Author Archives: schatzi

School Food Services Have Products Both Prepared And Fresh

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Another school year is here for school food services for students that attend schools to offer meals for both breakfast and lunch for schools across the nation. Without this service provided there would be many hungry kids in school. Many school food services have quality nutritious products that they deliver to schools across the nation and have followed the strict guidelines of the food and drug administration in every guideline that they have. Taking into account that you’re dealing with thousands of children there is no room for error and many of the school food service companies know this and have the capacity to make this happen.

Each year we hear about the different school districts in the nation regarding the quality and nutritional value of the food that they are serving to each of the students who purchase this breakfast or lunch at their school. Many parents have banded together to try to get schools to offer more fresh fruits and vegetables and many other nutritious snacks and meals to their children. And in the process these parents have spent many hours trying to do so.

The issues at hand are being handled more slowly than many people would like, and in many school Food Services have answered the call by offering these types of Food Products to the students in general. This has been transformed into offering salads with low fat dressings along with fruits and vegetables that will not only nourish but give them brain power. This has many advocates of health happy that school Food Services has made the effort toward sees healthy products.

Many times people who are interested in this type of situation involving students and their nutrition can log onto the Internet and get some detailed information from some of the web sites that advocate this type of program and even have donated money throughout the past to help in the situation. School Food Services in general have to be well on the ball when it comes to organization and getting these products to schools in a timely manner along with professionalism.

Many experts believe that if these products keep being offered to the children, they will eventually enjoy these to the point that they will be asking for them as something that they want to do as opposed to knowing that it is good for them. School Food Services will continue to operate in this fashion and gradually offer new products to schools across the nation for their breakfast and lunch menus.

Alternate Careers Lawyers Should Consider

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With the economy being what it is these days, more and more people are feeling the pinch. Many lawyers are feeling the pinch, as more and more students graduate from law school and enter the super competitive legal field. Some are even considering making a career change. Fortunately, there are a wide variety of alternate careers lawyers can get into. Here are three easiest alternative careers lawyers can break into:

1. Freelance legal work. If you’ve just been laid off from your big firm, you may not need to make an actual career change at all – a lateral move can often be just as satisfying (and lucrative!). This is an especially simple way for lawyers to break into different legal specialties, too. If you’re tired of working with tax law 60 hours a week, try devoting 10 to personal injury. Why not?
2. Freelance writing. There are all kinds of journals, papers and magazines that could use a fresh legal perspective – your legal knowledge could earn you money, without having to do any actual legal work. Write up some query letters and send them off to as many editors as you can find. With such an advanced degree, lawyers doing freelance writing work can command a high per-word fee.
3. Consulting work. This is one of the easiest career change moves for a lawyer to make. There are lots of businesses, both large and small, that are in need of legal consultants. This work can often be rewarding, and is a fantastic way to break up the monotony of day-to-day legal work. As an added bonus, contracted consultants usually are able to charge significantly more per hour than their salaried counterparts. The hardest part of making this kind of career change is finding the actual consulting gigs, so having above average networking skills are important.

The Pros and Cons of Ghost Writing for Indie Writers

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What is ghost writing exactly, you may ask? You’ve heard the term and maybe seen the movie and/or the TV show, but you still have some questions. Well, a ghost writer writes and edits for pay for people who either don’t have the time or the inclination to write something entirely by themselves.

Also, ghost writers are often on hire to edit a person whose work is poorly worded or otherwise shoddy or difficultly worded somehow; publishing houses and literary agents both hire ghost writers on a regular basis to edit such work. The ideas are sound but the writing is poor, and ghost writers make it much better. Also, ghosts are paid upfront for their labors in most cases. So they don’t have to worry about either finding ideas or waiting to be paid on spec or on commission for their work.

When it comes to indie writers, the above holds quite true: independent writers often don’t check themselves for grammar and syntax errors, and they may turn in sloppy, poorly edited and poorly worded but great-in-the-idea department book manuscripts. So it takes a ghost writer to go over their work and improve it markedly for publication purposes. The pros of ghost writing in regards to indie writers include much better and improved book manuscript preparation, and the ability to present a clean, sparkling work to literary agents and publishers, and the cons mostly relate to the costs when you hire a ghost. These costs can go upwards of several thousand dollars in many cases. Usually, editing costs less than out-and-out rewriting or ghost writing.

So if you are an indie writer and you’ve been told your work needs some editing or at least a second set of eyes to go over it and proofread your copy, you really should follow this suggestion if you can afford to hire a ghost writer. Look under affordable ghost writers on the Internet, and see if you have a friend or colleague who does book editing for free or for less money than a professional, if you can’t afford the services of a professional book ghost writer.

Meanwhile, if you are an indie writer who could use a lot more experience in freelance writing for pay, or you could use a day job in writing somehow, ghost writing could be your choice. It can be hard to find work as a ghost writer on the Internet, so you will want to study up on how to get published under your own name first, and then see about writing some publishable pieces. There are a lot of articles on EzineArticles that tell you all about how to become a ghost writer.

The best way to make it a true day job is to get hired by a literary agent or large publishing company that is in the business of sending hires to ghost writers on a regular basis. You need to become part of their stable of writers and editors. It helps to be able to ghost write and edit both books and screenplays if possible. Also, your writing must be impeccable, and you have to deliver your finished writing work in record time in most cases. So the pros of being a ghost writer as a day job include some decent upfront payment for your hard work, and the cons include some pretty fast deadline turnarounds and also not having any credit or your own name on all of your hard work in most cases.

Like I said, it’s best to be published under your own name at first, and then you can follow some of the suggestions on Ezine Articles, such as starting your own ghost writing business website and doing your best to draw in potential leads. You can make a day job out of ghost writing and publish your own books at your own pace this way, by working anywhere from two to six ghost writing jobs per year.

How To Study For Exams – Be That Student Who Destroys The Curve And Other Students Hate

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Want to know who is destroying everyone’s curve? It is those students who develop a study plan and follow it too a tee. Now I don’t care how bad a student you are because you can be that annoying student. It is easier than you think because in this article I will talk about a five step framework that will turn the average student into a class leader. Knowing how to study for exams is your key to being a top student.

Lets take a look at this 5 step process.

1. The proper study environment will make a huge impact.

It is necessary that the place where you study is void of any distractions. You have to find a quiet place where you are free from distractions so you can target your focus on studying.

2. Take a small break every hour.

Now I didn’t say take hour-long breaks but rather small breaks to absorb the material. It is important to put the time in and in doing so reward yourself for ten minuets if it has been a productive hour. This strategy can keep you fresh while studying for multiple hours allowing you to fully soak up the material. This will save you time in the long run because of not having to re-study material.

3. Prioritize your schedule and your assignments.

Prioritize your schedule with the harder material first and then save the easier stuff for later. Being organized and prepared is going to save you time when you are studying. Lets face it no one likes to study so being prepared and organized will save you time.

4. Evaluate and re-write your notes directly after each class.

Reviewing your notes at night while the material is still fresh in your head will cut down on study time. The fact is, when the time comes to begin studying for an exam you will ahead of the game. There will be no such thing as having to re-learn material because you have been reviewing material all semester long. How much time will that save?

5. Study when you perform best.

If you function best in the morning then use that time to study.On the other hand, if you are a night owl like I am then conduct your study sessions at night. Studying when you are at your best will make the most of your time and will cut down on the amount of distractions.

Sustainable and Eco Friendly College Programs

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We all know that Obama is a passionate supporter of alternative energy and other green initiatives, and he also believes in educating our youth about humanitarian and environmental efforts, so what better way for him to help spread the green word than to instill eco programs in school? Well, this has already happened in many colleges around the U.S., and the classes are not only preparing students for the future “2 million green jobs that will be created in the next 2 years,” but they’re also educating open minds about the role they will play in the future of the planet.

Here are a few green colleges, from all around the U.S., that offer eco friendly programs:

1. University of Portland (Portland, OR) – University sustainability includes a small on-campus organic garden called the Student Led Unity Program (SLUG) where students grow plants and food for themselves and the dining hall. The school is also hoping to purchase a biodiesel generator to convert kitchen grease to fuel for on-campus vehicles and buildings.

2. University of Maryland (College Park, MD) – Has a Campus Sustainability program that offers a Sustainability Speakers Series and multiple research centers on-campus devoted to solving environmental problems.

3. Berea College (Berea, KY) – Has its own Ecovillage that uses Ecological Machines to purify and reuse wastewater.

4. Evergreen State College (Olympia, WA) – Has its own composting facility on an organic farm that takes scraps from student housing, throws in some worms to break down the food, and then uses the finished compost as a nutrient-rich soil additive.

5. Kettering University (Flint, MI) – Its Center for Fuel Cell Systems & Powertrain Integration offers entire programs devoted to the research and development of fuel cell technology systems.

6. Ripon College (Ripon, WI) – Started the Velorution, which is a combination of vélo (which means bicycle in French) and revolution. President David C. Joyce is an avid cyclist, so he purchased 200 brand new Trek mountain bikes to urge freshmen to ride on campus instead of bringing their car.

7. University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) – Started the “Ralphie’s Green Stampede” zero-waste and carbon-reduction program at Folsom Footbal Field to compost and recycle almost all food and drink containers. The college will offset their carbon emissions by purchasing carbon credits from the Colorado Carbon Fund and White-Wave Foods.

8. Tufts University (Medford, MA) – Has an Office of Sustainability which oversees the Tufts Climate Change Initiative. Students can join the Get Clean – Power It Green campaign, where for only $15 they can support Massachusetts wind power and earn matching grants for renewable energy projects on campus, in the town of Medford, as well as supporting energy efficiency projects in low-income communities around Massachusetts.

9. Washington College (Chestertown, MD) – The Center for Environment and Society fosters sustainability on campus through recycling, composting and more. Students are encouraged to sign a “Green Pledge” to reduce their impact on the environment, and there’s even a George Goes Green blog that touches on green tips, personal stories and other green topics.

10. Northland College (Ashland, WI) – Located near Lake Superior, Northland College considers itself “Visionary by Nature” and combines liberal arts with environmental studies to prepare students for challenges in the future.

These are just a few of the thousands of colleges and college programs that are starting to concentrate on the environment.

Hopefully, with the promises that Obama made, we’ll soon find every college in the U.S. with a green program.

Life Coaching – Why I Hired a Life Coach to Help Me Fight the Recession and Expand My Business

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What Happened

When we first met my coach took the time to get to know me. She did not ask me what I wanted to accomplish or what my goals were. I thought this was a little surprising at first but I now understand why she did it. Instead of rushing in to save the day, she wanted to understand what was holding me back in life. By understanding what my struggle points were, she could better craft a plan to help me move forward.

My Search For “The One”

It took me awhile to find a life coach that I clicked with. One of the biggest criteria for me was personal responsibility. Would the coach call me back when they said they would? Would the coach follow up on a lead that I gave them telling them that I wanted to work with them? And most importantly were these coaches demonstrating in their own life the type of results I wanted? Were they happy, healthy, wealthy, were they genuinely nice people and lastly did they have great relationships in their lives?

I had also made the decision that I personally wanted to work with a woman coach because women have unique concerns that a male coach might not always take seriously or fully understand. This is in no way intended to disparage a male coach, it was just a personal preference I had at this time in my life. I have had male coaches before and they were wonderful mentors.

The “Aha Moment”

After contacting a few women life coaches that met my criteria I was getting no where with finding the coach I wanted to work with. I put the thought in the back of my mind and continued working on my different projects and goals. Then on a cruise in the Caribbean I had the good fortune to run into a friend / acquaintance that did life coaching. I was a little nervous but I asked her at dinner if she would coach me and she to my delight said yes. Earlier that week I had watched her interact with people and more importantly observed how she connected with me personally. She was warm, gracious and had built a life for herself that I wanted to emulate. She was someone I could look up to and someone I wanted to work with deeply.

The Coaching Calls

Her coaching started off at my pace and was not a preset agenda she led all her clients through. It was truly personalized and was built for me and for what I wanted. She was also accessible and responded to my questions and concerns quickly. I did not have to hunt her down and felt like I was her only client. The sessions completely focused on me and what I wanted.

Making The Decision To Hire a Coach

You have to first understand where you are and how you got there before you can really rocket yourself to success. My coach helped me see things about myself that I did not recognize. Now don’t get me wrong, I am no stranger to personal development and self-improvement materials. I am an avid reader and I personally coach people to help them reach their goals. Because of this I understand that to really get great results, I had to practice what I preach and get myself a formal life coach.

You should really sit down and think about whether or not you are hitting the goals that you set for yourself. And more importantly are you merely setting goals you think you can achieve? Your goals should be a stretch, something to reach for and challenge yourself with. Not something that you can clearly see yourself achieving. Your goals have to scare you a little bit and make you a tad nervous, otherwise you are not thinking big enough.

Trade Your Life For Something Big

Remember that you are trading your life for the goals that you set for yourself. Each day you give up should be worth it. When you look back at your life you want to see great accomplishments and a truly fulfilled life, not a life that was lived in the shadows or played safe.

Think of the type of life you really want to lead and look at how you are living now. Do you think that your current habits, actions and thoughts are congruent with what you want to create in your life? What can you do to bring those three things into alignment.

The Pros and Cons of Ghost Writing for Indie Writers

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What is ghost writing exactly, you may ask? You’ve heard the term and maybe seen the movie and/or the TV show, but you still have some questions. Well, a ghost writer writes and edits for pay for people who either don’t have the time or the inclination to write something entirely by themselves.

Also, ghost writers are often on hire to edit a person whose work is poorly worded or otherwise shoddy or difficultly worded somehow; publishing houses and literary agents both hire ghost writers on a regular basis to edit such work. The ideas are sound but the writing is poor, and ghost writers make it much better. Also, ghosts are paid upfront for their labors in most cases. So they don’t have to worry about either finding ideas or waiting to be paid on spec or on commission for their work.

When it comes to indie writers, the above holds quite true: independent writers often don’t check themselves for grammar and syntax errors, and they may turn in sloppy, poorly edited and poorly worded but great-in-the-idea department book manuscripts. So it takes a ghost writer to go over their work and improve it markedly for publication purposes. The pros of ghost writing in regards to indie writers include much better and improved book manuscript preparation, and the ability to present a clean, sparkling work to literary agents and publishers, and the cons mostly relate to the costs when you hire a ghost. These costs can go upwards of several thousand dollars in many cases. Usually, editing costs less than out-and-out rewriting or ghost writing.

So if you are an indie writer and you’ve been told your work needs some editing or at least a second set of eyes to go over it and proofread your copy, you really should follow this suggestion if you can afford to hire a ghost writer. Look under affordable ghost writers on the Internet, and see if you have a friend or colleague who does book editing for free or for less money than a professional, if you can’t afford the services of a professional book ghost writer.

Meanwhile, if you are an indie writer who could use a lot more experience in freelance writing for pay, or you could use a day job in writing somehow, ghost writing could be your choice. It can be hard to find work as a ghost writer on the Internet, so you will want to study up on how to get published under your own name first, and then see about writing some publishable pieces. There are a lot of articles on EzineArticles that tell you all about how to become a ghost writer.

The best way to make it a true day job is to get hired by a literary agent or large publishing company that is in the business of sending hires to ghost writers on a regular basis. You need to become part of their stable of writers and editors. It helps to be able to ghost write and edit both books and screenplays if possible. Also, your writing must be impeccable, and you have to deliver your finished writing work in record time in most cases. So the pros of being a ghost writer as a day job include some decent upfront payment for your hard work, and the cons include some pretty fast deadline turnarounds and also not having any credit or your own name on all of your hard work in most cases.

Like I said, it’s best to be published under your own name at first, and then you can follow some of the suggestions on Ezine Articles, such as starting your own ghost writing business website and doing your best to draw in potential leads. You can make a day job out of ghost writing and publish your own books at your own pace this way, by working anywhere from two to six ghost writing jobs per year.

The Only Help You’ll Need Learning German

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There are many methods for learning a new language. There isn’t a single method that is better or works better than others. What works for you will depend mostly upon how you learn and how accepting you are of the learning process. Some individuals are most successful in classroom settings, while others have a simpler time learning through audio and video materials. You may need to test out a few different things prior to recognize the tactics that work the most excellently for you. After you figure that out, you have the ability to become totally bi-lingual. Here are some suggestions you can utilize if you aren’t sure where to begin for learning German.

Flashcards are a fabulous learning device. A lot of language students laugh about the idea of using flash cards, due to them seeming like something for little kids and maybe out of date. Why use flash cards when there are so many well-advanced technologies that are out there to help you learn? The objective students have for using flash cards is because of how wonderful they actually work! Flash cards provide you with the capability to quiz yourself and to practice your skills. They are pretty simple to take along with you when you are away form your home or the classroom. Flash cards make it simple for you to learn with a friend, even if that friend knows nothing about German.

Do you have the money to discover an option for completely immersing yourself in German? Some people simply learn best when they are forced to do so. One of the greatest techniques for getting this to happen is to travel to a country where German (of the language you are trying to learn) is the most widespread language and your first language is not very common. This presses you into finding out how to talk with people you come into contact with and it presses you into learning German as it is used in everyday life. Immersion isn’t the best solution for everyone. Still, some people discover that it is the exclusive strategy for them to truly comprehend how to communicate in a language that is not their original language.

Perhaps there is a town near you comprised of many German speakers. You may find that going to a town like that often will help you. You will find that this is a great way to immerse yourself with other German speakers while keeping close to home in case you feel too much like a fish out of water. Neighborhoods such as these are perfect because the people will speak German the way it would be used in German or wherever else German is spoken. There is a huge difference between the German presented in textbooks and the German that you will use if you try to use when visiting a German speaking country. If you learn German this way, the next time you visit a German speaking country you’ll feel it easier to use your new language skills. There are tons of great ways to learn German. The most difficult part is discovering the way that you find most comfortable. A great way to find a method that’s great for you is to test a few out. You simply need to find what works for you if you want to successfully learn German. If one method doesn’t work, try something else!

Tips For Choosing Courses in Web Design

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Are you tired of working a boring job, one that offers no security, no future, and low pay? Do you love working on the computer and want to start a new career that would use your current skills but also a career that is both challenging and rewarding? If so, you might consider web design. With this, you would design professional websites for companies around the world, regardless of size or industry, pushing them to a higher level of success. The first step is by choosing the right courses in web design.

One of the most important decisions when choosing courses in web design is to choose a reputable company, one already established and recognized for their excellent training programs. For example, Adobe, Cisco, and Microsoft are among the best although there are many other possibilities to consider. We recommend you spend time online, going over the curriculum involved, as well as the investment of time and money, testing, and any other mandates.

Website design is not merely about creating a professional looking site. It also involves writing and maintaining content, driving traffic to the site, programming languages, working with powerful database-driven sites, handling e-commerce, and even search engine optimization. As you can see, designing a website involves many things and if one component fails, the entire site would suffer.

Chances are you will find a number of companies offering courses in website design backed with an Exam Guarantee. To put it bluntly, this is a fancy term associated with fraud. In this case, the company charges money upfront for exams, leading you to believe once you pass your test the first time taken, you get the money back. However, because you already paid, if you fail the test, you would have a difficult, if not impossible time getting your money back.

Another common mistake made pertaining to courses in web design is placing all the focus on becoming qualified instead of looking at the wanted result. The individual would choose a certification course somewhere in the web design arena simply because it looks fun or interesting. However, the knowledge gained would do nothing for that person’s career. Sometimes, getting to the level of success wanted means taking some uninteresting but necessary courses.

Choosing courses in web design should be based on the career goal but also on the level of income wanting to earn. Web design and development offer several layers, such as working as an analyst or master designer. Obviously, the analyst position is going to pay less than a higher-ranking position. Therefore, it would be beneficial to have some idea as to your ultimate goal when choosing courses in web design.

Typically, courses in web design are very affordable, costing between $200 and $4,000 depending on the type and level of training offered. In some instances, an employer will pay to send an employee to school for training. With the certification, the employee would then have the ability to enhance services and solutions for the company’s IT department. Even if you pay for training on training on your own, being able to list certification on a resume will take you far.

Optimizing Sales Training Investments

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A McKinsey Quarterly white paper entitled Getting More from Your Training Programs focused on optimizing the results from the $100 billion that worldwide companies spend every year on performance skill training in areas ranging from performance management to sales techniques.

At the time we noted there was more to be told about the McKinsey white paper. This blog completes the story.

By way of review the McKinsey authors made the following observation about how to get more out of training programs: “Although it could be improved, the content of the training is not where the improvement is most needed… The most significant improvements lie in rethinking the mind-sets that employees and leaders bring to the training, as well as, the environment they come back to. These are tasks that only senior leaders can take on.”

Let’s explore what could be done “before” the program to improve the results achieved by sales training programs. Let’s now turn to the “after” program issue. As the McKinsey authors point out – “Participants rarely leave any training program entirely prepared to put new skills into practice.” So a significant piece of the ultimate success of any training lies in creating an environment that is conducive and supportive for applying and practicing the new skill sets.

Let’s explore some ideas for getting that done when it comes to sales training.

  • Skill reinforcement. Regardless of the skill set taught, a basic requirement is having in place techniques for providing the participants post-program practice and feedback on the skills. These techniques can vary from audio/video tapes to e-learning modules. But if you could only pick one, focus on sales management coaching.
  • Leadership support. This is an underlying must-do if any of the other post-program efforts are to be sustained. Front-line sales management coaching is one area where leadership support is particularly critical. Most coaching efforts fail not because sales managers don’t think coaching is important or because the don’t know how to coach. The primary reason coaching doesn’t happen is that sales managers are “busy” doing other things – a problem that can be addressed only by sales leadership.
  • Measurement. It is difficult to put a value on the training if the impact is not track against the metrics the program was meant to improve. One is not going to carry out “cause and effect” evaluation of sales training. On the other hand, meaningful feedback can be obtained to judge the value of the program and to obtain data for improvement the next time around. As the McKinsey authors note – “A lack of measurement risks encouraging “edutainment” over substance.”
  • Recognition and celebration. Learning a new skill is hard work, time consuming, and a little bit scary. This is particularly true in sales since a lot of the skills are played out in front of the customer. Care needs to be taken to provide guidance as to how the learning can take place while minimizing the downside risks. Equally important recognition and celebration should be forthcoming when success is achieved.

Companies commit a significant amount of time and money to sales training efforts. Getting it right can have a huge payoff. Most sales training efforts would be 50% better – if 50% more time was devoted to what happens before and after the program.