The Secret of Bonding For Your Organization

By Carol Lockett on

This is the Bonding Company’s worst nightmare. In this 160th article of our surety series, we will cover the situations in which no Performance or Payment Bond is needed! Some of the projects are big and federal, some are private, ALL are unbonded. Here we go!

As a point of reference, you may expect that federal, state and municipal contracts demand a Performance and Payment (P&P) Bond equal to the contract amount. Normally they do. General Contractors working for a private owner, such as the construction of an office building or apartment project, may face the same requirement. This can apply to subcontractors, too.

Federal Projects

This area includes all branches of the federal government. Examples: Army Corps of Engineers, General Services Administration, Dept. of Energy, etc. Their contracts are administered following the rules of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).

The FAR says that no P&P bond is required on contracts under $150,000.

For contracts $150,000 and higher that require security, there are times when the bond requirement may be reduced below 100{5923e7eab219d0b876fe9a03b5ce0c1b70729033132583872f84b36f0bdcb95e} or waived entirely. These include:

  • Overseas Contracts
  • Emergency Acquisitions
  • Sole-Source Projects

If the bond requirement is mandatory, the

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The Meaning Of Disagreeing On Business

By Carol Lockett on

Most of us have an inherent distaste for conflict. And somewhere along the way, society has reached a conclusion that disagreement is a bad thing. When it comes to business advice and decisions, that conclusion can be deadly.

I see two factors that have contributed to the current state of disagreement. One is the national political climate, which is the most polarized I can remember since my father was snarling about those damned hippies. The other is social media, which seems to exist largely as an arena for vicious arguments on virtually every subject, fueled by a complete absence of accountability and a belief that having read a Facebook post on a subject qualifies as expertise.

I mention those factors because I’ve seen them seep into the way businesspeople think and operate. I encounter it most often when I’m working with a client and counsel a course of action that doesn’t match their plans, or find them objecting to the way I’ve written something on their behalf. Instead of healthy, productive conversations, the conversations often devolve into defensive reactions focused on guarding turf. And

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Understanding Business Growth

By Carol Lockett on

1st Stage-Initiation:

There can be varied reasons for a business start-up but the main values in running the business are of those who are the founders. We can see that company exhibits the main skills of the founder in its spirits, for example, if the founder is an engineer, he will emphasize in production rather than sales and marketing which should not be neglected. Main efforts are centered on the acceptability of the product in the market. If the owner can provide the demands of business i.e. time, energy, and finances, he/she can move to the second stage. Otherwise, he/she will have to wind up their business as there is limited time for the company to stay at one stage. Here the main focus changes to establish the company and earn profits. With this financial push company will need to formalize the system and start record keeping, an unskilled manager can’t handle this all. After this, there will be demand for change in administration’s style because of increased activity in his business.

2nd Stage-Growth:

The moment a company moves forward to the expansion stage it

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All About Marketing Influencer

By Carol Lockett on

Influencer Marketing has become one of the most powerful tools in a marketing teams’ toolkits today. It is not expected to disappear anytime soon with most of the majority brands using this effective strategy. Research shows that is probably going to continue throughout the years, why? People no longer trust the brands. A lot of people are no longer influenced by these traditional marketing techniques and they are now influenced by those people whom they trust and respect. On the other hand, there are still numerous brands who still misunderstand what is “influencer marketing,” thus making it an effective tool. Truth be told, 74{5923e7eab219d0b876fe9a03b5ce0c1b70729033132583872f84b36f0bdcb95e} of purchases are made by word-of-mouth recommendations, and influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to drive word-of-mouth sales. It is no wonder that marketers are increasingly embracing influencer branding and marketing strategies to achieve their business’ goals and objectives.

This article outlines the most common influencer marketing mistakes to steer clear in order to be successful and avoid overlooked cost.

Fail to understand the audience

Your audience is your critic, if they want your product, they will be your customers. You will never be able to create a long-term and effective influencer marketing strategy if you

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How To Cleaning Your Smart Office

By Carol Lockett on

The average person spends more than 40 hours every week in the office. Most that time they are working under the constant pressure of meeting deadlines and finishing complicated projects. It is scientifically proved that a cluttered office space has an adverse effect on the workflow. Of course, almost every office uses some commercial cleaning services and counts on professionals to take care the clutter. Still, there are some things that you have to do by yourself. Following are some tips that can significantly support your office cleaning and decluttering duties:

File as you go – One of the most irritating things in the office would be a big pile of papers on the desk. Well, try to organise your office routine in a way that allows you to process all papers as you go. To do that, you can set up some system of file holders that are labelled and create a habit of using them regularly. You may apply the same practice for your computer desktop.

Clean the desk – Do you have the habit of eating your lunch on the desk? If you have, then you should consider cleaning it every time you use it as a kitchen table.

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Tips Your Business Still Stand During Any Season of Economy

By Carol Lockett on

Way long ago in 1998–yes, that long ago–B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore published a piece in Harvard Business Review (link at the end of this article) that the experience economy had arrived. And, sure, in 20th Century terms, it had. As they explained in their article, the progression began with families buying items, such as Betty Crocker, because there was less kitchen time to prepare the ingredients for a child’s birthday cake. Then parents started going to the bakery store to pick up cakes for their kids and no longer making the cake at home. And, eventually in the late part of the 20th Century, with more work and other demands, families started to outsource the entire birthday to soup-to-nuts groups that did everything, such as Chuck E. Cheese and the Discovery Zone.

And now we’re in the 21st Century, and experience matters even more and companies are beginning to try out different technologies, for instance, virtual reality and augmented reality. Major corporations, such as Facebook and Apple, have made substantial investments into those technologies because the future is coming quickly and I wouldn’t be surprised if in 2018 we see some other global experience, such as Pokémon

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Why You Should Hiring An Errand Running Service

By Carol Lockett on

Who can use an errand running service?

Who wouldn’t appreciate a helping hand in today’s hectic lifestyle? Bachelors, Bachelorette’s, Single mum’s, Dads, Youngsters and Seniors alike appreciate the idea of someone getting their errands done on time. Busy business owners are now able to focus on work rather than worrying about getting their mundane tasks done.

5 benefits of hiring an errand running service:

1. Saves Time

Errand running service will take care of all your daily tasks and allow you to spend time to do what you like. Be it watching soccer, a day at the Spa, enjoying a movie night with friends or building your business, having someone take care of your chores saves your precious time.

2. Reduces Stress

Getting timely help reduces your stress level. With someone taking care of all the tedious jobs like fetching a medicine that you run out of, or fetching your weekly groceries, you can be at peace; with the assurance that your worries are taken care of.

3. Increases productivity

Having someone to take care of your daily tasks gives you all the time you need to focus on the jobs that require your attention. If you work from home, you can have someone run errands while you

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Great Ideas For Next Corporate Event

By Carol Lockett on

Events are all about fun, frolic and inspiration. For the smooth execution of any corporate event it is imperative that there is a powerful idea around which the occasion needs to be organised. Once you devise a doable plan you are almost done with half the responsibility.

So here are some of the statement ideas that can transform even a boring experience to a lively one without calling for a massive effort from your side.

    • Conversation Starters –a Making the guests committed to the program is not only great idea to get them involved on the outset, but it also plays a great role in breaking the ice. You can go for an interactive wall in the front lobby itself. The guests can open the door and then put down their dreams on the wall. This can turn out to be a thoughtful and interesting conversation starter.
  • An Exciting Entrance – An interesting entrance is capable of transforming the gusts right from the commencement of the affair. You can create a range of ideas for creating an immersive experience and depict the complete transformation of the venue right from the time the guests start entering the venue. You can arrange for
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Business Trends That You Should Follow

By Carol Lockett on

As you know, we live in an environment where it’s “blink,” and you missed it. Still, there’s always an urgent need to keep on top of what is happening so that you can stay ahead in business. I own several companies and, candidly, I don’t think there’s a single day I’m not thinking about how to make things better and improve our competitive advantage in our industries.

A couple of days ago I read an article about a luxury yacht company that had been in business for generations, and although they had client orders on hand, in the tens of millions of dollars, they fired everyone and shuddered their doors. They were hemorrhaging money and not paying attention to the changing winds.

The reality is that I can sit here today and write what you want to be looking for in business trends and then a year from now, write the same sort of article with different ideas to keep an eye on as business and society evolve. Still, there are some areas that I think will remain constant and you should pay attention to in your company.

Always Pay Extra Attention to Millennials

For decades and decades, the “darling” of generations were the

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All About Business Etiquettes

By Carol Lockett on

“A man without a smiling face must never open a shop” or so the Chinese proverb goes. Truly, smiling goes a long way to lighting up the mood for a friendlier, more understanding conversation. This is true in business as well, especially when trying to make a business partnership. However, there are more business etiquettes beyond smiling and demonstrating these will show others that your customers and your business are worth respecting.

* Introduce everyone, even when in doubt – There is a proper way to introduce people to each other. First, introduce the person who is the most senior, using their full name and their job title or responsibility. Next introduce that person to the person who has lower authority. Make sure to also mention his or her full name. To end, you may mention some details about each other as a topic of common interest. When being introduced to someone, always stand up if you are sitting.

* A firm handshake – The way businessmen shake hands more often than not sets the tone between them. Giving a good, firm handshake will set a good first impression as it may eventually end up in a successful business partnership. If you

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Understanding Dashboard Reporting For CEO

By Carol Lockett on

We live in a world of immense technical innovation and data is something many of us are immersed in, and there are times when there seems to be too much of it. Other times, we’re seeing a lot of information, but it’s not being presented in a way that is relevant and provides us a chance to make informed decisions. As the owner of multiple companies and brands, I spend a lot of my time looking at data.

  • Data informs the strategic goals for my companies.
  • Data helps me to understand what’s working and what isn’t.
  • There’s a direct link between some data, such as marketing for instance, and the bottom line of my companies.

There isn’t a day that I don’t walk into my offices, and I’m not looking at multiple reports, particularly financial reporting and sales or even asking my team to provide me analytics on things, such as our social media results. Data spans the gamut, and I can slice and dice every area of my businesses and see how we’re performing.Early Days

After I first when I started my holding company, there eventually came a time when the work of my team and I began to take off. All of

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Benefit Of Saying No On Business

By Carol Lockett on

Recently, I was sitting around with my team, and we were talking about the stories of candidates who wanted to work at our social enterprise. We had a terrific chuckle around the table as we told stories about the people who really should know better.

Distance is a Problem

For instance, I had a person that interviewed directly with me. I mentioned to this person, who had an impressive resume that the drive to the office was 45 minutes each way, and that was on a good day. “No worries,” this person replied and then went on to tell me how much she wanted to be part of my innovative team of professionals.

We spoke for a long time and were moving forward in the process, and then one day, my vice president for administration got an email (they never call personally, do they?) and informed her that, in fact, the distance was a problem.

Too Complicated

A friend and colleague of mine was in discussions with her old tax attorneys, and the advisors informed her that they would be able to handle her complicated returns, which is international. All they needed was one extra month of time so they could deal with tax season,

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Behind The Reason Medical Courier Is Expensive

By Carol Lockett on

Demand for courier facilities is rising incessantly in the recent years due to the rapid industrial growth and high competition in the business world. The scenario in the healthcare industry is no different but the reasons behind this high demand are something you should definitely want to know. People involved in the medical sector – be it pharmacy, hospital, nursing center, or pathological lab genuinely understands the significance of this service. They are the ones who feel that a reliable and efficient courier agency can actually save many lives. Transporting life-saving drugs, medical equipment and organs are the three crucial responsibilities of every company.

Here are the 5 key reasons why courier services are demanded highly by the healthcare sector:

#1 Fast delivery

Almost all the courier companies provide same-day delivery service when it comes to medical equipment, drugs or organs. They completely realize the urgency of delivering these items on time. Hence, they make sure that the speed of their delivery is the fastest in these cases. It is the duty of every service provider to transport the medical supplies at their destination as fast as possible.

#2 Efficient and experienced

The companies have the most efficient and trained staff with long years of

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How To Be Master Of Delegate

By Carol Lockett on

Somewhere along the way in my career, I picked up a good nugget of advice, and it was to focus as a leader on those tasks which were unique to me and delegate the rest. One of the toughest things about being a leader and manager is mastering that ability. It’s not easy for a variety of reasons, including the idea that only you can do something better and faster, impatience, or lack of awareness.

Unfortunately, there are many managers out there who have not developed enough to follow the advice of focusing on what is unique to your position. And, if you’re an entrepreneur, there’s a higher chance that you could be someone who might have a hard time delegating. In start-up situations, many entrepreneurs end up wearing many hats, and it becomes difficult to let go, but it is crucial to the ultimate success of your business.

As your company begins to take off and grow, one of the most important skills you can master is to learn how to delegate.

  1. Think about those responsibilities that are unique to your position.As a leader and manager, one of the first activities you should do is to carefully consider all of the tasks
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One Factor That Make Your Organization Success

By Carol Lockett on

Recently I had a conversation with Dan Pallotta, who is an entrepreneur, activist, and humanitarian. I love having discussions with global thought leaders. Everyone needs inspiration from time to time, and there’s nothing better than getting an injection of energy from a kindred spirit. Following are some of the words that Dan told me:

“Be ridiculous. If you’re not being ridiculous, you’re not exploring your organization’s true potential. Everything in the world that makes us go “Wow,” was born of some absurd human being with a ridiculous, impossible idea-from the Eiffel Tower to landing on the moon to the idea of America herself. We are taught that prudence is sophistication. The opposite is true. The most sophisticated things I’ve ever seen in my life-the most intelligent solutions to the greatest technical challenges in history-all came from someone being ridiculous. Ridiculous is what really tests us. Stretches us. Forces us to use the full measures of our intelligence, creativity, fortitude, and strength.

“Anything less and our true potential for intelligence, creativity, strength, and fortitude gets left on the table, never to see the light of day.”

The Most Audacious Ideas Work

I agree with Dan. Being ridiculous works. I’ve done it plenty of times, and

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All About Product Design

By Carol Lockett on

There is a common saying about the devastating loss that strikes when an idea dies in the mind before its actual fruition. It is, therefore, largely advocated that all ideas must be put into action and with the help of product design and development firms, individuals have been able to realize their dreams.

Who are these product design and development firms? These are designed to help turn ideas into tangible products. Many brilliant minds choke with ideas that they cannot bring to reality simply because they lack the manpower, the resources and the maybe lack some few essential basics. Product design firms help you design the product to meet the taste of the consumers as well as compete well market wise.

Benefits of hiring a product design and manufacturing agencies

Some of the innovators as discussed above lack some key essential requirements to manufacture their products. These firms take away these troubles and guide you all the way to the end to see your brilliance in action.

For a new product to succeed in this competitive market certain factors must be considered and this requires professionals to conduct market research and other studies. Product design and manufacturing companies carry out these market studies and

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Tips To Get Efficient Warehouse Company

By Carol Lockett on

If you are an owner of a business and feels that managing and storing your productions in-house is incurring you a hell amount of money, then its time you decide to outsource your warehousing service to some third-party. A warehousing service is considered praiseworthy if they have a dedicated system that provides you the best storage and depot solutions that will minimize your inventory and logistics expenses.

Here are the determinants of an ideal warehousing service:

The location and space allotted for storage

As a business owner, your first priority is your client’s satisfaction when it comes to timely delivery of your products. A poor location of a warehouse can be a major obstacle in shipping your products to your destination on time. Parallel to this, proper planning while using the space in the warehouse is extremely important. You should select a service where you see stocks are organized efficiently, the old stock has been cleared out and there is no clutter inside the storehouse.

A committed team

The staffs present in the warehouse all the time are responsible for evaluating the warehousing conditions and decide whether it needs any improvements or modifications. They are one who faces the issues that arise daily and hence

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All About Analytical Training

By Carol Lockett on

Ways in which you can identify the kind of analytics training you need

Many people inquire about ways in which they can further the knowledge that they have in analytics. This is an industry that is still in its infancy and there are many developments that are bound to occur in the future. It is therefore important to choose the right kind of analytics training that will get you ahead and keep you current.

The boom in training

In the recent past, analytics education has experienced a boom. Some of the training is done in classes, some use software while there are also workshops and online tutorials that have become profuse. This makes it quite hard to identify the best program to choose. The other issue is the lack of clarity regarding pertinence, practice and process so as to clearly tell people what is really needed to succeed in analytics.

What do you want to do?

This should be the very first step regardless of the career in question. What kind of role currently or in the future are you aiming at? Do you want to be a data scientist or an analyst? You may also be a business professional looking for a way to

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How To Cut Down Shipping Cost

By Carol Lockett on

Most businesses fail to realize the excessive costs involved in shipping and that may be one reason for their lower profit margins. Higher overheads on shipping make logistics a costly affair for them, hampering the overall efficiency and profitability of the businesses. As a business maker, you might be losing out competitiveness with your peers in the market. So, the first and foremost thing you can do is minimizing the shipping costs of your products with some effective ways, benefitting yourself as well as your customers. Apparently, you can redistribute the costs saved in shipping by offering them some discounts to your customer on the final prices. This will obviously help your business win the trust and confidence of buyers and tempt them to keep coming back for your products. So, what are the major ways you can cut down your shipping costs? Find it out below.

Optimizing the packaging resources

The packaging resources or materials are the crucial part involved in distribution logistics where there are immense scopes to save costs. A major portion of the shipping costs constitutes the costs of packages. Yet, most of the times, we receive products packed in too many covers, but that may be needless

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Tips To Optimize Your Logistics

By Carol Lockett on

Undeniably, the most crucial role of a company following the production is the distribution and logistics of the final goods so that they reach the end consumers at the right time. Clearly, logistics and delivery both have an unmatched role to play in the performance of the business. Hence, a steadfast and seamless mechanism for your goods distribution will ensure that your customers are satisfied with you. While the system of logistics and distribution varies with companies depending on the kind of products they deal in, optimizing it means following some discrete approach. However, here are discussed some easy and tacit ways to simplify distribution operations to make sure customers get a satisfying service.

Resource efficient packaging

Most of the times, courier and delivery services companies deploy a uniform packaging system, irrespective of what they are distributing. Many times, we see a simple consumer good, which is not as fragile as an electronic item, arriving with layers of packaging. So, you need to make sure that your packaging do not become excessive and as per the product nature from you logistics service provider. This way not only wastes will be reduced but also the costs of packing.

Bring forth new delivery options

Just not

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