Remember how excited you were to start your job? The anticipation, the nervousness, maybe even downright terrified for that first day. You worked hard to be a team player, built relationships with your co-workers, and gave 150% to show everyone you have what it takes to get the job done. Flash forward a couple of years, how’s that motivation now? I bet many would say comfortable, maybe even in auto pilot mode, and the enthusiasm that you had that first day has waned a bit. I think at one point or another, we have all felt that way. How can you get your mojo back? Two words; continuing education. Don’t roll your eyes and start thinking how am I going to go back to school when I have little extra time or money. I am talking about venturing out and attending a conference in your field. There’s nothing like spending a few days networking with people, learning new ideas and rejuvenating your mind and spirit. And the best part, most employers will pay for it. One of the things I appreciate the most about my boss, is he truly believes in the value of continuing education. In fact, it is part of our job description; we are encouraged to have 40 hours of continuing education each year. We receive credit for books read in our field, trade shows and online Webinars we attend, and of course outside conferences or workshops.

I just returned from a content marketing conference in Cleveland that included over 600 professional marketers from all over the world. The networking opportunities were amazing and I attended break-out sessions lead by industry leading experts and authors, whose books by the way, I have read and are on my Kindle. The best part of the conference? The friends I have made and the new information I learned, left me motivated and excited to come back and work harder at my job. You might say I found my mojo!

Processing your payroll can be time consuming and often, a real headache! Have you taken the time to see what payroll software can do for you?

No matter how big or small a business is hours can be spent managing the financial aspects of the company, including payroll. Payroll particularly can be very time consuming, since there are so many aspects to consider: Full-time hourly employees, part-time hourly employees, seasonal employees, salaried part-time employees and the list goes on. Let’s not forget the vacation pay, bonuses, direct deposit, manual checks, and then there are taxes! No wonder just the mere thought of payday gives you a sharp pain in the head!

Stop for one moment and look at how much money and time you spend processing your payroll. Many businesses still track payroll by spreadsheet and hand-write checks or send their records on to a payroll service. When you process payroll by hand, it isn’t just a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly event; it’s a full time job! Payroll information is ever-changing. There are daily postings, hours worked, vacation and sick pay information, and other employee changes which all must be recorded in the payroll system. That takes a lot of time and effort and really lacks efficiency. Once all of the data is entered, the check writing or direct deposit is the easy part.

Many businesses can save money by streamlining their payroll processing and add that profit to their bottom line by using payroll software.

Here are some things to look for when shopping around for payroll software:

• Flexibility: In order for you to benefit from payroll software, you will want a system that can be flexible to handle your specific needs. There are many payroll software programs available in the market today. You can find standalone programs to use with your general ledger, or payroll software that fully integrates with an accounting system is even better.
• Versatile, Easy Setup: The purpose of payroll software is to save you processing time and money. Look for a program that has tools and wizards to help you easily set up your payroll software the right way. Also look for software that gives you the ability to modify the reports you need and gives you the information you require.
• Options. Options. Options. Choose payroll software that is capable of handling many aspects of payroll reporting, not just collecting information to print a check. For instance; a software that can handle piecework pay, seasonal pay, shift differential pay, hourly pay or even a combination of any of these payment methods. By implementing these key features, you can have the system do the correct calculations for you. This saves considerable time. Also, don’t forget Direct Deposit and Publish Pay Advices. They are great options to have in your payroll software; employees love them!
• Automated W-2, State and Federal Forms: Processing time and money can be saved if your payroll software offers automated W-2 and State and Federal forms with eFiling. Data from your payroll is automatically added into your required forms for fast eFiling or printing on plain paper. If possible, choose a full-service W-2 and 1099 fulfillment option as an added resource.
• Experience, Expertise and Customer Care: Take care to look for a payroll software company that is experienced in development and has the expertise to create software that can handle your needs as you grow. Finally, take a look at the support and customer care the product offers. Is there personal attention offered? When you call for telephone support, do you actually talk to a person and not a recorded auto attendant?

See the Light! When all is said and done, remember, the purpose of purchasing payroll software is to utilize the wide range of additional tools that can help your company increase efficiency, reduce costs, access the information you need, and most importantly get your employees paid on time!

Last month, I attended the NAMA Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas, Missouri. This conference boasts the best of the best in the Agri-marketing world, and the training seminars are excellent.

Keynote speaker, Sally Hogshead, the author of FASCINATE: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation, gave a fabulous presentation that was enlightening, motivating and very entertaining. Sally is a national award-winning advertising writer, author, and brand consultant and has helped the likes of Starbucks and Microsoft. She has also been featured in the New York Times, Today show, CBS, ABC, and the list goes on and on.

Sally has researched why we are fascinated by some companies, or people, and not others, and the results of this research are eye-opening and, well fascinating! To quote Sally, “People. Products. Brands. My mission is to uncover what makes these things fascinating, and how we can use those innate qualities to make more persuasive marketing messages.”

How are you fascinating? Sally says it all comes down to seven personality triggers, and she and her staff have developed the (F) Score Brand Personality Test to help you uncover your triggers. Take the (F) Score to see what makes you FASCINATE!

For many of us, just the thought of financial record keeping, budgets or tax returns, gives a chill up our spine. But the truth is, a lack of proper financial management within an operation can lead to un-informed decision making and your bottom line can take a real hit.

I was recently surprised to meet business people who still use the “shoebox” method of financial management. You know, take one or more shoeboxes, fill them with all of your operation’s receipts, check stubs, and invoices, etc. At the end of the year bring them to your accountant and await your completed tax return. While this method satisfies Uncle Sam, it does nothing to help you track your operation’s profitability, efficiencies, or the true financial picture of your operation. Wouldn’t it be great to know how profitable each business segment really is? If you are like most businesses, you probably have more than one enterprise within your operation. Is one of those entities weighing down your whole operations net profits?

With just a couple clicks of a mouse and easy-to-use accounting software, you can generate information that concerns every aspect of your operation. When it comes to using financial management software, by entering your data once, the ability to analyze data and generate in-depth reporting is limitless. You can personalize your reports, profit centers, accounts, inventories and track data specific to your operation or its entities. I know you’re asking yourself, “Why would I want to use financial management software? My shoebox has fulfilled all of my needs?”

You likely work with a banker, an accountant, consultant, family members, and let’s not forget the government. Like it or not each of these are partners in your operation and reporting to them requires some element of financial record keeping. Financial accounting software can provide unlimited analysis to those members in your operation. For instance:

• When you decide to make a major purchase for your operation, most often that requires a visit with your banker to take out a loan or a draw from your line of credit. You may be your banker’s top client or even dearest friend; you will still be required to produce a financial statement or balance sheet.
• How about that accountant? If you’re currently using the “shoebox accounting” system, at best your accountant can give you the basics: a 1040, or cash accounting information within your general ledger, etc. However, by utilizing a computer and accounting software, you can find out so much more about the elements of your operation.
• Is your operation run by you and members of your family? Nothing can be more rewarding than running a family-owned operation providing everyone is on the same page and in agreement on all aspects of the operation. If you and your family members have a hard time making decisions regarding the operation, chances are there are personal feelings involved in the decision making and the process can be more personal rather than business oriented. When you have your operation’s finances on the computer and you can access current and historical data to analyze where the strengths and weaknesses are within the operation, it will help take the personal element out of the process and sets the tone for better business decision making.
• One of the responsibilities we all have as individuals and business owners is to pay taxes to the government. The federal and state governments require us to file tax returns as well as pay taxes. Depending on where you live, you may also be responsible for paying a local tax. When you have your financial data on the computer, all of the information you need to file a taxtax return is quickly available.

In today’s competitive market, every business owner should have computerizedrecords. Good financial data gives you the competitive edge and the confidence needed to make the best decisions for your operation’s profitability and efficiency. Decisions that will affect your future and that of your family for years to come. Go ahead; recycle the shoebox, the path to sound financial management is but a mouse click away!

I think sometimes, we marketers make the mistake of putting too much emphasis on how a direct mail piece will look, rather than taking the time to execute a well thought out campaign. It is so easy to get excited about the size, graphics, and the color choices, that we fail to think about whom our target audience is, and what information of value can we give them, or what void or problem can our product solve.

As the marketing manager at Red Wing Software, a great emphasis is given to whom the message is being created for, i.e. existing customers, attendees for a trade show, or perhaps new prospects. Even though our graphic designer and I create the copy and design, input and ideas for the campaign can come from many different sources within our company. The sales team, technical support, development, and admin, all help us to pinpoint the right message.

For instance, when we created our new Fund Accounting Software, many months of research went into whom the right target audience would be, and what solutions would our software have that would be of value to municipalities and nonprofits. When it came to municipalities, we determined our software would be a great fit for small to mid-sized cities and towns. The goal of our first campaign was twofold, introduce our fund accounting software, and introduce our company itself. Thus our tagline “Big City Bang for Small Town Bucks” was born. We used this as our campaign slogan, it spoke to what our software was a good fit for, and our logo helped brand our company. You can click here to see an example of our first direct mail piece. To this day, this tagline is used on all of our direct mail pieces for fund accounting, as seen here in our 2011 campaign.

An important aspect for all successful direct mail campaigns is to have a good mailing list. Many companies buy lists for their prospecting or they create lists in-house using prospects or leads that have come in. When we prospect to a new market, we become members of the targeted groups associations, for instance, if we are prospecting small to mid-size municipalities in a certain state, we might join their League of Cities, and advertise in their publication, mail to their membership base, attend their trade show, etc. By taking the time to understand who our audience is, and what message of value we have for them, helps us to have a more successful direct mail campaign.