Below you will find a selection of the most recent entries from bloggers in our Work/Business section.
To view the entries from individual bloggers, click on the links below:
- Claire Doole - Claire Doole Communications
Claire is a former BBC correspondent and international spokeswoman who is passionate about helping people communicate with confidence. Since 2006, she has successfully trained hundreds of professionals in the art of presenting and public speaking, talking to the media, managing communications in a crisis, and writing for the web. In addition, she has coached C-level executives and public figures to give powerful TEDx and TED style talks in Europe and the Middle East. A Swiss and UK national, Claire trains and coaches in French and English.
- Elizabeth Ballin - Life Coach
As a long time member of the international community in Geneva, Elizabeth Ballin has been coaching adults and students from all parts of the world. She has coached business professionals, musicians/artists, couples, families and adolescents. She is a fully accredited Life Coach by the International Coaching Federation. Elizabeth Ballin, Life Coach
- Patrick Hoza - US Tax & Financial Services
Since 1990, Patrick has many years of experience with US individual expatriate taxation under his belt, including High Net Worth Individuals, streamline/voluntary disclosure filings and tax consulting, as well as working with large multinationals like Novartis, BP, Hewlett Packard and General Electric. He has extensive knowledge in serving both US expatriates and resident and non-resident aliens with their US tax-related issues. Patrick Hoza is a Tax Director at US Tax & Financial Services, with extensive experience in all aspects of Individual US tax and Expatriation, including Hight Net Worth Individuals and large multinationals.
Patrick started his career in 1990 in California, with Westpro Ltd., as a Senior Tax Consultant, then spent the middle part of his career working at KPMG and Ernst & Young. During his time with Ernst & Young, he worked and lived in Russia, France and finally Switzerland. He has gained a valuable working knowledge of the respective income tax regulations in all of these countries.
Patrick holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Colorado, is a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents and is a Certified Acceptance Agent.
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Melitta Campbell - Business Coach
Business Coach and Mentor with nearly 3 decades of business experience and a passion for helping women confidently build a business they love. She is also the founder of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Club and president of the Swiss Riviera Toastmasters Club in Montreux. Originally from Wales, she now lives in Montreux in a chalet she has renovated with her husband overlooking the Swiss Alps. - Sunita Sehmi - Walk The Talk
Founder of Walk The Talk, Sunita has been training, developing and now coaching Business Communication skills in both companies and educational establishments for over twenty years. She has a passion for helping people to maximise their potential and created Walk The Talk with the sole aim to drive each and every client to perform their best.
- Robert Harris- Forth Capital
With over 25 years experience working for some of the major financial institutions in the City of London, Robert is a founding partner of Forth Capital, the leading expat financial advisory company in Switzerland. Regulary quoted in newspaper articles and magazines, he is well placed to advise expats on a variety of financial issues that may arise during their time living in Switzerland.
- Debbie Croft - Croft Coaching
As the founder of Croft Coaching, Debbie has a passion for helping people overcome challenges, embrace change and live life to the full; with an ethos of “work hard, play hard”.
- Sarah Santacroce - Simplicity
A certified social media, internet marketing, and virtual event specialist, Sarah enjoys every aspect of small business marketing. Through her own business, Simplicity, it is her mission to help other small businesses and solopreneurs increase their visibility and use social media tools as part of their marketing strategy.
- Diana Ritchie - SSC Sàrl
A Director at Swiss Career Connections, Diana will provide you with some useful tips for job hunting.
Hello, Namste, Bonjour
Kindness
Kind·ness/ˈkīn(d)nis/
Noun: The quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.
A lot has been said about the importance of kindness at school, and later on in your personal life and at work. There is some well-documented evidence about the importance of kindness. Notably in the book “The Power of Nice: How to Conquer The Business World with Kindness” by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval, the authors support the idea that it pays to be nice at work and openly advocate that nice people finish first.
But how do we instil these values in institutions, organizations and schools? How do we communicate this message to staff and, in reality, where does the “be kind to others” crusade begin?
In a heart-warming article in the Harvard Business Review, Bill Taylor reminds us that small gestures can send big signals about who we are. He takes heed of the wise words of Jeff Bezos, (founder and CEO of Amazon.com) where in a lecture to Princeton students he advocates, “it's harder (and more important) to be kind than clever”…Mr Bezos clearly states that the lesson is that kindness begins in childhood and we are undisputedly modelled and influenced by the adults around us. And if we are lucky enough to have kind-hearted role models well that’s a real bonus in our future lives.
By Sarah Santacroce at Simplicity. Free image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I’m a big fan of LinkedIn Groups. But there’s not just LinkedIn who has groups. Facebook too ! In this post I’ll tell you how I participate in Facebook Groups & why I like them !
What Is a Facebook Group?
According to Webopedia, Facebook Groups are pages that you create within Facebook that are based around a real-life interest or group or to declare an affiliation or association with people and things.
Why Should You Join a Facebook Group?
Facebook Groups are great to stay connected with a group of people and friends to promote, share and discuss relevant topics. You can join a group for personal interest, or, as in my case, for professional reasons.
Two examples of groups that I’m a member of:
- A group of Social Media Specialists: on this group we share our expertise, learn from each other, help each other out & help promote each other’s businesses. I learn a lot from my fellow members who are other Social Media Enthusiasts from all over the world.
- A group of fellow Mompreneurs in my region: on this group I get to learn what other local business owners are offering, and can also promote my own services from time to time. What unites us is the fact that a) we are all mompreneurs and b) we are all local to the Geneva, Switzerland area.
Why I Like Facebook Groups
Let’s be honest here, we all spend time on Facebook every day. So it makes sense to be participating in groups on a platform where you check in daily anyway. Each time someone posts something on one of your groups, you also get a notification from FB. I also like the visual aspect of these groups. And the fact that you can message each group member individually !
Facebook Groups versus LinkedIn Groups
For my “Get More Coaching Clients With Online Marketing“course I created a LinkedIn Group for members to socialize, share experiences & ask questions. I could have chosen a Facebook group too, but LinkedIn seemed more appropriate in this case. I think the choice will depend on your audience. If you’re creating a group for Financial Analysts, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d say LinkedIn is better. To stay in touch with your college friends, I would choose Facebook…
Author's Bio
Sarah Santacroce is a certified social media, internet marketing, and virtual event specialist. She enjoys every aspect of small business marketing. It is her mission to help other small businesses and solopreneurs increase their visibility and use social media tools as part of their marketing strategy.
Sarah draws on 12 years of experience in Business Administration, in fields ranging from Employee Training to Public Relations at big and small companies. She became interested in Online Marketing and Social Media to promote her own business and after lots of research and numerous classes and webinars she is now offering that knowledge to other small- to mid-sized businesses who struggle to find their place on the web.
This article is the latest in a series of regular contributions that Sarah makes to her guest blog on knowitall.ch. You can see more articles from Sarah on her own website at: www.simplicityadmins.ch
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By David Cooper, Fund Advisers Europe
Plan for the future—that’s where you are going to spend the rest of your life!
Regardless of your age, retirement planning is essential in order to be prepared and comfortable in the golden years of life. Systematic and early retirement planning can reduce your financial burden during the post retirement years and help you plan for a carefree and financially secure post retirement life.
Expatriates are Vulnerable
Expatriates are vulnerable when it comes to saving for retirement. For an expat to be eligible for a state pension, they have to pay into it. But if they then move location they risk losing their contributions in the previous country. You can only take 25% of a UK pension as a UK tax-exempt lump sum; and on your death, the residual value of a UK pension is passed to the State rather than to your heirs.
How do I start planning for my retirement?
The sooner you start to plan and save, the more you will eventually have to retire with and the sooner you can stop worrying about your future. Decide how much income you require to live comfortably in your post-retirement years, determine how much you need to save regularly, starting today, to have the right amount. Then select the right retirement plan, which will help you meet your post-retirement requirements.
Photo by Simon Whitehead, www.threebythree.co.uk
Those of you like me, who are back from their sunny destinations, will understand my aching heart… longing to be back in the arms of carefree, mindless, fun- filled activities and basking in the glow of overall enjoyment overload.
But for now my vacances d’été seem like a distant memory etched somewhere in my mind. I am desperately trying to seize these moments (on an hourly basis :-) if only to convince myself that it was neither a dream nor a figment of my imagination!
But my holiday did not start as well as I had hoped and although it was a small hitch in the scheme of things (world poverty, the euro crisis and whether the Spice girls will indeed reform again) I was irritated and concerned….
By Sarah Santacroce at Simplicity. Free image courtesy of Renjith Krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
On my “13 Simple Techniques To Get More Leads with LinkedIn” webinar one of the participants asked:
“Should I accept invitations from people I don’t know?”
Good question. The more connections, the bigger your reach. So technically it’s a good business strategy to accept everyone’s invitation. But yet, I don’t recommend this approach. In this post I’m sharing:
My very personal LinkedIn Connections Strategy
“A contact only becomes a connection when there’s some kind of exchange between the two parties”. Click here to share this quote on Twitter
It’s not just a numbers game.
Yes, it’s true that your reach increases the more connections you have in your network. But just like on Facebook, the numbers alone won’t guarantee your success. Even though LinkedIn is a business network, don’t forget that “people do business with people”. So if you just have numbers in your network, and not real connections, you won’t get anything back from your marketing efforts.
So Sarah, what’s your LinkedIn Connections Strategy?
