Home Security Tips and Tricks

Home Security Tips and Tricks to Discourage Burglars

It’s the holiday season — time for delicious food, presents, and get-togethers. It’s also the time for home burglaries. If you plan to leave to visit family and/or friends during the holidays, here are some home security tips and tricks to keep your belongings safe while you are away from home. Appear to be Home Returning home after a trip to find someone has invaded your personal space and stolen valuables is not only disturbing to your wallet but also your peace of mind. Just knowing that a stranger has broken into your home, rummaged through and taken off...

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Effective Networking is Relationship Building

Tips to Evolve Everyday Networking into Relationship Building

By now everyone knows the most important way to find new customers, partners, employees, vendors or a job is by networking. If you are not talking to other professionals you are not growing professionally, bottom line. However, networking is not just meeting as many people as possible and hoping something “sticks”. The key is to evolve everyday networking into relationship building. This is where people who make a good first impression shine. The good news is, you can too by adopting simple tips to set the right tone and put your best foot forward during the initial contact. Adopt...

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Does Banning Guns Really Stop Violence?

Does Banning Guns Really Minimize Violence in America?

Whether or not to ban guns in America is one of the most contested issues in the United States today. Before I get into this issue, I want to be clear, as a former Akron, Ohio police officer, I believe in the 2nd Amendment. To me the right to bear arms is a fundamental right for all United States citizens. However, my stance on this issue is not “black and white”. Consider the Viewpoint There is a lot of fear mongering and misrepresentation of the facts in our media today. Regarding mass shootings in America, the facts have been...

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Professional Ghosting

Are You Guilty of Professional Ghosting?

There is a growing trend of bad manners in the professional world that is becoming more mainstream than it should. It’s called ghosting. First used in the dating world when a date would fail to respond to a follow-up call, text or email, it is now being done in the business world. Professional ghosting is very passive-aggressive, but it can irrevocably damage your reputation and ultimately your career. Types of Ghosting Ghosting can happen in various professional relationships. From hiring to firing these “disappearing into the vapor” actions are annoying, rude and can earmark you as a flake. To...

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Facial Recognition Technology

Is Facial Recognition Technology a Good Idea to Make Schools Safe?

East of Niagara Falls, NY the Lockport school system is allowing advanced security measures to keep their schools safe this year. Facial recognition technology will be used to check each face entering school buildings against a database of expelled students, sex offenders and other possible troublemakers. However, it is being implemented under pointed criticism and scrutiny. What some deem as a great option to prevent potential violence, others see as a gross violation of privacy and civil rights. This leads to the question, is facial recognition technology a good idea to make schools safe? Maybe, but only with proper...

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Risky Employees Can Hurt Company Culture

Practical Guide to Spotting Risky Employees

Hiring is always a tricky situation. Unless the candidate is a friend, HR must take a lot on faith alone. There are definite red flags during the hiring process that present themselves and help HR spot risky employees. But what if there are no flags? Can the organization be confident that the employee is a beneficial addition to the team? Not always. In fact, someone may look great on paper, sound great during the interview and even perform well in the first couple of months. However, after the honeymoon phase is over, the “risky” employee may emerge out of...

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Protect Teens from Themselves

Protecting Our Teens from Themselves

It’s a common sight today to see a teen bowed over their smart device while frantically typing/taking/posting pictures on social media channels, or posting text messages. Shaking our heads and asking them to “put it away” from time to time is not working. We as adults must engage to protect our teens from themselves. If we don’t, the potential consequences of destroyed self-confidence and/or a spiral into despair leading more and more young people to suicidal thoughts/attempts will continue to escalate. We must parent more to protect our teens from themselves. Know Who They Know “It’s better to know...

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Successful People Give Back

Give Back to Achieve Success

We’ve all heard the saying “it is better to give than receive”. But, when considering what truly makes someone successful in life, this saying is the foundation of real success. This is true for personal and professional success. Do Good and Good Will Come to You In a previous blog we discussed the Law of Attraction and the importance of “minding your mind”. In other words, if you think about failure, you will attract failure. The same can be said for giving back. If you want success in life, then you must help others to succeed. Sounds simple, right?...

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TeenageDepression by mitchell-hollander-282004-unsplash

Teenage Suicide Claims More Lives than Active Shooters

All lives are precious. However, the most heart wrenching losses are undeniably the deaths of children. When it comes to our nation’s teenagers, the loss is very acute. Viewed on the cusp of adulthood, the future is bright, or at least it should be. However, teenage suicide is on the rise. The time to prevent these senseless deaths in America is NOW. The first step is to separate fact from fiction. Fact vs. Fiction It’s summer break for most teenagers right now, but before we know it the yellow buses will start appearing around town carrying our children to...

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Prevent Gun Assisted Suicide

Suicide is a Gun Issue, Really

The issue of gun control is a hot button for most. As we peruse our smart devices, or sit down to watch the nightly news, we can’t help but be outraged and spurred into action when we see the senseless killing of our American youth after the latest school active shooter incident. However, did you know that according to data compiled by the CDC, there were 9,039 more firearm related suicides than firearm homicides in 2016? Firearm suicides outnumber firearm homicides nearly two to one. That’s a fact and one that most Americans tend to ignore year after year....

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