Create Your Own Festive Greeting Cards

Halloween is coming soon! Rather than spending a fortune on holiday greeting cards (which can cost up to $5 a card!), why not design your own?

Programs like InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Publisher, Word, and even PowerPoint allow you to create your own high-quality cards that are customizable with personal images and messages. You can even create customized labels for your card envelopes. Click here for our blog post on design and layout tips.

Tip: Remember, paper makes all the difference in the look of your card, so be sure to pick out a good quality or paper stock. Try printing out your card first on plain paper, to make sure everything looks okay and will fold the way you want it to. If you're using a card template, make sure to note the size of paper the template is using (these typically use the 8.5x11in. paper size). Envelopes can be purchased at a department or crafts store. A 6x9 envelope is a good size to use for a half fold card using 8.5x11in. paper.

People will appreciate the personal touch of a handmade card just as much, if not more, than a store bought card. Plus, family photos are a great touch when sending cards to relatives and friends.

Need help navigating the Microsoft and Adobe programs? No problem! We offer video training tutorials in both suites, complete with in-depth examples to really help you understand how to work with the available tools. Check out the first 3 FREE lessons of each course to get a feel for the programs!

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The 7X7 Rule for Presenting Information (and other handy tips)

When creating slides in Microsoft PowerPoint, a good tip for presenting information is to have no more than 7 points on a slide, with no more than 7 words per point.

This slide utilizes the 7X7 rule.

Why do this? The 7X7 format ensures that you aren't presenting too much information at once, which could overwhelm your audience. It also ensures that your information is readable, especially if you are presenting to a large audience, where members may be some distance away from the presentation screen.

Presenting, especially live presentations, can be scary. Here are a few tips to help you out with presenting and speaking publicly:

• Include visuals in your presentation, as well as handouts to supplement the material being shown. PowerPoint 2010 allows you to print out handouts of your slide show, with room for your audience to take notes.
• Use the introduction to capture interest and set the tone of the presentation. Strong introductions may use statistics, quotes, or narrative history, ask a question, or refer to a common event.
• Focus on the back of the room to project your voice.
• Speak a little too fast rather than too slow (aim for about 145-180 words per minute). Adjust your speed depending on your material and audience.

For more tips on presenting, stay tuned for our course on Public Speaking, coming soon. Also make sure to explore our new course on Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 for additional insights into creating dynamic presentations. Remember, the first 3 tutorials are FREE!

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The ABC Strategy for Getting Organized

Ever have a day, week, or month where you just feel so overwhelmed you can't seem to get anything done? It can feel like important tasks are slipping through the cracks when you can't keep track of all you have to do! Well, here is a quick, easy-to-use strategy for organizing your tasks and taking the first step toward accomplishing everything you need to do and more.

Try this:

Set priorities. This strategy takes the To Do list one step further. Write everything you need to do onto post-its, with one task per post-it (this will make it easier to move tasks around). Then categorize these into three sections: A, B, and C. Note: it may help to use three different colors of post-its, especially if you are a visual person.

In category A place all the tasks that are absolutely critical. These can be the most important tasks that need to get done, the ones that are the most time sensitive, tasks you want to finish by the end of the day.

In category B place all the tasks that are important, but not as time critical. These can be tasks that you want to get done by the end of the week.

In category C place all the tasks that can be postponed, ignored, or avoided completely.

Here's a helpful hint for your C tasks: Put your C tasks into a Don't Do list. In doing this, you are giving yourself permission to NOT do a task. Instead of thinking about how much you didn't get done that day, and spending a lot of time and energy worrying about tasks that you still need to do, give yourself permission to procrastinate. Eventually, you can move items from your Don't Do list onto your To Do list.

This strategy can be done for all sorts of To Do items, including telephone calls! This can be used for both professional work and in your personal life.

Discover more great organizational strategies here, as well as learn about the various ways in which we waste time. Be sure to check out our new course on Time Management, and take advantage of the first 3 FREE tutorials on how to manage time more effectively.

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Ways to Use Excel

1. Create a budget to track your personal finance. This is a great way to see where your money is going in order to cut back on unnecessary spending. The benefit of a spreadsheet includes the ability to make formulas and work out complex sums easily, making financial planning that much easier. 

Medieval palace in Segovia, Spain
Start preparing your trip to Spain by
learning the basics of the Spanish language.

2. If you are planning on travelling, you can create a spreadsheet outlining your vacation, including where you will stay, how you will get to each place, and how many days you will be at each location (this will greatly reduce stress if you are travelling to multiple places during one vacation, especially if it's your first visit).

3. Create a spreadsheet to track household chores, where you can include categories like daily, weekly, bi-monthly, and monthly chores. Be sure to leave a checkbox next to each entry!

4. Use spreadsheets for To Do lists—these can cover the week and be broken down into days. Include both weekly and daily tasks. Checkboxes on each task are helpful here too, and can give you a sense of accomplishment when you get to check off a completed task.

5. Create a spreadsheet to evaluate items you are considering purchasing, such as a new car.

6. Create a spreadsheet to track inventory if you have a business, or even if you just want to keep track of all your personal possessions.

These are just a few examples of how you could use Excel—the possibilities are endless. So now we're curious, what do you use Excel for?

Remember to check out the first 3 FREE tutorials for some great insight on how to use Excel 2010, the newest version of Excel. We also have both introductory and advanced courses available in earlier versions of Excel.

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Feeling Burned Out? Revitalize Your Job!

Once you've been in the same job for a long time, you might start to feel a little bored or burned out. However, you probably don't just want to quit and look for a new job, especially in this current economy. So what can you do to stay motivated?

Try implementing one or all of these three techniques to regain your passion for your job.

Job Enlargement Restructure your job by restoring the wholeness of the job. This means that you take your job and fit it into the bigger picture of the organization.

Maybe you've been working on one particular part of a project. Ask to see the other sections of the project in order to see how everything, including your part, fits together. It's motivational when you can see the bigger picture, or the finished product, rather than just your individual part in it. Recognizing how your work fits into the whole will also help you to understand the value of your job, and recognize the areas where you can improve or expand on to better fit the organization.

Job Enrichment Increase your personal responsibility for your work. Increase your authority (the right to act, decide, and command) to make decisions about your job, and make sure to participate in the planning process. This can give your position more value, helping you to reinvest yourself in the work.

Job Rotation Learn the job of another employee. If you and another employee are both burning out, then switch jobs! This allows you to challenge yourself and stay interested by learning all about a new position. Plus, you increase your own versatility by increasing your knowledge of the organization. In familiarizing yourself with other jobs, you also learn how your work relates to other positions in the organization.

For more tips on how to stay motivated, check out our fun new course on the Art of Motivation, and be sure to take advantage of the first 3 FREE tutorials!

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Online Learning: Is it for YOU?

Just type "online education" or "online learning" into your Internet search browser and you'll see the same conclusion pop up everywhere: the number of people taking online courses is increasing.

This makes sense, considering our current economy where universities and colleges are cutting back on staff and increasing tuition costs. Why pay all that money to get expertise you can find elsewhere (and for lower cost)? (Granted, many people are enrolling in online programs through their universities, so costs are still high, although students are able to enjoy the benefits of learning online).

If you aren't looking to obtain a degree, or you're thinking of taking a few courses to supplement your degree, or even just want to enjoy learning about a specific topic that you've always been interested in, then learning online outside of the university structure may just be the perfect fit for you.

Besides low cost, one of the great benefits of taking a course online is the ability to learn individually and at your own pace. This is difficult to achieve in a classroom setting, where teachers instruct 30, 60, or even 100 students or more in some university courses, all with varying levels of proficiency.

How many times have you been frustrated by a teacher who is moving through the material way too fast? Or bored by an instructor who stays on the same concept for hours, one that you are already familiar with?

Plus, online courses outside of the university allow you to leave a course and come back to it, days, weeks, or even months later (and you can retake sections as well—that's right, rewind, pause, and fast forward your learning). No time constraints! You are accountable only to yourself.

So keeping all that in mind: What do you think of learning online? Is online education right for you?

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Designing Dynamic Layouts

Have you ever come across a magazine, website, or article layout that really captured your interest with its creativity and design? Such a layout might seem complicated or difficult to create, but that's not the case at all! There are several easy-to-use resources and tips to help you design your own exciting layout.

One element to think about first when designing is structure. Start by deciding where you want your focal point to be:

1. Look at your page and break it up into sections (3 is a good place to start). If you want more than 3 sections, just remember: keep the number odd! This makes a better design layout.



2. Look at where the sections intersect with each other. These places make strong focal points—you can place your main focus here, to create interest.

One thing to note: items placed directly in the center of the page do not create as much interest as items that are off center.

Other elements to consider when designing are balance, white space (this helps with balance, as well as directs the viewer's eye), proximity (the distance between items and how they are placed), alignment (which affects readability of the page), consistency (which helps the reader know where to find things), and the types of images you choose to use.

A fantastic program to use for creating rich, interactive layouts for both print and online publication is Adobe InDesign. InDesign CS5 is the newest version of this program, and features all sorts of exciting tools perfect for creating a high-quality layout.

Great Tip! On the Adobe website, you can download a free trial version of InDesign CS5, which allows you to play with and explore the program for a whole 30 days! In order to make the most of this program, and to start designing your own layouts, check out our fun courses on all the features InDesign has to offer. We have both beginning and advanced courses, as well as a course on InDesign CS5's new features if you are already familiar with InDesign CS4.

For more tips on the elements of design, check out our courses on Design & Layout, Graphic Design Principles, and Typography with InDesign, and make sure to take advantage of the first three FREE training tutorials!

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The Do's and Don'ts of Resume Writing

Don't do this: Have one generic resume that you give to all prospective employers.
The thinking here: I can show the employer all of my experience, ensuring that I don't leave anything out.

Do this instead: Target each resume toward the job description and company you are applying for. A marketing position doesn't need to hear about your experience as, say, a cashier (unless you can find a way to relate cashiering to marketing. For example, cashiering provided you with a first hand knowledge of what customers buy). Look at each piece of information in your resume and ask yourself: Does this relate to the job I'm applying for?

Don't do this: Cram a ton of information into your resume.
The thinking here: The more information they know about me, the better.

Do this instead: Emphasize only the most relevant experience and skills on your resume. This frees up more space to develop the skills that are important to selling yourself to the employer. From a design standpoint, having some white space on the page is a good idea as well, to avoid that cluttered, squished look.

Don't do this: Use vague, generic language. For example: I used strong communication skills.

The thinking here: I can list the skills I know are important to employers, showing them I have the skills they need for the job.

Do this instead: Be direct and to the point. Tell facts. Describe what you did, how you did it, and how that benefitted your previous employer. Example: I used strong communication skills to negotiate a contract between the company and our customers, resulting in increased sales for the company over X amount of time. Get specific! Prove that you used your skills by backing up your assertions with concrete evidence.

Don't do this: Use a resume template.

The thinking here: The template-makers know what they're doing—I can just plug in my information and have a professional-looking resume.

Do this instead: Create your own unique look to your resume! Think of it this way—everyone has access to the same templates in word processing programs. What if someone else shows up with a resume formatted the same as yours? Now your resume is no longer original, and will not stand out as much from other candidates.

Note: If you don't feel comfortable designing your own template, do something to change a pre-formatted template. Maybe change the font on the headings, or align your name to the left instead of the center. Play around with the look and feel of your resume, and have fun with it! Remember, your resume is supposed to represent you.

Don't do this: Print your resume on colorful paper.

The thinking here: This will make me stand out from the other, plain, resumes.

Do this instead: Keep it professional. Print your resume on nice white paper. That way, the focus remains on your experience and skills.

For more tips on how to write your resume, check out our course on Building Your Resume, where we offer three FREE tutorials to get you started. We also have courses on Employment Search, Working to Get Hired, and Job Interview Success, all to get you on your way toward finding and landing your dream job!

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Easy-to-Use Methods for Problem Solving

Ever have a problem that you just could not figure out how to solve? Maybe it was work related—you and a coworker just couldn't seem to get along—or maybe the problem had to do with your personal life. Well now you can get some great insight and tips on how to resolve your problems, and reduce a little stress along the way.

Start by learning all about the different sources of conflict (I'm sure you can think of a few!). We offer three FREE tutorials to get you off and running toward solving those difficult problems that always seem to crop up in our daily lives.

Click on the picture for some great tips on problem solving.

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