Making a Marketing Plan

For a lot of us business guys we see marketing as common sense most of the time. We are all pretty creative thinkers so we can think of neat ways to get some exposure and find ways to draw people in. Of course we sometimes just go about it completely the wrong way and don't formulate a direct plan. Instead trying things out that we "think" might work, but we haven't really given a lot of in depth thought.

Of course when you go into detail and formulate a marketing plan with all aspects of your business in mind things start to become a bit more clear and concise. Things just work better if you plan them out more. Doesn't matter if you are hawking prototype 37c, or you are a service company.

Here is a How-To Guide to Writing a Marketing Plan that should be a bit of help to become more organized in this area.

Selecting the Right Retirement Benefits For Your Business

While it may seem that there is a sea of options for retirement benefits for employees and your business there really aren't that many. Most of the time they are obvious as to what fits best for your type of business and how you want to run a retirement program for it. The major problem usually is the guy that comes in and tries to set you up with the wrong retirement package because, for lack of a better term, they are greedy.

You see, different retirement plans have different sorts of fees involved with them. The agent that runs your plan gets paid a bit differently depending on how it is set up. Either a large admin fee every year, or a little cut on the money being put in, or both. Some of these cost you a little more than others, and may not even be the best for your business. Any agent worth a damn knows he is going to make money on these plans anyways so if they aren't finding the most logical one for you they are dirt. You aren't looking for a bargain here by any means like you would for say cheap adipex, but you need to at least know your options.

So...it may do you a bit of good to at least familiarize yourself with the basics so you have a slight plan before going into the meeting with an advsior. Know the questions you want to ask, or the questions you want answered for the plan going in. Here's a good primer for different plans that will help you get rolling.

Climbing Rate of Sexual Harassment Claims From Men?

When you think of sexual harassment you rarely think of it being directed towards men do you? I guess most of us men don't consider ANYTHING sexual harassment. Just flirting :). Of course things are a lot different when you are married, or in a serious relationship. While it is nice to get offers it certainly isn't alright when you clearly aren't interested and it can hamper your career (yes...men actually aren't interested sometimes).

It doesn't happen as often as it does to women, but it DOES happen. Men being sexually harassed at work isn't unheard of, and it seems that claims by men is on the rise. In fact it has doubled in the last couple years. Maybe that female boss at your scanning software company wants you to stay late one night, or FIRE YOU. What are you gonna do when you have a wife and kids at home?

During fiscal year 2009, 16.0 percent of all sexual harassment cases were filed by men in the U.S., the highest percentage ever, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That comes fresh on the heels of the record number of such complaints filed by men (more than 2,200) set in 2008. The rise is despite the fact that the overall number of sexual harassment complaints has declined.

How do you put a stop to it in your business, or prevent it in the first place? Take a few tips from Inc.com.