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Honor Bankers Continue to Volunteer for Relay for Life
The Luminaria Ceremony
Honor Bank has been involved with the Relay for Life since 2004. Our own Cheryl Milliron has been team captain for the past 3 years. Benzie County 's relay takes place at the Elberta Waterfront Park the second weekend in August. Teams from the area set up on Friday evening and/or early Saturday morning. The relay runs for 24 hours from Saturday morning at 10am to Sunday morning at 10am. Each team has members that walk the track at the park for the 24 hours and keeps track of the laps walked. The individuals often get sponsors to donate per lap walked and the entire team may also get a sponsor to donate per lap.
This year , the Honor Bank relay team raised approximately $2,000! All funds go to the American Cancer Society to help with the fight against cancer.
If you were one of our many customers who donated money to this worthwhile cause, "Thank You!" |
Take Five
5 Tips on Teaching Employees to "Own" Their Work | Include them in long- and short-term planning efforts.
Ask for their input on projects for which they are held responsible.
Include them on top-level discussions, conferences and meetings when appropriate.
Allow them to byline the work they wrote or to speak at the presentation they helped prepare.
Help them to become more vested in the work by asking for their opinion. Ask what, if anything, should be done to make the next project easier.
Source: SCORE |
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Exploration and the Risk of Failure
People seem to be in one of two categories:
- Those who seek stability, affiliation, work worth doing and the assurance it (whatever it is) will be okay.
- Those who explore, need to know that failure is an option and quest to make a dent in the universe.
You can be in either category, the world needs and rewards both. But pick a brand and a job and a posture that matches your category, or you'll fail, and be miserable until you do.
Hint: there is no category of: "does risky exploration, never fails." By Seth Godin
[blogmailfromseth@yahoo.com] |
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MEMBER FDIC | EQUAL HOUSING LENDER |
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Positive Economic News
New Home Building Up
WASHINGTON | Tue Aug 17, 2010
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home building increased at a much weaker pace than expected in July, though sturdy growth in industrial output implied the embattled economy has enough strength to keep growing.
Tuesday's mixed batch of data also showed a tick up in producer inflation last month, which some analysts said helped ease concerns of a damaging downward spiral of falling prices amid an ebb in momentum in recovery from the longest and deepest downturn since the 1930s.
Worries of deflation and a double-dip recession have dominated investor sentiment in recent weeks, but economists generally believe the fears are being overplayed. Read the full story HERE. |
 Ron Jarosz, Executive VP, Senior Lender
It seems that every time you hear a news report today we are once again reminded about the negative issues that continue to weigh down efforts for economic recovery. In addition, we have politicians and other "so called" experts looking to place blame and talk about the problems, but not offering real solutions. Historical measures to improve economic recovery, such as raising interest rates to control inflation and providing various forms of incentives may not work in today's environment. We are dealing with a very complex environment with a multitude of factors. Make no mistake, there is no one facet to blame for the condition of today's economy, it has evolved from years of individuals, businesses and corporate giants trying to maximize profits for today and not worrying about the long term impact of "today's" decisions. Unfortunately, instead of pockets of economic strain, we are dealing with a nation-wide and global economic strain. The ripple effect is that many innocent people have been affected negatively through wage reductions, lower real estate values, and a lack of employment opportunities. We need to accept that things are not going to be the way they used to be. We are not going to see a magical economic salvation. Nevertheless, things will improve and as individuals and business owners we need to take the experience of today's challenges and use that knowledge to establish strategies to build a strong foundation for how we will conduct ourselves in the future and insure continued viability. As Americans we may be kicked, but we are never down. We always fight back and we will come out of this smarter and stronger.
Sound business practices have always been an important ingredient to the success of Honor Bank. Just like you, we are looking at how we do business to make sure we remain fundamentally sound and equipped to be your bank in the future. We are committed to be there for our customers tomorrow, just as we have been there for them since 1917. |
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News You Can Use
Work Smart: Must-Have Mobile Apps for the Road Warrior By: Gina Trapani Work Smart: Brainstorming
If you've got a smartphone that can run apps like the iPhone, BlackBerry or an Android phone, you've got a pocket computer--and when you're on the road, you want to load up on the apps that can help you get where you need to go and stay organized on the way. Here are some of the best mobile apps for business travelers.
TripIt is a fantastic itinerary organizer that requires zero data entry. Here's how it works. Register for a free account at TripIt.com. Then, when you book your flight, hotel, or rental car online and you receive a reservation confirmation email, forward that email to plans@tripit.com. TripIt automatically parses out the important information from the email--dates, flight #'s, addresses, and phone numbers--and it creates a trip itinerary for you and includes directions from the airport to the hotel, and the weather forecast of your destination city on the dates you'll be there. You can share your TripIt itineraries with your spouse or with your assistant, and discuss trip details with co-travelers in the itinerary's comments area. When you're on the road, TripIt mobile app for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android phones, makes all your travel information available in a single view. It's indispensable when you're in an unfamiliar city and need to quickly look up your hotel's address.
Speaking of unfamiliar places, several mobile apps provide directions and business recommendations when you need a restaurant or taxi cab. Google Maps offers walking, driving, and public transit directions plus traffic and street view features on the iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Nokia, and Android phones. Review site Yelp can help you find the best reviewed restaurants, salons and bars in major cities, and is available as a mobile app on all the major smartphone platforms. Similarly, Where is a mobile app for smartphones like the Palm, iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android which helps you find businesses, and track and share favorites.
When you're on the go, you need a good way to capture bits and pieces of information easily. Evernote is a note-taking mobile application that lets you record voice notes, and scan in business cards and expense receipts by snapping a phone with your cameraphone. For more detailed expense tracking, try Xpenser, a mobile application that records information about expenses, mileage, and IOUs on a per client basis for easy reimbursements and tax records. If you don't have a smart phone, you can still use Xpenser via SMS. For example, you could text the words "Taxi 36 office to San Jose airport" to Xpenser to record that $36 travel expense.
Finally, turn your smartphone into a modem using a tethering application like PdaNet for the Palm, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, or Android. With your phone's data plan and PdaNet, you don't have to pay for Wi-Fi access at the hotel or airport to get your laptop online. Just connect your phone to your computer and Pdanet will get you on the internet using your mobile plan.
Before your next business trip, load up your smartphone with some of these great apps to make your trip easier and more productive. |
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