For An Alternative Rush

Serves: 24 servings
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Healthy Hint:

Carrots are very high in beta carotene. We all know the old wives’ tale that carrots can help improve your vision… well, that ain’t no tale. Beta carotene is a big contributor to healthy eyes, skin, teeth, and bones. So serving this fantastic meal to your favourite friend will have him seeing in the dark in no time.

Ingredients:

• 480 ml (2 cups) pureed carrots (home made or baby food)
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 120 ml (1/2 cup) sugar
• 40 ml (3 tablespoons) dry milk
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) water
• 5 ml (1 tea spoon) cinnamon

Preparation & Cooking:

• Lets start by turning your oven on at about 180 degrees celcius or 350 degrees farenheit
• Now you can mix in the carrots and the butter together in a medium bowl.
• The beat in the eggs, sugar, dry milk, water and the cinnamon.
• Now get your casserole dish and lightly grease it.
• Slowly spread the mixture in the greased casserole dish.
• Put the casserole dish in the oven and let it bake for about 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes take it out and let it cool

To serve you can mix it with dry dog food or you can just put it in Fido’s favourite bowl alone.

Justin Bryce is the Proprietor of http://www.dogtreatrecipes.com.au
Stop by for over 400 gourmet dog treat recipes and fantastic dog health and care tips plus way’s to spoil your dog.

I frequently tell my coaching clients about the importance of regularly updating web site content. Fresh content keeps customers coming back and gets indexed more frequently by search engines. Novelty spurs attention, whether human or technological. A few months ago, I received a question from a student who really wanted to update his web site on a regular basis, but was struggling with finding new material. Here are a few ideas for generating fresh content:

* Update Existing Web Pages. Virtually everything in life changes on a regular basis. You may not notice it, but almost every aspect of your business changes, too. Did you recently update conditions of a service? Add a new product? Create a revolutionary turnkey solution that is likely to save your clients thousands of dollars every month?

Your web site should reflect the most up-to-date information about your business. Update the details and delivery methods of your services, add a new product to your database and web site, and by all means, don’t forget to prominently display information about your new and improved solutions.

* Write Articles for Your Web Site. Articles are a valuable resource for your business. Articles on your web site educate your web site visitors and showcase your expertise.

In addition to posting articles on your web site, you can use them in your own newsletters, and submit them to other newsletters and web sites for syndication. Many business owners are looking for web site and newsletter content - let them use your articles, along with your by-line and resource box. This will let you leverage your articles and generate free publicity, exposing you to new audiences.

Many of my clients have asked me how to find topics for new articles. The topics are everywhere - in today’s news, conversations with clients and colleagues, networking events you attend, speeches you hear. This very article started as a question from a marketing student.

* Start a Blog. Blogging is fast becoming the tool of choice for showcasing new content on business web site. A blog is an excellent tool to answer your web site visitors’ questions, inform them about new products and services and tell them about industry news. Don’t be afraid to share your opinions - your blog is the perfect place to showcase your business and expertise. A blog is an excellent vehicle for connecting with your visitors, as well as generating fresh web site content.

Updating your web site on a regular basis is very important. Put article writing and blogging in your business schedule - you will start reaping the rewards of frequent updates very soon.

Biana Babinsky is the online business expert who teaches business owners how to make more money online. Get Biana’s Top 5 Ways to Increase your Online Sales Special Report absolutely FREE at http://avocadoconsulting.com/free_newsletter.html

When you listen to a customer (or co-worker, spouse, significant other), your brain is constantly making hundreds of assumptions. Each word, inflection, and tone of voice is interpreted, but not always as the speaker intended. Research shows that 2/3rd of all employees feel management isn’t listening.*

We all think we know how to listen, yes? The fact is that very few people know how to truly listen. In our earnestness to serve, we get pulled out of a conversation by preparing for the answer while the other person is still talking. We wait for a pause and when the person takes a breath, we jump in to improve or remedy the situation.

Or, we worry about the question that we may be asked that we might not be able to answer intelligently. Will we know the answer? Will we be able to respond appropriately? What if I am asked a question I don’t know the answer to? What if I don’t understand the question? What if they find out that I’m new on the job/on the equipment/at this company? What if they get angry at me? What if I frustrate them? What if, what if, you fill in the blank. We are anywhere but listening to the other person.

Our intentions are good. We want to give the best response we can, hopefully the right answer. However, if we are not present to the conversation, the other person feels not heard, unimportant, ripped off, and the like. If there was no upset on their side to begin with, it now exists big time. Fact: if you are not listening to the customer, there is no way you can answer the question. The truth is you probably haven’t even heard it.

Listening is our least used and weakest communication skill. None the less, great customer service professionals are first and foremost great listeners. Active listening forces us to tune in to what the customer is saying, instead of trying to think of what our responses will be.

Hearing and listening are not the same, though many people use the words interchangeably.
Hearing is a physiological process whereby auditory impressions are received by your ears and transmitted to your brain.
Listening involves interpreting and understanding the significance of the sensory experience.

The derivative of listen is ‘list,’ which means to lean toward one side. Have you ever noticed how you lean in when someone is talking to you, or vice versa? Even on the phone?

When you listen, you win and the other person wins. But it is not enough to just listen, you have to communicate to people that you’re listening. Sometimes people don’t think you’re listening when you are because you’re not communicating that you’re listening.

*Training, December 2006, p. 9.

ROSANNE D’AUSILIO, Ph.D., industrial psychologist, President of Human Technologies Global, ‘champion for the human’ is an expert in customer service. She authors 3 best sellers, “Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction Hub,” Customer Service and the Human Experience, and Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck, (www.human-technologies.com.) and a free ‘tips’ newsletter on How To Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch at www.HumanTechTips.com.

Choosing wedding invitations has become just as important as
choosing your bridal gown, because it is your official
announcement that will beautifully display your names together
and the date of your upcoming union. An invitation could be
cherished forever in a frame or scrapbook and will be seen for
generations to come.

The most important detail to pay attention to when choosing a
wedding invitation is the company who will be making them. Is it
a respectable company? Are they capable of doing good work and
paying attention to even the smallest details? Do they have a
good reputation of getting the invitations sent out at a
reasonable time and are their fees acceptable? Once you have
found a good stationary company to order your invitations
through, they will be able to help you decide the wording to use
and the etiquette to use in unusual situations.

Choosing a wedding invitation will be based on the tone you want
set for your wedding. It should match the style and theme,
whether it is casual and light or a more formal ceremony. You
may also think about applying wedding colors to the ink of
invitations. This will give guests the hint of your wedding
colors when they want to buy you gifts that reflect your special
day.

For unique styles when choosing your wedding invitation, think
about having your stationary company put a black and white photo
of you and your soon to be groom on the invitation. There are
also many different types of clip art you can add. For a more
formal wedding, add ribbons and bows to the invitation, which
can be tied on by you after printing is done.

When choosing your wedding invitations, think about what
information you will want to include. Be sure there will be
ample room for what you want to say. A typical invitation
includes the bride and grooms names, parent’s names, date and
time of wedding and the name and address of the church. You may
also want to include any plans of a reception with times and
address. Response cards can be added with the invitations for an
additional fee which will ask the guest to send back an answer
to whether they are attending and how many there will be in
their party.

Once you have chosen your wedding invitations, give yourself
plenty of time to order them so you can proofread the writing
and have them corrected if necessary. Be sure to have an
accurate guest list so that you do not run short on invitations
when sending them out. They should be sent out no sooner than a
month before the wedding and no later than two weeks before. By
sending them out too soon, guests may lose the invitation and
forget your big day and by sending them out too late, many
people will have a hard time attending because of prior
obligations.

When choosing invitations remember to pick the one you feel fits
your wedding and style, pay attention to wording, order early,
and proofread. Always save an invitation back for yourself for
you and your spouse to read in the years to come.