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Invest In Your Health For Business Success

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By Deb Bixler

Home business owners rarely think about business assets, and when they do, there is one asset they often overlook.

When you work for yourself it is not unusual to become engulfed in the pursuit of income and forget to invest in your most important asset.

Your Most Important Business Asset

Your health is your greatest business asset and you should treat it as such.

With all the activities that need attention in a home business combined with the busy lifestyle of the 21st century, it is easy for a business owner to put their health aside for future consideration, but this is a big mistake.

When your life is balanced between personal and business time, you can prioritize your health and be a more productive employee working for yourself.

Working with a schedule is often the best way to go. Create a schedule that matches the results you want in your business.

If you want a full-time income then plan to work full-time hours. Schedule 40 hours a week for business activities.

For those who want a part-time work-at-home commission schedule, your work hours need to be between 20-30 per week.

While the desired income won’t immediately start flowing, a consistent, steady and balanced schedule that you consistently and steadily work year-round will create the income you desire.

When you take personal time off, you will be more productive and focused in the office. Many major corporations are switching their work ethics to a balanced approach as science shows that fewer work hours and more personal time makes for better employees.

Less work means less stress and a more productive worker.

There is nothing more important than your health because without it, you have no life.

Take the time to exercise! You don’t have to go to the gym, just incorporate everyday activities such as a simple walk to make a big impact on your long-term health.

Health Is Your Best Business Asset

Rarely do we equate the food we eat to our work performance, but what we eat affects us more than we think!

Did you ever notice how difficult it is to concentrate when you are hungry?

Food has a direct impact on our cognitive performance, which is why a poor decision at lunch can derail an entire afternoon.

When you make poor food choices you can have a tough time staying focused and performance drops.

Make a plan to eat three small balanced meals a day and three healthy snacks in between to satisfy between-meal cravings and prioritize your health!

Your Best Business Asset

Your health is the best business asset you have. Invest in it regularly and it will pay off handsomely.

If you work hard and make a fortune it will mean nothing if you don’t protect your greatest business asset… your health.

About the Author:
Deb Bixler is a trained chef turned passionate speaker who focuses on sales education and healthy living. As a party plan trainer she focuses on systems for direct sellers at the CashFlowShowRadio.com and her healthy food website can be found at WowFoodTips.com.

Businesses Must Not Neglect Employees’ Health

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Concept: Successful business trend. Happy talented businesswomanDo you ever stop to think about how much time and money you have invested in your employees?

Whether you run a company with just a handful of workers or one with dozens and dozens of people under your employ, your team is critical to your success.

If you have employees that are healthy and raring to go day after day, you stand a good chance of being a successful, long-running business.

On the other hand, a staff where some employees are missing work regularly due to sickness and injuries, well that can be a recipe for disaster.

So, which is it for your company?

Help Your Workers Practice Better Health

Even though you can’t (and shouldn’t) babysit your employees once they leave the office each day, it is important that they lead relatively healthy lives outside your presence.

Sure, some will smoke on a regular basis. Others, meantime, never turn down junk food or the ability to not exercise. Some are even accident prone.

No matter what kind of employees you have, you want them to be relatively healthy for several reasons.

First, you hopefully are an employee who cares about the well-being of his or her team.

Secondly, healthy employees tend to do better on the job, not to mention show up for work more times than not.

Third, healthy workers typically have a better attitude about now just the responsibilities of their jobs, but life in general.

So, what are you doing to be as sure as you can that your team is relatively fit and happy?

Incentives Typically Work in the Workplace

Giving them incentives to be as healthy as possible is certainly a good start.

Among the areas to focus on:

  • Healthy habits – First and foremost, your workplace (just like schools, hospitals and other public gathering places) can be a breeding ground for germs. Do your best to encourage workers to show up for work as healthy as they can be. This means not coming into work when one is sneezing, coughing, running a fever etc. Having allergies is one thing; bringing the next bad cold into the office to infect others is totally different. Be insistent that workers not come to the office when they’re battling colds, the flu, and other such illnesses. It doesn’t take long for one person to spread the illness around the office;
  • Knowing how to help others – While you hope and pray that you never will have a major health incident in your workplace, all too many business owners have seen otherwise. Knowing CPR, how to treat injuries on the job etc. is important for both employer and employee. If the majority (or all) of your employees do not formally know CPR, find CPR in your area and get them trained. You never know when one of your workers or even a client/customer visiting your office could develop chest pains and other related problems. Being able to deliver CPR on the spot until medical professionals arrive could mean the difference between life and death;
  • Fitness does matter – Remember earlier when told that you can’t babysit your workers 24/7/365? While that is true, it does not mean you can’t or shouldn’t encourage them to be relatively fit. More businesses are doing their part these days by helping employees get and stay fit. You can consider offering fitness memberships to your team or even allowing them to workout at a fitness facility in your building (oftentimes, buildings where a number of companies call home will have a fitness area available to workers). Another option is having company workouts. Know, you all don’t have to go and see which employee can lift the most weights or do the most push-ups. Outings after work or on the weekends to go bowling, bike riding, hiking etc. can be great physical excursions, not to mention more bonding for the company.

No matter what option/s you choose to keep your team as healthy as possible, do it in a productive and professional manner.

While you can’t force employees to be as fit or as healthy as you may like, always tout the positive, letting them know why this can help them and others over time.

If you haven’t thought too much in the past about the importance of employee health, change that train of thought.

Have a healthier outlook on the men and women helping you stay in business.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Taking Being a Business Owner to Heart

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Stress in the workplace can take its toll on your health.

As a small business owner, lowering your stress level is vital to your health.  It is also crucial to your performance and ability to work effectively over the long haul.

Follow along as we look at the effects of being a business owner and what you can do to turn things around.

As Big of a Threat ‘As Smoking or Not Exercising’

This characterization from the University of Maryland Medical Center describes the body of research studies that look at job-related stress.  The threat of job-related stress to health is comparable to smoking or not exercising, it proclaims.

The document also states that nearly half of all American workers say that their jobs are “very stressful.”

While some of the biggest job-related stressors don’t affect business owners, such as having no control over one’s responsibilities, lack of job security, and others – these factors still affect owners in other ways, such as making sure the business has enough work/clients.  Other stressors still apply to business owners, such as too much time away from home and family and pay concerns.

One of the most important effects of stress is that of the heart.

A recent study analyzed data from thousands of responders, and it found that those who believed that stress significantly affected their health had twice the risk of coronary heart disease.

It highlighted some other staggering claims of stress and heart health, including a statistic that women in highly stressful jobs are 40 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack.

All of the data suggests that stress can have a significant impact not only on your heart – but your overall stress. Bottom line, the risks are great.

Ways to Overcome Stress

It might not be possible to completely eliminate stress.  But by paying attention to it inside and outside of your work environment, you can certainly alleviate its effects and help both your career and your health.

Here are some ideas that can help you work on overcoming stress:

• Delegate –  It’s OK to let some of the responsibilities go to ease the burden on yourself.  This is a key step to growing the business as well.  Put together a plan for easing the workload to lessen the stress and improve the efficiency of your business.

• Go over your processes, technology, and how your business runs –  Examine inefficiencies that can be improved upon to eliminate unnecessary time, resources, and steps.

• Don’t underestimate the value of a good support system – Talk to family and friends on a regular basis, and don’t be afraid to ask for help – regardless of the situation.

The issue could be that you have too many priorities, responsibilities, and that the overall workload is simply too much.  It may be time to hire an additional person or find a way to help balance it all.

Take a long, hard look at the situation to see if you can get to the heart of the matter.

Photo credit: under30ceo.com

About the Author: Joyce Morse covers an array of subjects, among which include marketing, small business and social media.

How Do I Keep My Employees Healthy?

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As a business owner, it is your responsibility to keep your employees motivated and productive throughout the day.

Part of this is helping them become healthier, physically and mentally. People who are living healthy lives tend to have more motivation to do a great job.

So by introducing healthier food options or wellness programs in the workplace, you’re not just helping your employees, but you’re helping your company’s success as well.

That said, what are you doing to help keep your employees fit and productive?

Provide Healthy Foods

Start by introducing healthier foods around the office.

If all you have in your office is coffee, donuts and vending machines filled with snacks and sweets, then that is all your employees typically have during the day.

A good majority of people are not going to bring their own lunches and instead go out to eat. So on the days when they don’t feel like going out or are hungry for a late morning snack, they head straight to the break room.

One way to improve their physical health is by offering healthy items instead of things like donuts and bagels. Have fresh fruit set out for employees, and stock the break room with snacks like yogurt, granola bars or even whole grain bagels with fat-free cream cheese. Put more healthy options in your vending machines as well.

Introduce a Wellness Program

Wellness programs have been very successful for companies who choose to utilize them.

A wellness program can include anything you like, such as on-site classes in yoga, Pilates or even CrossFit.

You can have someone offering stress-relief services for the wellness programs as well, such as massage therapy or acupuncture. This can become part of an employee’s signing bonus and benefits program. It helps your company by offering more benefits and being able to retain your employees, as well as getting more productive and motivated workers in return.

Offer Fitness Center Memberships

If you have a gym on-site, great! But even if you don’t have one, you can still encourage the use of fitness centers by offering memberships or discounts to local gyms.

Contact fitness centers in your area and see if they will offer discounts if you send your employees to their gym. Employees get a cheap gym membership and the gym get a good deal more business, so it works great for everyone.

Encourage On-Site Fitness

There are also ways to encourage physical activity in the workplace.

Start having stretches a couple times a day where you have everyone stand from their desks and perform stretches. This is going to help prevent injury from repetitive motion, such as doing stretches for the hands, wrists, arms, shoulders and back.

You can also give an extra 5 or 10-minute break to employees who want to take a walk around the building for some fresh air and exercise.

Your employee’s health should be important because it keeps them working every day and improves their productivity.

Another thing to note is that you should be offering them help for mental and emotional health through their benefits package.

Photo credit: healthline.com

About the Author: Tina Samuels writes on social media, healthcare recruitment, small business, and social media.

Be Healthy

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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Sometimes, you’re cruising along at light speed, taking names and kicking butt, and all of a sudden…bang, you’re sick as a dog.

You suddenly have to rely on others, an uncomfortable position for anyone who is used to being in charge at all times.

In my particular case, I lost my voice completely. No teleconferences, no drive-through ordering, no chatting with friends or reading to the kids. It was humbling and jarring.

But here’s what I really want to share—in the midst of this, I had two different situations where friends stepped in and took over for me, and both times, I had to be almost physically restrained from jumping in to help. (My wonderful husband was on the other coast, providing moral support via text.)

It finally sunk in. While you’re trying to be a human-centered business, don’t forget that you are one of the humans in the center of it! If you aren’t taking care of yourself, and letting your friends take care of you, then you won’t be there for the long run.

So today, go quaff some orange juice, get out the Purell, and if you do get sick, admit you’re human and let someone take care of you.

Heartfelt thanks to my friends Coleen, Elyse, and Susan for coming to my rescue this week!

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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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How to Make Your Surroundings Work for You

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Guest Post
by Rachel Carlson

When life gets busy, a good exercise routine can fall by the wayside. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways you can make physical activity a part of everyday life — sometimes without going to the gym! Read on to discover just a handful of ways you can make small adjustments to your day so that you never miss a workout again.

Find Exercise in Everyday Activities

Reviews of elliptical trainers suggest that they can be a great way to burn calories and get in shape, but they are not the only method for achieving physical fitness. Back in 2002, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a study which compared the fitness results of test subjects who only walked a bit extra every day to those who performed a set exercise program. The scientists discovered that the walkers got just as much benefit taking their exercise in small, manageable pieces as did the people who adhered to a schedule. Hence, it doesn’t matter if you exercise for one hour, or in fifteen minute increments. What really matters is the total amount of exercise you get.

Bryan Bordeaux, D.O., from Johns Hopkins University recommends taking a different approach to your everyday activities. He recommends using the stairs in your home as a means of exercise and also points out that things like yard work and house cleaning can actually burn a significant amount of calories. Bordeaux also suggests finding small opportunities for walking throughout the day. For instance, park farther away from your office and consider walking instead of driving to perform errands. You might also pass up the elevator in favor of taking the stairs. Any of these methods can get your heart rate up and burn calories.

Set Goals to Improve Fitness

Another important strategy for physical fitness is setting goals. The America On the Move Foundation cites goal-setting as being among the most important components of exercise. Begin by setting ultimate goals such as: Iíd like to lose twenty pounds or I’d like to put on ten pounds of muscle. To achieve them, you should also set incremental goals that will put you on the right track. You might decide to take 2,500 more steps every day and resolve to eat an apple as a morning snack instead of a Danish. Once you’re achieving these incremental goals on regularly, you can up the ante by adding another 500 steps every day, adding some light weight training, and having a salad with dinner every night. Achieving even these small goals will give you a sense of accomplishment and spur you on to the next level.

Keep Motivation Running High

Even with the best of intentions, we sometimes feel our motivation to be fit and active slipping away. Without realizing it, we begin to slide back into spending evenings on the couch with the television, without giving a thought to perhaps stretching or using a cardio machine while we watch.

The good news is that there are lots of strategies that can help you keep the importance of your fitness goals in mind. Certified fitness trainer Cindy Brotherston believes that people are motivated to exercise either through fear factors or positive motivations. Fear factors might relate to disease statistics, spending the balance of your life in debilitating health circumstances or finding yourself in danger of an early, preventable death. Positive motivation factors might include things like setting and achieving goals and using results of a workout program to help maintain inspiration. She also recommends taking a photograph of yourself before beginning an exercise program and then taking a further photograph several weeks in to see what kind of progress you’ve made. Noting any positive results can definitely supply you with any missing motivation.

Brotherson also recommends finding a reliable workout buddy who can give you external motivation to keep going with your fitness routine. When you know that someone else is counting on you to show up for a morning workout, it can definitely get you up out of bed and moving. Doing something you like can also help keep motivation high. Focus on fun-for-you sports like tennis, hiking at a nearby lake, or taking your dog for an extra long walk to keep moving toward your fitness goals.

Start Healthy Habits

Once you’ve resolved to live a healthier life, it’s important to begin in small increments. Cutting out every bad habit at once in a cold turkey fashion can actually be a good way to sabotage your efforts. Start by making a list of everything you’d like to either cut out or change. Your list might include things like walking to the store, eating four servings of fruits and vegetables every day, or giving up dessert three times a week. The list can be as long and detailed as you would like, but the important thing is to tackle one item at a time. Make each item on your list the focus of a week or perhaps even two. Once it begins to feel like a comfortable part of your routine, cut out something else or work on picking up a new healthy habit.

WebMD.com reports that changing even one factor for living a healthier life, like eating breakfast every morning, can significantly increase your ability to live a meaningful, active life. Involve your whole family in your healthful efforts by preparing a health-conscious dinner together on a Saturday night or spending Sunday on a long family bike ride. As a family, brainstorm for extra ways you can all get healthy and active together.

Make it Fun

Wellness expert Dr. Andrew Weil stresses the importance of making exercise fun in order to make it work for you. After all, when you enjoy your workouts, you’re more like to keep up with your routine. However, we all have a tendency to want to avoid certain exercises. Maybe you think developing upper body strength is no fun, for instance. Instead of avoiding weight training, try focusing on it instead. You have an opportunity to make significant progress and make this aspect of your workout a favorite by improving your performance.

When the routine starts to seem stale, change things up by adding a new twist. Purchase exercise bands, a new fitness DVD, or a exercise ball. Challenge yourself with a new class at the gym or resolve to change that one part of your body that you’ve always wished was different. Believe it or not, you are in charge and you can make a difference when it comes to your physical fitness.

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Author’s Bio:
Rachel Carlson is a writer and student that works from home. While she spends a lot of her time writing, she also helps different companies like Clear Wireless with gaining exposure through various blogs and websites. She has recently started a new Twitter account and is finally going to give it a real shot. She can be followed at @carlson_rachel.

Thanks, Rachel!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!