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Sunrise Seminar Offers a Primer on Workers Compensation Insurance
by Zions Business Resource Center The Workers Compensation Fund insures nearly 60 percent of the Utah market and is the largest private carrier of workers compensation insurance in the state. As Utah’s “carrier of last resort,” the WCF is required to sell workers compensation insurance to businesses denied coverage by other carriers. Nonetheless, the WCF has set the standard for workers compensation insurance in Utah by helping make workplace safety a priority and by keeping premiums the third lowest in the nation.
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Tips for Developing a Successful Family Business
by Luz Robles, Director of the Zions Business Resource Center Having a successful family business can be challenging since it has the potential to bring out the best and worst of those involved. In some cases, it can be a terrible experience but on the other hand, sometimes family members are the ones you can trust the most.
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Event Calendar
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Today at Utah Pulse
- The Beat: Seminar Offers In-depth Look at HR Functions
- The Employers Council is offering a six-day Human Resource Management Certificate program that offers an in-depth look at the essential HR functions within an organization. With a practical application focus and excellent instructors, it will be a fantastic learning opportunity that should not be missed.
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- First Person: Do You Have A Sales Tool Kit?
- Most sales people “wing-it”; they sell bare-handed instead of using the specific tools of sales. In construction, would you drive a screw without a screwdriver, or hammer a nail without a hammer? Would you use a hand saw when you could use a power saw? Let me explain what should be in your sales kit.
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- The Beat: 5 Tips to Jump Start a New Business
- 1. Create a brand. Spend a little money to create a professional logo, business card and stationery. Present a professional image.
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- HR Corner: Improving Loyalty and Retention
- The Employers Council, a regional, nonprofit management resource association, says median turnover rates, excluding layoffs, staff reductions and departures of temporary workers, averaged 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2008, down from the average median rate of 1.5 percent for the first quarter of 2008.
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- The Beat: Derek Miller, a New Managing Director at GOED, Works Hard for Utah
- Eight months into his new position as managing director of corporate recruitment and incentives for the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED), Derek Miller is a busy man. He'll be even busier this next legislative session when he goes to bat for Governor Jon Huntsman's wishes to make the motion picture incentive fund more robust.
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- The Beat: Utah Development Spotlights: Barnes Aerospace
- The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) would like to showcase several powerhouse companies who made a great impact on Utah’s economy in 2007. These great companies are just a sample of the many businesses expanding or relocating to the “most dynamic state” in the country.
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- The Beat: Delegations Visiting Utah in August
- The Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy (UCCD), a private sector partner with the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program, says it host visits by 30 foreign delegations during August.
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- The Beat: Chinese Entrepreneur and Business Consultant Will Address 'Business Investing in China Market'
- In collaboration with the Asian Studies program, the Hinckley Institute, and the Confucius Institute at the University of Utah, the Tanner Humanities Center is pleased to welcome Chinese entrepreneur and business consultant Ms. Ying Wang to the campus and community on Monday, September 29, 2008.
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- Business Tip: Skill Bill
- -- Nichole L Torres
Changing fields? Your industrial evolution still relies on your old skill sets.
You've spent your whole life working in one field--you majored in it in college, you've worked at it for a number of years, and guess what? You're ready for a change. Perhaps you worked in PR and now you want to run a motorcycle shop. Or you used to be in the food services industry, but you've always dreamed of running an antiques store. The good news is that it's never too late to make a drastic industry change and start a business that's completely different from the work you did before. The bad news? It'll take some serious self-evaluation and some even more serious prep work.
Your first step is to take inventory of your skills to see which ones can be applied to your new endeavor, says marketing consultant and strategist Lois Carter Fay, founder of the Marketing Idea Shop in Massanutten, Virginia. "If, for instance, you worked in a company as an account executive in sales, [knowing how to sell] would be a helpful skill," says Carter Fay. A PR job would have taught you how to be creative in designing the full-scale launch of a product, and such ingenuity would serve you well as a handbag designer. Or you may have gotten your degree in chemistry where you learned how to mix compounds to create something new--you may apply those skills to your newfound gig as owner of a specialty cake bakery.
(Source: entrepreneur.com)
- Lighter Side: Hot Dog
- A young guy in a single-engine fighter was flying escort for a B-52 and generally being a nuisance, acting like a hot dog, flying rolls around the lumbering old bomber.
The hot dog said over the air, "Anything you can do, I can do better."
The veteran bomber pilot answered, "Try this hot-shot." The B-52 continued its flight, straight and level.
Perplexed, the hot dog asked, "So? What did you do?"
"I just shut down an engine, kid."
(Source: My Humor )
- Today in Business History: Aug 20
- 1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure.
1977: The United States launched Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.
(Source: NY Times )
- Wise Words
- "Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity; having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character. There must be truth in the purpose and will power in the character".
-- Vince Lombardi
(Source: Woopidoo)
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Utah Pulse Highlights
You've still got a week to participate in the Governor's Office of Economic Development survey to help shape Utah's economic future. Utah Pulse is the exclusive online portal for the survey. Take a minute or two (there's only six questions, so I literally mean it will take you a couple of minutes) and let GOED know your opinions. The survey closes on August 27th.
Now, on to the top Wednesday news...
The Producer Price Index, which measures the prices businesses pay for materials and fuel, has jumped more than 10% over the last year. That's the biggest increase since 1981. Experts say the silver lining, if there is one, is rising prices for oil and other commodities are choking off inflation as people spend less.
More bleak news this morning for Freddie Mac. The mortgage giant was forced to offer "unusually rich terms" to investors in an auction of its debt. That's raising more fears that a government bailout may be inevitable.
E-Bay is changing the way they do business. The internet auction giant says most consumers cannot be bothered with online auctions, so they're changing their fee structure to emphasize fixed-price sales.
Remember when Questar tried to charge more than 500 people for errors in their billing procedures? In that case, they tried to collect for more than two years worth of natural gas consumers used but weren't billed for. State regulators asked the to hold off collecting. Now, Questar wants to spread those unpaid costs across their entire customer base.
Do you think negotiating your salary is about as pleasurable as pulling teeth? You may be in luck. Some experts say salary negotiation is becoming more transparent as workplaces move toward a more democratic model.
Utah Pulse always welcomes article submissions from business people and workers alike. If you have an idea for an article or editorial, please send them my way.
--Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
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