50 years of Agent 007 and his rides on display in the UK

National Motor Museum, Beaulieu

The 50th anniversary of the first James Bond film—“Dr. No,” released in 1962, with Sean Connery as the secret agent—is being celebrated with two special exhibits, one with costumes, props and gadgets from the entire series of films, the other with more than 50 vehicles driven in them.

Both exhibits precede the November 9th U.S. release of the 23rd and latest Bond movie, “Skyfall," with Daniel Craig returning as Bond and Judi Dench returning as M, the head of the secret service. Also appearing in the film are Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem and Albert Finney.

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*MSNBC is not an affiliate of The Marketing Professionals

Small business confidence climbs to year-high

Its always great to hear when small businesses are booming. Check out this article we found on MSNBC regarding growth this year far small businesses.

U.S. small business confidence rose to a one year high in February as more owners reported plans to rebuild stocks after 56 months of inventory liquidation, hinting at a pick-up in domestic demand.

The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its optimism index increased to 94.3 last month - the highest reading since February 2011 - from 93.9 in January. It was the sixth consecutive month of gains.

Last month, 14 percent of the NFIB's 350,000 members reported an increase in inventories, up three points from January. The share of businesses still reducing stocks fell four points to 20 percent in February.

The figures are not adjusted for seasonal variations.

"This is good news for economic growth, as many firms will be ordering new inventory to satisfy customers who are gradually increasing in numbers," the NFIB said in a statement.

The NFIB survey adds to a list of data, including employment, to suggest the economy is now firmly in a self-sustaining growth phase.

Government data on Friday showed job growth exceeded 200,000 in February for a third straight month, with the unemployment rate holding steady at a three year low of 8.3 percent.

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Habits Bosses Love

Every boss wants employees who do their jobs well. But even among highly competent employees, practicing certain habits can really make you distinguish yourself. Here are 10 tips for making sure you're on the boss's A-list:

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Especially at the beginning of your relationship -- that is, when either you or the boss is new to the job -- err on the side of giving your boss too much information and asking too many questions.

Don't keep up the constant stream of communication unless your boss likes it, though. It's best to ask directly whether you're giving the boss enough information or too much.

Acknowledge What the Boss Says
Bosses appreciate "responsive listening," says John Farner, principal of Russell Employee Management Consulting. When your boss asks you to do something or suggests ways for you to improve your work, let her know you heard.

Collaborate
When your boss has a new idea, respond to it in a constructive way instead of throwing up roadblocks.

"Be willing to brainstorm ways to get something done," says Michael Beasley, principal of Career-Crossings and a leadership and career development coach.

Build Relationships
You'll make your boss look good if you establish a good rapport with your department's customers, whether they're inside the company or outside. Bring back what you learn -- about ways to offer better customer service, for example -- to your boss. This is also helpful for your own career development.

"Everybody wins in the long run," Adoradio says.

Understand How You Fit In
Is your boss detail-oriented, or someone who keeps his head in the clouds?

"The boss's personality is just incredibly important," says Norm Meshriy, a career counselor and principal of Career Insights.

Equally important is understanding what your boss wants in an employee. It may be, for example, that a boss who is detail-oriented will expect his employees to be as well. But a boss who has no time for details may actually appreciate an employee who does.

Learn the Boss's Pet Peeves
If your manager has said repeatedly that she hates being interrupted first thing in the morning, don't run to her office to give her a project update when you first get in.

Anticipate the Boss's Needs
Once you have worked with your boss for a while, you should be able to guess what information he will want before approving your purchase order, for example.

If you provide it ahead of time, "that's a gold star," Farner adds.

Think One Level Up
You still need to do your own job, of course. But when managers consider who deserves a promotion, they look for people who understand the issues that their bosses face.

Open Yourself to New Ways of Doing Things
When your boss comes to you with a new idea, don't simply dismiss it. If you don't think it will work, offer to discuss it further in "a mature, responsible, adult-like way," Beasley says.

Be Engaged in Your Work
Arguing with your boss over every request is not a good strategy, but neither is simply shrugging your shoulders and agreeing with everything your boss says. "The manager would like to see an engaged individual," Beasley says. That means both showing enthusiasm for your work and speaking up when you see room for improvement.

Continued Expansion with Corporate Trainer Promotions

Michael Savin is our newest Corporate Trainer. We are excited to promote him to see where his dreams can take this company. Michael sets his goals and standards high and is continually hitting those expectations! In a few years he hopes to be Financially Independent as well as a world traveler visiting China! His favorite food is Pizza and his favorite sports team are the New York JETS!

Congratulations Michael!

Daniel Comeau, Corporate Trainer

Congratulations to our newest corporate trainer, Daniel Comeau. Daniel has proven with his work ethic and dedication that if you have the right mentality anything is possible within this business. In the future he wants to become a manager within the company. His favorite food are BBQ Ribs and his favorite sports team is the NY Jets!

Congratulations...and one day with your hard work you will be able to make it to Brazil!

Recession Spawns New Breed of 'Accidental' Entrepreneurs

The Great Recession spawned a new breed of "accidental entrepreneurs" more driven by profits than passion, a new study finds. Unlike the majority of small business founders who launched their companies before the economy tanked in 2008, these new-wave entrepreneurs started their businesses out of pure necessity rather than a lifelong dream of "being their own boss." These agile, highly educated, tech-savvy and battle-tested business professionals are like circling "velociraptors" waiting to feast on the herd, one analyst said.

The companies formed by these accidental entrepreneurs are poised for explosive growth, particularly companies with 10 to 49 employees, and they are aggressively leveraging technologies such as cloud computing to fast-track their success, according to a survey of 305 IT business decision-makers at small to medium-size businesses (from three to 250 employees) conducted by Forrester Research on behalf of Symantec.

"These companies are born of the recession, are focused on the Internet and are finding addressable markets to dominate," Brian Burch,  VP of marketing communications for SMB and cloud, told BusinessNewsDaily. "They are less siloed, very agile, make their own decisions and are more independent than pre-recession founders. They are loaded to win in the market."

They're also candid about their focus on profit, the study found. More than half (54 percent) of the founders of small businesses launched in the dark days of the recession  consider their company a growth business with an exit strategy rather than a lifestyle business, which is 15 percent higher than pre-recession companies.

And their road to entrepreneurship is different, too. More than one-third of the founders of these companies came from a position in a large company with more than 500 employees. They are skilled professionals who are used to making a good living who need to reinvent themselves to maintain their standard of living — 35 percent left their employers due to the recession, while another 8 percent came from other accidental entrepreneur backgrounds, such as the newly "unretired" or returning military.

They're also more bullish than an earlier generation of entrepreneurs. Almost half of the businesses spawned during the recession expect to double their number of employees in the next two years and three-quarters expect revenue to grow more than 10 percent. By comparison, only 12 percent of companies founded before 2008 expect to double employees. It's the same story with revenue predictions. Only 39 percent of the companies founded pre-recession expect to grow revenues by more than 10 percent.

While the study found that all small businesses are aggressively adopting cloud storage and backup, the companies founded by accidental entrepreneurs are doing so at a faster pace. They are also more likely to acquire consumer technology at retail and then modify it as their needs become more complex.

The growth of these companies will come at the expense of less technically confident, less agile and less-connected small business owners, the survey predicts.

"They're like velociraptors," Burch said."Survival of the fittest is a proven paradigm."

Just as profit has replaced passion in the hierarchy of needs for these accidental entrepreneurs, don't expect them to innovate their way to success. As a group, they will be focused more on optimization than trailblazing.

"They're going to execute the playbook better and faster than anybody else," Burch said. "The definition of entrepreneurship is going to change over the next 10 to 20 years."

This article was written by Ned Smith at CNBC, not an affiliate of The Marketing Professionals

How to Set Goals

The 2 Types of Goals

1. Outcome-Based Goals

Outcome-based goals are things like “I want to lose 10 pounds by 4^th of July” or “I want to ship my ebook by the end of the month.”  Your goal is based solely on the outcome you are seeking – but there is nothing about HOW you are going to get there. I love outcome-based goals, and they tend to be the ones we dream about, but they are also trickier to succeed as you don’t have direct control over whether you will achieve it or not.

2. Behavior-Based Goals

Behavior-based goals are the intermediate goals that help us achieve our outcome-based goal. Whether you achieve them or not is based solely on whether you put the time in. For example, if you want to lose 10 pounds by the 4^th of July, you probably need to make some changes to your diet, exercise, sleep habits, stress levels, etc. In this case, you might say that you need to do 30 minutes of exercise 5 times per week, sleep at least 7 hours per night, and completely eliminate refined carbs – all goals that you can choose to accomplish or not.

Both types of goals are super-valuable, and I think they pack a powerful one-two punch when used together. You choose an outcome-based goal, and then establish your behavior-based goals that support accomplishing your outcome-based goal.

The S.M.A.R.T Way to Set Goals

Time and time again, I see people fall down on making their goals S.M.A.R.T. But it’s a really sensible model to use – providing a great framework for helping tame that ambition and increase the odds of letting you cross that goal off your bucket list (or even your weekly to-do list).

• Specific: You need to have a specific goal. For example, I want to complete my ebook by the end of the month.
• Measurable: How long is that ebook going to be (either word count or pages)? While you may not know specifically how long it will be until you write it, you probably already have a sense of whether it’s a 30-pager or a 100-pager. Setting a measurable number is critical for keeping you on track.
• Attainable: Is it actually possible to complete your goal in the timeframe specified? If it’s 100 pages and you have 7 days left in the month; that probably isn’t attainable. Look at your calendar and what else is going on in your life and determine what sort of commitment you can make to the goal. Better to revise the target than to miss it.
• Relevant: Is the goal you are setting actually important to you or your larger goals? There is nothing wrong with pursuing a passion just because, but it’s important to acknowledge that in your goal-setting because right now might not be the time to be pursuing this specific goal.
• Time-Bound: You need an end date. In the case of our ebook, we have an end date of the end of the month for the outcome-based goal, and our behavior-based goal may be to write 1,500 words per day.

Goal-Setting Leads to Project Management

The funny thing about goal-setting is that it’s really not that much different from projectmanagement.

• In project management, our outcome-based goal is to implement the project successfully.
• The behavior-based goals are the work back plans.
• The S.M.A.R.T. component is enforced by the project manager who has to appropriately “load” his or her resources – you can’t be in meetings 6 hours a day andcomplete two 4-hour deliverables each day.

So the next time you have an audacious goal to chase, put on your project management hat (or hit up your favorite project manager friend) and get them to help you lay out a plan.

How do you set goals? Do you use the two types of goals together?