Now that the summer months are upon us, my husband, Jehiel Eugean Taylor, who is a skilled artist and educator is offering low cost graphic design for my valuable customers.

Now offering eBook covers for only $25 each!

Custom designed in Photoshop by a Master-degreed Artist and Illustrator!

Give your eBook a fresh new look with a beautiful custom designed eBook cover and graphics.

*** PLEASE CLICK ON 'WRITING SAMPLES' TAB ABOVE FOR MORE AND RECENTLY PUBLISHED WORK ***

Web Content/Forum Posts:

"Companies that use personality tests as part of the hiring process"

The Human Resources sector uses a lot of tools when evaluating candidates for different jobs. They use things like skills testing, resume review and behavioral interviewing. Nowadays, many companies also use Personality Tests to determine if a particular candidate will be able to handle the psychological and ethical demands of the job. These tests can range anywhere from straight IQ or aptitude tests to determining an individual’s tendency to think or act a certain way under certain circumstances. I’ve both taken and administered personality tests and it’s amazing how much one can tell about someone just from this exercise. Do you think that companies should use personality tests as part of the hiring process? Why or why not?

"HR using Social Networks to Learn More About Job Applicants"

Being a Human Resources professional, I am always talking with and hearing from my peers about how they look for and screen job candidates. One of the things that has come up in the past few years, since the advent of social networking sites, is how some HR Recruiters use that as a means to learn more about the personal side of their applicants. For me, I think it is an intrusion into someone's personal life; something that is not acceptable when reviewing a candidate's qualifications. Under the guidelines established by employment laws, when a HR person calls to get a reference they can only ask three things: verification of their employment dates, title (or general duties) and if they are eligible for rehire. Even then, any work-related information must be attained via a consent form signed by the applicant, not covertly by looking at somebody's Myspace or Facebook page! What do you think about this?

"What Are Some Hot Work at Home Jobs Now?"

Just like many Americans, my search continues for a good work at home job that can replace my full time outside the home job. Every day, I comb through the various work at home websites, forums and job search sites looking for who may be hiring. Naturally, I'm seeing trends in certain types of jobs that I'd like to share. HOT work at home jobs:

Medical Transcriptionists and Coders- there are a ton of jobs available for healthcare information managers. As the Baby-Boomers, elderly Americans who are living longer and our war veterans add to the already burdened healthcare system, the Medical field is growing in leaps and bounds! I see adds everywhere I look for qualified Medical Transcriptionists and Coders.

Telemarketers - businesses are doing what they can to drum up more sales leads so they are hiring telemarketers by the bushel. These jobs typically pay well with incentives like commissions.

Customer Service Reps - many large firms are seeing the value of letting their customer service people telecommute so there are more jobs available than ever, many with good pay and benefits.

Recruiters - thanks to a shortage of good candidates in many professions, there are job adds everywhere looking for Recruiters to find these people. These jobs are often commission only, but the rates are excellent.

"Top Ten Ideas to Make Money on eBay"

I stumbled across eBay a few years ago as a great way to earn some extra money from home whilst trying to get ready for my wedding. I had fun looking for decor and other items that we needed on our very moderately budgeted dream wedding. At one point, however, ran low on funds so I started selling things I had around the house. So without further ado, here are my Top 10 Ideas:
1. Stick with items that are light or small = lower shipping costs & less shipping materials needed.
2. Look for trends on what's selling best by reviewing the items that are posted on the main eBay page. Items that are in season or hard to find items are the key to making profits. 3. Compare what others are asking for similar items and start there when pricing.
4. Take good quality photos with clean eye-appealing backgrounds. Ads with pictures sell 85% better!
5.Pre-write your ads ahead of time, then cut and paste into the template; saves time as posting can be a long process.
6. Sell only quality items, free of cigarette smoke, stains, pet hair, or fading. If you sell nice items, people will come back.
7. Be open to buying wholesale then selling for an even higher profit - there are great wholesale groups to be found on Yahoo Groups - join them to get more ideas and post messages with links to your ads.
8. When completing transactions, ship quickly upon payment and leave reasonable feedback for your buyers.
9.Always use Paypal /Money orders as a payment method and never accept personal checks!
10. Have fun and remember what you put into it you will get out of it!

Articles:

"How to avoid discrimination in hiring practices"

One of the biggest challenges that any HR/Hiring Manager has to face is avoiding discrimination in hiring practices. Once you know and understand all the federal laws pertaining to anti-discrimination in the workplace, you get the overall picture of what to consider when making recruitment and hiring decisions. For example, under the Civil Rights Act IV exist the EEOC/ADA laws that prohibit discrimination of anyone on the basis of sex, race, religion, age or disability status. So when someone applies for a job, you cannot consider those factors in making a hiring decision. However, sometimes there are situations that managers have to be mindful of, such as a candidate that complains that no one will hire them because of one of the above characteristics. The best thing to advise is that you will accept their application, keep it on file for a period of 1 year and if a position comes in that matches their skills, you will contact them. Convey that you will consider them right along with all other applicants so they understand you treat everyone as equal. It is also vital to have a formal process for recording the recruitment and hiring process, such as having an Affirmative action plan in place. Keeping a written record of job ads and the people who apply, who is interviewed under each protected classification and who is hired is key to managing this process in compliance with EEOC/ADA laws.

“Five Direct Mail Tips”

A direct mail campaign can be a very effective marketing tool for organizations of any size to get the word out to consumers about important events, new products and services. Many businesses, for profit and non-profit alike, send out eye-catching postcards, emails or flyers. While this method of marketing is a direct and generally unsolicited approach, it will reach more people than relying on word-of-mouth from your current customer base. This method of marketing can also target a certain demographic to increase awareness of a particular service being offered. When done correctly, a business will reap the rewards of this form of marketing soon after a campaign launches. To aid you in your next direct mail campaign, here are five direct mail tips for success:

1. Know who you want to target. This is very important considering that before you invest all that time and money, you want to design your marketing materials that will catch the attention of the folks you want to become your newest customers.
2. Make use of public domains to reach an even bigger audience. In today’s world, people are making best of their time by creating personal web spaces on such sites as “MySpace”, “Face-book” and “Linked-In” to keep in touch with family and friends or networking with colleagues. Seek out and get to know your way around these social portals. You can then develop your campaigns to attract consumers based on the trends found there.
3. Make sure all marketing materials include fresh, eye-catching graphics and catch phrases. You don’t need to be an experienced Art Director to create colorful materials. There are many sources out there to find royalty-free graphics, including doing simple searches on Google or Yahoo. Include catch-phrases that convey clearly what your want to your audience to know about your organization.
4. Keep track of who you are sending your materials to. A simple database can be created to not only track contact information, but to measure your return on investment. Do people from certain parts of town or certain industries respond to your campaign? This gives you someplace to start for the next campaign.
5. Follow up. Sure you can send out the flyers and emails, but are you following up with the inquiries you get afterwards? Ask customers how they heard about you. Get their opinions and feedback, whether positive or negative, you need to know this if you want to be even more effective the next time around.

Overall, the key thing to remember with any direct mail campaign is to take advantage of all the tools that are out there and track your results. Over time, you will find what works best for your organization.

“Time Saving Blogging Tips”

Blogging, a popular form of online journaling, is becoming a regular past-time of many people from all ages and backgrounds. From teens to working adults to grandparents, people all over the world are sharing their unique points of view via the World Wide Web. Some are even making money online by posting advertising links or affiliate websites on their blogs. Whether you are blogging for fun or to make a few extra dollars, here are some time-saving tips you can use to manage a blog: First of all, find a blog host site that is easy to navigate to create a simple blog. You don’t have to be a website guru to build a simple and easy to read blog. Most services offered by the free blog hosting sites are user-friendly and offer step by step building tools to get you started. Within minutes, you can have your own blog to share with family and friends. Write your blog posts in advance and store them in a MS Word file on your desktop. That way you can post quickly to your blog when you are on a break from your normal daily routine. It also gives you the opportunity to proof-read and make sure the information is not too personal to post for all to see. Save your favorite sites to your blog for easy access when you go online. This saves you time from having to hunt them down in your browser’s favorites list. You can even categorize them in smaller lists so they are just a click away. Some favorite sites may include other blogs, family picture websites or online magazines. What a great way to save time by reading them online! Subscribe to your blog(s) on public domain sites like Myspace or Google bookmarks. Again, this creates a one-stop-shop for all of your blogs and favorite websites so that you can easily get to them and save time from trying to find them later for updates and changes. Most of all, have fun with your blog. Be sure to visit the blogs of others to get great ideas to write about.

“Steps to Launching a Successful Newsletter Campaign”

Newsletter campaigns are not a new concept in the business of marketing. However, since we live in the digital age, this method of spreading the word about products and services has taken on a new twist. Smart website developers have created online newsletter campaigns, another form of email marketing, to let consumers choose what information they want to get in their inbox. This gives the consumers more control over what they want to read about and the newsletters don’t end up in the trash or spam bin. So how can you launch a successful newsletter campaign for your organization?

Step One: Research which websites you want to promote your newsletter. Find popular websites and social networking portals that share the same values as your organization. You want to reach the people who frequent these sites so remember what the website promotes has an impact on the message your newsletter is trying to convey.

Step Two: Carefully plan out and manage the Search Engine optimization that will bring consumers to your newsletter. What keywords will help people find your website and newsletter?

Step Three: Create an interesting, eye-catching and informative newsletter that is not too lengthy that people won’t take the time to read it. There are many sources for graphics on public domain sites. Find images that represent your organization and it’s values, but at the same time add some humor. You want people to look forward to getting your newsletters, not send them to the spam folder.

Step Four: Accept comments and feedback from consumers about what they’d like to see or read about in your newsletters. You may even want to include contests or accept submissions of emails or images from your subscribers. People love to see something about them in print!

Step Five: Track web traffic to evaluate how many people hear about your newsletter and how many sign up. If traffic is low, use networking sites and forums to direct traffic to your websites and newsletters. Use graphical links that will send people right to your website or newsletter signup with one click.

Overall, as with any marketing campaign, taking the time to research consumers and look for trends before establishing a newsletter program will save a lot of time and aggravation later on.

All written works creative property of Taylor Resources LLC 2008 These works may not be reproduced or copied without authorization and written permission of the author, Tess C. Taylor