Category Archives: Business

Betsey Nash, Business Matters, Professional Perspective

Are You an Employee or a Contractor?

Betsey Nash bubble portraitOnly Human
By Betsey Nash, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

A disgruntled home, health, caregiver under contract to provide services for a small company was let go because the owner of the business learned that she was trying to steal clients.
Seems when she found a patient she liked, the caregiver asked them to fire the company she worked for and hire her independently — they’d save a lot of money, she promised.
Well one client called the owner, who learned he wasn’t the only one she’d asked, so she was let go, released from the contract, since she had clearly violated one of the provisions.
I want to say she was “fired,” because that’s the word we most often use, even if the employee wasn’t a true employee, but a contractor. Sometimes they’re called “1099 employees.” Continue reading Are You an Employee or a Contractor? →

Business Matters, Nancy Puder, Professional Perspective

Winning Strategy To Buy or Sell

Nancy PuderOn The Market
By Nancy Puder

Most of us make our resolutions or goals at the first of each year, only to realize in late summer that the year has gotten away from us. Where does the time go, we ask each other with looks of genuine bewilderment.
If this sounds familiar to you and one of your goals was to buy or sell some real estate in 2015, I have some good news for you.  It is not too late! Continue reading Winning Strategy To Buy or Sell →

Healthy Living, Michelle Jang, Professional Perspective

Are Cellphones Hazardous for Your Health?

michele jangBy Michele S Jang, PT

How often do you carry your cellphone on your body; in your pants or shirt pocket for example? Cell phones emit low levels of radiofrequency energy and scientists have been conducting studies to determine if release of this energy can adversely affect your health.
Back in early 2000 when pagers were more popular, I would perform an experiment for a class of therapists that demonstrated how pagers can affect your body. I would have one of the students wear their pager, usually on their hip. As a class, we would observe their posture and measure range of motion and strength.  Then I would ask the student to remove their pager from their body.  The change was remarkable!  Posture, range of motion and strength all improved!
Current communication technology has resulted in much more powerful equipment that we hold or wear in close proximity to our tissues for longer periods of time.  Not only do we have cellphones, but we have smartphones which transmit electromagnetic radiation signals at a much higher rate than pagers do. Continue reading Are Cellphones Hazardous for Your Health? →

Healthy Living, Professional Perspective

A Personal Drought?

FullSizeRender(1)By Dr. Monika Allen

Water restriction is the talk of the town in San Luis Obispo County, but are you facing a personal drought?
We all have water on our minds as we live through a drought in California but do we remember the importance water plays within our bodies as well? As a doctor, I consider both the external environment in which we live and the internal environment of our bodies. As an acupuncturist, I recognize the duality in the nature of water as described by the five element acupuncture theory. It has the potential to be powerful and yet remarkably peaceful and serene and it can evoke fear as well as utter peace and calm.  It is the one thing that all forms of life depend on and where life on Earth began.   Continue reading A Personal Drought? →

Healthy Living, Professional Perspective

Healthy at 100: 5 Essential Secrets of a Long and Healthy Life

Dr. Leslie KBy Leslie Kasanoff DC

Are you healthy or just not sick yet? In our disease-oriented society most people don’t even understand that there is a difference. How many people do you know (maybe you’re one) who eat some kind of junk; from chips to soda pop to processed meats or donuts on a daily basis, are sedentary for much of the day yet have no overt symptoms of disease and so consider themselves healthy?
On the other end of the spectrum are those with “poor genetics” who maybe do none of the above yet have symptoms of illnesses. Surely genetics DO play a role but that role only lasts so long. And most of us are neither of these extremes; just doing what we can for as long as we can, to one degree or another, to keep ourselves healthy.
But what is health? The most commonly accepted definition is, “physical, mental-emotional, social & spiritual well-being; not merely the absence of symptoms.” Continue reading Healthy at 100: 5 Essential Secrets of a Long and Healthy Life →

Healthy Living, Professional Perspective

The Psychology of Conserving

susanboydphotoBy Susan K. Boyd MS, MFT

When I first moved to the Central Coast I remember asking, “What do I put in that big, blue barrel?” I came from the San Joaquin valley and we did not have recycling barrels to take to the curb. It wasn’t long before I noticed that big, blue barrel filled up twice as fast as the gray one. Knowing I was wasting less made me feel good. I remember watching my mother conserve, before it was ever popular or cool. She was not trying to save the environment.  She was trying to save money, time, resources, and energy (hers and ours not PG &E’s), all because of her conservation ethic that she explained as, simply, ‘The Scott in me. “
You don’t have to have a Scottish heritage to save and not waste. You just have to have a good reason, to do both, and be invested. My mother was a young teenager during the Great Depression, when she, and everyone else, pinched pennies and understood the phrase, “Use it up and wear it out.” Thousands of people were out of work and stood in soup lines around the country. The cliché, “Waste not-want not,” was a reality that people understood. Continue reading The Psychology of Conserving →

Nancy Puder, Professional Perspective

Ideal Time to Jump Into The Market

Nancy PuderOn The Market
By Nancy Puder

Now is the ideal time to jump into the real estate market, whether you want to buy a home or if you are thinking of selling one.   This is especially true if you have been renting.   Have a property to sell?  Now is the time to put it on the market.  Here are important reasons as to why right now is the time to buy or sell your home.

Skyrocketing Rents
With low interest rates and increasingly more reasonable mortgage guidelines, your monthly payment to buy a new home may be equal to or even less than what you are currently paying for rent.  If you are worried about coming up with a down payment, it’s important to check out some of the newer first time home buyer programs that can assist you.
Continue reading Ideal Time to Jump Into The Market →

Business Matters, Professional Perspective

Freedom Fighters & The 4th of July

By Susan K. Boyd MS, MFT

“Would you like to donate something to the troops today?” The checker behind the counter asks me the question as she rings up the items in my cart. “Sure”, I replied. Later, I went home and noticed some of my Face Book friends posted pictures of men and women in the armed forces. These were tender, and touching videos of soldiers surprising their families who did not know they had returned home.
One of my favorite surprise ‘reveals,’ was a soldier dressed out in a football uniform. He stood across from his son on the field at a football game. The dad wore a helmet. Then he pulled his helmet off, facing the boy who stood with the other players on the line of scrimmage.  The shocked teenager grabbed his father in an embrace and sobbed as the crowds in the stands cheered. The boy did not let go of his father for a long time. No one seemed to care about the kickoff. Everyone was a part of the drama unfolding between a soldier and his son. Continue reading Freedom Fighters & The 4th of July →

Business Matters, Nancy Puder, Professional Perspective

Finding a Home That Works For You and Mom & Dad Too

Nancy PuderOn The Market
By Nancy Puder

There is a rising demand for multi-generational homes that will provide a private living area for parents in addition to your own family.  Here are the top 5 reasons why buyers are looking for a home that will provide additional living quarters for parents or additional family members.
1. Families with children sometimes need help with child care, especially if mom and dad work outside the home.  While older parents may not need to provide full-time child care, they might be more available on occasion to “help out” or in the event of an emergency. Continue reading Finding a Home That Works For You and Mom & Dad Too →

Healthy Living, Michelle Jang, Professional Perspective

Do you have Good Posture?

michele jangBy Michele S Jang, PT

How do you know if you have good posture? At Spirit Winds Physical Therapy we have an exercise that we call the “3 – S” posture drill.  Stand against the wall and feel what parts of your body touch the wall.  When you have good spinal alignment, three parts of your body will touch the wall.  These three body parts are what the “S’s” stand for.  They are your Sacrum, Shoulder blade(also known as your scapula) and lastly, your Skull.
In order to have your sacrum flush with the wall, it is important to engage your abdominal muscles and perform a slight posterior pelvic tilt as if tucking your coccyx or tailbone between your legs.
For most people, keeping our shoulder blades against the wall means rolling our shoulders backwards, gently squeezing the shoulder blades together and down. Continue reading Do you have Good Posture? →