Click here to listen to the podcast.

In today's business podcast, we will discuss more about the future of work and business with Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand.

It's great to get to discuss things with someone who has the same love for business, only from a corporate angle. The same information works for both of us, but for different reasons. Anna works mainly with people in corporations who want to keep their employees. I, of course, just want to brainstorm about how to make any and everything better!

What exactly is the future of work?

As Anna asked, does that infer that in the future, there will no longer be any work? We talk about how work and business have been redefined as the separation between global economies has disappeared, thanks to technology. The 9-5 Factory model no longer applies to economies that depend upon partnerships with people in vastly differing time zones.

You need people working around the clock to take care of international customers and timelines.

This means allowing people the flexibility to work at different times and places than have traditionally been accepted. Let them work from home or a "quiet zone", let them work odd hours and give them the freedom to choose when and where they will work best (given boundaries, instead of rules, as Anna so aptly put it).

Businesses also need to realize that the motivation for employees to work is normally more than financial.

I was once actually told, "You are not here to think, you are here to do whatever I tell you to do!". Yes, morons like that unfortunately DO exist in middle management - which is why I work for myself now. (smile). If you want to totally rip any and all motivation from an employee, tell them they don't have the right to be creative, or think for themselves, or have any input to solutions. Also, make sure they have no responsibility for anything important, and if they do something well, don't give them any credit.

The best employers remember that the employees want to have a life, with work being a rewarding part of it.

As Anna shared, there needs to be a LIFE/work balance, with the emphasis on LIFE. At different stages of an employee's life, they will have different needs and priorities. A divorce will mean one set of needs, a new marriage or the birth of a child, another set of needs. Staying in tune with the employee's needs is the key. I think this also applies to our associates and our clients - respect where they are at this point in their life and meet the needs they presently have.

Just a reminder to join Anna Farmery as she presents a great seminar about everything she did wrong podcasting over the past 2 years. (smile)

Anna will be one of our seminar leaders at the Online International Podcasting Expo. Join us on Friday and Saturday, April 20-21, 2007 for 35+ sessions, plus freebies galore. I hope to see you there!

Penny Haynes, 1st Podcast Publishing

---

Sallie Goetsch's link to a brainstorming website!

---

Links to my Future of Business brainstorms:
http://quikonnex.com/channel/item/18594
http://quikonnex.com/channel/item/19330

Click here to listen to the podcast.

In today's business podcast we will discuss Resevratol, the upcoming anti-aging drug that retards the diseases that come with old age.

The possible benefits of this molecule found in the skin of red grapes and is present in red wine are:

1. Keeps weight down
2. Wards off diabetes
3. Prevents cancer
4. Increases exercise endurance
5. Prevents Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases

This drug does not eliminate diseases - it slows the aging process and postpones the related maladies that accompany old age.

You will live longer and hopefully not experience the discomforts that occur at the end of life until the very end of your life. It mimics a calorie-restricted diet without having to follow a calorie-restricted diet. This is huge for everyone.

Can you believe that some people are AGAINST this?

If you don't want to hear me rant against morons, you should skip over this part of the Brain Storm! podcast. <smile> But some people think that this is a bad thing - messing with God's creation. However, when asked if the usage of antibiotics should have been discontinued when it was found to increase life expectancy, the skeptics couldn't respond. Huh.

So how can we apply this information to our business?

If you are going to be the go-to person for your clients, you want to be a contact who supplies them with helpful information for every part of their life. Help them keep their families healthy, and they'll love you forever.

Share whatever information you can to benefit your clients' lives in whatever format fits your business - ezine, audiozine, podcast, postcard.

Show them you recognize that they are human beings first and clients second, and that you are not only interested in them for the money they will spend on you. You can even sign up as an affiliate for a program that is bona fide and really works (I suggest you check it out yourself first) and transparently share with them what it has done for you and your family.

We're up to about 35 sessions at the Online International Podcasting Expo by now, with Podcasting Experts and Celebrities from around the world!

You can see the latest seminar & speaker listing at http://www.InternationalPodcastingExpo.com. The prizes and freebies are stacking up as well, so I'm excited about all the goodies we will be giving away - including some I'll have to ship out to you with your data DVD of all of the recorded podcasting seminars! So, until next week...

Penny Haynes, 1st Podcast Publishing & Women In Business Podcast Directory

Click here to listen to the podcast.

In today's business podcast, we will discuss what makes an employee stay in a job, and how Google does it in such flamboyant fashion.

Google is the number 1 company to work for, according to Fortune magazine. No wonder, since they offer free food and a host of free services to them! Google is supposedly such a great place to be, that even people who DON'T work there stop by and loiter.

Chicken or the Egg: Are Google Employees lavished with gifts and services because the company is so rich, or is the company so rich because they lavish the Employees with freebies?

I've seen it personally. When a business has money to spare, they can afford to offer Employees luxuries, like tuition reimbursement and more sick days. But when business turns bad, everything gets taken away - along with the great attitude everyone once had. Could the same thing happen to Google?

What is Google doing right to retain employees that WE can do to retain associates and employees?

1. They treat employees as people, recognizing their human needs and attempting to meet them instead of punishing them for having them.
2. They encourage and reward innovation, believing that their employees' ideas could be their next great project.
3. They make the work environment so comfortable, people actually don't want to leave it.
4. They attempt to remove all of the reasons why people can't come to work by providing all of those things on-site.

You can listen to the business podcast to hear all of what they do (which is incredible, to say the least), but I love the fact that you can do your laundry, visit a doctor for free, get your oil changed, and more - at work. Now, even if you are sick, you can still come to work - just to see your doctor!

I brainstorm about ideas that we can all apply to our own businesses in order to make the people we work with - associates, employees AND clients - feel as though they are appreciated, important and valued.

It doesn't take much, just the desire to do it, and a little brainstorming. You might even help your clients get more business along the way. Wouldn't that make them love you even more? <smile>

We're ramping up for the April 20-21, 2007 Online International Podcasting Expo - I'd love to see you there.

We have a line up of 30 seminars, with more to be scheduled, so it should be a great time for all. We meet in audio/visual conference rooms, talk, learn, and network. All you need is an internet connection and a headset microphone (or just speakers if you only want to listen and not participate verbally).

Next week, we'll talk about some other companies that make working for them a dream. Until then, start putting some of those dreams into action. Work on just ONE idea this week!

Penny Haynes, 1st Podcast Publishing & Digital Business Books

Click here to listen to the podcast.

In today's business podcast, we will discuss Microsoft's Vista, Second Life and Hannah Montana, and what business lessons we can learn and apply from all three of them.

Have you seen the Apple commercials making fun of Vista lately? Just to funny. But oh so appropriate. The article I read on the internet stated that Vista may be great in the future, but you should wait until you get a new computer before you venture there.

Ask PC why you should wait for Vista - according to Apple, it's like making your computer undergo serious surgery.

Why does this not surprise me, as anything Big Brother Microsoft wants to do, it does, without asking the customer. Sure, go ahead and upgrade. Nothing will work right without having to reformat, reboot, rebuild and re-install everything - without the promise that anything will work THEN.

That leads us to IE7, and Big Brother Microsofts forceful suggestion (actually forced upgrading from 6 to 7) - could they find any more ways to alienate customers???

Oh, yes, they could - they could NOT give you IE if you don't have a genuine copy of Windows on your computer. Uh, what do they think was on my Dell computer when I purchased it? Mac operating system? If my computer crashes, and someone else fixes it, and they install a version of the OS on my computer, Microsoft will never play with me again. It wasn't enough that I paid for it once with my computer. Now I have to pay for it again? I don't think so.

Then there's Second Life - reminiscent of the Sims, and being copied by Disney for Hannah Montana fans.

Virtual reality is coming at us, but it's a little hard to load, and causes computer crashes. As the Forbes article mentions, a lot of people check Second Life out, but few come back (me being one of those people at this point). I know you will be surprised to hear this, but I don't use the internet for fun - only business. So if it's not productive, even for networking, it's not really worth it for me. I do have hopes for it, though. I actually bought a year's membership, so I can build something.

Is Miley Cyrus destined to follow the ruinous footsteps of Lindsay Lohan and Brittany Spears?

No one can say as of yet, but Disney is definitely helping her chart a course into a virtual reality world. They are introducing virtual reality worlds to children, so teen and adult versions can't be far behind. This is probably the way that business will be conducted in the future as well - you'll hear my thoughts on that later.

So, I definitely get on a roll this week, but you'll have to listen in to find out about what. <smile>

In the meanwhile, for any of you women business owners, please check out my new "home away from home", the Women In Business Podcast Directory. If you are a woman entrepreneur with information for other women entrepreneurs, please bring your expertise, articles, blogs and podcasts, and join us. Any questions, just contact penny@1stpod.com, ok?

Penny Haynes, 1st Podcast Publishing & Women In Business Podcast Directory