March 12th, 2008 09:29am
Deborah Austin
Oops, I waited too long and missed it: National Procrastination Week.
Believe it or not, there really is a National Procrastination Week. It is the second full week in March, so this year it started March 3.
I Googled it and found dozens of references. Some of them included a quote from a very famous procrastinator, Mark Twain: “Do not put off until tomorrow what can be put off ’til day-after-tomorrow just as well.”
I was alerted to National Procrastination Week by an e-mailed press release about Bob Kustka, CEO of The Fusion Factor, an HR strategy consulting firm in Massachusetts. When I saw that the e-mail was not from a local source, I saved it to read later, and when I finally got to its contents, I realized I had missed this important week.
Even though the official week itself is over, I figure I probably still could benefit from some of Kustka’s input. Some people procrastinate because they don’t like working on certain tasks, he said. But others just feel overwhelmed by the amount of work on their plates and don’t know where to begin.
Some of the steps Kustka outlined, as part of his trademarked “Right Here Right Now” method:
Decide. When faced with a daily to-do list, first decide the priority of each task.
Designate. When a task can’t be finished quickly, set a time for it later in the day or week, and then write it in a calendar to keep yourself accountable.
Delegate. See who else is carrying a lighter load and use teamwork to help everyone get through the day productively.
February 3rd, 2008 04:35pm
Deborah Austin
It looked official enough. The e-mail that came to a couple of people in our newsroom had a blue-and-white “Internal Revenue Service” logo and even a very specific tax refund amount, already calculated.
“After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $129.72,” it said in one case. “Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-9 days in order to process it.”
It went on to add that a refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons: “For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.”
Then it helpfully provided a link: ”To access your tax refund, please click here.” After a “best-regards” finale, it even was copyrighted:
“© Copyright 2007, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved. ”
But the people in the newsroom who’d received this e-mail thought something was fishy. So they forwarded it to me. I passed it along to Dennis Horton, regional director of the Rockford office of the Better Business Bureau.
We were right, it was “phishy.”
Horton’s reply: “Yes, it is a phishing scam – it first surfaced in 2005.
“It’s an attempt to get the recipient to click on the link and divulge social security numbers, and/or credit card and other personal financial information, which can be used for identity theft.”
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “phishing” as ”a scam by which an e-mail user is duped into revealing personal or confidential information which the scammer can use illicitly.”
The Internal Revenue Service’s own Web site has a warning about these scams. You can see that warning here. It lists other tax-refund scams, including a new one that makes the recipient think he or she is being audited by the IRS. Unusual for a scam e-mail, it may contain a salutation in the body addressed to the specific recipient by name.
Then there’s another phony e-mail addressed to businesses and accountants, telling them to download information on tax law changes by clicking on a series of links. The IRS believes the links load malware onto the user’s computer.
You can forward these suspicious e-mails to the IRS at its truly legitimate Web site; send them to phishing@irs.gov.
Bottom line is, says the IRS, “Filing a tax return is the only way to apply for a tax refund; there is no separate application form.” And, “The IRS does not send unsolicited, tax-account related e-mails to taxpayers.”
Just remember the above, if you get one of these e-mails. Hey, these guys almost had us fooled, too.
January 30th, 2008 08:48pm
Deborah Austin
I had barely gotten to my desk this morning when the first call came. Soon there were several more, all of them readers who follow the commodities section on our stocks page and wanted to point out to me that our gold and silver commodity listings had not changed in days.
We get our stocks and commodities listings directly from the Associated Press, and from there they go straight into our paper. But even the Associated Press can make mistakes. So I called the AP help desk and mentioned what our readers had said. AP said they’d look into it.
Sure enough, when the AP listings came through this evening, they had changed. Evidently, everybody has a glitch every now and then. So, thanks for calling and letting us know!
January 28th, 2008 10:42am
Deborah Austin
Computer, Internet and cell phone technology is supposed to make our work lives easier. And lots of the time, it does.
But all this helpful technology also can seriously blur the lines between “at work” and “not at work.” The very gadgets that are supposed to free us from the confines of an office can end up stretching our work hours to include the whole day and night — and our offices can span the whole city or even the globe.
Cell phones, PDA’s and laptops are “the ‘Trojan Horses’ of the modern world. Take them home and they transport work from the office through the walls of our personal lives,” wrote Carrie Barnett, assistant editor for Knowledge@W.P. Carey, an Internet-based guide from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She addressed the subject in an article entitled “Shifting workplace boundaries,” in the university’s ASU Research magazine. I’ll admit, defining those walls is tricky for me. And I know it is for others, too.
Case in point: I’ve e-mailed some of you among our business leaders on a weekend — just so I’d be sure to hear back Monday — and then was surprised to get an immediate response, and realized I wasn’t the only one blurring the line between “work” and “off work.”
Back to Barnett and her “Trojan horse” metaphor. When we’re powered by technology that enables us to work anytime and anyplace, how do we keep boundaries? Where do you draw them?
January 17th, 2008 09:33am
Deborah Austin
As promised, here’s another famous scam on the Better Business Bureau’s top-10 list for the past year: fraudulent online employment offers and misleading “hiring for managers” positions.
Employment offers looking for “shipping” or “billing managers” or “payment processors” — or anything that has a financial-sounding name — often are fraudulent listings that are actually looking for victims to commit money laundering, says the BBB.
The offers might appear on a legitimate-looking Web site, claiming that a developing company in a foreign country is looking for U.S. emploees to accept, process and forward payments on behalf of that company’s clients.
Also, there are employment ads that lead victims to believe they are applying for an office manager position — but when they’re hired, the company tells them they must pay upfront fees or do commission-based door-to-door sales before they can be eligible for the manager position. You should seek a very clear understanding of what you’re applying for and what will be expected, says the BBB.
And, always be wary of any employer that asks for an upfront fee for a background check.
For more information on what employers can and can’t do, the BBB suggests consumers contact the Illinois Department of Labor at www.state.il.us/agency/idol.
January 13th, 2008 07:06am
Deborah Austin
The deadline is upon us: Nominations for the 2008 Rockford Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award will be accepted until Jan. 14.
The award is given to individual citizens from the Rockford area who have made an extraordinary contribution to the welfare and progress of the community — in general, over a period of years. The award is sponsored by OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center.
The 2007 award recipient was Mike Dunn, while Susan Grans received the 2006 award.
How do you nominate someone? In 300 words or less, tell how the person has positively influenced the business community and made Rockford a better place to work and live. Letters of support may be included in the nomination packet. The nominee doesn’t need to be a member of the Rockford Chamber of Commerce.
Nominations must be returned to the Rockford Chamber of Commerce by Mon., Jan. 14. The office is located at 308 W. State St., Suite 190. The Chamber’s fax number is 815-987-8122, or you can e-mail teriwatts@rockfordchamber.com.
If you have questions, the Chamber’s main phone number is 815-987-8100.
The Citizen of the Year award will be presented at the Chamber’s Annual Dinner, Jan. 23, 5:30 p.m. at Giovanni’s Restaurant and Convention Center, 610 N. Bell School Road, Rockford.
January 5th, 2008 03:51pm
Deborah Austin
The Better Business Bureau has released its top-10 scam list for 2007 — and check scams have overtaken advance fee lenders as the number-one scam reported to the bureau.
Here’s how those check scams work: You get a check in the mail, supposedly for winning a sweepstakes, lottery or promotion. This official-looking letter may have a “final notification” stamp to make it look urgent. In the letter you are told you are a major winner of either a large prize or a lot of money, and the enclosed check allegedly is meant to cover related taxes and fees.
You’re then instructed to deposit that check into your personal account and wire transfer a certain amount of money to a third party — the scammer — to cover those alleged fees. Unfortunately, the check in these cases is a fake, said Dennis Horton, director of the Better Business Bureau’s regional office in Rockford, so it does not cover the money transferred to the scammer. Instead, the money comes directly from your account — and if that leaves you overdrawn, it will be up to you to make restitution to your bank.
If you have any questions or concerns about an offer or prize opportunity, you should contact your local Better Business Bureau for a reliability report before ever becoming involved. You can call the bureau’s local office at 815-963-2226.
More on other top-10 scams later.
December 30th, 2007 09:22am
Deborah Austin
Many investment scams originate with free investment seminars, warns Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office gets hundreds of complaints each year of investment fraud. ”If you attend a seminar, don’t fall for high pressure sales pitches,” he said “Call my office before investing.”
White’s Securities Department gives out free information about the registration status and disciplinary history of brokers and investment advisors. You can contact the department at 1-800-628-7937 or visit www.avoidthescam.net.
Some tips from White’s office for investors to protect themselves against scam artists:
* Never give your Social Security number, date of birth or credit card number in response to unsolicited e-mail messages or over-the-phone “cold callers.”
* Don’t make quick and risky investment decisions based on sales pitches that refer to great deals offered for a limited time, or those that offer year-end tax advantages.
* Before investing, call your local securities agency to learn more about the salesperson and the investment product. Be sure to ask if they are registered to do business in Illinois, and if the investment is allowed to be sold. If one or the other is not registered, consider that a warning to inquire further.
December 30th, 2007 09:07am
Deborah Austin
Hello, I’m the new BusinessRockford.com editor, Deborah Austin. I look forward to sharing local business news with you — as well as business news you can use anywhere. And, of course, I always welcome the chance to hear back from you.
December 22nd, 2007 07:21am
Anna Voelker
Hi, this is Anna Voelker, online editor for BusinessRockford.com. Jack Burke’s last day was Friday. Deborah Austin replaces Jack as business editor and will take over this blog. We are deciding what to do with the Comings and Goings blog that Deborah now writes. We may have all our business staffers contribute to it until we hire a reporter to replace Deborah. We’ll keep you posted.
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