Jet Blue flight attendant Steven Slater quit his job recently in quite the dramatic fashion. He cursed at a passenger over the intercom, grabbed a beer, deployed the emergency chute and slid down after 28 years of service. That got me thinking, how can you quit your job in style? Here’s a few tips to get you thinking..

1. Know what you’re going to say and do before you do it and fully think it through beforehand.

2. Make your comments short and sweet.  Don’t rant and rave for too long. Make it clear you are quitting and are not being fired.

3. Have an exit strategy. Let people know you already have another job, a much better one.

4. Have secrets? Spill the beans. During your speech, realize you no longer work there. You are finally free.

4. Get closure. Your exit should close all previously opened wounds. This is your day to finally vent and move on.

PS: None of this is actually recommended unless you already have another job lined up in another field and you don’t care about your references.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

For a long time in American history, the richest of rich would give their wealth to their heirs after their passing, creating plenty of trust fund kids who never had to work a day in their lives. Two of the richest men in the world are changing that trend. Billionaires and philanthropists Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have pledged to donate half of their fortune to various charities. Recently news came out that more billionaires have pledged to share the wealth. Notable names in the list include David Rockefeller, Michael Bloomberg and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Build a relationship with your consumers. Under promise and over deliver. Gain their trust, because when you do, you’ll have a long term customer who can continue to buy from you. Getting the quick buck usually involves using shady business practices and offering bad products/services. By being up front and honest, you won’t make money quickly, but will make much more in the long run.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Are they annoying or are they helpful? Sneaky business tactics or just good business? We all know that getting business from a customer is tough enough, so the goal should be to get the most you can out of that person. Instead of just selling them a $3 burger, add some fries and a drink for only 3 more dollars. The other kind of upsell you see is this one “People who bought X usually liked Y also”. This one is tailored to the likes of your visitors based on previous experiences. As long as these tactics are clearly labeled only as additional options, it can increase your sales/revenue drastically without being a nuisance.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

You can always tell when someone is being paid by commission or by the hour by how annoying and aggressive they are. The place you see them most often is at those kiosks at the local mall. Most of these so called marketers have it all wrong. Begging, pleading or being overly aggressive won’t get the job done. What they need to realize is that few will buy out of pity or an obligation. Instead, take it easy and market a product so good it will sell itself.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

The early bird gets the worm, buy it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Sometimes it’s best to let others ahead and see what they do before trying it yourself, you just might find out the rewards are sweeter.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

In life it’s usually the hard workers who get ahead, while the slackers keep performing beneath their potential. But there is still hope for procrastinators. While most people get into panic mode trying to get things done, slackers know how to fulfill their obligations, get acceptable marks and enjoy a relatively stress-free existence. Being a slacker isn’t necessarily a good thing, but it’s nice to find a balance between being laid back and being a high strung worker. Here’s a few ways how you can integrate the slacker lifestyle into your life and benefit from it.

- E-mails: you don’t need to reply to emails as soon as you get them. As long as you get to it within 24 hours,  you should be okay. So handle your other tasks first and put email on the backburner for a while.

- Take a break: While others are hard at work, it’s okay to take a break and relax. You’ll come back re-energized, re-vitalized and will be more productive even though you’ll be working less.

- Don’t multi-task: Often times when you try to do too much at the same time you end up not doing any of those tasks correctly. So take your time and get things done right the first time.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Yahoo Hot Jobs posted a some common sense rules on how to avoid sabotaging your job. Most of these are easy, but those with a carefree attitude might want to take heed to this advice, because there’s plenty of uptight people at the workplace.

- Keep your focus on the networking part of social networking
- Avoid sending a tweet in the heat of the moment
- Finding friends at the office is fine — but don’t look for love
- Appearances count around the office
- Practice proper email etiquette
- Think before you speak
- It’s good to be heard — but not all the time
- Just say “no” to complaining
- Handle alcohol with care
- Know the difference between sharing and oversharing

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Don’t ruin someone’s business, even if you think it will help yours. Lend a helping hand instead. What comes around goes around.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Every night there are those late night “shortcuts to making millions online” infomercials. Ever notice how they never tell you how to make money. The only way to make money is by selling something. They never tell you what to sell. They say they create a bunch of sites for you and then you sit back and watch the money roll in. The only way to make money from those sites is to drive traffic to them. Without traffic you have nothing. They don’t give you the traffic either, that’s where your work comes in. Frankly, that’s the hardest part in the equation. So when you see one of those commercials that seem too good to be true, it usually is. There’s no elevator to success.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

1. Bonuses. Someone did a superb job? Reward them with cash. A little money goes a long way to keeping up the morale around the office.

2. Create a sense of community. When you were younger, sometimes you would love going to school, not to learn, but to socialize with your friends. Make work a fun place. Allow them to communicate with each other.

3. Be a nice boss. Instead of just one lunch break, give them 4. A relaxed worker is more efficient than a slaved worker will ever be.

4. Remove hierarchy. Being the manager or team leader doesn’t mean you deserve higher pay. It just means you have a different role. Always promote within and demote just as often. Keep things fresh.

and most importantly…

5. Respect. Instead of treating your workers as “below” you, think of them as partners, all working together to increase your business.

In closing, although a high salary doesn’t hurt, it’s not all about the money, it’s all about the work environment.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

When success hits you, whether by luck or hard work, it’s usually a time to reflect on your past. When you do that usually there’s negative thoughts about people in your past who doubted you, competed with you or who cheated you in some way.

These so-called negative influences actually were a driving force for you though. You wanted to prove them wrong and now that you have – you want payback. So it’s time to buy fancy things and flaunt them in their face. It’s time to show off your recent success. That’s what they deserve don’t they?

But see, in your financial climb upwards, you have passed them and now you can look down on them. If that’s what you decide to do be forewarned that: every person you look down upon as you climb upwards, they will be there if you fall back down again.

Despite your success, stay humble, stay grounded. The true mark of a winner in life is not only how you handle failure but how you handle success.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

When you’re looking over applications and doing interviews for that position that just opened up, most people just look at their qualifications or experience on their resume. However in my opinion that should be the least of your concerns. I’ve compiled a list of what to look for in a prospective employee.

* Personality – Is this person going to be a joy to be around, will he/she inspire and motivate your staff. You can tell if they’re always smiling and feel very comfortable with who they are. Google their name, find their MySpace profile, see what kind of person they really are.
* Work Ethic – Will he/she show up to work early and leave late, not take days off, slack off, perform at sub par levels. You can tell their work ethic by noticing when they arrived for the interview, how neat their application was, how they dressed.
* Experience – Sure, experience is an issue, but usually someone with no experience might be more motivated and willing to learn and excel in their new skill. How legitimate is their resume? Sure, they worked as a “computer lab engineer” at their last job, but what exactly did this job entail? This may just be a fancy self imposed title.

What do employers look for when hiring jobs in education? Do you have what it takes? Research interview tips online for a job in higher education. You’ll be able to find requirements for getting a job in young childhood education to teaching adults.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Having a staff with a good personality is important, but how you treat them is equally as important. You can’t change the personality of your staff but you can change their mood and work ethic by how you treat them.

Here’s a few things a boss can do with their staff..

• Make every day different. A good example is letting them enter work later on every Monday. If work begins at 9am, make it 11am on Mondays. They’ll avoid the traffic and get the week started off on the right foot. It’s also good for those that party or go out on the weekends, now they can enjoy themselves on Sunday night too.

• Another example of making every day different is by having casual Fridays, raffle days, bring your child to work day, boss buys the lunch day.

• Let your employees leave work early on Friday, after all, mentally they’re not there anyway, thinking of their weekend plans.

• Make your staff feel like they are part of the team, when you succeed in your business, reward them too, they helped you get there. If they have an invested interest in the success of your business they will work harder for you, themselves, and the business.

• Have office parties when it’s somebody’s birthday or someone is celebrating something. Turn your staff into a business family.

• Your employees will be willing to work harder for less money if they really enjoy their job and the company they keep.

• Even though your employees will work less by having these privileges, they’ll be far more productive with those hours, so in the end, it saves you money.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Is it ethical to offer your products or services at different prices to different people? In this free enterprise system, it’s difficult to be both ethical and do good business. Here’s an example:

You run an antique shop and one of your items is an antique spoon from the early 1800′s. Now there’s nothing wrong with talking to your customers and hyping the product up, saying how unique it is, how rare it is, what people during that time and that location were like, etc. But what if the customer looks to be someone who is new to antiques and has no idea as to the real true value of this old spoon? Because with antiques, an uninformed customer might pay $100 for an old spoon when it’s really only worth $5.00. So is it ethical to make up a price on the spot, a really high price, to see if the customer will bite?

Good business or bad business? Ethical or unethical? Do you need to be a cutthroat businessman to be successful or is there any room for a “nice guy” or do nice guys finish last in love and in business.

How are your business skills? You can learn about ethical business practices when you enroll for business administration degrees. Now, with online classes, you can get your business degree online. If you want to brush up on your business skills, look into getting a marketing degree or MBA online.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com