Staff turnover costs American companies millions of dollars every year.  The cost of lost work days, interviewing candidates, reviewing resumes, checking references, filing paperwork and training the new staff member is much more expensive, in most cases, than creating a work environment where staff members are happy and want to stay. If you're worried about waning staff morale in your company, here are some things you can do to keep employees happy and productive.

Give bonuses.  Even a little bonus can mean a lot.  Bonuses improve morale and increase productivity.  Explore the possibility of different bonus structures including:  holiday bonuses, birthday week bonuses, sales bonuses, hire date anniversary bonuses, and education bonuses.

Plan a staff retreat.  Time to relax and get to know your colleagues in a social environment improves teamwork and again, productivity.  However, many people won't want to spend a weekend away from their families even if you put them up in a nice hotel.  Think one-day staff retreats twice a year.  Close the office on a work day and spend the day at a spa, golfing, at a theme park, going to dinner and a movie, hiking, kayaking, or at the zoo.

Pay for education.  Most community colleges and computer centers offer relatively inexpensive classes to help people improve computer skills, management and leadership skills, or language skills.  If an employee is willing to spend time taking one of these classes, reward him/her by reimbursing part of the tuition or giving them a completion bonus.  The desire to increase education and learn new skills is an attribute of a good employee.

Involve their families.  An annual holiday party or summer picnic is a great way to bring employees together along with their families.  Even a barbeque at the park with a game of softball or water balloons can be a lot of fun.  During the holidays, rent an ice skating rink or get everyone together to volunteer at a soup kitchen.

Buy new chairs and keyboard trays.  Let your employees know that their comfort and safety is your concern.  Most employees won't spend over $100 on a keyboard tray, but you could.  And who wouldn't appreciate a top-of-the-line ergonomically-correct keyboard tray that adjusts for height and tilt with the touch of a finger?  We found great deals at Versa Products

Have casual days.  Casual Fridays are nice, but so are special casual days once a month.  Let people come into work in jeans and comfortable shoes and they'll be in a better mood.

Free kraft services. Most employers provide coffee for their staff but the staff end up making it.  Bring in healthy snacks once a week like a fruit basket, individual mini salads, or trays of bagels.  You can also stock up on Stash or Tazo teas, biscotti, yogurt, granola bars and those 100-calorie bags of chips, cookies, and pretzels.  Having lunch delivered once every couple of weeks is also a nice gesture and employees will appreciate the money they save from having to buy lunch out.  Another fun event is to have the employees make lunch once a month.  Alternate between the men and the women, different divisions of the company, etc.  Make sure even upper management gets involved.  Staff will learn new recipes and techniques from other employees and they'll have fun.  The rest will enjoy eating!

Flexible schedules.  If possible, give staff schedules that accommodate their needs and reduce commute time.

Gym memberships.  Paying for their gym memberships or paying a Pilates instructor to come once a week after work is a nice way to encourage employees to stay fit.

Writing e-books can be a more cost effective means to promote your work while being environmentally friendly in the process. If you are meaning to make a name for yourself as a writer, then perhaps writing e-books is something you might like to try.

If you have had no luck in the pieces you have been sending to publishers in the past, you can keep trying other publishers until one of them notices your talent and decides to publish you. However, in the meantime, you can start writing e-books and distributing them online. This way, you will be able to reach your audience even if you have not gotten your book to the printers yet. True enough, the market for e-books is not as significant as the readers for traditional paperback and hardbound books.

However, writing e-books will give you the chance to gather constructive criticism from e-book readers and this in turn will help you polish your work and may help you eventually get the attention you deserve from publishers. This means savings on your part because having to print your book yourself can be quite expensive. If you write and distribute e-books instead, it will barely cost you anything.

Plus, it costs the environment less because you won't be cutting down trees to write e-books. Cutting down trees from uncertified forests as we know contributes to our already growing problem with Climate Change. The carbon dioxide accumulated by trees in its lifetime is released back into the atmosphere at the event of their death.

What's more is that, writing e-books is easy. You do not have to be a super technical person to do it. You can just write your book in a normal program like Microsoft Word and save it as a PDF file, which most e-book reader programs will readily open. Once you are set with writing e-books, you can join e-book forums and distribute your work there while communicating with your possible readers there for comments and such.

Before anything else though, after writing e-books and before distributing them to online business, do take the time to protect your intellectual property rights by registering your work in the relevant government agencies. This will take some time, effort and money for fees, but this step in the process is quite important. After all, once your e-book is distributed online, there will be nothing to stop unscrupulous individuals to plagiarize your work.

Imagine this: you finally see your work published on the shelves, selling like hotcakes but the one getting the fame and glory is someone else who has stolen your work for his or her own. So taking the time to get your work registered is a necessary step to ensure that you continue writing e-books successfully.

Proper risk management is an essential foundation of becoming successful. If you follow these simple steps needed for writing e-books then chances are you might be able to begin to establish yourself as a writer. You may not have the large base that traditional paperback books enjoy, but you have to start somewhere.

Also, you just never know who will be able to read your work. The world wide web is vast and who knows-maybe someone important or beneficial to your success as a writer will come across your work and give you the break that you need.

FASHION JEWELRY

Every one in the world wants to look fashionable. Further, all of us love to look trendy and like to have his / her own identity apart from a crowd of people. We know your appearance and attire speaks louder. But your accessories are also equally important. Accessories like jewellery can help you attain an individuality if you are a person of good taste and also fashion conscious. Hence, identification can be achieved by the style and the kind of fashion jewellery with which you accessorize your self to set up your own individuality.

Fashion jewellery can also be defined as junk jewellery, fake jewellery or artificial jewellery.  Fashion jewellery is made up of artificial or false materials like glass, steel, beads, mud, clay, plastic, brass, bronze, iron, etc. Fashion jewelry fills a person with a complete and a stylish look.

Some examples of fashion jewellery which would provide you with a stylish, fashionable, cool and complete look are -:

•      Bracelets

•      Chains

•      Earrings

•      Necklaces

•      Rings

•      Eyebrow stud rings

•      Nose stud rings

•      Navel rings

•      Anklets

•      Bangles

Each piece of jewellery would brighten the fashion statement you want to make. It would raise the feeling of fashion and style. It would convey you a special and separate identity, style and individuality. So below are all kinds of fashion jewellery categorized which would make you unique.

Earrings ,as the name suggests,  is worn on the ears. Earrings are accessories which go along with any occasion, event or daily activity. Earrings make you attractive and impressive. Both for males and females earrings are part of a  fashion statement. For males, studs or small brow rings are preferable and for females all kinds of earrings are suitable. Whether long or small, stud or rings would enhance your beauty. They can be made of any shape, any material, any design and with any kind of carvings on them

Bracelets are worn on wrists. They can be a kind of chain, or evaded by elastic. It may be made up of steel, beads, plastics, or many other materials. Any kind of designs or carvings can be engraved on them. It is quite a trendy way to impress people around and make your style and fashion statement.

Bangles are round accessories , thick or thin, and  worn on the arm. Whether plastic or glass or metal any material will provide your bangle  and then you with a different and unique character. It can have designs printed or carved on it,  giving  more uniqueness and individuality.

Necklaces, as the name impliess, are worn on the neck. Long necklaces, short necklaces, or necklaces which stay very close to your neck, better know as chokers, are the different varieties of necklaces. They are made of beads or any material whatsoever and a number of chains attached together or different materials, its very fashionable.

Eye brow stud rings-: eye brow stud rings are worn on eyebrows. These are conspicuous and nowadays  a popular fashion jewelry.

Navel rings lure women, the navel rings are worn on the pierced navel. The show their attractive navel rings, the person would wear short upper clothes which would make their navel rings visible. These are unique fashion statements and very popular now a days.

Anklets are the chains or bracelets worn on the anklets. This is a very fashionable way to show off you legs, and is also stunning, attractive and impressive. If it has bells which makes sound when they clink to each other it attracts attention.

Thus, the fashion jewellery are very useful in our day-to-day life. It is quite essential to look trendy, stylish, attractive, impressive, fashionable, urban and all the more it would bring out  fashion in you. Just keep in mind to choose  which fashion jewellery enhances and goes along with your character and persona.

If you were to survey store managers, merchandisers, buyers, or other high-level retail executives, virtually all of them would say that their first retail jobs were in customer service or in retail sales. They may have started part-time when they were students, took seasonal mall jobs during the holiday season, or started full-time after taking classes in merchandising or in management. For almost every retail professional, though, what began as a retail job turned into a retail career.

How did they work their way up the ladder of retail work? First, they built a foundation based on customer service and sales. This is partly because, when it comes down to it, every successful retail operation is built upon customer satisfaction. A retailer that offers great prices and good merchandise may do well initially, but if the retailer doesn't take care of customers, the operation is no more than a flash in the pan. Therefore, a proven commitment and passion for exceptional customer service is necessary before advancement is possible.

But the act of keeping customers happy is only one component of enjoying career advancement through retail opportunities. Equally important are the skills you acquire while developing your talent for customer service. After all, customer satisfaction requires a high degree of efficiency (for example, quickly ringing up sales), the ability to troubleshoot (determining what the problem or challenge is and how to fix it), strong interpersonal skills (remaining calm when a customer is upset), and great communication (both in listening and speaking).

Customer service or sales jobs in retail quickly separate those with star potential from those who simply take store jobs out of convenience. Store managers understand that those who have stellar customer service skills directly contribute to the profitability of the enterprise. After all, you are instrumental in establishing and maintaining customer relationships, which result in repeat customers and increased sales. Because retailers almost always promote from within the company, you are well positioned to move up in the company.

As you gain experience in customer service or sales, you are likely to discover other positions that appeal to you. Perhaps you would like to explore retail merchandising, and assume responsibility for merchandise displays, signage, and everything else the customer sees when he or she enters the store. Merchandising is an exciting job that engages your creativity, your understanding of human nature, and your knowledge of the products your store carries.

Another retail career path is in management. Perhaps you like the idea of being in charge of every aspect of your department, hiring and managing employees, and bringing your personal touch to the customer experience. Once you have demonstrated that you have an aptitude for management, you can rapidly advance up the management ranks, moving on to store manager, regional manager, or even district manager.

Retail career advancement can take many different forms. Taking advantage of in-house promotion opportunities is key, but you can help increase the speed with which you move up the ladder by volunteering for company trainings, attending management training programs at community colleges, developing relevant technology-related skills, and taking classes in specialty areas like merchandising.

Wherever your retail career path leads, keep in mind that entry-level retail jobs give you the chance to develop a variety of skills that will serve you well.

Before you take out a second mortgage, use these rules to figure out the realistic costs of setting up a business.

Have a Solid Plan — Then Change It

Most business start-up stories say that you have to have a business plan. And you do. But that's not the beginning and end of figuring out your start-up costs.

Jeff Shuman, who directs entrepreneurial studies at Bentley College, says, "The conventional wisdom is that an entrepreneur sees an opportunity, comes up with a business plan to capitalise on it, determines the capital that needs to be raised, raises the capital and then applies it to building the business described in the business plan."

There's one major problem with that model, says Shuman. It all hinges on getting the business right the first time, and that doesn't often happen. "In reality, it's likely that some of your initial assumptions are pretty good and others aren't going to be worth the paper they're written on," he says.

Shuman and others say that figuring out your start-up costs means regularly reviewing your assumptions and changing your initial model. Writing a plan is good because it forces you to write down everything you are going to need to start your business.

But that initial plan is likely to change repeatedly as you learn new things and incorporate them into the plan.

Be Willing to Pull Back

It's tempting to add up everything you need for the full-fledged business you imagine, and decide it's what you need to start out.

But pulling back and looking for a smaller model can give you a way to get started while also saving money. Shuman uses the example of someone who calculates the total cost of starting a retail business in a local shopping centre.

"You could start that way and write a business plan based on that amount," he says. "But maybe you'd be better off renting a stand and testing what the demand is for your products at that location."

This consumer testing reduces your initial start-up costs. The result is that the initial cycle of your business is dedicated not so much to generating profits as to generating information. "With this, you can fund your business on a cycle-by-cycle basis," Shuman says. "When you go for the second cycle and for expanding your business, the numbers are now based not on focus groups or surveys but on real-world experience."

Calculate Prices and Time Correctly

Calculating your initial cash flow is part of figuring out your start-up costs. It's an area where businesses are sometimes less optimistic than they should be. "Small business owners may under-price their product or service, thinking they have to come in at the lowest price point to compete," says Barbara Bird, who chairs the business management program at an American university. "They don't necessarily need to do that."

Correctly Estimate Your Start-up Time

Yes, when beginning a business, time can be money. Let's say you're going to have fixed costs such as a monthly lease. If you have to make improvements to a space before you can actually open for business, those fixed costs are going to be additional start-up costs until you can actually open for business. I've watched many entrepreneurs draw up a timeline for their ventures and get tripped up on the safety and inspection requirements imposed by local agencies.

For that reason, I think one of the first places a prospective new business owner should go is to the local government planning or license department. Construction permits and inspections can push a prospective opening date back by months. If you fail to take into account the cost of this time, you could be short of working capital right at the start.

Be Realistic About the Cost of Money

Many (http://www.microsoft.com/india/smallbusiness/-small business) owners finance their ventures by running up big balances on their personal credit cards. Others tap the equity in their homes.

But self-financing isn't a practical option for larger ventures. Tom Emerson, who directs the (http://www.microsoft.com/india/smallbusiness/partners.mspx-entrepreneurship) centre at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, says start-ups should figure in the cost of capital when determining initial expenses and cash flow. "The cost is usually based on what the interest would be, were that cash invested in something with similar risk on the market" Emerson says. "It's usually a figure that is a few percentage points or more above the prime rate."