Tonight at 7pm, President Obama will address a joint session of Congress to lay out a jobs package estimated to be worth more than $300 billion dollars.  Obama will present tax cuts for middle-class families and businesses; these cuts are the cornerstone of his plan and will push for new spending to repair roads, bridges and other deteriorating infrastructure to help create jobs and improve our country’s worsening substructure...

The Basso Business Building Program features a unique format where we work with business owners and professionals to provide them with a formula for success through focused planning, strategic goal setting, weekly consulting sessions and candid video updates of their progress.  Brian Fagan of All Boro has been working diligently with the Basso on Business team to make changes in every aspect of his professional life in order to achieve his goals. This week Brian focused on keeping his thoughts positive and upbeat in all situations that may arise as opposed to immediately seeing each situation in a negative light.  Brian took the time to really focus on each challenge that came up this week and concentrate on keeping his thoughts constructive and optimistic.  This allowed him to turn each situation into a positive opportunity while keeping his stress level down and remaining focused on his weekly goals without being distracted by the challenges that came up.

Check out the video for Brian’s candid thoughts and make sure to leave your comments and suggestions. Make sure to tune in each week for new updates from Brian and the Basso on Business team.   

By Nancy Friedman

We all know we've left companies due to poor service. And we know, too, there are more than five unforgivable customer service mistakes. These, however, have been culled together from the many emails and comments we received over the years.

While it's all common sense - we know that common sense is not all that common. So we continue to share this information with you in the hopes we can make some inroads around the world.

1.  Not being friendly

Without exception, this is the number one customer service mistake. Customers should be treated as welcomed guests when they call or visit your business. As we've all experienced, sometimes we're treated as an annoyance or an interruption. Remember the Telephone Doctor motto: "Be friendly before you know who it is...."

How often do you receive advice about your business that you don’t take literally? Many of us discuss our business plans with consultants, business coaches, other local business owners, and family but it takes a special type of person to take the advice and essentially apply it to their business. At Basso on Business, we would like to highlight particular individuals who not only listened to the recommendations we presented them but took action! Our “Actions in Action” blog will quote our past featured business owners of 2010 and prove that when you act on advice and forge forward, positive change will flourish...

Employees are receiving a surprise raise and may not even realize it. There have been changes made to employee payroll tax/social security tax rate which will put some extra cash in many pockets. Americans can use the extra money to stimulate the economy, lord knows we need it.  Take a look at the clip below for some further detail about this “surprise raise...”

As I watch the snow rapidly fall outside my window, I feel my appointments for the day grinding to a screeching halt as the roads slush up and traffic gets worse.  Faced with some newly empty hours ahead, I’m going to utilize my time to dust off my to-do list and see if I can get the jump on a few tasks that I never seem to finish...

A few months ago Gap introduced their new logo. Their branding effort was met with tons of controversy, most of which was negative.”  And most recently Starbucks revamped their logo to drop the words coffee and was met with a similar backlash when they introduced their new logo. The internet lit up with chatter on the heels of the campaigns. What does this all mean? People have the ability to get very invested in brands and voice their opinions whether good or bad.

With the rise of social media, blogs, review sites, there’s little room for businesses no matter what the size to ignore their audiences.  One of the most important lessons we must understand in dealing with brand recognition and management is that there always must be a steady flow of two-way communication. What better way to find out what’s best for your business than hearing what your audience has to say? Like it or not, with today’s technology, everyone has a voice...

It’s no big secret that you need to exercise if you plan on living a long and healthy life. But what about having a long-lasting and healthy business? I’ve got a pretty regimented work out routine with Matt Basso from Iron Lotus Personal Fitness and I’ve seen the effects that it has had from a business perspective first hand.

Exercise is all about discipline and motivation. Discipline to begin a program, discipline to stay on track when we’ve only done it a few times and discipline to continue that same workout in the upcoming weeks or months...

Literally calling on prospects when it's cold outside builds character and could win you some pain and suffering points. There is a blizzard going on here in Long Island; wind blowing, chilling temperatures and almost two feet of snow in some places.

I don't recommend going out in a blizzard, but why not get some phone calls done and leave a smart message referencing why you're calling and the crazy weather conditions. You can get silly if you must. It can brighten someone's day and show your tough as nails work ethic....

Our company along with twenty other companies participated in the Action Long Island Wellness Challenge where we implemented Healthy Work Programs, scheduled educational “Lunch and Learn” seminars and participated in the American Heart Association’s Online Health Tracker Program.  The program ended in November but that didn’t stop us from continuing to promote wellness throughout the company....

I almost feel like singing “Kumbayah” after the Working Lunch with Rob Reunion held this past Friday. We were not sitting around a campfire recounting the triumphs of a day at summer camp, but rather rallying around our common business issues and challenges to help our local community and colleagues prosper.  It felt like the over 200 entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals in attendance were truly connected to each other and their community through the sharing that took place.  Each featured business owner made such great progress in moving their operations forward that it was truly inspirational to everyone present.  Now how do we keep that warm and fuzzy feeling going when you are not in a room packed with motivated individuals?...