Welcome to One Degree
The purpose of One Degree is to establish and maintain a relationship of associates that truly understand one an-others business and can knowledgeably recommend each others products and services.
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Update Your Adobe Acrobat Products Immediately
Re-post from managedsolutions.com -> Here at Managed Solutions we do not raise the red flag often, but after reviewing the latest CERT advisory, we've done just that. Do not delay, upgrade your Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader Products immediately to the latest version, apply the security patches or install adobe updater recommended updates. The US-CERT Bulletin for today SB10-018 indicates 6 different CVSS Score of 10 vulnerabilities for Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader. Basically a CVSS Score of 10 indicates the highest threat level due to the remote code execution capability and these issues should be taken very seriously. There is a link at the bottom of this article to the resources at Adobe's website as well as a download for the Windows Version of Adobe Acrobat, please pass the word.
Access the security updates
We've learned that some people are having problems downloading the update directly from Adobe's website so we've put the Windows version of Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.3 here for download.
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Increasing Cash Flow for 2010, the Intelligent Money Moves
The easiest way to have more free cash flow is to analyze your current expenditures and figure out creative ways to lower the outlay. This will provide a solid foundation for when we can once again start to grow the top line!
1) Pay down high interest rate debt.
Currently interest rate on savings is at historic lows so if you have been putting aside cash for a rainy day it might make sense to take that cash and pay down any high interest rate credit cards or other consumer debt you might have. You always have the potential to use the credit cards again in the event of an emergency but simply taking $10,000 in cash earning .5% interest and using it to pay down a 12% credit card or other revolving lines of credit could save you $100 per month.
2) Health Savings Accounts (HSA)
This is a hidden gem for self employed professionals. Rather than funnel thousands of dollars a year into health insurance premiums sign up for a high deductible, low premium HSA plan. The benefits are:
a. Pretax contributions into the HSA up to $5,000 per year
b. Amounts contributed can be rolled over for future years and invested similar to an IRA into Stocks and Bonds.
c. Amounts in account grow tax free and can be taken out tax free if used for qualified medical expenses.
Using a typical example of a family of four who pays a standard premium of $1000 per month with a $200 deductible and $20 per visit co-pays the total out of pocket costs are approximately $12,500 vs. an HSA account which has premiums of $200 per month and a deductible of $8,000 or out of pocket costs of $10,400 saving over $2000 per year or $150 per month at a minimum. If you were healthy during the year you would have saved $5,000 in your HSA and paid $2,400 in premiums which is a $5,000 difference in cash flow with the best part being that you can use the $5,000 the following year! Basically you are saving cash even when unhealthy and in healthy years developing a saving account to help pay for unhealthy years….taking money away from the insurance company and putting it in your pocket.
3) Solar Panels
Incentives are at an all time high with the Federal government, state government and local utilities offering rebates and grants to help generate clean energy. This is a great long term investment in your home and will generate long term savings on your monthly utility bills. A typical solar system will cost the homeowner $15,000 after all of the grants and rebates and should save approximately $100 per month in electricity usage or an 8% annual return on investment (far greater than the .5% earned in a savings account).
In addition the solar panels will provide some residual value to your house at resale and will also help protect against future inflation in energy costs. Assuming a 5% increase in energy costs in 5 years the $100 savings would be saving you $128 per month or earning 10% a year and in 10 years you would be over a 13% annual return on your investment!! Solar Panels have a 30 year investment life so this is a very profitable place to invest your capital and you will be doing good for the environment.
4) Home Ownership Accelerator
A tool for the financial savvy it can slash the amount of time you pay your mortgage in half saving you ten’s of thousands of dollars in interest. By utilizing your normal spending and saving habits and using a unique relationship between your home loan and your checking account this financial product can have you mortgage free in 12 -15 years!
5) Combine Insurance
A simple but often overlooked strategy is to combine your professional, home, and auto insurance policy’s. This can provide a discount of up to 25-30% on the combined package. Using a two car, one home plus professional liability insurance package of $3,300 annually this can save over $50 per month for a quick phone call.
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Where you live makes all the difference!
Please look at this article posted recently in Business Week:
It looks like the job recovery is going to start initially in more brick and mortar type locations with a heavy focus on energy, manufacturing, exporting. Also most of these markets weren't heavily affected by the housing crisis as values didn't gyrate as wildly over the past 5 years.
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Tips for Effective Use of Business Email
Simplicity and convenience have made Email the primary communication tool for many businesses. According to studies performed in recent years poorly worded emails could generate negative feelings by co-workers, customers or even your boss. Poorly organized Email communications can also cause delays or even hurt business relationships. Respondents in some of these studies acknowledged that confrontations with co-workers had taken place due to Email misunderstandings. To fully take advantage of Email in a business environment we suggest the following:
1. Organize Your Message
Not all email recipients have large desktop resolutions to view poorly organized emails. Organize your message by separating paragraphs and when applicable use bullet points or numbering to organize the main issues logically. This will help keep your readers from being discouraged by your message.
2. Get to the Point
It is a lot easier to misunderstand intentions in a written message. Face to face or phone based communications have many factors that influence how a message is perceived such as body language or tone. Written messages should be clear and direct. Be sure to proof read messages you author and re-read messages received to make sure you’re not misinterpreting the words.
3. Stick to One Subject
By lumping more than one issue in a message it makes it more difficult for the recipient to respond in an orderly fashion. By staying to one subject you make it easier for the respondent to communicate back effectively. Send multiple messages as necessary.
4. Meaningful Subjects
By utilizing subjects that summarize the focus of the message all parties in an Email correspondence will be able to more effectively identify and organize their messages. For example when responding to a faxed Request for Quote numbered RFQ1234 instead of saying “Proposal” try being specific “Proposal for new Gizmo RFQ#1234 6/20/2005? using customer identity #’s whenever provided. Don’t hesitate to modify the subject if multiple responses lead to a change of the subject matter discussed in the message. By making it easier for your recipient you are more likely to get a favorable or prompt response.
5. Response Options
When responding to a message there are several methods to keep the message flowing logically. Sometimes “threading” or responding to specific points in line such as bullet points is highly effective. If for example you are given 8 numbered or bulleted questions about products your company offers, responding to each point in your reply underneath the original bullet or numbered question will likely be easier to understand by the reader. When appropriate you can also remove some or all of the text of the original message.
6. Carbon Copy Field
Only include recipients in the CC field that need to know about the topic. When an email with multiple recipients becomes a two way conversation do not cc all the original recipients. Use the TO field for recipients that may respond and use CC for people who are not active participants in the message.
7. Formality
Avoid use of slang, abbreviations and smileys 
or other emoticons.
8. Priority
Only tag truly urgent messages as high priority. Your respondents will be much more likely to treat your truly critical and appropriately tagged messages with much more urgency this way.
9. Slow Down to Speed Up
Take extra time reading, proofing and re-reading messages. The time saved from misunderstandings or confusion will be well worth the extra minutes spent on prevention.
10. Choose the Appropriate Medium
We have numerous electronic ways to communicate with one another but sometimes a phone call or a face to face meeting is more appropriate. Consider all mediums before deciding which is most effective for the issue at hand.
This article was originally posted at managedsolutions.com
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