USA Weekend April, 2002 Porcelain Princesses: Rating America's Bathrooms By Brian O'Connell Bathrooms are one of America's few remaining taboos. In fact, they're the Rodney Dangerfield of American culture ­ they get no respect at all. Let's face it. Nobody ever "wants" to go the loo. Instead they've "gotta" go. Or they "have" to make a pit stop. A necessary evil at best and a breeding ground for germs and bacteria at worst, bathrooms are at the bottom of the list of water cooler topics on American culture, ranked somewhere between the health benefits of broccoli and the heartbreak of psoriasis. Until now, perhaps. A Web polling firm, the Best of USA (www.thebestofusa.com) wants to flush the bathroom's weak image down the drain. It's new poll, "America's Best Restrooms" asks Web site visitors to rate the best pubic bathrooms in America. The question is, "why"? "We're in the hygiene business," explains Mike Wallner, brand manager at Culpepper, Vir.-based Sanis, a restroom servicing company that co-sponsored the survey. "So we were interested in finding out who had the best restroom in America. The best way to do that was to go to the people who use them". Questions ranged from "Do you worry about sitting on public toilets?" to "Do you prefer Towels or dryers?" The winner? A restroom at the University of Notre Dame, a Victorian-tiled splendor that drew widespread praise from users for its solid oak stall doors, classical chrome sinks, and shiny brass fixtures. Restrooms at the Lazarus Oxmoor Center in Louisville, Kentucky and the Bon Marche Department Store in Seattle, Washington finished in second and third places, respectively. "It was quite a surprise," concedes Allen Bigger, director of Notre Dame's building services department, which maintains the prize-winning facility located in the main administration building at the university. "But we felt it was a great honor and I'm really proud of our staff. It's nice to see them get some credit." Okay, so it's not the Sugar Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl for the Fighting Irish this year ­ it's the Toilet Bowl. But in the bathroom rankings game, Notre Dame is number one. It beats Louisville. Imagining finishing number two in this contest? Entrepreneur magazine March, 2000 Gone Fishin' Looking to catch a big one? Trolling the deep, corporate waters? All you  need to put a whopper CEO, CFO or other acronym on your table is the  right bait. By Brian O'Connell When Sandra Hand, vice president of Virtual Voice corporation at the  time, took the phone call that would ultimately lead her to walk away  from the voice-messaging company where she'd spent 10 years of her life,  her first thought was, "I'm pretty happy here." But on the other end of the phone line was Dylan Marer, an  entrepreneur's entrepreneur blessed with a gift of persuasion that makes  Johnny Cochran look like a piker. The 32-year-old Marer had already  launched one successful company, the $4 million Los Angeles-based  Innovative Meetings and Events, and needed Hand to roll out his latest  venture, BodyLogix.com in August 1999. Marer wanted BodyLogix.com to crash the fledgling women's alternative  health and exercise market with a bang, grabbing market share and  creating a brand name in an industry that didn't have many. The key was  getting people like Hand on board to steer the company out of port and  guide it through the choppy seas of e-commerce. Good plan. But why would anyone with a modicum of sense leave a big, established company for a newer, smaller one with a risky future? "I don't buy the notion that we're a small company or a new company,"  says Marer, who expects BodyLogix.com to bring in $38 million this year,  "but I understand some people do. I think you can attract top people to  a newer or smaller business by doing two things: paying them well and  appealing to their sense of adventure. And that's what we did with  Sandra." For her part, Hand thought things were getting a little stale at her own  job, and she was at a point in her life where she felt like taking on  new challenges--not that she didn't want some guarantees first. "I'd be  lying if I said money isn't a factor in going to work for a small  company, especially a dot.com," she explains. "But we spend so much time at the office that you realize you want to be in a place you enjoy and  where the work really challenges you." Lured by Marer's offer of a healthy chunk of equity in BodyLogix.com,  and by the company's cutting-edge concept, Hand agreed to climb aboard  as Marer's new executive vice president. "When Dylan first approached me  to come work for BodyLogix, I was intrigued by what the company would be  doing and excited about the idea of slugging it out in the e-commerce  market," she says. "As an executive, you want the money, you want the  challenge and you want the opportunity to get involved with a company  that has great long-term growth potential. When I looked at BodyLogix  that way, it was actually a pretty easy decision to make." Hotshot execs moving from stronger and more established companies to  smaller, more nascent ones may not be a new concept, but it's one that's  attracting more attention these days. Eyebrows were raised all over Wall  Street last year when Lou Dobbs, president of CNN Financial News, left  his high-profile job and moved over to Space.com, a space-travel and  astronomy Web site with a much lower profile. Dobbs told reporters that  space travel was his first love and he wanted to spend the rest of his  working life up to his elbows in it. Neither Hand nor Dobbs is alone in taking on new risks. Today more and  more corporate heavy hitters are foregoing the showroom-floor-sized  corner office and reserved parking privileges for the relative  uncertainty of 70-hour weeks at shoe-box-sized offices where they may  have to fight for prime parking spots with the rest of the staffers.  How are small businesses attracting such talent? Good financial  packages--usually with a piece of the company included--big-time titles  like CEO or COO, and a Braveheart-like call to arms that appeals to the  Mel Gibson in most corporate big shots. "I recently hired one of the highest-ranking executives in my industry,"  says Scott H. Korn, the 37-year-old founder, chairman and CEO of York  Paper, an $80 million Eddystone, Pennsylvania-based paper-products  company. "It took a heck of a lot to get him--enough equity in the  company where he's set for life--but what sold him on us was the idea  that he'll have as much freedom and flexibility as he can handle. As  long, that is, as he produces." Give 'Em What No One Else Can While there's no lack of good executives looking for better deals, prying them from their existing jobs is not easy. Some business owners find they have to give up more and more to lure  talent away from the big guys. All the good executives are taken, it  seems, and most are getting rich on stock options in the long-running  bull market. One entrepreneur tells the story of wooing a big-time chief  technology officer during a frenzied two-week period. Just when the  business owner was set to reel her prize catch aboard, the executive's  company announced it was going public, increasing the CTO's stock value  by 75 percent overnight. Needless to say, the executive stayed right  where he was. In a sparkling economy, high-end recruiters say small companies have to  be creative in landing the big fish. When pitching to potential  management hires, it's a good idea to play the vanity card and let them  know they're highly regarded in your industry. Then emphasize how likely  it is they'll grow stale unless they take on greater risks.  When you do talk money, frame it in the context of a long-term deal so  you'll have their talents on hand for a while. "It's got to be a  long-term relationship, and you have to let them know up front," says  Korn, who signs his top executives to big multiyear deals. "I try to  stretch it out to 10 or 20 years so I know we're both in it for the long  haul." Don't be reluctant to embellish your company's freewheeling image.  Smaller companies offer more flexibility and variety for new hires, who  may feel stifled in their current jobs. "We try to match our company to  what the executive does," explains 36-year-old John Mueller, owner of  Idea Factory Inc., a $3 million bath-products company in Menomonee  Falls, Wisconsin. "If we see a candidate who's tired of wearing a power  suit, we let that person know we're a T-shirt-and-blue-jeans company. It  sounds simplistic, but you should see the smiles on their faces." Other entrepreneurs, recognizing that time is as big a commodity as  cash, tempt would-be managers with flextime schedules and amped-up  vacation packages. "Good people are used to having leverage," says  31-year-old Kristin Knight, founder, president and principal of Creative  Assets Inc., a $14 million creative-recruitment company in Seattle. "So  they expect the stock options and the big raise. Where you can beat the  competition is on the time issue. If it takes an extra two weeks of  vacation time to get them in your shop, then do it." On-site perks don't hurt either, Knight adds. "We began having on-site  masseuses to keep people happy." Don't Let The Dot.Com Faze You As Sandra Hand's story at BodyLogix.com attests, top executives' eyes  widen at the thought of working for dot.com companies. That's partly  because there's always the chance they might earn more money than a  Saudi oil sheik when the company goes public and partly because of the  thrilling idea of riding in the front car of the fastest roller coaster  around. The combination of cash and cachet can't be undersold. After  all, there's a little Las Vegas in everyone. "It's so easy to get caught up in the Web initial public offering  craze," notes Ethan Winning, a Walnut Creek, California, expert on  business growth trends and the author of the self-published book Labor  Pains: Employer and Employee Rights and Obligations. "Everyone wants to  work for the company that's going to become the next Yahoo!. That's fine  if you're an owner of a small e-commerce business--trump that side of  the mix all you want when you're recruiting. "If you're running a non-technical company, you're not competing against  the dot.com companies. Let them fight it out for themselves with the big  signing bonuses and fat financial packages. You don't have to play that  game." Even though the media plays up successful tech IPOs, most  Internet stock IPOs never pan out. After all, more Internet start-ups  fail than succeed. Non-Internet companies can compete with options like  extended flextime and generous vacation packages. Signing bonuses can do more harm than good in small companies, says  Winning. Information in small businesses flows like beer at a frat  party, and resentments can grow if too much of a company's money is  targeted toward one individual. "Adding signing bonuses to the package  is bad business," Winning explains. "If you give bonuses out, then  you're going to have some disgruntled employees stewing about who didn't  receive such a bonus. I tell the business owners I talk to, `Decide how  much you can afford to pay in salary and stock options, and then walk  away if a candidate wants all that and a bonus, too.' " Another advantage an established small business has over start-up  dot.coms is a track record. Management candidates can ask around and get a feel for your company. That's a big advantage when dealing with  talented executives who don't like surprises. "One of the most important  considerations for hiring top talent is your company's image," says  Winning. "And more often than not, that image is conveyed by your  current employees. If your employees speak highly of your company, and  the management is involved with their employees' happiness and success,  you have a better shot at landing a big recruit." Workplace culture manifests itself in many forms. At Incentive Systems,  an $8 million enterprise incentive compensation management firm based in  Burlington, Massachusetts, the company's founder and CEO, Elizabeth  Cobb, has bagged her share of top managers. On one day alone, Cobb  landed a new CFO and a sales-and-strategic-alliances director. Her  company's chief architect and co-founder was a lead developer of Lotus  1-2-3 and her new CTO developed the PowerSite Web software package at  Powersoft. "In such a short time, we've succeeded in building a  formidable team," explains the 46-year-old Cobb, who rolled out her  company in June 1997. Cobb, the first woman to run Honeywell's advanced engineering training  program back in the 1970s, when female engineering directors were about  as rare as Rush Limbaugh sightings at a hemp rally, credits her  recruitment success to her company's motivation-based management  techniques. "Recruiting top talent is at the heart of good business,"  she explains. "And getting good help is the same as getting new  customers: You've got to motivate them." Cobb believes the carrot-and-stick approach is the best way to attract  new managers. But don't just dangle the carrot in front of their noses,  she adds--let them grab it, taste it and ask for more.  But you're also trying to get job candidates to do the same things you  want customers to do--buy into your company mission, Cobb says. "You've got to bend a lot to fit people's lifestyles into your system, but if  they buy into what you're doing, the rest comes naturally." It's What's Inside That Counts A mistake many business owners often make is to grab executives simply  because they had a fancy title at their old jobs. Just because somebody  has "CTO" on their coffee mug doesn't mean he or she's a Mensa  candidate. "You have to do your homework and do it thoroughly," advises  Stever Robbins, an executive coach at VentureCoach.com, an  entrepreneurial coaching firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "I've  seen managers with big titles who were complete idiots. What happened  was their high school buddy who made it big hired them and gave them a  big title. But when you look a little closer, you find the owner didn't  necessarily give them a great deal of responsibility." In a tight executive job market, perhaps that's the strongest lesson of  all. You can toss money around, you can jack up vacation times and you  can even hire a masseuse--but if you pick the first big title you see  and don't do your homework, you're going to be spending more time with  that masseuse than anyone else on your staff. Daily Deal November 7, 2000 Laidoff.com? Bouncing Back in the "Burn Rate" Age By Brian O'Connell While the rest of the country focused on the next day's presidential elections, employees at Furniture.com found themselves already voted out of office. Namely theirs. On November 6, 2000, the Framingham, Mass.-based dot.com furniture retailer discontinued operations and laid off 76 of its 88 employees, citing difficulty securing sufficient capital to fund operations going forward. The news shocked employees at the company. Furniture.com had dominated the home furnishings e-tailing category since it launched in January 1999. The company reported $22 million in net revenues for the nine months ending September 2000, more than twice its net revenues for all of 1999. In September, the Furniture.com website attracted roughly one million unique users a month, ranking it as one of the most popular sites on the Internet. Still, employees at Furniture.com are hardly alone. The dot.com bubble has finally burst, taking not only the IPO millionaire dreams away from Internet workers, but their jobs, too. Only two weeks earlier, Eve.com, a beauty products e-commerce site, and iBelieve.com, a Christian e-commerce portal also shut their doors, taking a combined 200 jobs away in the process. Other companies, like Stamps.com and Mypoints.com, cut staffing drastically, eliminating 240 and 120 jobs, respectively. Dot.com layoffs grow this month U.S. Internet companies cut 4,805 jobs in September as commercial Web sites -from services to retailing -tried to reduce costs, according to an employment firm survey released Monday. That was 14.6 percent more jobs than the 4,193 "dot.com" jobs cut in August and more than double the 2,194 cut in July, according to the statistics compiled by Challenger, Gray & Christmas inc. of Chicago. The layoffs are being forced as dot-com companies try to prove they can earn a profit. At the same time, however, they're losing valuable resources. "It's like cutting off an arm," says John Challenger, CEO of the international outplacement firm. Bouncing Back What's a cyber-tiger who loses his or her job to do? In a word, relax. Losing a job may be one of life's most formidable miseries, but it's not only survivable, but also often therapeutic, experts say. And the chances of landing an equal or better job sooner than ever is solid, too. According to the staffing and consulting firm Drake Beam Morin, 82 percent of laid off Americans found new jobs within six months during 1999. Managers also found that the average salary at their new jobs clocked in at $82,000 per year. Nearly one-third of laid off workers reported finding jobs that paid them more money than the jobs they just lost. According to DBM, male job seekers outnumbered females by more than three-to-one (76% male vs. 24% female). The typical transitioning executive is male, 44 years old, spent nine years with his previous employer, and received a severance payment of 19 weeks' pay. "While job loss continues to be a way of life for U.S. employees, and appears to be a growing phenomenon in other countries, the good news is that these people are reconnecting more quickly, thanks to very favorable economic conditions in many parts of the world," offers Craig Sawin, chairman of DBM. "We're also seeing more flexibility and creativity on the part of laid off workers -- they're networking in traditionally non-networking environments, and opting for self-employment over full-time positions."  For laid off workers looking for work, the DBM cited networking as the best tool to land a new job. "Traditionally a job search tactic favored primarily in the U.S., networking was cited by 68 percent of respondents worldwide as the best source for finding a new job, up sharply from 44 percent in 1998," the report said.  Tips for Landing a New Job There's no shortage of additional strategies that can help today's cyber warrior land a new job. Experts cite that a little grief is good, but after a few days it's time to get back into the job hunt. When you do, make a list of every contact you have, from customers to suppliers to former employers to a parent on your child's soccer team. Tell as many people as possible you are seeking work.  It's also a good idea to create some goals and write them down. "Create a vision of what you want your future to be," says Jim Davis, author of "The Job Loss Survival Guide (available online at CareerCenter.com) "Then plan how you can make the vision become real, and work toward it a step at a time. It's best to actually write out your plan so you can make it more definite in your mind. You might consider it your personal "business plan." After all, you are now in the "business" of finding a job. Do a little old-fashioned gumshoe work, too. Before sending a resume to a company, make sure you know if hires are being made. It doesn't make sense to send a resume to a business that is experiencing industry downturns, or is expected to have layoffs soon.  One mistake many out-of-work Americans make is to let themselves go a bit. Sure, nobody blames you for indulging in pizzas and donuts immediately following a job loss. After all, it's comfort we're after and food is a great companion. But it's more important to eat right, get enough sleep, exercise, and stay in touch with family and friends. Going to lunch with a friend not only is good for the soul but also offers you a chance to bounce job-hunting ideas off someone else. It's also a good time to reevaluate what you want from a job. Are you interested in taking less pay for less hours so you can spend more time with family and friends? Do you finally want to launch that freelance graphic design business? Now may be the best time ever to find out. Think about issues like pay and benefits. Would you be willing to take less if it meant you could work for a company that would demand fewer hours?  A couple of "don'ts". Don't send everyone in the world your resume. Targeting several select companies that fit your needs and talents is a better way to go, experts say. Also, don't be too aggressive. Nobody will hire you if you call every day wondering when your interview will be or whether or not the big cheese has gotten to your resume yet. If you keep calling, he or she never will. Above all, don't quit being positive. A positive outlook goes a long way in helping you get through a difficult time that's only going to get better.