By Kristina Schneider, Practice-Building & Marketing Specialist There’s no doubt that this year has been a challenging one for many people – – both professionally and personally. There’s been a whirlwind of things going on this year and it’s hard to just “check it at the door” when you come into the office. Speaking with numerous attorneys about their current challenges in their practice, one thing seems certain. Office morale is down. Low morale at the office usually results in reduced productivity, compromised work performance, tardiness and absences, and even personal conflicts and emotional outbursts. As we wind down the…
Tips for Managing the Top 5 Interruptions at the Workplace
By Kristina Schneider, Practice-Building & Marketing Specialist One of the most costly killers of productivity in the workplace is interruptions. There are some startling statistics about how much interruptions really cost a business. It is believed that interruptions can cost a company up to over 6 hours per day in productivity, which equates to over 30 hours in a week (almost an entire full-time employee!). It’s also estimated that social media alone costs the U.S. economy over $650 billion per year in all of the lost production. Crazy, right? Interruptions are pretty much impossible to avoid, but there are definitely…
Summer Vacation Might Be Different This Year, But Be Sure to Take a Break!
By Kristina Schneider, Practice-Building & Marketing Specialist There is no denying that this summer feels is different. No, let me actually just call it for what it is—IT IS WEIRD! With all that’s going on in 2020, there’s no telling what tomorrow will bring (did we miss the murder hornets, cause it feels like we skipped those…). This comes as here in California, we just got ordered back to working from home and a lot of things that just opened up less than a month ago are closed back up. All that being said, I have found myself thinking that…
Check-In With Your Employees (and Yourself!) Right Now
By Kristina Schneider, Practice-Building & Marketing Specialist 2020 is certainly not letting up with its challenges and difficult events to work through. It feels like an eternity since I was at DFW airport boarding a plane back to Los Angeles, getting the devastating breaking news that Kobe Bryant had just died in a helicopter crash. And, it feels like ever since then, month after month, there was just more and more difficult things to process. From a business perspective, I bring awareness to all that’s going on, because we are all human. We are all experiencing what’s going on right…
When Life Hands You Lemons, It Might Be Time to Throw Them Out!
By Kristina Schneider, Practice-Building & Marketing Specialist There’s a saying, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!” That’s definitely a very positive way of looking at things and during these current challenges that so many are going through right now, there’s certainly a great deal of lemons being handed to us right now. There are definitely some opportunities here to make some lemonade though, but I am also going to share another piece of advice that (frankly) I’m sure some of your staff might not want to hear either. Let’s Make Lemonade! So, let’s start off with something positive and…
What Things You Can Learn From (and During) This Crisis
By Kristina Schneider, Practice-Building & Marketing Specialist There’s no denying that what we are all experiencing right now is certainly uncharted territory and unlike anything any of us have ever gone through. And, while the news reports and uncertainty that we may be surrounded by right now may create a lot of stress and concern, what I will say is that I do think that there’s a lot of silver linings and positive lessons to be learned from all of this right now. Here are just a few things that I think this whole COVID-19 crisis has brought to light (at…
Top 6 Strategies for Managing Interruptions in the Workplace
Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant Check out these startling statistics about interruptions in the workplace! According to a study conducted by University of California, Irvine, people spend an average of 11 minutes on a project before they are interrupted and it takes them on average 25 minutes to get back to the point they were at before a distraction. According to the same study, employees that work in shared workspace (like cubicles) are interrupted 29% more often than people in private offices. According to the Journal of Experimental Psychology, even after just a 2.8-second interruption, studies showed…
Oh *%@! You Messed Up! Now What?
By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant We have all been there at some point in our lives, whether in the workplace, school, at home, anywhere. You make a mistake of some kind. It happens. You’re human. It’s bound to happen. However, how to handle the mistake that you made is very different for a lot of people. What might seem like common sense for some people, isn’t always for others. Here are some tips for how to handle making a mistake. The intention is for mistakes made in the workplace, but these tips can be used really anywhere in life. STEP…
How to Write a Proper Business Letter
Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant Writing a business letter seems somewhat common knowledge or perhaps common sense to most people; however, it’s sometimes shocking to see how many administrative staff members – – even those with a college education – – are completely incapable of writing business letters. In this article, we will walk you through each step on how to properly write a business letter so that you can quickly and easily write correspondence on behalf of or for your boss without too much editing. Company Letterhead The first step to writing business letters is to…
6 Tips for Handling Difficult Clients
Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant Difficult clients are inevitable no matter what business you are in and no matter how great your customer service is. With the estate and financial planning business, clients can be very emotional. Clients may be stressed about the kinds of decisions they are required to make while getting their affairs in order, especially if they may be grieving the loss of a loved one. They are investing time, money and their personal feelings into the entire process, so it is no wonder that you will experience a wide range of emotions. Anything…