Preparing for the Change in Seasons and the Next Quarter

The fall season is a time for change, both in scenery and in our goals and priorities. Warm, sunny weather turns into colder temperatures and more rain. It’s a time for preparation.

If you have a home or business, then it’s time to winterize and think about safety. It’s an opportunity to rake the rainbow of autumn leaves from the ground to avoid clogging the gutters and storm drain. If you live in northern climates, you may need to buy salt for when the sidewalks and roads freeze over with a layer of dangerous ice. It’s the season to check if your heater is working.

Fall is also a time to set goals for the year’s final quarter. Did you meet your income goals? If you have a business, will you achieve your financial goals for the year? For some businesses, it’s time to complete a wave of new hires before the end of the year. For startups that have been growing, it may be time to revisit the company operating procedures and rethink how they can scale and grow.

As the season changes, it’s time to look ahead to the upcoming year and set new goals. The past few months have seen rapid changes in prices and the economy. Will you need to change your budget for next year? Find a new job or ask for a raise at your current one? If you’re a freelancer or own a business, the fourth quarter is a time to revisit your marketing and branding for next year. Will your products and services be the same, or will you need to make some adjustments?

Like a squirrel in the fall, stockpiling for winter, we can take a moment during this season to reflect on what we need to do to prepare for the coming months.

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Fashion Trends, Virtual Meetings, and 3D Digital Projections

Fitness and comfort have influenced the fashion style of work from home (WFH). As technology continues to make working from home more commonplace, it won’t be as necessary to pack a suitcase for a business trip. In the near future, we could be going to work in a digital outfit.

Two years ago, when the world almost shut down because of the pandemic, WFH became a household word and began a trend that continues today. When that switch happened, many people became uncertain about what to wear for work.

Home was where you walked around in PJs, fuzzy slippers, or gym clothes. Were you expected to dress up in slacks and a shirt while working in your home office? People continued to dress the way they did for the office because it was familiar. Later, the fashion became a hybrid of styles. At virtual meetings, people wore business casual tops for the camera, and shorts or yoga pants for under the desk.

As the years continued, people accepted that the worlds of work and home could be blurred, and they showed up to virtual meetings wearing clothes that they could do housework in. Work-from-home fashion became more casual and influenced by sportswear.

For example, the fashion has become cardigans, sweatshirts in material that’s too nice for gym clothes, comfy dresses with pockets, and pants with a jogger waistline. These pants have a flat front and elastic back to like very casual slacks. 

Fashion continues to evolve. 

In the near future, video calls will be replaced with 3D digital projection. The technology will reduce travel costs – an important consideration with the rising cost of EVERYTHING from inflation. Consider the time saved from traveling to and from airports and the money saved on hotels and airfare!

In these futuristic meetings, your image is beamed from your location to the meeting location. Your image will be able to look around and interact with the people in the meeting room – you’ll be much more lifelike than in current 2D calls!

For the 3D projection to work, you will stand in a portal surrounded by cameras and microphones. However, you will need to dress up for the presentation (unlike a virtual meeting in which you only need to be presentable from the waist up).

We wouldn’t be able to shake hands or hug people during a virtual call yet, but we’re getting closer to that technology.

Perhaps the next advancement in virtual meetings and networking would be alternate projections. Just like our current capability to create virtual backgrounds, you will be able to roll out of bed with your PJs and project a pre-programmed image of yourself to your meeting.

There won’t be a need to dress up or check your appearance. Your pre-selected meeting outfit is ready to be projected with the press of a button. As technology advances, the possibilities are limitless.

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Quick Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills

Writing isn’t a skill you can perfect overnight (although it would be nice to meet a genie who can grant a wish to make this happen). The next best way to improve your writing skills quickly is by making small changes that will one day result in tremendous improvements in your writing skills.

For some tips on how to improve your writing skills fast, check out this previous blog post which includes resources and useful links.

Do Businesses Celebrate Occasions Too Early?

Have you noticed that before you have the chance to put away your beach gear and barbecue, Halloween decorations are already in the stores? Or have you found discount Halloween candy nearby the early Christmas promo items?

If you can’t remember which holiday is coming up, or you procrastinate over buying seasonal items, businesses seem to have made it their mission to remind you about the upcoming holidays.

Summer isn’t over yet, and you see back-to-school advertising. Time to take advantage of deals on school supplies and computers before the summer vacation has finished!

If you’re not yet feeling the autumn mood, maybe the pumpkin spice latte ads will get you thinking about Thanksgiving dinners with turkey and pumpkin pie. In the mood for some candy? Check out the deals on bulk Halloween candy on store shelves a month before Halloween.

Stores will remind you that Christmas is around the corner while your calendar still displays November on your wall. Remember you’ve got gifts to buy and decorating to do next month! businesses seem to say with their ads and displays.

Maybe this is how the idea of Jack Skellington from Halloween Town meeting Santa from Christmas Town came about – from Halloween and Christmas decor just a shelf apart in the store. 

Have you thought about simultaneously putting up your Halloween and Christmas decorations as a time saver? One time effort for two occasions. Scary gifts under the Christmas tree.

These early reminders can be both good and bad. You’re reminded to prepare for these upcoming expenses and how quickly time flies. Should you buy early? Or wait for the sale? Or, you could be just a window shopper and enjoy the displays and seasonal deals without touching your wallet. 

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5 Reasons to Travel for Work

One way to travel to new places for free: travel for work. All expenses are paid and you experience a new city or town that wasn’t on your bucket list. Of course, you may not be traveling under ideal conditions – you’ll be seeing your coworkers all day – but you may also find surprises.

If you’re dreading spending breakfast to bedtime with your coworkers, here are five reasons to look at the experience in a positive light.

1 Experience new places 

When you travel for work, you see places you wouldn’t otherwise travel to because you couldn’t think of a single reason why you’d like to go there. For example, going to a small town can be a shock if you’re from a big city with plenty of nightlife. You could find yourself going to the downtown core to do some sightseeing, only to find the place deserted by 7 p.m. 

On the upside, you could find yourself in a tiny village where the tourist highlight is the local coffee shop. If you dare to hike behind the school, you could find yourself in a wooded area, knee-deep in snow while taking in post-card views. You could run into wolves running next to people’s pet dogs or risk falling into a hole in a frozen lake while Skidoos pass you by.

2 Bond and see a new side of your coworkers

When you travel to a new place, you could be with your coworkers from morning until night, more than the usual eight hours a day. As you converse over breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you learn more about each other’s family, hobbies, and opinions. Learning about a coworker’s weekend adventures can be more entertaining than talking about work all day.

If you stay in the same cabin or housing, you also discover each other’s evening routine as you have tea together and chat. If you’re staying at a place without TV or internet, evenings can be entertaining or dull, depending if you prefer reading on your own or chatting with your coworker.

3 Learn technology skills

If you’re fascinated by TV shows where the main character has to create gadgets and solve problems on the fly, working in a new environment could give you a similar experience.

Your usual IT person isn’t around, so if you can’t find a file or your computer doesn’t connect to WiFi (even after you learn the WiFi password), you start to push the boundaries of your computer skills. Or you talk to your computer and beg it to please cooperate for once.

4 Practice speaking and networking skills

When you travel for work with coworkers, the experience is great for extroverts but nightmarish for introverts. You’re constantly socializing: talking with your coworkers during meals and meetings, networking with new people such as the host, the client, and anyone they introduce you to. 

During the day, you may be making presentations or conducting meetings and negotiations. In the evening, the host may become your tour guide and show you around the city. One memorable occasion was when I had dinner at a heritage home. We toured the house with its collection of unique door knobs, a clawfoot tub, and rooftop view.

5 Test your navigational skills

Starting from the moment you land, you’re searching your way through the airport to find your luggage and hope it’s also arrived safely and not lost during the connecting flight. Then you need to figure out how to find the transportation that will get you to your hotel while reading a map that is in your second language.  

In the evenings, you could ask the hotel concierge for a map of the city so you can explore it on your own or with a coworker. You might find yourself at a pop-up market on a cobblestone street, or hiking through the woods in your office clothes.

Key Takeaways

Traveling for work can be a memorable adventure. You’ll face new challenges in an unfamiliar environment and experience new places and meet new people. When you return to the office, you may be relieved to see your coworkers for only eight hours a day again, or you might have new topics to discuss when you meet at the water cooler.

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