CAT FOOD
Sneaky Feeding
Is a customer having trouble transitioning her cat to raw food? Tracey Rentcome of Bones2Go in Houston, TX, shares this advice: “Be as sneaky as they are. ‘Accidentally’ drop a little on the floor by their dish.” For customers who also have a dog, she suggests dropping the raw cat food by the dog’s dish. “Cats love to steal from dogs.”
POSTURE
2-Second Fix
Your parents were right: Stop slouching. “If you take on a collapsed position, it really shifts the physiology,” Erik Peper, a professor of health education at San Francisco State University, told Bloomberg, adding that tests have shown that slouchers’ testosterone levels go down, cortisol levels go up, and they have more helpless thoughts. Luckily, the opposite happens when you sit up, stretch or even better, skip on the spot for just 10 seconds. People can’t sit or stand at attention all day, though, so pick your battles, says Peper.
On their sidewalk chalkboard, Green Spot offers a free treat for any pet whose name is featured that day.
PROMOTIONS
Feeling Lucky?
The Green Spot in Omaha, NE, has a cool promo we just had to share. On a chalkboard sandwich sign (and, of course, on social media channels), The Green Spot folks have a daily offer of a free treat for any pet whose name is featured that day. It keeps folks checking back and gives them a reason to pop in, if they happen to be one of the lucky ones.
INNOVATION
Failure Wall
If risk-taking, innovation and transparency are habits you want to promote in your business, you may want to consider a “failure wall” — a flat space preferably in your back room where you and staff can share your “growth lessons” with each other. “Something magical happens to failure when it’s openly acknowledged,” writes business author Jeff Stibel in a column for Bizjournals.com. “Paradoxically, it becomes less of a big deal. The idea of failure is often the elephant in the room that no one wants to mention.”
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STAFF
Write at the End of a Day
Is your staff is showing signs of stress? Ask them to do this simple act: Spend 10 minutes at the end of the day writing about three things (work related or personal) that went well that day. According to a report in the Harvard Business Review, a University of Florida study found that such a gratitude exercise lowered stress levels and physical complaints by roughly 1percent.
SELF WORTH
Cross It Off
If you use a to-do list to guide your task choices through the week, leave your “done” items at the top as you knock them off, suggests productivity website Lifehacker. The feeling of accomplishment will help you get through other items over the course of the week.
ONLINE
This Email Will Self-Destruct
Ever wanted an email address that you could discard like a pair of disposable chopsticks? 10 Minute Mail (10minutemail.com) is for you. The service sets you up with a self-destructing email address that expires in — yep — 10 minutes. Your temporary inbox works just like regular email, allowing you to forward and respond to messages, and you can add extra time if 10 minutes isn’t quite long enough. Whitepaper downloaded, anonymous comment posted, whatever — once you’re done, pull the pin and walk away.
HYGIENE
Oral Exam
Need a break from the sales floor? Take a dental hygiene break (brush gently, floss, rinse): “It can do wonders for your mood,” says online business publication, Quartz.