Six Volunteer Events Your Company Should Consider

1. Animal Shelters. This is always a fun thing to do! Helping out some furry friends is always a great way to give back and have fun with your co-workers. You can also collect supplies like, paper towels, puppy pads, dog/cat food, leashes, and much more! Think about it and partner with your local animal shelter today!

2. Food Pantries! Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit committed to feeding hungry children. Volunteers hand-pack meals that are specially formulated and sent to more than 70 countries world wide. Start your finger exercises now!

3. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit that believes every person should have a decent place to live. Habitat for Humanity builds, renovates and repairs houses over the world using volunteer labor and donations. Stretch out your limbs and pack up your toolkit.

4. YMCA focuses on youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. Y volunteers give men, women and children of all ages and walks of life the resources and support they need to be healthy, confident, connected, and secure.

5. United Way believes every country should have a good education, every citizen should feel financially stable, and every community should be healthy and strong.

6. National Night Out promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make neighborhoods safer, better places to live. Neighborhoods across the nation host block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and other various community events with safety demonstrations, seminars, youth events and visits from emergency personal and exhibits.

The list of volunteer events goes on and on. Why not get away from work and have some fun while giving back to the community!

10 Ways to Save This Holiday

Save Money Now!

So, there's this holiday coming up. You may or may not have heard about it. You know, Christmas. Have all your ducks in line yet? Have you even started thinking about gifts? If not, no worries! You still have plenty of time (sort of). Get into the buying mode and save money now before you go out and get your big ticket items! Here's some ways to save big this holiday season!

ONE

Decide on a budget and stick to it. From this budget, you want to create your purchasing list. Remember, everyone doesn't need a gift. Maybe get a bottle of champagne or wine for your neighbors, bake some homemade cookies for your children's teachers, and do a pot-luck or secret Santa with your co-workers, and set a price limit of $10 so the gifts aren't out of hand. This will leave you with a pretty manageable size of people you are buying presents for.

He sees you when you're sleepin'

TWO

Give a homemade gift! Nothing cheesy of course! Pinterest is full of clever homemade gifts! Check out lovegrowswild's blog for a DIY Mint Sugar Scrub! There's only four super easy ingredients, and three instructions to make this Christmas gem! Maybe you'd like to go more traditional and give the gift of hot chocolate. Buzzfeed has a great recipe for hot chocolate, and there's even a little extra surprise. Age appropriate of course.

This holidays going to be fantastic!

THREE

Volunteer! Don't be pressured to give if that's not what you want! It's always nice to give back to those who aren't fortunate and can't provide for themselves. There are plenty of charities looking for help this holiday season. So pack up the fam and show them the real meaning of Christmas!

FOUR

Reduce, reuse, recycle. I can't stress it enough. Just like making homemade gifts for your friends, find old junk that's still nice and make it into something new you can use in your home. It's an environment friendly decoration. You can make some adorable bottle cap snowmen! You can cut up old CDs and make some disco ball ornaments, those are awesome. Or how about these awesome Wine Bottle Christmas lights?!

FIVE

Don't go out and buy expensive wrapping paper, recycle your newspapers, magazines and wall paper to use to wrap your gifts. Also, cereal boxes are great for making gift tags. Check out, 1 Dog Wolf for some super adorable homemade gift tags!

SIX

Buy in bulk. Do you bake a TON!? Stock up on the ingredients used most often when you use them go on sale. Most things are good if you can keep them in the freezer! Just rummage around for your next gathering and restock when necessary.

SEVEN

Crock pot meals. They're delicious. Who doesn't like to cook in their crock pot. Also, who doesn't like to cook in a crock pot when they don't have to put all the ingredients together and everything is put together already! Just sayin'. Your friends and family will love you forever!

EIGHT

Gift cards anyone? Have a friend or family member who wants a high ticket item? Get them a gift card to the store they want to purchase the item at. Much cheaper than going out and purchasing the item yourself.

NINE

Reuse your turkey, ham or meat of choice by making some delicious soup that can be frozen and saved for later! Your tummy will thank you later, and so will your budget.

TEN

Secret Santa. This is a great concept because everyone's name goes into a bowl and one name is chosen per person. Secret Santa saves on your budget by assuring that everyone sets a maximum spending price. This way there's no Christmas spending remorse and everyone is happy!

So, no matter what you do this holiday season, remember, there are more ways to save than there are more ways to spend! Don't break your budget trying to make everyone happy. It's the little things that count! Until next time! :]

5 Ways to Keep Your LinkedIn Up-to-date

Alyssa Bereznak, a writer for, Yahoo Tech, came up with five simple ways to keep your LinkedIn up to date. Bereznak has 10 plus years of professional internet use and has also worked for Vanity Fair.

As professionals, we all know how important LinkedIn is. Please tell me you have a LinkedIn. If not, pause your reading and sign up right MEOW! So many employers take advantage of your online resume. LinkedIn is a place to put all the extra things that you can't necessarily cram onto your paper resume. There are many great features to LinkedIn that a traditional resume does not contain. You can add projects, coursework, volunteer work, your resume, have people write you recommendations, and so on.

ONE

Have a good profile picture that shows who you are.

• But don't use a selfie
• No pixalated photographs
• Don't crop yourself from your friends
• Keep your assets to yourself
• Look happy :]

Look at this classy guy. He knows what's up.

TWO

Write a killer summary

• Use keywords, it makes you pop-up in search results
• Include:  experience, ambitions, what you want to accomplish
• Google Search. Your LinkdIn should be within the first three search results
• Include 40 words that seem substantial
• Discuss your life passions, interests and goals

EVERYTHING is awesome!

THREE

LinkedIn is your portfolio, add videos and graphics to show off your skills

• There's a cool button that allows you to add things, like videos, keynote presentations, PDFs of research projects and papers.
• It's a great opportunity to show-off things you've worked on
• Doing this is helpful if you're in creative industries where your artistic or design skills are valued
• Show everyone what your capable of.

FOUR

Are you a good person? Show it!

• A LinkedIn survey showed 42% of hiring managers said they feel that volunteer work is just as good as your work experience.
• Talk about the brochure you've designed for your friend's new business, or how many hours you put in at your local dog shelter, or how many kids you've helped by participating in Feed my Starving Children.

FIVE

To get endorsed, you must also endorse.

• When you have endorsements for certain skills your profile looks more impressive.
• Show people what you can do. What you're good at.
• Endorsements are easy, just visit the profile of the lucky human you chose to endorse, and normally there is a handy, dandy button that allows you to endorse that person for multiple things! (Now, hopefully, the favor will be returned!!)

Now that you have the basic skills to beef up your LinkedIn, go out into the world and endorse! Need more tips to keep your LinkedIn up-to-date, these websites are pretty awesome as well. 

1. LinkedIn Makeover
2. Improve Your LinkedIn Presence
3. 12 Resources to Improve

7 Ways to Relax During Finals Week

You're Stressed? Not Anymore!

As all of us college kids know, finals are looming over our heads. For me, finals are a semi-stressful time. Between work and school sometimes there isn't time to eat or sleep trying to get all those projects and papers completed to their fullest potential! So, you ask, how can you relax at a time like this?! Well you make time. Schedule "you-time" the week before as well as the week of finals. It doesn't need to be a lot of time, but enough to really put your feet up and not have to worry about what struggles loom ahead.

Said no one ever . . .

1. Snuggle up on that warm couch with a hot chocolate and catch up on a few episodes of your favorite TV show or movie you've missed due to slaving away at homework all semester. Your DVR will love you for it. Most times I'll watch one or two episodes, depending on the backlog, before I come back to reality and study again.

Nom . . .

2. Go out for a drink with your friends. The best way to unwind is to be with people who are reciprocating the same stress you are! Since they're going through what you're going through, it makes it that much easier to let loose and enjoy a night out!

Pssst . . . This is what you're supposed to be drinking. 21+ please!

3. Take a nap. I know, I know. There's no time for naps, well if you can make time for TV and you can make time for drinks, you can most definitely make time for a teeny, tiny, and very much needed recharge. All that studying takes a mental and physical toll on us students. So snooze away my hardworking friends!

Do as dog does.

4. Play with your dog. Most everyone has a dog that's been neglected while you are slaving away your days at work and school. Take your dog outside and play with him! Dogs are happy all the time. This will make you happy all the time! And your dog will love you again for all the attention.

My dog, Henry, brings me water bottles as entertainment.

5. Read a new book. No, not your school textbook. Something awesome, like your favorite Harry Potter book, or Gone Girl, or maybe you like reading sad books like The Fault in our Stars, then you're a glutton for punishment. Take you're pick. There's so many adventures to get lost in!

Harry Potter binge . . .

 6. Make a schedule. I like highlighters, some people prefer boxes next to tasks so they can put a check mark next to their activities once completed. Either way, knowing what you need to get done before it's due is easily the best way to make sure you're not rushing at the last minute to get the paper you put off all semester done. Just saying.

It's perfect!

7. Bake! Make your favorite cookie, cake, bread, anything delicious. The cookie dough is the best part... I mean, I guess you should cook some of it... Or not... Your call. Reap the benefits of your cooking skills. Homemade or the highway!

Look at these cookies. LOOK AT THEM! Delicious.

We both know there are many other ways to de-stress during finals. Pick your favorite thing to do and just do it! In the end, it benefits you, right?!

YOU'RE ON A BEACH!

18 Rules for Making Documents Visually Appealing

Text Rules

Chuck Newbold, who has a PhD in Rhetoric, Communications and Information Design, from Clemson University, created this awesome list for how to make your documents visually appealing. Here are these 18 ways to move forward with the creation of professional documents.

Know Your Fonts Personality

Remember that some people like different font personalities than others so make sure that you know your document and what the documents purpose is. Once this is figured out, pick a font that matches yours and your audience’s expectations.

Default is Old School

Don't let the world know that you don't know what else is out there. Default fonts aren't bad fonts, they're just tired and way to overused. Usually, default isn't the best font for the type of document you're creating. It all goes back to personality.

Keep Clear of "Clichés" and "Uglies"

When a font is too popular it is considered a cliché. This is an issue because computers are usually loaded with the same types of fonts. There are hundreds of fonts that are available to be downloaded. If you can't find a catchy font that is already loaded on your computer, then search for them on the internet!

Make Use of Two Fonts

Documents do look better if you use more than one font. Make sure to use one font for the heading, and another font for the body text. This applies to ALL documents, resumes to business cards.

Contrast Font Families

It is not good to use fonts that look like each other, serifs and Sans Serifs. Make sure they look different from each other.

Pay Attention to Size

You might think that 12 point font is the norm, but realistically our eyes can read smaller text fine. Normally, 10 point font looks fine in documents, and for business cards, 7 or 8 is perfect. Headings should always be larger than the body and the most important thing in the document should be the largest thing you see.

Don’t Use All Caps

Our eyes read words in shape. This is why we can read at super-speed. When all words are in caps though, they are turned into rectangles. SO WHEN YOU WRITE IN ALL CAPS, reading is slowed down. You don’t want your audience to think you’re yelling at them. DO YOU?

Be Careful With Reverse Type

Reverse type is putting a light color on a dark background or a dark color on a light background. This is good for headings and titles, but not really anything else. Don’t use narrow or fancy fonts, thick and bold is needed for this

Create an Ideal Line Length

Line length is the width of a line of text on one single line. If it’s too long its hard to read. Line can be long, but the font size needs to be larger. If you’re using a small font, the line should be no more than 3.5 inches. Ideal Line Length can be calculated with the formula to the left.

Adjust Line Spacing

Line spacing = leading. This is the space between the lines. Fonts are designed with line spacing that is larger than the point size. Font looks crowded with large bodies of text. Increase the line space to improve the readability.

Pay Attention to Readability

Readability is how well large quantities of text read. This is most affected by font size, font type, leading, kerning and line length.

Legibility

Legibility is how well text reads in shorts bursts. Use a typeface that is legible for your name on your resume. It is affected by the letter in the word. Most times, one word will read perfect, but add another word and you’re totally confused. Don’t use a unique font if your name is uncommon or uncommon.

Make correct use of Small Caps

Small caps should be used for abbreviations. Don’t draw attention to the abbreviation. Also, use small caps for am & pm. Many people use small caps for the start of a new chapter in books as well.

Don’t use Line Breaks

A line break is when a word at the end of the line is broken and hyphenated to lead the reader down to the next line. Breaks are bad. You can adjust your desktop to get rid of them. This is not a good design choice.

Don’t Leave Orphans

Orphans are single words left by themselves at the end of a paragraph. It is extremely not wise to leave baby words, the tiny words, like, it. Just reword the sentence! You don’t want your presentation to look weird.

Know How to Highlight

Highlighting is important to readability. Don’t highlight more than 10% of the page. When everything is highlighted, then nothing becomes important. Don’t use all of the highlighting techniques at one time.

Consider Using Old Style Figures

Refer to numbers that are written with elements that go above or below the baseline. It’s an imaginary line where the letters sit. Usually, if you use old style figures, the numbers will get blended into the text.

Understand your Punctuation.

The power of punctuation, know when to use the 15 punctuation marks that are used in English. Do you know the rules? Consider the following: Let’s eat Grandpa! And, Let’s eat, Grandpa. Yeah, you’re not a zombie. Pay attention!

Like these rules? Visit Chuck Newbold's website for more tips and tricks to making your visual communication classy and classic. Everything he posts is so informative and half of these rules for making your document visually appealing I didn't even think about! Happy findings.

Yes, yes you do!

4 Ways to Get Your Company Through A Crisis

Domino's Crisis

April 13, 2009, two Domino's employees recorded themselves while they contaminated their customers food orders with unsanitary acts. The video showed the two employees sticking cheese up their noses before adding it to the customer's sandwich.

Steps To Recovery

Identifying and taking action against culprits

Domino's was able to capture digital images of the two employees from the video and they were able to distribute this image to all their US locations asking for the employees names and location. Domino's contacted the Health Department and police to file charges.

Removing the video

The social media team contacted YouTube and requested the video to be removed because it violated the site's guidelines. YouTube said that they could only pull the video at the video owner's request. The employee was contacted, and permission was given for the video's removal.

Response to the public

Domino's did not go public right away. Anyone who heard about the video saw the original and this encouraged its spread. The pizza joint would respond to the customers who approached the company, and they also communicated with forums that posted the video and were having discussions about the problem. Domino's never said the company did anything wrong, and that this act was something that was done to the company.

Fighting back

Domino's President, Patrick Doyle, posted his own video discussing the issue at hand. He explained calmly and sincerely while venting his anger towards the situation and how "disgusting" this act was. The video was posted to Twitter and Facebook. Watch what he has to say below!

Result

The apology video went viral and within the first three hours the video was posted, the video had over one million views. This stunt did affect Domino's sales, but not affect the company's stock price.

 So, What did Domino's Teach Us?

1. Have a crisis team in place that will respond quickly to any situation.
2. Don't let the situation get out of hand.
3. Honesty is key
4. Don't let the crisis discontinue business. 

The key to keeping a crisis under control is having a great team to keep the company strong during a time of need!