We hope you are excited about the enhancements to the database and also about the updated Census information used to comprise many of its reports.

New in 2013:

• Executive Report – This report provides an executive summary in paragraph format of key demographic attributes in a trade area in addition to data in tabular form. The report includes current-year estimates, five-year projections, and demographic data from Census 2010.
• Business Locator – Business Locator report provides a list of businesses in the study area and compares daytime population to residential population. The report lists up to 250 businesses in the study area with NAICS code, business name and address, number of employees, and estimated sales. This is a very useful information to someone who wants to know how much business he/she can generate from people who work in the area during the day but do not reside in the study area.
• Business Summary – The Business Summary report provides details on the number of businesses and employees by industry group in the study area.
• Traffic Count Profile – This report provides data about traffic patterns around your site by displaying as many as 25 of the closest available traffic counts. The Traffic Count Profile includes information such as distance to your location, street name and nearest cross street, direction to nearest cross street, traffic count, and year the count was taken. This is critical information for any establishment depending on walk-in or drive-in traffic.
• Traffic Count Map – Visualize the traffic patterns around your site. The Traffic Count Profile Map displays the traffic counts at intersections within and around your market area to help you improve your site selection, understanding of traffic patterns, and ability to identify high-visibility locations. Traffic counts are classified into six volume categories and demarcated by color and size on the map, making it easy to detect traffic patterns.

A large number of reports have been updated to Census 2010 plus Esri’s 2012 current year estimate of population and 2017 population forecast including:

•                Age 50+ Profile

•                Age by Sex by Race Profile

•                Age by Sex Profile

•                Detailed Age Profile

•                Disposable Income Profile

•                Graphic Profile

•                Housing Profile

•                Market Profile

•                Net worth Profile

If you would like to learn more about how the BusinessDecision database can help you better understand your business environment and how you can improve your business, contact Terry Miller, our Business Librarian, at 785-580-4556, or email tmiller@tscpl.org.

BLACK FRIDAY

• The web site blackfriday.com lists ads from dozens of retail stores, including Best Buy, Kohls, Walmart, Sears, Old Navy, Target, and more.
• Click on individual store logos for cashback offers and times that doors open on Black Friday.
• You can also download a “Black Friday” app to your iPhone or iPad.

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY

• Saturday, November 24, 2012 is Small Business Saturday® – a day to celebrate and support small businesses and all they do for their communities.
• You can find small businesses in Topeka to support right here.

CYBER MONDAY

• This site is filled with Cyber Monday online shopping deals and coupon codes all through Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday.
• Sign up for daily e-mail alerts
• The Cyber Monday blog offers sneak peaks, deals, giveaways, and also some important safe online shopping tips:

1. Shop trustworthy websites. If a store sounds shady, it is worth the extra time and effort to check them out. Search for their name on Amazon and see if they have a seller rating.
2. Beware of deals that sound TOO great.
3. Confirm that your purchase is secure. When you start the checkout process, look at the URL. Most trusted sites start with https. This means that the transactions will be secure.
4. Pay with a credit card. Credit card fees can be disputed. If the company you purchased from turns out to be fraudulent, you have the right to dispute the charges.
5. Keep all records and confirmations.  Always print your confirmation numbers and receipts. Or take a screen shot and save it to your computer.

•  Print Resources.  We have a wide variety of books you can check out to help with job search preparation. Here are a just a few:
  • Amazing Resumes. by Jim Bright, Ph.D, and Joanne Earl, Ph.D. (650.142BRI CAREER) – Based on psychological research, this book reveals what employers are actually looking for and how the hiring process really works.  Format your resume for maximum readibility on paper and online.
  • 101 Great Resumes. by Ron Fry. (650.142FRY CAREER). - Resumes for anyone from recent high school grad to retired older adult. Includes formats for specific professions, including sales, computers, human resources, and many more.
  • Knock ‘em Dead Resumes.  by Martin Yate, C.P.C. (650.142 YAT CAREER) – Smart advice to make your online and paper resumes more productive.  Detailed steps for putting it all together on paper or online.
• Online Resources: There are some excellent Internet sites where you can find help with resume building, interviewing skills, and online job applications. Here are a few that provide extensive professional services:
  • Career Builder
    Features many current job listings, resume building and more.
  • Monster.com 
    Everything the job seeker will need, from resume writing to job listings.
  • Snagajob.com
    Follow this link to local Topeka jobs. This is a very practical site to find jobs that are available NOW
  • .In addition to print and online resources, the Library also has Winway Deluxe resume software on 56 of the public computers. This is an excellent software that provides professional resume and cover letter templates, job descriptions, and practice interviews.
  • We also have two dedicated Jobs & Careers computers with 4-hour log-ins to provide extra computer time for you to conduct your job search and employment applications. Just check in at the Reference desk and we will get you started.If you would like one-on-one help with your resume or cover letter,  contact our Business Librarian, Terry Miller at 785-580-4556 or tmiller@tscpl.org to make an appointment.

• Business Areas:  Accounting; Buying, Expanding, or Closing a Business; Sales,;Legal Issues; Business on the Internet; Employees; Operations; Going Green; Management and Leadership Topics and  more.
• Industry Information by Business Type
• Business Basics:  Includes valuable information on how to manage your business after it is up and running.
• Start-up Kit and Business Plans

In addition to the above resources, this database also features several full-text PDF versions of business books published by NOLO press.  These books provide legal guidance from starting your business to managing your taxes to negotiating with contractors and consultants.  There is also a guide to effecive fundraising for Non-Profits.

Business videos are available to provide critical information to business owners in a teachable format.  Choose from literally hundreds of videos,  including

• Business tips from the nation’s top CEOs
• “Lessons Learned” features to help avoid the pitfalls of running a business and to let you know you are not alone in facing daily challenges – large or small.
• Lectures from leading business educators
• “How-to” videos

The Small Business Reference Center is a terrific resource  to help foster success in all aspects of starting and growing a business.

Enrollment is required. You may register through HCCI by calling  Megan Stanek  at 785-234-0217 x 319 or e-mailing her at mstanek@hcci-ks.org. You may also register online at www.hcci-ks.org.

The Women & Money Series is a seven-week series of classes, developed by women for women of all ages, income, and education levels. The classes will help develop confidence in your financial decision-making ability and to gain control of your life through informed money management.

The Women & Money Series curriculum has been developed by a coalition of women led by HCCI who work in education, financial institutions, non-profit organizations, and other professionals in the community.  We look forward to a great series of programs and hope to see you there.

Pink shows that there has always been monetary motivation, but it has lost its attractiveness as we’ve moved from the “top-down” management system to the more heuristic style (workers being free to decide how to do their jobs). He points out that repetitive jobs lend themselves more to traditional rewards, whereas money doesn’t seem to motivate innovation.  In fact, the old “carrot-and-stick” approach can actually squelch motivation as follows:

• Extinguish intrinsic motivation
• Diminish performance
• Crush creativity
• Encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior
• Foster short-term thinking

Instead, Pink examines the three elements of true motivation: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.

Autonomy. A sense of autonomy has a powerful effect on individual performance and attitude.  The employee who is well-trained and then left to do his/her job is much more effective than the one who is micro-managed and working in a control-oriented company.  Control leads to compliance; Autonomy leads to engagement.

Mastery.  We are wired to want to be better at what we do. The mastery of something is its own reward. It may be the most powerful thing driving us.  In Pink’s theory, Mastery is the urge to get better and better at something that matters.

Purpose.  People want to believe that what they are engaged in matters and there should be a good reason they are doing the work they are doing. When people “buy in” to a task, they will be more highly motivated and productive.  This is also true with sports teams – the ones where the players buy in to what the coach is telling them to do will perform at a higher level.

The author shows us companies that are enlisting new approaches to motivation and introduces the reader to the scientists and entrepreneurs who are using new motivational models to transform what we know about what motivates us. It is a very compelling read.

“Keeping our focus on long term gains helps us see that we are growing jobs in Kansas,” Karin Brownlee, Kansas Secretary of Labor, said.

Kansas gained 19,400 private sector jobs since one year ago, a 1.8 percent increase. Since May 2012, Kansas gained 7,300 private sector jobs, or 0.7 percent.

Seven of the 11 major industries reported job gains since June 2011. Professional and businesses services increased by 10,000 jobs, a 6.8 percent growth. Manufacturing added 5,800 jobs since one year ago, or 3.6 percent.

Seven of the major industries also saw gains from one month ago. Trade, transportation and utilities grew by 1,900 jobs, a 0.8 percent increase. Manufacturing added 1,800 jobs, a 1.1 percent gain.

“The Kansas labor market continues its trend of slow growth this month, although there were some positive signs. The number of online advertised job openings increased notably and the number of average weekly hours worked by production workers increased 0.6 hours from the previous month,” Tyler Tenbrink, Labor Economist, said. “These are both signs that indicate the demand for workers is likely to improve in the state.”

Continued unemployment insurance claims in June 2012 were down from both May 2012 and June 2011. Initial claims were down from both one year ago and one month ago as well.

How much debt you have; your payment history; your debt utilization ratio; how far back your credit history goes; your mix of various types of credit.

Here are five things that can kill your credit score and lessen your chances of getting an affordable loan:

1.  Making late payments.  Payment history counts for 35% of your total score, so it’s very important to pay on time. Furthermore, if you’re late on a payment, it stays on your credit report for about 7 years.  A single late payment can lower your score by as much as 80-110 points.

2. Carrying a big balance.  30% of your credit score is based on a debt utilization ratio - i.e., how much you owe in relation to your credit limits.  So, carrying a balance of a high percentage of your available credit can adversely affect your score.

3. Closing a credit account.  This goes along with #2.  If you close one of your accounts because of security concerns or just because you don’t want any more credit, you might actually be hurting your credit score by raising your debt utilization ratio.  As a very simple example, if you have two credit cards with $1000 limit each and have a $500 balance on one, you have a  500/2000 - or 25% – ratio.  Closing one of your accounts doubles your ratio to 500/1000 – or 50%.

4. Opening an additional credit account.  This is not really a killer, but just be careful not to open too many accounts at once.  People who open new accounts are considered a higher risk immediately after opening an account.  Also,  when you apply for a new account, the credit card company needs to check your credit.  This automatically dings your score 5-15 points. Any negative effect of opening a new account usually lasts only about 6 months.

5. Defaulting.  This (foreclosure; credit card chargeoff; bankruptcy) is the single worst thing you can do to kill your credit.  Any of these actions can knock your score down 200-250 points.  But, if it happens, you can start building back by making on-time payments, keeping a low balance, and possibly taking out a small loan and paying it off.

As with any issue regarding money, credit, or identification, there are people out there ready to scam you and take your money for little or no service. Often,  doing it yourself is the best way to repair your credit. The Federal Trade Commission’s “Credit Repair: How to Help Yourself” explains how you can improve your creditworthiness and lists legitimate resources for low-cost or no-cost help.

Whatever you do, don’t give up.  Even if you’ve done some of these no-nos in the past, present good behavior can make up for a lot, and usually within about 2 years of consistently paying attention to your accounts, you can raise your score back to an attractive level.

Probably the most useful aspect of this book, in my opinion, is the definition and exploration of different types of questions and how to recognize them when they pop up in the interview. Here are a few examples:

Fermi Questions. Named for the physicist Enrico Fermi (1901-54), these are questions that ask for a quick, off-the-cuff estimate of an unknown quantity. The assumption is that any critical thinker should be able to estimate odd quantities in an interview.

• Fermi’s most famous classroom riddle: “How many piano tuners are there in Chicago?”
• How many gas stations are there in the United States? [asked at General Motors]
• How many garbage collectors are there in California? [Apple]
• How many golf balls would fit in a stadium? [JP Morgan Chase]

Algorithm Question. You are asked how you would perform a task and are usually graded on how well your solution conserves time, effort, or money. There are any number of answers to the question. They usually involve

• a task that has nothing to do with the work for which you are applying
• an odd constraint on the task
• a goal
• an algebraic N, usually a big round number like 100, 1000, etc.
• EXAMPLE: You work in a 100-storey building and are given two identical eggs. You have to determine the highest floor from which an egg can be dropped without breaking. You are allowed to break both eggs in the process. How many drops would it take you?
• ANOTHER EXAMPLE: You’ve got a fleet of fifty trucks, each with a full tank of gas and a range of 100 miles. How far can you deliver a payload? What if you have N trucks?

Whiteboarding. You will be asked to diagram your thoughts as you answer a difficult question.

• Break a stick at random into three pieces. What’s the probability the pieces can be put together to form a triangle?
• How many lines can be drawn in a plane such that they are equidistant from three noncollinear points?

Standard logic puzzle.

• You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and thrown into a blender. Your mass is reduced so that your density is the height of a nickel and thrown into a blender. Your mass is reduced so that your density is the same as usual. The blades start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

After browsing through this book, I discovered that, no, I am not smart enough to work at Google. But for the young, creative thinker, the book provides a pretty good guide on the types of questions to look for and how to prepare yourself for them. It will definitely give you a leg up on someone who has never been exposed to these types of interview questions.