"Oh the weather outside is frightful" seems like a bit of an understatement these past few weeks. With what seems like the entire country being blanketed in snow and ice, what better way to spend your evening than reading a good book?
Aren't sure what to read? Well you're in luck because here are just a few suggestions from DataCraft President, Monica Glenny:

The Power of Nice by Linda Kaplan Thaler & Robin Koval (The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group)
Authors Linda Kaplan and Robin Koval have had enough of the dog eat dog mentality that plagues businesses. They set out to prove, through their own experiences and stories from others that being nice can get you a lot farther than you expect. Hurray for the good guys!

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (updated editing by Dr. Arthur R. Pell, Penguin Books Ltd)
Written at the end of the Great Depression, Hill's book was inspired by suggestions from Andrew Carnegie. Hill studied the most successful people in the country at the time to create 13 principles on philosophy and personal achievement. It's a classic book that is worth reading once if not a couple times over.


The Art of War by Sun Zu
Don't let the fact that it is a book about Chinese military strategy written in the 6 B.C. make you think that it isn't relevant to today. Its no-nonsense attitude has had an enormous impact on military and business planning.

The Book of Great American Documents edited by Vincent Wilson Jr. (American Research Association)
Everyone should review the documents that helped shape our country. It includes The Declaration of Independence (1776), The Northwest Ordinance (1787), The Constitution of the United States of America (1787), The Emancipation Proclamation (1863), just to name a few. Each document has a well written introduction that explains the significance of each document.

The Five Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass)
Follow the tale of Andrew O'Brien, a young CEO who is about to face his first annual review board and the behavioral pitfalls that many corporate leaders face. Lencioni's story telling capabilities make this easy and entertaining to read while still giving the reader a valuable message.


The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni(Jossey-Bass)
Patrick Lencioni tells the story of Decision Tech's CEO, Kathryn Petersen. Throughout the story, Lencioni discusses five hurdles that even the most successful teams can face and how they can be overcome. Again his storytelling makes it an entertaining and worthwhile read.

1001 Things every Teen $hould Know Before They Leave Home (Or Else They'll Come Back) by Harry H. Harrison Jr. (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.)
This book is full of quick, witty, and funny thoughts about a broad range of topics from avoiding bad relationships to home repair to using an adult vocabulary to financial responsibility.

Take advantage of the inclement weather and use the time to catch up on some great books!

There's something about margins that accountants just love. What is it exactly? Well, margins can tell you a great deal of information about the financial stability of your business.
Case in point; profit margins.

Profit margins are the easiest way to tell if your business is profitable by measuring the percentage of each sales dollar that results in net income.

Let's say your company sells coffee cups for $10 each and they cost $6 to make. Your company also has to pay $2 in tax, leaving $2 for the net income of each cup.

That means that your company is making $0.20 for every $1 or 20%

The profit margin indicates a company's ability to control costs and pricing. The higher your company's profit margin, the more profitable your business is and it gives you better control over the pricing of the product.

Financial website Motley Fool calls pricing a product to be profitable the "holy grail of sales and marketing groups" because pricing influences sales and creates profits that is essential to a company's success.

If your company's costs increase and your sales rate can't keep up, you're in danger of having your profit margin dip. A low profit margin translates into a lower margin of safety, meaning your company is more likely to decline in sales that can result in net loss.

Profit margins play a big factor in business competition. Competitive industries that are easier to get into have much lower profit margins than less competitive industries that typically have a strong brand.

Profit margins are easy to figure out and a quick way to check your company's profitability. No wonder accountants love them so much.

We all know that it is just as much who you know as it is what you know.

One of the most common threads that the most successful business people share is their ability to network effectively. That's right, getting out there and making connections that transcend their particular industry.

More and more people are getting away from the old thought that networking is nothing more than name dropping and sucking up. People are beginning to realize that networking is more than schmoozing, it's being genuinely interested in someone else and creating a mutually beneficial relationship.

The success of your business depends greatly on working with the people you meet along the way. Networking is for everyone, you don't have to own a huge company or be in a big city to be able to network. Thanks to networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and facebook, business professionals are able to make connections and build powerful relationships with people all over the world.
Keith Ferrazzi a networking mastermind and author of the book Never Eat Alone, learned from an early age that it's not only creating powerful relationships that make someone successful, but using that relationship in a way so that everybody wins.

His book gives tips to help you make and keep your relationships including:
" Don't Keep Score- It's never simply about what you want. It's about getting what you want and making sure that the people who are important to you get what they want, too.

" "Ping" constantly: The Ins and Outs of reaching out to those in your circle of contacts all the time--not just when you need something.

" Never eat alone: The dynamics of status are the same whether you're working at a corporation or attending a society event-- "invisibility" is a fate worse than failure.

Ferrazzi links the success of business to human connection, "Success in any field, but especially business, is about working with people, not against them. No tabulation of dollars and cents can account for one immutable fact; business is a human enterprise, driven and determined by people."

Networking isn't just for socialites; it's an art for every business professional to master. But if you're finding it hard to strike up a conversation with a stranger, check out Meridith Levison's article How to Network: 12 Tips for Shy People on the CIO website.

Don't sit there and wait for someone to come to you, get out there, start taking the steps you need to get your business on the map, you might be surprised by the relationships you from on the way.