General Business

How do you design a hybrid workplace? Better yet, how do you create an office space that invites your employees to reengage with in-person meetings while still providing the support and flexibility of a work-from-home schedule? It’s a question thousands of offices have asked since remote work became the norm, but few have been able to answer.

It’s no secret that companies want their employees back in the workplace. Since the start of the remote work revolution, dozens of studies have shown that in-person interactions are proven to enhance cooperation and communication among groups. However, many people have grown accustomed to the many luxuries of remote work, and the thought of leaving their remote lifestyle behind has become a nonstarter for even the most loyal employees.

The key to designing a hybrid office, according to Jack Cline, President of Lost Angles-based commercial real estate brokerage Lee & Associates, starts by cultivating an atmosphere and creating a group space. “Designing an open office space concept coupled with amenities and a workplace that provides an experience of value will help employees feel more welcome.” Companies can do their best to provide employees with free lunches and top-of-the-line coffee, but if that’s all the office has to offer, many workers will opt to skip the daily commute and remain remote. Instead, as Jack suggests, the key to building a successful hybrid office is to offer your employees tangible, practical benefits that can’t be found over a one-on-one zoom and never-ending email chains.

If you’ve spent any amount of time texting with a large group of friends, you know how easy it is to get locked into a conversation. When you’re in the thick of it, you’re laughing at inside jokes, reacting to hot gossip, making plans, and engaging in thought-provoking conversation all at once. It can be equal parts intoxicating and distracting, but it’s these interactions that help maintain and build friendships over time and distance.

The same principle applies to the workplace. The tiny micro-conversations that happen at the coffee machine are what bridge the gap between being known as the new guy in accounting to becoming a trusted collaborator. These are the conversations that happen outside your group of team members and spread out across departments. It’s a part of the workday that The Atlantic’s Derek Thomson refers to as soft-work. Soft-work doesn’t have to be limited to discussing your plans for the weekend; soft-work can be mentoring a new hire or learning about a different project that someone else in your company is struggling with. The point of these interactions is to build long-lasting relationships that enhance and encourage collaboration across departments and teams. A hybrid office needs to provide employees with an opportunity to engage in soft-work while simultaneously avoiding the rigid nature of the office cubicle.

According to Architectural Draftsman at AC Design Solutions Zaeem Chaudhary, a hybrid office plan must go beyond the simple open-concept large desk design if they wish to create an atmosphere that encourages this soft-work dynamic while still offering the flexibility and privacy of the work-from-home lifestyle.

“As work becomes more hybrid, office spaces will need to have a flexible design. Meeting rooms should resemble open areas that can be closed off with adjustable barriers to promote more adaptable cooperation on the go. On the other hand, hybrid offices also require more private enclosed spaces to better resemble the at-home working experience and please employees.”

What Zaeem is really talking about is the concept of multifunctional design. It’s something every remote worker is familiar with. The kitchen that doubles as an office; the fireplace mantle that serves as a backdrop for presentations; everyone that works from home understands the importance of having a flexible workspace. If remote workers can transform their living space into a functional office, there’s no reason companies can’t follow suit when it comes to retooling their offices. Offices need to comfortably sit anywhere from one to ten people; board rooms need to have furniture that can be configured differently depending on the size of the team. The more flexibility, the better! That’s why products like whiteboard walls are such a popular choice for hybrid workspaces.

While the future of the workplace will continue to evolve, there’s no denying the growing popularity of the hybrid workplace. Employees will continue to work from home, and employers will continue to yearn for the days of in-office work. However, by providing employees with an office layout that encourages cross-department collaboration and private workstations, employees will continue to make their way into the office in search of an experience that can’t be replicated on a screen or phone call.

We’ve all been in this situation before: you’re sitting in a meeting and the person in charge stands in front of the whiteboard—marker in hand—taking feedback from everyone sitting around a table; you can feel the friction in the room build as ideas are tossed aside one after another by the person leading the charge. Meetings like these are designed to be collaborative but oftentimes serve as a motivational killer, driving employee moral right into the ground.

Here at Magnatag, we’d argue there’s no greater tool for visualizing workflow than a dry erase board—but don’t just take our word for it; search around your office and see for yourself! Each and every day millions of whiteboards across the globe are being used in workplaces just like yours. Over the past 50 years in business, we’ve noticed that a large percentage of whiteboard users happen to be developers. While you may find it a bit surprising that some of the most technologically adept professionals are choosing to use whiteboards for their day-to-day job duties, our team at Magnatag totally gets it—and we want to fill you in too! That’s why we’ve put together this list of five reasons why every developer should be using a dry erase board for their workflow.

1. Whiteboards Are Great For Collaboration
   Developers often divide their projects into sprints, with teams separating into smaller groups that focus on a specific element of a project’s development cycle. Each group is typically comprised of a team lead and a few front and backend developers, and as a result, elements of a specific product or feature are designed independently and pieced together towards the end of a project’s timeline. Whiteboards serve as an excellent meeting point for project teams to collaborate and visualize how a project is coming together. Maybe you want to start with a large-scale visual of how the project will come together, detailing individual steps in the development cycle and assigning steps as needed, or perhaps multiple team members are encountering a similar bug in the system, and rather than working the issue out individually, you wish to tackle the problem as a group. Regardless of which of these situations you find yourself in—if any—chances are you won't find a better tool for the job than a dry erase board.


2. You Can Always Erase With Dry Erase
   If you’ve spent any amount of time developing or programming, you know just how excruciatingly painful debugging can be. As with any problem-solving situation, you have to create a workspace that allows you to quickly isolate a problem and receive instantaneous feedback on an issue. It can be difficult to create this environment with coding problems in particular because by nature they can be difficult to identify and isolate on screen. By using a whiteboard for debugging, developers can break down algorithms piece by piece and receive instantaneous feedback from their coworkers.


3. Whiteboards Spark Creativity
   In past blog posts, we’ve discussed how whiteboarding can have a direct impact on your creativity. In short, writing by hand is scientifically proven to help maintain focus due to the way the brain interprets hand gestures when we’re writing, and since developers are often required to find alternative and out-of-the-box solutions to problems, writing by hand may help stimulate original ideas. Taking time away from the screen may just be the best thing a struggling developer can do to beat programmers block.

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If you’re interested in learning more about how you can implement whiteboards in your workspace, you may want to start by learning about our WhiteWall dry erase panels!

One of the first steps in taking control of your schedule is finding a time management system that works best for you, but with millions of templates scattered across the internet, it’s nearly impossible to discover which systems are proven to be the most effective. We here at Magnatag like to think of ourselves as certified experts when it comes to the ins and outs of scheduling systems, and naturally, our sales team has taken note of some the most requested layouts that have made their way onto our custom printed whiteboards. So if you’re in need of a major renovation to your time management structure, or are interested in discovering alternatives for prioritizing daily tasks, we recommend starting here.

Gantt Chart (via Vertex42)
Gantt charts can be a great tool for visualizing start and stop times in your project management cycle. Vertex 42 has done an excellent job creating a Gantt chart development walkthrough that’s completely customizable and features task dependencies with slack and float time visibility. You can check it out here.

Employee Shift Schedule (via Microsoft)
Microsoft’s version of an employee shift schedule is one of the most straightforward examples out there. The template is separated into seven sections, with each slice highlighting a specific day of the week and hours of operation. The spreadsheet can be customized to your workday, making it a great starter tool for organizing your workforce. You can download the template here.

Daily, Weekly, & Quarterly Schedules (via Cal Poly)
California Polytechnic University takes pride in the university’s core philosophy of ‘Learn by Doing’, which means nearly every class on campus is accompanied by practice in a real world setting. As you can imagine with a schedule that involves class work and internship experience, ensuring students have access to time-management tools is of the utmost importance to the university. Cal Poly’s templates are nothing extraordinary by any means, but they serve as an excellent resource for simplifying dense schedules in both the short and long-term. You can learn more about Cal Poly’s scheduling resources on their website.

7-Minute Solution Flowchart (via The 7 Minute Life)
The 7-minute solution flowchart isn’t actually a template, which may leave you scratching your head as to why it’s even included in this list. The flowchart is designed for life’s long-term planning, breaking down lifelong goals into 90-day blocks. While we’ve never had any requests for the 7-minute flowchart to be printed on one of our dry erase boards, our sales team has spoken to many of our clients that have found inspiration from this popular workflow. You can check it out here.

U.S. Small Business Administration Business Plan Engine https://www.sba.gov/tools/business-plan/1
At the center of every well functioning business is an exceptional business plan. The U.S. Small Business Administration has created an outstanding template to help early entrepreneurs hit the ground running and develop a roadmap for the future. Once you’ve completed the template, your business plan can serve as an outline for measuring benchmark goals that are critical to your organization's success. We’ve designed whiteboard systems in the past that use business plan objectives as their primary point of focus, with a collection of mini-assignments building into an overarching project. You can get started on your business plan template by visiting the Small Business Administration's website.

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If you happen to find any of these templates useful and are looking to add an additional level of visibility to your time management structure, our team of visual systems specialists would be happy to help you and your team develop a custom printed whiteboard for your time management needs.

Somewhere between 95% and 96% of all personal injury cases are settled pretrial. For the 4% to 5% that are unable to compromise outside of the courtroom, there’s Jim Nugent. Working as the lead trial lawyer for the Nugent & Bryant law firm based out of New Haven, Connecticut, Jim frequently finds himself juggling multiple cases throughout the course of the year.

“The last four months of any case are where everything you’ve been working towards begins to come into play. I like to call those last four months the “big crunch” because at times there can be a lot of deadlines in play and you’ve got to find a way to manage it”, says Nugent.

The following blog post was written by Rachel Stires, of the Presentation Training Institute.

If you've ever been involved in an extremely boring meeting, it probably included a lecture and possible bullet points on a whiteboard. Conveying thoughts in any business environment means that engaging the mind must be part of the process. Ideally, your audience should be entertained as they learn about a new product, economic policy or other concept. Visual aids are the best way to connect to your audience regardless of the subject matter. Learn how these tools affect your audience for the better.

One of the biggest responsibilities Matthew White, Director of Programs at the Zygo Corporation, faces on a daily basis is the overseeing of extreme precision optical components from the early stages of development to the moment they are purchased by a customer.

The average person watches approximately 16 minutes of video advertisements per month. Some analysts believe that this number will double over the course of the next five years, largely due to an increase in quality content.

One cost-effective approach that many businesses are taking to push quality content for their brand is creating whiteboard videos. Whiteboard videos (sometimes referred to as explainer videos) are short three to five minute videos that walk the viewer through a particular problem, story, or concept. Using the backdrop of a traditional whiteboard to serve as a blank slate for the story, the narrator’s words are visualized with the help of illustrations.

The end of the year is just around the corner, and with that being said, many of my own friends have been putting in extra hours at work to help meet quarterly sales goals. I caught up with a few of my friends last weekend to catch up and discuss trade negotiations on behalf of our fantasy football league, when two of my friends became engrossed in a conversation regarding their sales targets for the end of the year:

Now more than ever before, companies across the globe are taking proactive measures to create high levels of employee satisfaction. Major tech companies like Google, Netflix and Facebook are viewed as trendsetters for deliberately crafting their workplace around their employees, redefining defining company culture in the 21^st century. But you don’t have to offer free gourmet meals or gym memberships to your employees to increase satisfaction! In fact, according to recent statistics, 2016’s leading job satisfaction contributors include: respect, compensation/pay, and job security—none of which require a personal chef.

Every industry develops its own set of words and phrases. Whether you’re a lawyer, production manager, executive, accountant, or engineer, you’ll encounter catchphrases and trade names on a daily—if not hourly—basis. Frequently used as a method to help us communicate complex or multifaceted items quickly and efficiently, industry slang is a great device for the sake of simplicity in the workplace. The thing about industry-specific terms and phrases is that they carry an enormous amount weight for people familiar with the trade. The only downside is: they’re not universally understood.

The beginning of every great organization starts with excellent leadership. With that being said, it seems obvious that companies should not only put thought into whomever is overseeing the leadership structure of their enterprise, but also delve deeper into what precautions are being taken to ensure their management is driving results. After all, the qualities you instill within supervisors should parallel those found in within the vision of your organization.

On its surface, an org-chart is simply a mapping of a company’s corporate structure. However, with the proper knowledge, an org chart can influence a team’s behavior. It can communicate an organization’s priorities, while simultaneously highlighting core competencies and where to best utilize them. An org-chart can promote collaboration and accountability. Basically, in the right hands, an org chart can help a leader steer their organization down the right path.

As the leading manufacturer of dry erase whiteboards, schedules, and office supplies, companies frequently call upon our expertise to help create an effective means of visual communication. We’ve helped thousands of companies find the perfect solution for all their communication needs, providing facilities with the tools needed to create a cohesive and connected work environment. We recently joined forces with The Scheduling Institute in Alpharetta, Georgia, as their global headquarters underwent a massive redesign.

Picture this: You’ve just sent out an email that briefly pitches your product or service to a potential client, only to get a response that goes something along the lines of:

Hey Reader,

Yeah that sounds like something I would be interested in. Do me a favor and send me a business proposal and we can talk further. Thanks.

As Visible Systems Specialists we talk to people everyday who buy one or more of our whiteboard systems to improve productivity and increase collaboration between employees. They tell us about the need to simplify communications and the operational improvement they seek by having everyone working together.

An organizational chart is much more than a bunch of employee pictures and job titles. Most believe that an organizational chart is simply used for defining structure and power in the company; however, it has many more benefits that you may not have thought of.

WhiteWalls are the cornerstone of rooms where great ideas are hatched. They are a place where ideas and creativity come together among teams and businesses. Occasionally, I come across great ideas expressed in simple form on a whiteboard. Here’s one I’d like to share.

As an employer, you know how important it is to keep your employees engaged and motivated. Studies have shown implementing an incentive program motivates employees to stay at the company longer and encourages collaboration at work. A sales leaderboard can be one of the most effective sales motivation tools there is. Here are five reasons you should implement them in your sales office:

Often in the sales industry, it's a challenge to keep your employees motivated. As a manager, you can only do so much to keep your employees going. Have you tried an incentive program yet? Magnatag did some research and we found several reasons to adopt an incentive program! Check out the infographic below!

Microsoft recently released the iOS version of Office Lens, a mobile scanning app that allows users to take pictures of their documents, photos and whiteboards to save them for later. It’s like an on-the-go scanner. What is most exciting about the app for me is its whiteboard capabilities.  Often times our customers tell us they take photos of their whiteboard with their phones to save for later. The Office Lens app takes it to the next level and allows whiteboard notes to be converted into editable Word or PowerPoint presentations, saved as a PDF or onto OneNote or OneDrive. Here are five reasons I think it’s a great app for a whiteboard user:

One of Magnatag Visible Systems’ custom whiteboards can be seen weekly on “Orange Squeeze,” a 30-minute Syracuse basketball recap show on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.

Project management in its simplest form is the act of planning, organizing, motivating, and utilizing resources to reach a specific goal. A project is almost always a temporary procedure – whether it is short-term or long-term – with defined and expected results, a time line, and is generally meant to meet specific objectives and outcomes. Since projects are time-sensitive and have to meet certain guidelines, they are usually best handled by being properly laid out and outlined, with the right people working on it, and utilizing the correct resources, all within the allocated budget and still meeting a high standard quality. By understanding what exactly it is that project management involves, and discovering how companies can benefit from it, maybe those companies without project management strategies can learn to adopt them in time.

Imagine the Internet without YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, or Facebook. Better yet, envision the world without any graphics, images, symbols, or even color. Think of a fast - food menu with only words and prices. It probably does not sound very stimulating. Humans rely on visual aids to better understand the world. Visuals enhance the human experience by a large margin. In fact, humans communicate using nonverbal, visual communication through body language. Studies have shown that 55 percent of communication stems from body language, 38 percent from tone of voice, and 7 percent from the actual words spoken. Therefore, it only makes sense to incorporate visual aids in every aspect of daily life, especially in business. Communication through use of visual aids excites the perception filters of the intended audience, making it an effective tool in marketing. Nothing else comes close in the business world, not even radio broadcasts with repeated advertisements. Visuals make it happen.

A good project management strategy will ensure that the final result comes from concentrated effort as opposed to wasted efforts. However, not all product management methods work for all applications. For those who are new to project management, there is a learning curve and a period of adjustment. Project managers must find the approach that works best for their specific project. Even the same company or industry must employ different management approaches depending on the nature of the project. It's a good idea to know and understand some of the different types of project management approaches available.

Simply put, it's important to have business cards. Despite the fact that we're living in a digital age where people are now connecting with each other on social networks like LinkedIn, business cards definitely still matter. Having business cards handy is just one great habit of many that highly successful business leaders have, and if you don't have them already, then you're missing out on big opportunities to not only market your business but also promote yourself.

Ensure that your business meetings are productive with proper preparation and organization. Agendas are one of the most important tools for running an effective meet-up because a business meeting agenda clearly details all of the items in the discussion and are often provided in advance of the actual gathering. Having an agenda provides attendees with an orderly roadmap from the start to end of the meeting. While there are many common agenda components, your meeting's agenda will depend on the nature of your organization and the purpose of the talks in question. A formal business meeting may require an agenda with clearly defined time allotments and inflexible topics while a general project meeting may only require a basic outline of topics up for discussion. Even though planning takes time, it is an important organizational tool that will improve communication and productivity during your business meetings.

Every single day that you head into work, you should always strive to be the very best that you can possibly be. Personally, I may not always have the greatest day (I'm sure we can all relate), but I always put my all into it, which is one lesson that my parents instilled in me from a young age. They taught me to always try my hardest and to give my absolute best effort. Since I was younger, it's always been one of my stronger traits.

If you look at some of the greatest leaders out there in our history, there's a reason why most of them reached the heights that they did and stood out from the rest of the pack. I've seen my fair share of strong, successful business leaders in my career and others that haven't really lived up to their true potential. To be one of the best out there, there are multiple habits that one must adopt, and I want to share some of them with you here.

On our blog, we've taken a look at many different aspects of business, including business meetings, business planning, and much more. There's a lot that goes into any business, but one type of business that has been taking more shape over the past several years is start-up businesses, which are becoming much more relevant in the digital age that we're living in today. However, with most start-up businesses, there's typically one glaring problem.

How do you finance it? It's a start-up.

There's no need to worry because there are plenty of ways to finance your start-up business, and I'm here to share a few of them with you. It might be tough, as there are an estimated 27.5 million small businesses in the United States alone, but it can be done.

If you've been keeping up with our blog, then you're completely aware of the many different creative and unique ways that you can use a whiteboard. Whether it's for a calendar, planning for both the short term and long term, keeping motivational quotes on, or even just using it for artistic reasons, a whiteboard is great to have. Not only that, but one of the biggest benefits of having a whiteboard is that you can utilize it to its fullest extent for your next presentation.

We've all sat in on meetings at the office where a presentation or training session was given, and it was done as the standard PowerPoint presentation that we've all grown accustomed to. While these can be great in some situations, they have grown tired and can be pretty dry in most instances. By constructing a unique and creative presentation with a whiteboard, you'll be able to keep the attention of your audience without them losing interest and focus.

If you work in an office, meetings are likely second nature to you. They can happen quite often, but we have all come out of some meetings in a mild state of confusion. In other words, we can leave a meeting wondering what was accomplished, or even what we could take away from it. In most cases, this happens as a result of poor planning for the meeting itself.

When planning a meeting, there is a lot to take into consideration. You want the meeting you're organizing to have meaning, and result in your colleagues taking away something positive from it. Luckily, I've had plenty of experience myself planning business meetings over the years, and while there were bumps in the road over time, practice makes perfect!

Here are some tips for planning a successful business meeting.

One of the most important things in life to me is being organized, and it's not something that always comes easy. Life can be hectic, so it's best to stay on top of things. To avoid any headaches or confusion, I like having my days planned out in advance because if anything, it helps to keep me on track. One way that I keep organized is through keeping a calendar of upcoming events, meetings, and other things that are happening as a part of my schedule.

Being organized will put your mind at ease, and one key component of this is having a whiteboard calendar. In comparison to the calendar that you may already have, there are numerous benefits to having your calendar on a whiteboard, and here are a few.

Throughout your career, you've surely seen employees come and go. It's the nature of the working world, and it's bound to happen. There are always a variety of reasons why people leave companies, but frequent employee turnover isn't good. Luckily, there are ways to reduce it, and one is in a way that you may not have thought of.

Have you ever done something nice for someone? Of course you have. We all have. We know that it makes us feel really good knowing that we made a positive impact on someone's life, in whatever way that may be. Simply put, supporting local philanthropy can help to decrease employee turnover.

Here are some of the benefits of supporting local philanthropy:

On certain days, I feel like I spend more time in meetings than I do at my desk, and I'm sure that some of you can relate. I'm very big on note-taking, too, because sometimes, these meetings can go in a lot of different directions, making it a bit tough at times to follow. Again, I'm sure this sounds very familiar to some of you. With that said, it's important to always take notes in meetings, for a variety of reasons.

Personally, I've found that note-taking has some huge advantages. Here are some reasons why you should always have a notebook and pen (or an electronic device, though studies have shown that paper is better) with you when attending any type of meeting in the office.

In the business world, it's no secret that buzzwords have become part of our vocabulary. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of buzzwords, as more often than not, they're just unnecessary jargon. The reasoning for this is that with so many buzzwords, some can have alternate meanings. Therefore, in the business world, they can often be misconstrued.

Also, there are some buzzwords in business that can make you sound out of touch. Here are some business buzzwords that you should just stop using altogether.

At one point or another, we have all had our creativity halted within the walls of our office. Engaging in the exact same routine all of the time and seeing the same walls on a daily basis can certainly make you run into a mental roadblock, and I've been there before. With that said, there are ways to switch things up. I've found that it can be very beneficial to both your creativity and your mind to sometimes take your work elsewhere, if just temporarily.

Personally, one place that I like to head over to to enhance my creativity is any of the local coffee shops. For me, it's peaceful and a good change of pace. Here, I would like to share with you some of the benefits of getting creative out of the office.

In any environment, especially in the workplace, leadership is very important. For anyone in any type of managerial role, it's important that they carry themselves in the right way, showing their strengths as a leader. It's just as important for anyone else to try their best to lead the way in any form or fashion that they can. However, while it's important to do and say the right things in any type of leadership role, this doesn't always happen in the way that it should.

If you're like me, you've seen plenty of cases where leadership appears to be a bit strange based on things that are said. Here are some examples that I would like to share with you of things that great leaders shouldn't ever say, and what they should say instead.

It's no secret that when people are happy, they will give as much of their effort as they possibly can, and there isn't any other place that this applies to more than the business world. As someone in a managerial role of any company, it's important to keep everyone happy. This can be avoided by having effective communication, a positive environment, and fun team-building activities that your employees will enjoy, among other things.

With all of that said, I've seen first-hand how productivity can decrease by a great margin if people are unhappy for any reason. If people aren't in the best of spirits, they won't be as motivated to do their absolute best, which not only hurts their individual productivity but will negatively affect your company as a whole. Here are some ideas that I would like to share with you in regard to what I like to call "the Secret Productivity Hack," and that's keeping your employees happy and in great spirits.

If you've been involved with any type of job that involved working with other people, then you fully understand the importance of effective communication. For me, I've been involved in situations where the communication has been great but have also seen situations where the communication is poor, which can negatively affect the operation as a whole.

When there is effective communication in place, not only does it increase efficiency and productivity, but it can keep morale up as well. When people are on the same page and it's making things more clear, concise, and on-point for everything, it raises the moods of your colleagues.

In almost any of line of work, you're going to be working with other people. Throughout my career, I've seen plenty of instances where the morale where I worked was great because of the upbeat, fun atmosphere that existed, and a lot of that had to do with unique team-building activities that took place. Not only that, but one of the best parts about team-building activities is that they can be pretty cost-efficient, so you can't go wrong.

With that said, are you looking to boost your team morale or just help your team grow in general? If so, here are some great ideas for team-building exercises that you can use to help bring your team closer together.

Being comfortable is important when it comes to safety and efficiency in the workplace. If you're like me, you're sitting for the majority of your work day at the office. But it's important to understand that you need to get up and stretch to prevent as much damage or soreness to your body as possible. No one wants to have back pain, for example, and you should avoid it at all costs.

It's no secret that comfort and productivity at the office go hand-in-hand. Here are some tips and ideas that can help reduce workplace pain, all while keeping your productivity at work at a high level.

Using EEG and MRI brain imaging technology, scientist have determined that the "Aha" moment of a new idea is not a sudden dash of insight but rather a culmination of previous brain states, thinking's and processes.

With that being said, here are 5 of the greatest creativity quotes to help inspire you reach your "Aha" moment when you are stuck in a creative rut:

It's no secret that whiteboards can be a tremendous help to the organization of any business. In the past, we have taken a look at various organizational charts that every business should have, but perhaps it's time to delve a little bit deeper into the subject. Let's face it – if you're not utilizing whiteboards, then you're not handling your business as efficiently as you could.

Efficiency is key to the success of any business. We've stressed on here enough that if you're not using whiteboards, then you're not keeping your business as organized as you could be. Here are some reasons why utilizing whiteboards can help your business run more efficiently.

Today's fast-paced, ever-changing economy is full of both entrepreneurs and businesses trying to make their name. It's competitive, and one must be confident, imaginative, and have the drive to succeed. It's no secret that obtaining success is far from easy – there will be plenty of hiccups along the way with wrong turns and failed attempts, so it's vital to remember the importance of perseverance.

Personally, I'm not afraid to admit that I've failed along the way, and I'm sure that's something that we can all relate to at some point throughout our careers. Not everything always goes as planned, but I've learned throughout my career that perseverance is key, and that hard work does pay off.

With that said, here are 20 business quotes that capture the mindset that every aspiring entrepreneur and business owner must have if they wish to be successful.

In the professional world, having and practicing proper business etiquette is vital. Whether it's through a business deal, a meeting, or through any sort of dealing, presenting yourself in a professional manner is very important. Over the course of my career, I've learned a great deal about proper business etiquette, and would like to share what I have come to know with all of you.

Awkwardness can arise from professional situations, but they don't need to be that way. Here are nine tips to ensure that you're practicing proper business etiquette throughout not only your career, but life in general.

If you're like me, you have been involved in your fair share of business meetings. The nature of business meetings is typically that of a serious nature, so it's important that you keep a professional manner, and avoid saying anything that you might regret. In my experience, I've seen colleagues' first-hand say certain things that probably would have been better kept to themselves, but didn't end up being the case.

By saying something that might be of a controversial nature in a professional environment, specifically a business meeting, it can often create tension and set an awkward tone in the room. I've seen it, and perhaps you have as well. Either way, here are eight things that you should always avoid saying in a business meeting.

We have all been involved in meetings of some sort, and in the business world, these occurrences can often go off track if there isn't proper organization in place. In these business meetings, it's vital to head into each meeting with a plan. An agenda can keep your business meeting in line, can help you hit different points, spend the time you're given in an efficient manner, and most importantly, stay on track with the time that you have.

Some will simply improvise the meetings that they lead, but this isn't very efficient. It's important to have an outline; a plan that will be followed to make sure that every key point is discussed. A meeting agenda keeps form, consistency, and will allow you to stay on track. I'm here to share with you just a few reasons on why having an agenda for your next business meetings, and all meetings moving forward, is vital. Be sure to head into every meeting with a plan. You'll be pleased with how much more efficiently everything flows.

There are only 24 hours in a day, and that is a fact that we are reminded of our entire lives. When we are young, our parents complain that there is not enough time in a day to get everything done. As we get older, we start to wish that the days were longer to accommodate our needs. Since time is not going to be altered to fit our needs, we have to learn how to better manage the time we do have. Time management is the practice of organizing your life so that you are able to accomplish the things you need to get done. The point of managing your time properly is to be able to find success and enjoy it as well. Without good time-management skills, we would spend all of our time pursuing our goals and never leaving ourselves time to enjoy our lives. Time management is a skill that we must learn at an early age and refine as we get older.

The simple whiteboard hasn't been displaced by technology, but rather, it has been embraced. Whiteboards line the walls of Silicon Valley firms and have given rise to some of the most creative and clickable videos you can find online today. Whiteboard animation, also known as dry-erase animation, is a method of animating that is simple enough for anyone to learn and requires little technology. Nonetheless, this elementary animated format has become a favorite on YouTube and regularly shows up on social media feeds. The engaging technique lets viewers see an image being drawn at rapid speed. For entrepreneurs, teachers, and all kinds of storytellers, whiteboard animations are simple to learn and captivating to audiences.

In the business world, timing is critical. Customers expect you to be there on time and being late to a meeting can make you and your company look unprofessional. To be successful in business, you need to be able to utilize the tools available for calendar scheduling and organization. Magnetic calendars make it easy to organize, schedule, and visually share your team's activity and objectives. It is the people who are the most organized and on time who are most often able to take advantage of the biggest opportunities.