Fun Team Building Problem Solving Activities

From The Medici Effect to increased productivity and decreasing burnout, there are dozens of science-backed reasons why every office needs to take team building seriously.

And problem-solving skills aren’t just an essential skill for the people behind successful businesses, it’s a key characteristic in people with successful lives in general.

But how can you foster more “togetherness” through team building problem solving activities in the workplace without making everyone cringe in the process?

Here are three ways to get your team excited about working smarter and better together.

Why Team Building Problem Solving Activities Are So Important

Solid teams can transform a business. A workplace of team players creates a coveted company culture that will attract top talent. Employees with good communication skills make all the difference in every step of a business’s supply chain, from sales to recruitment and managing clients.

Happy employees can be a company’s greatest asset, and unhappy ones can be their downfall.

The ability to problem-solve is vital for the success of every business. Problem-solving opens the mind to new ways of thinking. People who believe they can solve problems approach challenges with more positivity, and with a stronger drive to see a project through.

Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts can be set-up anywhere, both in the office and after work. A scavenger hunt ignites critical thinking in participants. Using riddles and clues to locate items also requires creative, out-of-the-box thinking.

Scavenger hunts can be set up in the office or throughout an office complex. They can even be organized at parks or at local bars. The only real downside is that they can be very time consuming to create, as they require a lot of thought and strategic thinking to organize.

Escape Rooms

The escape room industry has boomed across the country. With thousands of escape room facilities like Escape the Room AZ, Breakout Games, and EscapeSF popping-up in every major city. Escape rooms have many of the same benefits for teams as scavenger hunts do.

Escape rooms foster critical and creative thinking, as well as working together as a team, and communication. But escape rooms offer a completely immersive experience too. They are also much easier to organize because all you have to do is pick a date and time, and your work is done.

Obstacle Courses

Remember things like field-day in elementary, middle and high school? The faculty at school has more reasons than a student’s personal enjoyment behind organizing events like this. Obstacle courses are by far one of the most expensive and time-consuming team building problem solving activities.

Company owners can make a day trip of it, hire a bus service and go to a camp or obstacle course facility that specializes in this type of activity. Dedicated teams can attempt to orchestrate a field day or obstacle course themselves, or through an event planner too!

Click through the rest of our site for even more awesome entertainment ideas!

Employee records are a crucial aspect of running a successful business. Financial documents are one such set of documents you’ll need to create and track. So, it comes as no surprise that you should learn how to set up payroll.

Doing payroll in-house gives your business control over its documents. It ensures all paperwork is accounted for, saves money, and other benefits we’ll get into.

What does the process involve when setting up payroll? What are the benefits? And, what resources can you use to make it go as smooth? Let’s find out!

How to Set Up Payroll (Step by Step)

Payroll is the documentation detailing who gets paid what in your business. The documents also outline what you’d submit as part of business taxes. To put it bluntly: You need to provide them for both employees and Uncle Sam.

Get Registered and Compliant

You will begin the payroll set up by applying for an Employer Identification Number (EIN). Applications are available by mail, online, faxed in, or over-the-phone. You will use the EIN when submitting information and tax payments.

You will also need to:

• Register with your state’s labor department
• Print and display employment compliance materials
• Review any state labor laws to which you’ll comply

You should review other items including your state’s new hire registration system. Worker’s compensation, unemployment tax, and employment eligibility are other items you’ll need to review before setting up payroll and doing hires.

Confused? You could lean on your attorney or business pros to handle this. They can provide the necessary paperwork and filings for a fee. Otherwise, stick to official government resources for your needs.

Schedules, Payments, and Systems

Now it’s time to get into the finer details of having employees. This is, of course, if you completed the federal and state requirements. Get any paperwork out of the way, first, and then follow up with these three items:

• Schedules — When employees get paid (eg. biweekly)
• Payments — How employees get paid (eg. direct deposit)
• Systems — What software/platforms you’ll use (eg. Quickbooks)

A super-simple way to get started is the traditional paper trail. Payments could go out bi-weekly, via check, and recorded with pay stubs and software logging. You can click here to learn more about Paystub creator for this method.

Another great option is using online accounting systems. These tend to handle most, if not all, aspects of payroll. You could train someone in-house to handle it or outsource the task to a tax professional.

Some of the Other Important Tasks

There’s still lots to process when handling payroll in-house. A lot of this is the employee paperwork like W-4’s for taxes and I-9 for eligibility to work.

Include these as part of your payroll to-do:

• Creating a payroll register
• Creating an employee handbook
• Setting up insurances

You have a lot of work cut out for you, no doubt, but stay diligent. It’s vital you follow labor laws when hiring and handling payroll.

Payroll is a Piece of the Puzzle

Learning how to set up payroll is just one of many things you’ll do as a new business owner. There are many other things you’ll learn along the way. From its operations to exit strategies, successful business owners are lifelong learners.

Do you want to improve your business knowledge and success? If so, check out other business guides on our site. There are tons of resources that will make you a better, more successful business owner. Good luck!

No Holds Barred

It isn’t uncommon to see professional wrestlers translate their success in the ring to the silver screen in modern times. WWE icons Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena, and Dave Bautista have all become major motion picture stars. However, those three men wouldn’t have parlayed their in-ring success into Hollywood superstardom had it not been for one man. Combat sports fans are gearing up for Conor McGregor’s return to the UFC. Fans can use this welcome offer to wager on McGregor or Donald Cerrone before they enter the octagon.

Hulk Hogan first burst onto the film scene with Rocky III. That appearance led to the WWE signing him and marketing him as the biggest pro wrestler of all-time. Since debuting in Rocky III as Thunderlips in 1982, Hogan has appeared in a number of top releases as a co-star. Unfortunately, Hogan’s starring roles haven’t been quite as good in the mainstream. However, if you love good/bad B films, you can’t miss these Hogan films. 

5. Secret Agent Club

Secret Agent Club is one of the least known films Hogan starred in. It came out during the mid-1990s after Hogan’s initial success in wrestling in the WWE and his rebirth as a hated villain in WCW with the NWO. Combat sports fans can get the latest bonus promo codes if they click here before McGregor and Cerrone meet in the UFC. Hogan stars as Ray Chase, a secret spy who steals a laser gun. He is then targetted by the evildoer he stole the gun from and is kidnapped. Chase’s son must then rescue his dad. The film co-stars former The Bold and The Beautiful actress Lesley-Anne Down. 

4. Santa with Muscles

Hogan has claimed Santa with Muscles was his worst movie of all-time and should never have been made. We disagree with his claims. The film was panned by critics and made less than $250,000 at the box office. Yet, it is a fun late-night watch during the holidays. Hogan plays a conceited self-made millionaire (seems topical in 2020), who suffers amnesia. It results in him believing himself to be Santa Claus. Interestingly, this 1996 film stars a young Mila Kunis. 

3. Mr. Nanny

Compared to some of the other films Hogan has starred or acted in, Mr. Nanny feels quite cliched for men and women who come from the combat sports world. Hogan plays Sean Armstrong, a former professional wrestler turned bodyguard. The twist is Hogan must watch out for tech firm head honcho Alex Mason’s mischievous children. Chaos ensues as Hogan protects the kids when bad guys come after Mason’s last tech microchip creation. It feels like this film has been remade unintentionally (or intentionally) by The Rock. 

Suburban Commando

2. Suburban Commando

While some films apes on Hogan’s wrestling career, Suburban Commando is a sci-fi film that isn’t too different from movies such as Demolition Man or Judge Dredd. Released in 1991, Hogan plays Shep Ramsey, an intergalactic commando sent to rescue a deposed general, who is on Earth. The film co-stars Christopher Lloyd and includes Mark Calaway, who would become the WWE’s The Undertaker that year. Suburban Commando may have been panned by critics, but it is a fun sci-fi ride that was initially meant for both Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger before the duo agreed to star in Twins. Had it been released in modern times on Netflix, it would be loved.

1. No Holds Barred

Hogan’s most well-known film, No Holds Barred, sees him play the part of Rip Thomas, a championship wrestler. Thomas must fight crooked wrestling promoters and the intimidating Zeus to come out on top. Released in 1989, the film was panned by wrestling fans especially when WWE owner Vince McMahon brought Zeus into the company to fight Hogan at the annual SummerSlam show that year. Rumour has it that Hogan and McMahon were not happy with the original No Holds Barred film script and re-wrote it during a 48-hour cocaine-fuelled writing session. 

How to Calculate Your Federal Taxable Income From Your Last Pay Stub

Taxes are a complete mystery to most people. It’s understandable when you realize that the tax code is thousands of pages long.

One of the most challenging things to do is to figure out how much federal income tax is taken out of your paycheck. You can figure out that you have 6.2% of your taxable wages is held for Social Security and 1.45% is withheld for Medicare.

What about your federal income taxes?

If you want to predict how much your take-home pay will be, check out this guide to calculate your federal taxable income.

What are Taxable Wages?

Taxable wages aren’t the same as your actual income. The IRS allows for deductions on your income to determine what your taxable income is.

For example, there are some line items on your pay stub that are subtracted out of your actual income. These are things like health care premium payments and retirement contributions.

For example, let’s say that you made $1000 in the pay period. You contribute $75 to your health care premiums and another $100 to your retirement plan. Your taxable wages are then $825.

Over the course of the year, that can make a big difference in your tax bracket.

Keep in mind that not retirement plans are included in this deduction. There are some retirement programs, like some IRAs that don’t count because you don’t pay taxes on them when you take the withdrawals in retirement.

The ones that are pre-tax contributions will require that you pay taxes on them when you start to withdraw the funds.

How Taxable Income is Taxed

There are a lot of factors that go into calculating how much you’re taxed. Your taxable income amount, your tax bracket, your tax filing status, and the number of allowances you put on your W-4 Form will determine your income tax rate. You can find a list of the tax rates and corresponding filing statuses for 2020 here.

The best thing you can do is to use a program that will automatically calculate your withholding, such as a pay stub maker. That will take into account your health and retirement contributions and then determine your federal tax withholding.

You can use that figure to determine how your taxed.

Understanding Taxable Wages

There is so much to the tax code, figuring out your taxes can be a nightmare. You have to make sure that you understand the difference between taxable wages and your actual income.

Your taxable wages are used to determine your income tax rate, along with several other factors. Knowing all of this can help you make sure that you’re withholding enough taxes so you don’t owe in April.

You also don’t want to pay too much because you’re giving the government a sizable loan that’s free of interest. You want to get it just right.

Check out this site often for more great tech news and tips.

Is CBD really the miracle drug it seems to be?

Studies are finding more and more benefits to CBD, and the list of conditions that it can help treat is getting longer.

If you know someone suffering from anxiety, high blood pressure, inflammation, or any of many other conditions, then you should be looking seriously at CBD.

Read these 5 CBD facts to help you know how CBD can help you!

1. Won’t Get You High

CBD oil is found in cannabis, but the facts about CBD are that you can enjoy its benefits without getting high. CBD should not be confused with THC. THC can produce a euphoric state, but CBD is not a psychoactive substance, and most people can drive and otherwise go about their day just fine while using CBD.

2. Legal in Many States

CBD can be derived from either hemp or from marijuana. CBD derived from hemp is legal in all 50 states, while CBD derived from marijuana is legal in some states and still not legal in other states. Check out this source to find out if CBD derived from marijuana is legal in your state or just enjoy the hemp-derived option!

3. Relieves Pain

CBD is an excellent pain reliever, becoming and more and more popular replacement of some of the more traditional pain relievers. Some consider it not only a more natural but also a more effective alternative to ibuprofen and similar drugs.

4. Moderate Dose is Best

A too low or too high dose of CBD can be ineffective, so if CBD isn’t working for you, finding some CBD information about proper dosing may solve your problem. Healthline recommends taking into account your body weight and the condition you want to treat to calculate the right dose for you. They also suggest starting with a lower dose like 20 mg and slowly increasing the dose if that doesn’t treat your condition adequately from the beginning.

5. Shouldn’t Be Combined With Certain Medications

CBD is safe to use, but one of the CBD oil facts not everyone knows about is that there are certain medications that react poorly with it. Any medications that says not to take it after eating grapefruit may also be a bad idea to mix with CBD oil.

If you’re on warfarin, anti-epileptics, or going through chemotherapy, you may need to avoid CBD oil. There are other medications that shouldn’t be mixed with CBD oil, so make sure to check if anything you’re using could be a problem.

Finding Great CBD

If this CBD info has made you think CBD could be right for you, check out the Lazarus Naturals Review by CBD Oil Users. Lazarus Naturals makes excellent products and it lays out in detail the differences between many options so you can find the exact right fit for your situation.

These CBD Facts Can Help You Enjoy Life

Finding a solution to an old problem can make the world seem full of potential.

If you’ve found these CBD facts useful, check out our other articles on news happening around the world!

Is Replacing Windows Before Selling Your Home Worth It?

Replacing windows in your home will require a sizable investment on your part. On average, homeowners spend anywhere from $650 to $1,500 per window during the window replacement process.

This might make you a little apprehensive about replacing windows right before you sell your home. After all, what’s the point in spending all that money on new windows when you won’t even get to enjoy them?

That’s a fair question. But you shouldn’t let it stop you from thinking about installing new windows in your home before listing it for sale. You can benefit from buying new windows for your home in so many ways when you’re trying to sell it.

Check out why it’s worth it to go about replacing windows before selling your home below.

Improves Your Curb Appeal

When you stick a “For Sale” sign in your front yard, people will start slowing down as they walk or drive by. They will do this so they can get a better look at your home from the outside to see what it’s all about.

For this reason, you want to do whatever it takes to improve your curb appeal. You can make your curb appeal better than it is now by planting new flowers, painting your front door, and power washing your porch.

You can also make your curb appeal better by replacing windows with new ones. If you have older windows in your home they will drag your curb appeal down and scare many potential buyers away.

You’ll be amazed by how much better the exterior of your home looks when you have fresh windows put into place. They’ll draw buyers in and make them want to take a closer look at your home.

Makes the Inside of Your House Look Better

Replacing windows will do more than just make the outside of your house look better. They will also improve your home’s interior design and make the inside of your house more welcoming to others.

If you have older windows in your home at the moment, they might have frames that are fading, cracking, chipping, and showing other signs of wear and tear. These frames will give people the wrong impression when they walk around inside your home.

They might think that you haven’t taken the time to take good care of your home based on the condition of your window frames. You can eliminate this thought from their minds by installing new windows in place of your old ones.

Increases Your Home’s Energy Efficiency

Nowadays, people don’t just want homes that look beautiful. They also want homes that are as energy-efficient as they can be.

It’s often hard to tell whether a home is energy efficient simply by walking through it. But when you have window replacement done, you can play up how energy efficient it has made your home.

Most new windows come with double- and, in some cases, even triple-pane glass in them. This glass doesn’t allow air to pass freely through your windows anymore.

As a result, your home will stay more comfortable, and your HVAC system won’t have to work as hard to heat and cool your house. This will work wonders for your home’s energy efficiency, and it’ll provide you with an excellent selling point when listing your home for sale.

Allows More Natural Light to Enter Your Home

Studies have shown that about 80 percent of people who have purchased a home admit to regretting one thing about buying it.

In recent years, one of the biggest regrets that home buyers have had is buying a home that doesn’t get enough natural light. People appreciate the many benefits of living in a home that gets lots of natural light, and they regret it when they don’t buy a home with a lot of natural light in it.

You can make sure your home is bringing in plenty of natural light by putting new windows into it. With new windows, you won’t have to worry about dirty windows stopping natural light from shining directly into your home.

People will see how much natural light your home gets when they walk through it after you’ve had new windows installed. The windows will make such a big difference in how bright it is inside your home.

Provides an Excellent Return on Investment

There are all kinds of home improvements that you can take on prior to selling your house to increase its value. Just make sure you tackle jobs that offer a great return on investment.

Window replacement is one job that will deliver the ROI you’re looking for. Even though it’ll often cost well over $10,000 to replace all the windows in your home, you can bring the value of your home up by over $10,000 most times.

Best of all, doing window replacement isn’t anywhere near as complicated as taking on, say, a kitchen remodeling job. You can have every window in your home replaced by a reputable window company within just a few hours in most cases.

It’s why replacing your windows makes all the sense in the world if you’re searching for a home improvement project that will add value to your house in no time.

Consider Replacing Windows in Your Home Before Selling It

Are you going to be selling your home sometime soon? You should think about replacing windows before you put it up on the market.

You may have to delay listing your home for a few weeks to have window replacement done. But there’s a very good chance your home could sell quicker than it would otherwise with new windows in it.

There’s also a good chance you’ll get whatever you’re asking for your home from a buyer when you have new windows in place. The windows will allow you to enjoy a much better selling experience overall.

Browse through the informative articles on our blog to find other home improvement projects outside of replacing windows that you should take on before selling a house.

“Bruce Lee’s Secret” Theatrical Poster

Actor, writer, director, martial artist and Bruceploitation fan, Michael Worth (Final Impact), has announced yet another Bruceploitation project: The 2K re-master of the 1976 Bruce Li/Ho Chung Tao classic Bruce Lee’s Secret (aka Bruce Lee’s Deadly Kung Fu) – also starring Carter Huang, Hwang Jang Lee and Roy Horan.

Read the details below:

“Our goal is to re-master in 2K the classic 1976 Kung Fu film Bruce Lee’s Secret (aka Bruce Lee’s Deadly Kung Fu) from a recently discovered rare 35mm English print. The 44th anniversary edition of the film will include English audio with newly produced extra features and if we reach our larger goal, brand new supplements and interviews from the filmmakers,” says Worth.

If you haven’t been keeping up with our coverage regarding Worth’s many projects, here’s a quick breakdown of what’s to come:

• 2K Restoration of the Bruce Li/Ho Chung Tao film Dynamo from The Pearl Collection and VCI Entertainment (the same company that released The Leg Fighters).
• Martial Art: A Pictorial History of Bruceploitation Posters, a beautiful, limited edition book preserving a 40 year collection of original artwork posters.
• The Bruceploitation Bible, another upcoming Bruceploitation book. We hear he has some amazing content for this one – the title says it all!
• 2K Restoration of the Dragon Lee/Mun Kyong-sok film, Deadly Silver Ninja (this is essentially a bonus, if all goes well with the funding for Bruce Lee’s Secret).
• The release for the 2K Restoration of Yeung Kuen’s Duel of the 7 Tigers, a 1979 film with an all-star kung fu cast: Phillip Ko Fei, Cliff Lok, Han Ying-Chieh, Cassanova Wong and Chiu Chi Ling. This will also be released under The Pearl Collection banner.

If you’re interested in learning more about any of the aforementioned projects, visit the Indiegogo page for Bruce Lee’s Secret, as well as The Bruceploitation Bible Facebook Page.

Working with your hands to create living, working machines feels good. So good that builders of the past were celebrated and revered. Getting started in the world of metalworking reminds you that becoming a craftsman takes time.

It also takes the right metalworker’s tools. Without a proper set of tools, you can’t bend the alloys to your will. Metal, substance of strength and honor.

As the demand for custom metalworking grows, so too must the shops supplying it. Between cosmetics, restorations, and better than new repairs there’s always more being asked of metal goods. As always be aware of and follow, safe tool handling guidelines.

It doesn’t matter if you build from scratch or modify so-so parts for a retrofit, you need tools to get the job done.

Essential Metalworker’s Tools

The following list isn’t exhaustive, but it gets you started by having the basics to work the materials and produce results from the moment you open your doors.

1. Marking Tools

It’s easy to overlook this simple starting point for some. Without the ability to make a clear, defined mark on materials, it doesn’t matter how many times you measure before that first cut.

Invest in proper wax pencils, grease pens, and scribes to keep your marks visible.

2. Dial Calipers

Marking can’t be done without good measuring tools. Dial calipers give you an easy way to read your measurements without squinting or bending your head to find the notches. They provide accuracy to measurement while also being large enough that you don’t lose them easily.

Make certain to zero out calipers before you start using them to keep your measurements precise.

3. Flux Core Welder

You can’t work with metal without some serious ability to cut and to bind. Any welder will get you to an end product, but not all welders are created equal.

Gas welders take more prep and care to use safely and tend to require more finishing work for both the edges and the fire’s natural ability to leave soot about.

Start with a flux core to get cutting and melding right out of the box. The design of a flux core provides it’s own shielding, making it easier to use in a smaller space or with other people around.

When working on bigger jobs, it’s ideal to have a Snap-Loc coolant hose attached and set to cool material as you go to prevent deformation.

4. English Wheel

The workhorse of any automotive and cosmetic panel shaping shop. Run your metals between the adjustable upper and lower wheels to slowly bend and compound materials.

Wheels can also be angled to change the shape of the material. This is where the finesse and artistry of metalwork projects really blooms.

5. Die Grinder

In the past, the onerous task of beveling and edge shaping was done slowly with a lot of effort. Today, even the metalworking hand tool has become motorized and easy to use.

A die grinder smooths out the detritus of welds and makes shaping edges a breeze. For larger jobs, you’ll want to stick with a grinding wheel, but for smaller and delicate work, the die grinder can’t be beaten.

6. Press Brake

One of the larger pieces of equipment to be found in a proper metalworking shop, the press brake is intimidating to see and hear.

Outside of the English Wheel, this is the most important item for crafting sheets into needed shapes. It uses a heavy blade to pinch sheets so they can be bent and shaped.

The punch and die need to be kept aligned to avoid jagged edges. Always operate a press brake with gloves or vices to avoid getting cut by a sudden shift in the sheet.

7. Center Punch

With so many pieces for cutting and shaping metal, it’s easy to overlook the need to fasten and attach materials. For that, you need a center punch.

At first glance, it seems like a center punch can be replaced with any pointy object or a drill. For precision, the heavy, sharp point of a center punch can’t be replaced.

For even more precision, look into an optical version which lets you look directly into the interstices before you make your punch.

8. Drill Press

For thicker metal sheets and fast turnaround, a drill press armed with a vise makes meatal punching a breeze.

Making certain the tools are well anchored is key to providing the necessary precision. Keep your bearing sand spindle well-maintained and you won’t have any problems keeping things in-line.

9. Bandsaw

Cut safely and effectively with a bandsaw over a hand saw. Of all of the options from hand tools to machinery, the band saw is your best choice.

The blade oscillates for you and you move the object (after being properly marked) to get great, clean cuts. Bandsaws also avoid the major problem with hacksaws, which is getting the thin blade wedged in a corner of a cut and snapping the blade.

It may not be a laser-guided water cutter used in some industrial factories, but it gets the job done.

10. Buffing Wheels

To finish off a project you need this final item. A buffing wheel spins and polishes up finished items. Polishing doesn’t just make the metal look good, it also provides protection from corrosion.

In a pinch, a grinding wheel can do some of the same work but takes a lot of extra effort not to grind down your finished products.

Some people try to substitute a drill press armed with a makeshift buffing head, these don’t have the required torque to really get the job done.

The Right Tech

With these essential metalworker’s tools in place, you can begin to build out. Add some more gear for faster and more detailed work as the need presents.

Remember, the most important tool is the know-how you bring to the job. Keep up to date on improvements and advancements right here.