Worth a Bookmark!

The following quick reference sites are useful for those times when you need to check the spelling of a word, verify a quick fact, determine a text's translation or to confirm the current and correct time.

• Dictionary
  
  
• Greenwich Mean Time
  
  
• Information Please Almanac
  
  
• Thesaurus
  
  
• Translation
  
  
• Universal Currency Converter

"I am still learning." —Michelangelo

How often is the spotlight on YOU? And when it happens, how do you perform? Are you eloquent? Motivational? Clever? Composed? Do you stay on topic, or lose your focus…and thus your opportunity to shine?

If you've always wanted to make a better impression, now is the time to take action. Whether you're going to be interviewed by the newspaper, be a speaker at a seminar or present business goals to your workforce, a few hours of intensive personal training can dramatically improve your effectiveness.

M45 can help you:

• Pinpoint your personal style
• Identify your strengths and weaknesses
• Prioritize improvement options
• Learn successful preparation skills
• Minimize worry

So the next time you need to work with the media or make a speech, you can be ready, willing, and yes, quite able to grab the spotlight and impact your audience in a positive way.

Learn to enjoy center stage. Call M45 for more information on training opportunities or professional development.

Creative Learning
Creative thought doesn't always come on command. Anybody who has ever stared at a blank piece of paper or a stark white computer screen knows that, sometimes, the ideas just don't flow.

The same holds true when you ask for input from your employees. "Let's try something new," you say. "How can we improve our processes?" "What can we do to make work more fun?" "How can we reach more customers?" "What new products should we be exploring?" You're open to suggestions...but you're not getting lots of ideas on how to do things differently.

Teaching your staff to think more creatively is one way to open up doors blocked by years of the "we've always done it that way" philosophy.

For one of M45's customers north of the border, creativity training sparked new enthusiasm and a brand new commitment to a fresh eyes' approach. Employees in product and marketing management attended a two-day workshop specially designed by M45 to meet their needs. Attendees raved about the benefits, and left the event to go "oot and aboot" with renewed confidence in their creative talents and specific strategies to nurture their imaginations when stagnant thoughts threatened to keep them down.

A recent survey by SnagAJob.com found that 98% of Fortune 500 CEOs had somewhat ordinary hourly job early in their careers. These folks are stellar examples of life-long learning and self-improvement.

• Paper boy
• Clerk in the book section at Media Play
• Clerk at Sbarro's pizza
• General file clerk/floater at Honeywell MICRO SWITCH
• Assistant for the Northwest Illinois Computer Education Consortium
• Waitress at the Yum Yum Coffee Shop
• Car hop at the Mr. Chipper Drive-In
• Worked at the Learning Resource Center at the University of Iowa

• Waitress in a small town restaurant (where the Tuesday night special was liver and onions with sour cream raisin pie for dessert!)
• Driving a hay baler, dishwasher for a local nursing home
• Lifeguard and children's swimming teacher
• Receptionist at a retirement home
• Carhop at the A&W
• Chambermaid at a motel, waitress for one day at a doughnut shop
• Checker in domestics and jewelry at a discount store