If you keep track of the stock market, research public and private companies, or keep up with the newest events in the business world, you won’t want to miss the new Google Finance tool. This tool is still in the beta stage, so keep an eye out for future services, but so far Google Finance offers:

* Company Search
* Interactive Charts
* Business News
* Business Blog Results
* Company Management Teams
* Discussion Groups
* Portfolios

Take a look around. Some of these free tools just may replace services that you’ve been paying to access.

What makes a good resume? Credentials? Awards? Citations? Probably. But the bottom line that most companies is how properly a person would outline and present his varied qualifications, experience and educational background. For one, employers want to easily spot how good a person is for him or her to be able in their organization.

Most of the time, people have this wrong notion that artistically designing their curriculum vitae will get the approval and nod of the jobs that they are applying for. If there is one thing that people should take into consideration is that most companies are more concerned with skills, experience and the educational attainment that people garner. It is not a presentation of trying to show how good you are artistically but rather on the content of your resume.

Some things to note in a resume:
1. Make sure that it is updated
2. List down the work experiences you have done, and give a brief explanation of prior duties and responsibilities.
3. Educational Attainment. Write a brief summary of what your course is about, assuming that it is not common to the usual ones in business or venture related. Itemizing the jobs and responsibilities would be a good way to help in assessing the fit for the job.
4. Practice proper grammar. This alone creates the impression for the applicant.
5. Avoid unnecessary information, such as sports committee member or anything unrelated that takes up space.

Applicants should consider, that the more brief and concise resumes will be given the immediate attention. It allows them to view the qualifications of their applicants faster and will thus be able to try to find job positions that may be relevant and matching the applicant’s qualification.

With the limited budget of a new start up, its no surprise that most entrepreneurs try to do everything themselves. However, sometimes this is not the best idea, especially if the time being spent on tasks that someone else could do isn’t making money for the business.

While you may not be able to afford to hire staff, you should look into delegating a few time consuming tasks. For example, if you can afford to hire a cleaning service to come in to clean your office or shop twice a month so you can concentrate on making business calls instead, it may be worth the price the service charges. If you have no graphic design skills and aren’t great at writing sales copy, you may spend several hours trying to get that newspaper ad written properly, so it makes sense to ask the paper’s staff to design one for you instead, even if the paper charges a design fee.

Another great resource is as close as your local college or university. Business majors and marketing majors are always looking for hands on experience. In exchange for your mentorship, you should be able to find several students willing to work as interns.

Finally, you may want to consider using a virtual assistant to handle the chores an administrative assistant would do. Since VAs only charge for the time they actually spend completing a task, you can get a lot done even if you can only afford to pay for a few hours work each week. Ask your VA what he or she can do to help you lighten your load.

Among the hardest parts of being a manager has, is to play mediator between the rank and file people and his superiors. Playing referee is not as easy as it seems and in most cases, if a person is not used to reading a person’s personality and traits, chances are the message will not be made across as effectively as it should be.

Funny though, this seems like a simple communication problem. However, given the situation, one must consider that people are different from one another and the type of reception that most people would have is not comforting all the time. We all stand up for something that we believe that is right, but in a corporate setting, these issues tend to leave a mark. Business endeavors are entirely different from personal ones and the last thing that people need to do is take them in the wrong way. Emotions should not be mixed with a professional endeavor since doing so may get a person into more trouble or worse even fired.

Negotiation with a person is a form of indirect motivation in itself. In any case, an employee is given the chance to air his side to effectively weigh out the problem. Considering that they have the right to be heard, determining the level to which they should be talked at, and laying down the situation before them can more or less help the manager and the person assess the situation and determine the proper means to resolve an issue from getting out of hand. Negotiation is a key aspect here since exhausting all efforts to be able to maximize his current qualifications and at the same time transforming him to become more efficient is the key aspect of it all.

Just like in any negotiation prowess, failure to compromise will eventually lead to a failed attempt or worse parting of ways. While not all endeavors are deemed favorable in nature, it is the overall good of the business that should be in the best interest of a manager, and if lucky, the employee as well.

When you start a small business, it seems like the marketing budget is the first to go. Effective marketing campaigns can really be expensive. Here are a few inexpensive marketing techniques that have been successful for small business owners I know:

1. Have magnetic car signs made. Everywhere you drive, you are advertising your business. (This really works for pet sitters, daycares, etc. I know several of these types of businesses that gained new clients specifically because they used car signs.)

2. Attach a magnetic business card holder with a few cards in it to the car when you plan to stop somewhere for a while. Not everyone has a pen and paper handy to scribble down the number from your car signs.

3. If you have a service business, buy collared T-shirts with your business logo on them. The logo on your shirt tells prospective customers that you plan to be around for a while. Wear the T-shirts to meet with new clients, but also wear them around town. (To save money, you can print your own logos on T-shirts using an inkjet printer and special iron on transfer paper. Be sure to follow instructions or you’ll end up with a backward logo.)

4. Get a table at local events and have a nice display with your brochures, business cards, and some sort of giveaway available. (Coloring sheets are very cheap, but nice, giveaways. Don’t forget to have your business information printed at the bottom.) Hold a raffle or contest for a small prize at the table and don’t forget to follow up with all of the contest losers by sending them a coupon as a consolation prize.

5. Participate in local charity events with a donation of your time or a small gift certificate for the charity’s raffle or auction.

Do you have any inexpensive marketing ideas that worked for your small business? I’d love to hear about your ideas.

Becoming a manager may sound appealing to most people who are totally unaware of the business and professional world. In most cases however, the position is critical and at the same time carries a heavy load on the shoulders of the person who assumes the position. The responsibility of the person covers all aspects of his department and this includes productivity, maximizing resources and properly disseminating the duties and functions of every individual assigned under him and overlooking these people and ensuring that they perform expectedly according to their best.

Determining the extent of assigning the duties and delegating them properly, is similar to idenfitying the right ingredients to expect the department work harmoniously. Assigning the right amount of work, without burning out your staff yet achieving their expected output in the best possible way is one of the burdens that a good manager has to deal with.

The title of being a supervisor, manager, vice president, president or chief exectuive office may sound appealing but the right people who get these titles truly earned them and deserve it. They are the more experienced warriors in business and for sure, proper delegation of duties to the maximum extent is something that they are used to, and will definitely be in the best interest of both the organization and the labor force that compose the company as a whole.

Over at The Blog Herald, I take a moment to address professional dress.