it forwarded. Copy and paste your clickbank link, the long and hard to remember link, into the box that you will forward to. Place your new domain name in the box that you want the link forwarded from. Now when people click your easy to read and remember domain name they will be forwarded or redirected to your clickbank affiliate product website. And when they purchase from that site you will receive credit because your clickbank is the primary link on the page. Earn money through internet with affiliate marketing and domain forwarding.

If you are searching for a system how to make more money, as we all are, you may want to find a way to earn money through internet. You can also check out how to make money day trading right now!

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Jan/10

11

Earn Cash With Internet Employment

A vast, even entire different world of amusement, the Internet can be a legitimate site of work. The good majority of the time, to work over the Internet, it is not necessary to venture from the home, or telecommuting. Everything completed is handed in through email or an automated system. This only requires an Internet connection or telephone line. There are a wide variety of work options. So earn money through Internet work and give your bank account a little boost.

One of the many Internet moneymaking prospects is website creation and design. If you are savvy with web tools, computer art, and well organized, earning money this way is a good option. Small websites owners, who are unable or unwilling to build it themselves, create a market for these skills. Depending on your finesse, you may be able to market yourself to larger organizations.

Related to website creation and design is website advertisement. This involves creating or editing advertisements, whether still photos or videos, for companies who want to encourage the purchase of their things. Alternatively if you own a website, you may agree to a stipend to have ads placed on it.

Another hit in online money making is aiding in customer service. As a customer service representative of whatever business, you would answer the phone calls from quizzical customers. The only thing required to perform this is a telephone line, and at times an Internet connection if you are asked to perform your work in a chat. Just standby, wait for the calls with a database at your fingertips, and answer questions.

For those adept at configuring, editing, and bettering audio, there is an increasing market editing audio. Sound files often have unwanted noise and latency problems. Someone of little experience, and equipped with a good program can do this. Often people need speeches or interviews edited remove unneeded questions or sections while still making it sound natural.

One of the most popular ways to earn money through the Internet is freelance writing. Also deemed ghost writing, freelance writers write about what their employer needs, and gets paid on the agreed terms. There are both long-term services and independent offers to do this.

Related to freelance writing, there is also blogging for a living. Bloggers basically post their opinions and news about popular subjects. This is for intelligent people who read about what they are writing, and can do it with a literary personality. Beware that at first success is not expected. A reputation for reliable news and an educated opinion must first be built.

Stock photos are always needed in large amounts. Stock photographers take or create images made for a specific reason. This may be of a product or a photo projecting a certain image that is useful to a buyer. Plagiarism is taken intensely serious in the stock photo business. All images must be completely original and cannot be sold twice. Once sold, the image belongs to a buyer. There is software to detect frauds.

Pay when you earn money through the Internet casually is not enough to allow you to quit your job. If you take college courses, this can more than double the income you receive. However making money through the Internet is not hard, there are too many ways to do it.

If you are searching for a way to make more money, as we all are, you may want to find a way to earn money through internet. You can also find out how to make money day trading quick!

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Jan/10

8

A Look At The Ringcentral System

When a person is looking for ways to make their business more efficient, they usually look toward enhancing customer contact. With a growing customer base a business can thrive. Part of increasing the customer base is being accessible to customers whether a person is in their office or not. Through the virtual phone system, Ringcentral, a person is now able to maintain the needed contact to grow their business.

The system provides an 800 number to users, or you can use your existing phone number for the system. Some people choose to use a different phone number that has a local area code. When calls are made to the number, they are treated as a regular phone call and connected to the device or devices that you are using.

A person who does not work in a structured office location may need to depend on their mobile phone or messages to keep in touch with important clients. Using the Ringcentral system a person gets their calls where ever they are and there is no need to worry about messages being lost when a call is not received.

The desktop screen of Ringcentral is easy to use and provides many features. An important feature for call dependent businesses is the log that reflects all calls received and the caller information in a screen that allows you to call back immediately or store the number for later use.

When a person is waiting for an important call, they often cannot do the usual multi-tasking that is critical to keeping a business operational. By having the Ringcentral system, a pop up appears on your computer screen when a contact calls. The screen contains the name of the caller as well as the phone number they are calling from.

The benefits of the Ringcentral system make it invaluable to a growing business. A person will find that when they can automatically route customer calls they have more flexibility in the time that they spend in a single location where there is a phone. You can also send and receive faxes using Ringcentral. The system grows as the company grows and becomes a valued part of the infrastructure of a business quickly.There are many advantages and benefits that can help a growing business to thrive. By using the Ringcentral system a person can configure the type of services that they want to provide to their customers. In some cases a person may want to automatically route calls from customers. As the business grows you may find that the auto-attendant will be an invaluable asset.

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Freelance writing has become a popular and convenient way to make money worldwide. The international market has gained a huge number of workers because of the rise of the Internet and entrepreneurs and freelancers from different corners of the world can develop business relationships without having ever met. Journalists, editors and anyone who is good with words consider freelance writing a way of making extra money in a very relaxed manner. Plus, although skill is essential, an innate gift for writing, some experience and the thrill to make the words flow are other ingredients for a success recipe. Yes, words are good comrades for someone who lives on freelance writing.

It takes a while before you can build a home business out of freelance writing: some freelancers work for free, others do volunteer work, while a great number choose to charge very low for their skill until they manage to make a name. And if you are good at what you do, and committed to the project tasks, jobs start coming, together with ongoing contracts as well as recommendations. Freelance writing services can be used in many ways: both as a marketing strategy and as a basis for a more solid future career. There are also downsides with freelancing, but as it happens with any other profession, the person who chooses it should know what to expect.

Profitability is an important factor of appreciating freelance writing. When you are a nobody in the field, jobs are less important and the pricing very low, but with experience, there comes more. Maintaining a high quality standard represents the way to attract new customers. A fair price has to be justified by the quality and promptitude of the service that may not become subject to any controversy whatsoever. Freelance writing does not earn you a fortune but a living. Hundreds of thousands of freelancers provide freelance writing services online, and the majority of them have very competitive prices; as for their value as writers, that, only a client can tell.

There are critical voices regarding freelance writing, and the main imputations one comes across is work inconsistency or lack of continuity. There are ongoing projects and individual jobs, it all depends on your ability to land both. A lot of money can come out of single projects, but with such cases you will not have the advantage of continuity. As it happens with rest of the jobs, freelance writing has to enable the homeworker to pay his/her dues, have health insurance and lead a decent family life. If such criteria are not met, then, freelance writing should only be used as a part time job that brings some supplementary cash.

Are you looking for useful devices for increasing your writing business productivity? It would be a good idea for you to visit recycled toner cartridges and laser printer copier sites which provide useful information for your business need.

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related article: Credit Card Dimensions

With the development of internet technology, more and more people choose the internet as a media to advertise themselves, doesn’t matter if it’s a large company, a home-based business, or even advertising ourself for freelance work.

While it’s true that most people nowadays turn to the internet for every little thing they need, there’s still something to be had from the traditional way of advertising one’s self through a handy and reliable business card.

A business card can be placed inside the wallet for ready reference should someone need the kind of business that we are offering. It is also a very effective marketing tool that will enable our target customer to be reminded of our business every time they their wallets.

Dimension Matters

In business cards, dimension/size matters. The standard Business Card Dimensions that have been used for many years ranges somewhere between eighty-six by fifty-four millimeters to about eighty-nine by fifty-one millimeters.

However, if we want to truly stand out, we might want to create one with different sizes than those standard traditional sizes, one with a big bigger than the usual.

Business cards must be fit easily in anyone’s pocket or wallet therefore we must keep this in mind when sizing up our Business Card Dimensions.

A larger than usual business card will be easily recognizable and noticeable; hence, our target audience can easily spot us among their collection of business cards.

Deciding a Good Content and Design

Once we have decided on the size of our business card, the other two important elements in our cards are the lay-out and the information given. Contact details are of course the essence of any business card but there are a few things that we can add to give us an edge over our competitors.

Perhaps we can add an incentive when the customer presents our business card to our office or establishment to purchase any of our products or to avail of our services. Giving out discounts and freebies may come handy.

We may also list down our top products or services at the back of our business cards so it will be easy for the customer to know what we are all about. A good tag to go with our business name helps, too. We can put something that will be easily recalled when people mention our name.

As for the lay-out, it should be easy on the eyes and yet still stand out to catch our market’s attention. Putting too many elements might just confuse our customers and yet putting too little might convey the message that we are boring.

It is very important to create the right balance. True, there are free business card templates that we can use but as these are already ready-made; we can no longer incorporate much of our own style.

Since our business cards will do the talking for us when we are not face-to-face with our customers; we should be able to convey our message loud and clear. After all, business cards should be able to give us more customers and to do this, we have to incorporate all essential elements the best we can.

Do You Know
How Big is ExxonMobil?

 

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Jan/10

2

Strategies For Time Management

Are you the type of person who feels that there are not enough hours in the day for you to complete all of your daily tasks and duties? This article gives free tips on how to manage your time in a more constructive and successful way.

Set a to do list

I now set myself a to do list which helps me to plan my time better. I have the main list which include items which I MUST complete on that day. I will concentrate on working through these jobs first and always try to ensure that they are completed before the day ends.

If I manage to work through all of these tasks, I then start on my second list. This is a list of other important tasks which need to be completed as soon as possible but which do not particularly have to be finished today.

I then have my final list which is work that needs to be completed, however there is no immediate rush to finish them.

If at the end of the day I have certain tasks left on any of the lists, they then are added to the lists of the following day.

I have various businesses to do with stuttering therapy where the aim is to help people to obtain cheap calls, one which is offering a DVD authoring service and I also offer advice about becoming a foster parent. A to do list enables me to get the most out of my day.

Take a break

In the past when I used to struggle to work through my tasks, I would start to panic and would not allow myself a break. This I have come to realise is a big mistake. I am not sure about you however I am only able to fully concentrate for a fairly small period of time. If I just continue to work, the quality of this work will soon drop as my brain becomes tired and weary.

Rushing to complete a task is BAD

I was so keen to move onto the next task and therefore would find myself rushing to finish. What I found was that this would lead me to making lots of silly errors. After making right the wrongs I could then continue on with my day however I would have lost a lot of time which could have been better spent etc. I now work at a speed I am comfortable with. I still make errors which of course is part of life, however there are now far fewer of these.

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Dec/09

27

Medical Billing Business Assists You in Earning More Money

Economies are sinking, businesses are crashing and if, you are still looking for a business idea that will generate enough income so that you wouldn’t fall like the rest, starting your own medical billing business is a thought you need to ponder upon. Despite the recession, the healthcare industry is currently going through a great, growth period. The medical billing business is becoming one of the most exciting businesses to start. The medical billing business includes the job of giving in claims to receive the payment for services that a health care provider has given to a patient.

The medical billing business has grown extensively over the past decades. With such high demand, the contests between the many companies is also quite strong. There are a number of large and well-established firms dominating the market but it also provides enough room for small medical billing entrepreneurs. This business requires very low investment since it can easily be done at home and even on a part-time basis. As long as you have the technical expertise, you are capable of running a company successfully in this field. You also need to have the fundamental know-how of setting up your own business if you hope to make it as a successful company.

As in any other market, it is important to be able to make the right contacts and promote your company to the right people. The right education, training and experience in the field of medical billing business is something that will give you the edge when running the business. So the first step whilst planning to start a medical billing business is to enroll in programs from accredited colleges to study diagnostic and procedural terminology which relates to the accurate completion of medical insurance claims. There are many accredited colleges that can give you the basic education and the needed training for the job.

Finding the correct software for your job can also be a messy process because of the various fakes available in the market. There are many places that say they will give you the best foundation to help start off the business. But more often than not these are bogus companies that promise you everything you want to hear only to lead you on. But, in true fact, victims usually have a hard time covering even, the basic cost of the software.

Besides business related articles, there are many other articles have been published by the author of this article. If you are still being curious about these articles, you can check out the latest website on flat screen tv wall mounts. There, you can get the flat screen tv mounts you need.

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