Key Word for Student Investors: Prudent

The Cayuga Fund’s strong performance was driven primarily by what Cornell MBAs describe as a ‘prudent risk management strategy’ that had shorts and longs performing comparably for the year.

“In spite of governmental efforts to prop up the financial industry and by extension, the equity markets, the economic picture remains very challenging and we expect this trend to continue throughout 2009. The Cayuga Fund intends to remain focused on generating absolute return through a combination of selective stock-picking and prudent risk management.” 

The top long performer (at at fourth quarter return of 65%) was Yanzhou Coal Mining Company (YCZ). This Chinese company mines, prepares, transports, and sells coal. It’s done well amid the growing global demand for inexpensive sources of energy.

The best short performer was American Apparel (APP), generating a return of 76 % in the last quarter. This company manufactures, distributes, and retails casual wear apparel for men, women, and children. Despite a weak retail segment, APP has performed well relative to many of its peers.

MBA Hedge Fund Creates Opportunities for Students

Cornell’s Johnson School created the Cayuga MBA Fund as an investment vehicle that aims to provide a competitive rate of return to its investors, but also serves to offer educational and professional opportunities to the Johnson School MBA students. By combining the cutting-edge research of faculty members with the participation of student portfolio managers, the fund provides a return far greater than that which is received by its investors.

Student portfolio managers, quantitative analysts, traders, and an investor relations manager all manage the fund under the guidance of faculty and outside investment advisers. Together, they work to achieve consistent positive returns that are uncorrelated with equity market benchmarks, and to maintain significantly lower volatility than the broader market.

Parker Center the Envy of Wall Street

The Cayuga MBA Fund also benefits from the support of Cornell’s Parker Center, which is a classroom for real-time stock quotes, international data feeds, and financial analysis software and data. This center is valued at more than $1.8 million per year in licensing fees. Representatives from Cornell say it’s as good as, if not better than, the resources found at many Wall Street firms. With this kind of return, who could argue?

What’s the lesson here? Either get yourself to business school, or give you money to someone who’s already there!

Good marketing makes your enterprise grow. That’s why major corporations have entire departments devoted to marketing.

Yet your marketing strategies have to be continually honed and updated. Marketing does not have to go beyond your town, your county, or your state. But it can go national or even worldwide. Marketing can be limited or limitless in this age of the World Wide Web.

And even if you can’t afford a marketing department or to have one person in your organization handle marketing full time, you can still get your company’s name–plus your products and services–out there.

Here are some marketing techniques you can try. You don’t have to do them all. You might want to do just a few to start. But remember: Marketing is essential to your success. In marketing, no news is bad news. You want the buzz.

BE A NEWSMAKER

Is there something of interest happening your business that the community should know about? Send out a press release about it.

Some topics for press releases

Did you recently:

• hire a new employee?
• expand a department?
• promote an employee?
• name an employee of the month?
• land an important client?
• open a new office?
• add a new service?
• add a new product line?
• start a new promotion?
• sponsor a Little League baseball team?

All these things are worthy of a press release, at least to your local weekly newspapers and to the business page of the daily newspaper that covers your area. Local weekly newspapers are usually happy to hear about your news and daily newspapers often have columns that cover these types of local business happenings. These press releases get your name out to the community, let people know your business exists, and work as an inexpensive way of getting some ink.

If you’re doing these things anyway, why not let people know about it?

Photos with a press release always draw people into the story about your business, but even if you can’t send a photo, it’s worth sending a release.

People often ask why a particular business is always in the newspaper. It’s because that business lets the paper know when something newsworthy is happening. It doesn’t have to be big news, just news.

The benefits

Getting in local newspapers is invaluable. Lots of times the local newspapers will even use your company’s name in the headline. What great free publicity! The more people see your business name around, the more likely they are to turn to your business when they need the products or services you offer. Being seen in local newspapers adds legitimacy to your business name. You can frame the articles and display them in your place of business. It shows that your business is a mover and shaker. Think of your business in the same way an athlete approaches his sport: You want to do anything within the rules to get an edge. Outpublicizing your competitors is within the rules.

GET KNOWN AS AN EXPERT

You’ve worked hard to develop a business. You’ve learned all you could about your business. You know all the ins and outs. Now it’s time for you to display that knowledge, to share it with others. Become known as an expert in your field, so when anything happens in your field, and anybody wants to know about it, you’re the one folks contact.

Let’s say you’re in the security business. When security issues make the news, are the local newspapers or radio or TV news departments contacting you for your insights into what’s going on? They should be.

How it works

If you’re an expert in any field, chances are news organizations are going to want to contact you to get your opinion on what’s happening when news breaks on that subject, either on the local or national scene. News can break in any field, and if reporters or producers want knowledgeable comments on the subject, they should know that you’re the go-to guy or gal. Even if you think you’re running a business that would never be contacted by a news outlet, a story could break that could fit your expertise perfectly.

Say you’re running a baseball card store. Why would the media want to contact you, you might wonder. What if a newspaper, radio or TV station wants to do a story on how steroid use in professional sports is affecting the sale of sports memorabilia like baseball cards? You should be the one they call.

There are more media outlets today than ever before, more stories printed and aired about current topics than ever before. So more experts are needed to fill that space and airtime, answer important questions, shed light on hot topics–everything from child care to addiction, behavioral problems to the latest tech devices, living green to ways of saving money. Think about it: The media needs an expert to turn to in almost every field. Today the public wants to hear from somebody who is an expert in a particular area, not just from a news commentator.

Why are you reading what someone else in your field is saying? Shouldn’t you be the one being interviewed?

Establishing yourself

So how do these media outlets know to call you?

Because you’ve established yourself as an expert. How? Speak about your business and the latest trends in your field before local organizations, including:

• community and civic groups
• churches and other houses of worship
• schools and PTAs
• senior citizens’ groups
• business groups like the chamber of commerce
• trade associations

You can speak before these groups on an annual or a semi-annual basis. Most groups are happy to hear from someone who would like to present a free program. Talk about something in your business that is topical, something that people are hearing about in the news. Give them your take on the subject. Let them ask questions, and be ready to answer the tough ones. Show that you have solutions, that you really know your topic, that you really know your business.

Bring some material along that you can hand out to people about the topic you’re discussing. Preferably, distribute something you have written on the topic, with your name, your company’s name, and all your contact information printed on it.

Send out press releases each time you speak. They may not always get in the local newspaper or on TV, but the press release will keep reminding the local media that you are out there talking about this topic. Make sure you include the date, time, place, and topic of your talk, and which group you are addressing. Always include a way for the media to get in touch with you (including by phone and by e-mail). Make sure your press release contains your company name and what your company does. Try to send a press release out after your talk as well, highlighting some of the key points you brought out in your talk.

Write an op-ed

If something major happens in your field of expertise on the local, state, national, or global stage, send out a short op-ed piece to your local news media about the topic and your views on it. See if your local newspaper would be interested in having you write a guest column on the event or trend. If not, you could write a pointed letter to the editor about what happened. Be sure to sign your guest column or letter to the editor with your name, your title, and your company’s name. Your letter to the editor may not always get published, but the editors will see your name and that keeps your name on their minds.

Editors will put your name and contact information on file, and when they want to do a story on the topic, they will have a reporter contact you. When a big story breaks, there usually isn’t time to start looking for experts. So reporters are going to go to the experts they know, people they’re familiar with. Any time you do get quoted, that’s free publicity for you. It puts your name out in the public, ahead of your competitors. You’re not only viewed as being in a particular business, but as someone who really knows your field. It’s the all-important credibility factor.

If the news media goes to you for your opinion, then when people in the community need that expertise, they’re going to turn to you as well.

Keep in mind that the media can tell if you really know your stuff. So stay on top of all the trends, have the latest information at your fingertips, be on top of your game at all times.

The benefits

If you’re an expert and your views are out there for the public to see, that will translate into additional business. It’s not being a publicity hound, it’s just good marketing and good marketing is a sound business practice. Prospective customers and clients can’t avail themselves of your talents and expertise if they don’t know you exist.

SEEK OUT FREE LISTINGS

There are more free listings for businesses and services than ever before. Are you taking advantage of all these free listings? You should be.

A free listing is free publicity. It’s worth taking the time to research the free listings in your area and make sure your business is listed. Free listings are available in the brochures, newsletters, and websites of non-profit organizations and government agencies, on municipal websites, and in business directories.

Where to find these listings

• Websites promoting a particular town or county often include listings of services and links to the websites of companies offering those services, especially if your company offers a free service of some kind, like a home energy survey.
• Websites of non-profit organizations like animal rescue groups might be looking to include the names of companies in the immediate area that work with animals, such as obedience schools, doggie day care centers, kennels, and groomers. Neighborhood watch programs are happy to include links to area locksmiths, security services, and emergency clinics.
• Sometimes local weekly newspapers or pennysavers will run free listings of businesses or services offered in a particular area.
• Realtors and town clerks publish newcomer’s guides that are given out free to people who move into the community, and area services are listed in these guides. The guides help newcomers get acquainted with the area. These are good places to be listed, and editors of these guides are usually looking for information they can include in these publications. It’s a way of getting your business name out to people as soon as they move into the area.
• If you provide a service to a targeted group, sometimes these groups have a tool they use to communicate with their membership. Do you have a business or provide a service of particular interest to senior citizens? The local senior citizens’ group might have a newsletter that contains a list of these businesses or service providers. Have a business or provide a service that new moms might be interested in? Many communities have groups for new moms; some hospitals sponsor these groups as well. They, too, might have a newsletter or do mailings or e-mailings to let members know about a business or service in their area that caters to them.

Once again, it may take some research to find these groups, but the time you spend will be well worth it, when you see new customers streaming through the door.

The benefits

These free listings often go to a targeted audience, a mailing list or group of people you otherwise couldn’t get to. May not even know about. If the listings are contained in a brochure or newsletter, it’s printed at no cost to you. If the brochure or newsletter is mailed out, the mailing doesn’t cost you anything. If it’s e-mailed, it’s sent to e-mail addresses you probably don’t have, wouldn’t have a way of getting, and it probably will be opened by the recipients because it’s coming from a person or an organization they know and trust. Providing this information to these lists is actually doing something to help the community or the organization you’re providing it to. It’s a completely win-win situation.

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR BUSINESS CARDS

You do business in lots of places. You get to know many people. Will they help you promote your business if you help promote theirs?

Have a special business card printed up that not only has the essentials, like your business name, address, phone number, website, and e-mail address, but also lists the services you offer and the type of products you carry. Use both sides of the card if you have to. Carry a lot of these cards with you. Always keep a supply in your car. Then leave the cards wherever you do business, especially in places where there’s a lot of foot traffic.

Where to put these cards

Think of all the places where you do business every day and see if you can display your cards there.

• The local coffee shop.
• The newspaper store.
• Restaurants you patronize.
• Your hair salon or barber shop.
• The local pizza parlor.
• Your drugstore.
• Your doctor’s office.
• The liquor store.
• Your veterinarian’s office.
• The dry cleaners.
• The local hardware store.

Any business where you have a special working relationship might let you display your business cards, and you can offer to display their cards in return. The possibilities are limitless.

Don’t forget to print up this same kind of business card for your employees, and ask them to put them out wherever they can. Increased business benefits the whole company.

The benefits

Exchanging business cards is a simple, inexpensive and effective way of getting the word out about your business. Not only are you gaining free additional exposure, but these other businesses are, too. You both can get new business by spreading the word among an array of different customers, people who you might not come in contact with any other way.

In addition, you are providing another service to your customers by letting them know about a business in the area that they may need. People are always looking for referrals, and this is a great way to help them out.

This allows you to network with other businesses as well as networking with potential customers. It’s basically a form of word of mouth advertising.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER

These are some surefire ways of marketing your business. Sound like a lot of work? It really isn’t.

Once you set up a solid marketing program, after a while it will take on a life of its own. Sure, you’ll have to tweak it every now and then. But once you get into the swing of sending out press releases, knowing who to contact in the media, making sure the media knows how to contact you, identifying promising speaking opportunities, having your written material ready to hand out, and knowing where to put out your business cards, your marketing campaign will become a fully functioning component of your business that will probably take a minimal amount of your time but will have a major impact on your client base.

Look at all the work you’re putting into establishing your business. Isn’t it worth the effort to market it as well? Your business is your product. Marketing is how you sell it.

If you’re looking toward a career analyzing what makes Wall Street tick, you might want to look at a growing trend that links big annual TV events to making money on the Big Board. It’s a strange phenomenon, but researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire have found that there’s big money to be made by investing in the stocks of companies that advertise during the Super Bowl. The same trend seems to be taking hold for advertisers on other annual major TV events like the Academy Awards.

The large corporations spending megabucks during these big events have been grabbing investor interest, and there’s plenty of money to be made on the Street as a result. Researchers found that over the past 12 years, investors who bought stock in publicly traded companies that were planning to advertise on the Super Bowl made billions. Investors are reporting that they are seeing this same trend with other annual star-studded events where big corporations realize they can reach a tremendous audience.

Because these commercials aren’t cheap, investors recognize that the companies buying them must be in good financial shape. Ads during the Super Bowl in 2008 cost a sweet $2.7 mill for a 30-second spot, and 30-second spots on the Oscars came in at a cool $1.6 million.

While the two events generally attracted different advertisers, the results were the same–a spike in consumer spending on the products being advertised. Not surprisingly, Budweiser opted for the Super Bowl, JC Penney for the Oscars. Coca-Cola bought airtime on both events. And sometimes a company throws a curveball, just to see if you’re paying attention: This year, for instance, the lingerie company Victoria’s Secret ran a highly successful commercial during the Super Bowl.

Buy Low, Sell High

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire found that investors were buying up stock in companies slated to advertise on the Super Bowl about a week before the game. The investors then sold the stock several days after the game, just as the buzz about the ads was going hot and heavy.

The stock of the companies advertising on the Super Bowl beat the Standard & Poor’s 500 by an average of 1.3 percent. That translates into billions of dollars in profits. Bottom line: It’s wise to invest in companies that advertise on the Super Bowl and other nationally televised annual events.

Usually, it’s fairly common knowledge which companies are going to advertise on these events. In the corporate world, it’s quite a coup to buy time on the Super Bowl or the Oscars. So companies aren’t shy about letting the world know about it. That gives investors plenty of time to scoop up stock ahead of the broadcast.

Some Super Hype

There’s also plenty of hype surrounding the ads for these major events. Entertainment shows cover the production of these commercials. Business pages feature stories about the placement of these ads. People respond to the hype and watch for the ads; they want to be part of the morning-after water-cooler discussions about the event itself and which ads were real standouts.

So as Madison Avenue looks for ways to develop these memorable commercials, Wall Street has found a way to invest in them and create a new road to riches.

What’s worse is that these students may be the ones responsible for tarnishing their own reputations.

When deciding on someone to fill a position, HR directors are increasingly turning to the Internet to track down information about applicants, googling you without your knowledge.

And what do these searches reveal? Many HR directors privately admit that they turn down many otherwise qualified candidates for internships and paid positions as a result of something disturbing they read on an applicant’s MySpace page, for instance. Though these HR directors will never tell you the job went to someone else because of something they found objectionable about you on a site like MySpace or Facebook, you can expect to be turned down for one job after another simply because hiring managers feel that you are a bad influence, a disruptive force, a personal of questionable character, or someone who might spend more time surfing the Net than working.

Is It Legal?

Is it proper–or even legal–for a company to decide to hire you or even fire you because of something you do on your own time? The law has yet to catch up with the technology on this point. Nevertheless, more and more companies are making hiring decisions based on information on the Web, especially if you put that information out there yourself. With the Internet right at their fingertips, these HR directors check you out on the Net and see if you “fit in” with the company’s corporate culture.

So you have to guard your reputation online as if you were going to make a run for political office. At one time, it was only political science students and law students who were mindful of their reputations. But now business students need to zealously monitor their personal information online, too.

One way to safeguard what’s on the Net about you is not to set up personal pages that disclose a range of information, including your likes and dislikes, political persuasion, and even your social calendar. What might seem like a cute story on a social networking site could be misinterpreted and might get you turned down for a job. Something you write in a blog in an unguarded moment may be seen by a prospective employer as a sign that you’re not “corporate material.” One comment you make in bad taste may hang around on the Net for years and may keep coming back to haunt you.

Less Is More

The consensus among HR directors is that when it comes to personal information on the Net, the less said the better. It’s never too early to safeguard your reputation, since you only get one chance to make a good first impression. What comes up on an Internet search is now becoming part of your credentials–regardless of whether you feel that’s right or wrong. So make sure that what’s said about you can never be viewed in the wrong light. It’s hard enough to get that first big break without negative information about you floating around in cyberspace.

Though it may seem impossible in today’s wired world, you do have to maintain some privacy. Think before you post. Is this something you want to live with for the rest of your life? A good rule of thumb: If it’s nobody’s business, it doesn’t belong on the Net.

You don’t have to be an established professional to make the Internet work for you. In fact, if you’re a business student you can start building a solid business reputation right now by using the Internet effectively.

Job recruiters spend a great deal of time on the Internet doing research. If they keep happening upon your name, as someone who’s doing exciting and innovative work in your field, they might offer you a job, even if you’re not job hunting. If you apply for a job, sometimes recruiters or HR directors will google your name to see if you’re recognized in your field.

There’s no doubt that having your name pop up on an Internet search engine as someone who’s a standout in your field will give you a big advantage over other candidates. So how do you get some of this choice exposure? One way is to write an interesting and well-read blog.

A Strategic Blog

While there are all sorts of blogs today, you want to develop one that has something important to say. Here’s how:

• Provide current, vital and accurate information.
• Report on cutting-edge developments.
• Don’t just report the facts–take the time to give your readers some meaningful insight into the facts and information you are reporting.
• Show that you have a depth and understanding of your field.
• Propose an idea or talk about how something you did solved a problem that you are covering in your blog.

Make sure your blog is well-written, that you use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. That’s critical if you want your blog to be taken seriously.

Potential employers or clients might be reading your blog at some point, so work to impress them. In a resume you don’t get a chance to express your ideas, display your way of thinking, showcase your problem-solving skills, communicate your passion for your field. But you can do all that and more in a blog, and your blog speaks volumes about your qualifications.

In time, a popular, well-crafted blog can make you a recognized expert in your field, helping to open doors and adding to any business’ client base.

Join the Discussion

Another good way to get your name around on the Net is to participate in online discussions in your field. Many professional organizations host these discussions on their websites. It’s a good way to exchange ideas with others in your field, and it boosts your name recognition.

Recruiters often peruse these websites and might find your comments interesting and thought-provoking. Again, remember to write stimulating content with solid information that stays on point. Material has a way of remaining on the Internet a long time, so be sure to write something you are proud of and can refer people to.

These online discussion groups offer a great opportunity for you to give meaningful advice to someone else in your field and get like-minded professionals to see your true talents. Used wisely, the Net can help find you a job and keep a job in this highly competitive, shrinking job market, and bolster your resume with a valuable added credential.

At one time, it was all the rage to have a store located in a popular mall with lots of foot traffic. But that was before rents started jumping 5, 10, even 15 percent annually.

Now many big chain stores are hiring people who know how to find and acquire property for standalone buildings. This skill is now being taught in business schools, so students can expand their horizons into this evolving field. Seeking out vacant land in a customer-rich area is much like being an explorer looking for the New World.

Those who specialize in land acquisitions must find a property that is large enough for the structure the company wants to build, and has enough space for parking. Acquisitions must also be made in neighborhoods where residents are happy to welcome new business.

Standalone stores are not limited to new construction on vacant land, however. That’s why those in property acquisition also have to be visionaries, looking at existing buildings and seeing what could be. Can an old medical arts building be turned into a new state-of-the-art drugstore with a clinic? Can an old school building become the site of a department store? Can a house that is now located in a commercial zone morph into a restaurant?

Sure, there are renovation costs. But they pay for themselves when you figure in the likely rent increases you’d be paying otherwise. And many businesses find that if they want to make renovations to properties they don’t own, they still have to pay for those upgrades themselves.

Property acquisition directors can save big chain stores millions with inspired acquisitions that are good for the chains and good for the areas they’re going into. Once these companies begin renovating their properties, that can lead to revitalization of entire neighborhoods, and some very good publicity for that business.

Of course, there are parts of the country where land in commercial zones is getting harder to find. So business school students are being taught to convince mall owners to sell off some mall property for standalone stores. Oftentimes, mall owners don’t want to expand their malls to the far-off reaches of their property, and leave the land vacant or set it aside for parking. Selling off land for a standalone store is a way for mall owners to profit from the land and have someone occupying the property who will take care of it.

But negotiations with mall owners are delicate and difficult, and take time to work through. It often requires a creative approach to craft a deal that is acceptable to both sides. To make the overall deal more attractive for mall owners, offers may have to include sharing services–like snow removal and parking lot maintenance.

Borders Books & Music has been building standalone stores for more than a decade. Many large restaurant and movie theater chains have been buying property from malls and building structures on them for some time now. The arrangement has worked out well for both sides.

The Walgreen’s drugstore chain, which has launched a drive to open up numerous new stores over the next few years, is committed to having all its stores as standalone structures.

So add being a visionary and a creative dealmaker to your business skills. They could come in handy when expansion talks are on the horizon.

In this interview I ask Paul Edmonson how he knew he was on to something and what prepared him to go out on his own.

LD: What gave you confidence that HubPages would be successful.

E: We thought if we made a great product and built a community that people would use the service. We had a simple plan. To try things. To do more of the stuff that worked and to stop doing the things that didn’t. Nearly 6 million people visited HubPages.com last month. One of the things we did well was monetize Hubs, so we introduced a new ad optimization product called YieldBuild that served nearly 200 million ads last month as well.

LD: What in your education prepared you to run this type of business.

PE: There’s the education I received in school that helped get me started in the software industry. I started playing with computers in the fifth grade and making simple programs at school. In college I took programming classes that gave me enough skills to write software, and design databases. School is part of the education, but so much of what I learned to start this business is more about getting after it, asking questions and good old fashion trial and error.

LD: What in your experience working for others prepared you to go out on your own?

PE: My time at Microsoft was a very helpful learning ground. I’m always trying to learn new things and when I see someone do something effective, I try and incorporate into my skill set. Whether it’s about customer support, how to build a product, or even how to give feedback to an employee these are all skills that get developed with experience.

LD: What do you wish you’d learned in school to support your entrepreneurial efforts?

PE: I think part of being entrepreneurial is learning what you need to get the job done from all sorts of sources. School is good for broad strokes, but I think you really have to do it to learn it, at least for me.

LD: What has been the biggest surprise since you started HubPages?

PE: It’s incredibly challenging to build a great product or service, to hire talented people, to manage the finances and grow the business. While I knew it would be an incredible challenge, I didn’t really know how tuff I really am. I think the adversity that you go through with a new business teaches you about yourself in a way you would never know.

LD: What is the biggest myth about raising capital and getting funding for a new venture?

PE: I heard from several people that if five people pass on your pitch, it isn’t fundable. If I gave up after five people told me no, then we wouldn’t be funded. I think it’s important to keep trying, listen to the feedback and then refine your pitch. If five people say no, keep asking.

LD: Do you have any advice to young entrepreneurs?

PE: Start you own company. Today. Just get out there and start doing it.

LD: What is the most striking difference about working for yourself vs. working for someone else?

PE: Ahhh, the hours. Working for a company you start is an incredible commitment. While I’ve always been game to put in extra time when needed, when it’s your own company, almost everyday and weekend require extra time…But it’s worth it.

While the strength of any hospital or health care facility is its medical personnel, many of these facilities, faced with rising costs, have had to cut back on comfort services that made hospital stays a bit more pleasant for patients in years past. Administrators are now trying to make up for these paid-staff losses by seeking out dedicated volunteers to handle everything from non-emergency patient intake to food services, running the gift shop, taking patients to and from radiology, doing back-office clerical work, and even bringing a patient an extra blanket or a newspaper. Crucial to making a volunteer effort like this successful is keeping volunteers happy, and that means effective human-resource management.

Traditional, hospital-based volunteer programs have been run by a paid coordinator. More and more, however, administrators are calling on their business school-trained HR directors to give these coordinators of volunteers valuable pointers on how to make the volunteer program run smoothly and professionally. For instance, volunteers have to sign in and out, report on schedule, and can’t leave before their shift is over.

HR directors are acutely aware that the facility must have an assigned job for the volunteers as soon as they come in. There’s nothing that annoys volunteers more than standing around waiting for something to do when they show up at their appointed time.

Why is a structure like this so important? Many of today’s volunteers are retirees from the business world, and they don’t want to waste their time participating in a poorly run program.

Establishing the volunteer component as a structured program makes volunteers realize that they’re very much needed, that people are counting on them to be there on a regular basis, and that their volunteer commitment has to be honored. It’s better not to have a program like this at all than to offer a poorly run service that isn’t benefiting the patients and isn’t responding to the needs of the volunteers.

And, of course, every volunteer coordinator should realize that it is important to make sure the volunteers know how much they’re appreciated–how much their time and service are valued. A volunteer recognition program, like those used by HR directors to recognize exceptional work done by paid employees, is a great way to reenergize volunteers who otherwise might feel as if their efforts were being taken for granted.

Health care facility administrators see an added bonus in recruiting and retaining a dedicated corps of volunteers: This effort can put their health care facility in the forefront of patient care and lead to some excellent publicity opportunities. Volunteers gain special recognition in local newspapers; the health care facility is touted as a leader in human-resource management–it’s a real win-win scenario.

Working with volunteers and managing them properly is a serious and growing component in the health care industry today. That’s why business school-trained HR directors are being put in charge of overseeing these volunteer initiatives. What better way to show your people skills than to develop a volunteer program that offers superior patient comfort services, provided by a well-trained and well-managed corps of volunteers? Even better, you can parlay that into gaining recognition for your facility as a leader in patient services, while still maintaining a healthy bottom line.

Blend In
Just because you’re an intern doesn’t mean you have to act like one. Although co-workers may joke around and act like they’ll cut you some slack, that doesn’t mean they’re not also taking in your every move. Blend into the corporate culture by following standards for dress and decorum. Balance your socially appropriate snark with positive attitude and actions. Find out if there are different expectations for working with clients vs. working in the office. Work the same hours as your entry-level equals – show up on time and stay after to get the job done.

Make Friends
As an intern you’re not just doing a job, you’re developing relationships. Make friends with bosses, co-workers, the people in the mailroom, and your nearest barista. Everybody’s watching to see how you get along with your cube mates. If you have good rapport with coworkers, higher ups figure you’ll work well in a team environment, as well as with clients.

Be a Happy Grunt
As an intern, you’ll likely get more than your share of easy, repetitive tasks. Quickly master the duties of your internship and suggest additional ways you can be of service. Be willing to help out in other areas outside your internship. Pitching in increases your exposure, and the more people you impress the more likely that job offer. Interns frequently run out of work. Take advantage and endear yourself to cube mates by offering to lighten their loads.

Court the Boss
Your immediate supervisor has a lot of influence over employment offers. Focus on making his or her job easier. Always clarify expectations and communicate the status of your projects. Ask for feedback throughout your internship instead of waiting for the final evaluation. If you see a need, don’t be afraid to point it out and offer ideas about how you can help. Express interest in aspects of the business of particular interest to superiors. Ask your supervisor about entry-level full time positions and how he or she got started.

Keep Your Options Open
Remember that interviews go both ways. As an intern you could find yourself collating, stapling, cleaning up PowerPoint slides, and taking lunch orders, tedious research, hours of reading legal documents, mindless data analysis. These menial tasks are part of many entry-level business positions that can last the first year or two. Keep an eye on other’s days to determine if this is truly the place you want to pay your dues. If you’re struggling jsut to survive your summer internship, this may not be the job for you.

Know Your Goals
Keep your options open. Especially for MBAs, the market is uncertain. You may turn out to be a great fit with the company, or not. Create goals for the outcome of your internship. Depending on how clear you are on your career goals you can make plans with your supervisor to participate in different experiences such as client meetings and presentations, or skills like financial analysis or practice with industry software.

An internship can be a golden opportunity for those who take full advantage. If you really want the job, make your interest known. What seems obvious to you may need to be spelled out to the company. Just as the squeaky wheel gets the oil, the enthusiastic intern that gets the job offer.

Need some inspiration after pulling yet another draining all-nighter?

Want to feel like that business degree you’re slaving away to earn could actually pay for itself before your own kids go to college?

Thinking of dropping everything and trying your hand at a Vegas blackjack table instead of plowing through another semester?

Stop and take heart. You’re not alone, and you could be on a fast track to buying your own private jet… or island.

Just like you, the following big business billionaires likely experienced frustrations when they were earning their undergrad degrees. Nevertheless, they clawed and scratched and used their education (mixed with heaping helpings of entrepreneurial spirit and moxie) to land them among the richest of the rich.

Who knows? You could be on the list of “who’s who” sooner than you think, luxuriating in the land of those nine coveted zeroes. Forbes.com noted there were only 946 by the beginning of 2007, so there’s always room at the top for one more.

1. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Chairman of HDNet

Cuban might have fallen flat on last year’s Dancing with the Stars, but he’s had all the right moves in the corporate world. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Indiana University and continues to tango and salsa (figuratively, of course) his way to mega bucks and media appearances.

2. Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and CEO of Mittal Steel Company

You may not hear about Mittal every day, but this Indian-born billionaire used his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Calcutta’s St. Xavier’s College to help become a British steel magnate. Internationally, he’s lauded for his savvy and has never lost a sense of connection with his humble upbringing.

3. Philip Anschutz, American businessman

As the 31st richest man in America, Anschutz was raised in the midwest and earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 1961 from the University of Kansas. Now retired, he invests his wealth in Christian causes.

4. Ronald Perelman, investor

The University of Pennsylvania’s highly regarded Wharton School was Perelman’s choice for both his undergraduate and graduate studies in business. (As a side note, Daddy went there, too. So never assume that parents can’t be an asset to the start of your fortune.)

5. Arthur Rock, Silicon Valley venture capitalist

Rock invested wisely throughout his life… Who knows? He may have been helped by his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Syracuse University. Regardless, he obviously thinks highly of education – he generously gave the Harvard Business School $25 million to open the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship.

6. Ronald Lauder, businessman

As the son of renowned Estee Lauder, this billionaire could have sat back and enjoyed the good life, awaiting an inheritance worth millions. Instead, he attended the University of Brussels from which he received his Certificate in International Business and today is known as a civic-minded philanthropist.

7. Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot

This Flushing, New York born tycoon graduated from Babson College with a Business Administration degree after studying for just three years (no doubt burning the midnight oil.) As the co-founder of one of the “big boxes” which sell home improvement products and services, he’s helped change the meaning of “do-it-yourself”.