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The general dress code guidelines for men during an interview are that they wear suits in navy blue or dark blue.

This is preferred over gray or charcoal gray. Sometimes brown can be acceptable but not on the first interview.

Usually, the darker the suit, the more authority it carries. But beware; a man should never wear black to an interview unless he is applying as an undertaker.

A two piece suit is acceptable as is a three button single breasted jacket. What matters most is that the suit fits well and it is good quality.

The trousers should fit comfortably at the waist and a slimmer fit is preferred. There should only be a slight break where the trouser hits the shoe.

If your ankles are showing, they are way too short.

A man at an interview should always wear a long sleeved shirt either in white, cream or pale blue.

Monograms are not a good decision on the first interview.

If you tend to perspire often, cotton shirts are the way to go professionally cleaned and starched.

The higher the cotton content, the better the shirt will look. Make sure your shirt fits the neck properly and that the sleeve cuff ends just at the wrist.

All your interview clothes should be professionally cleaned and pressed and ready to go.

Ties that are cheap looking do not give off a good first impression. A pure silk tie makes the most powerful professional impact, has the best finish and feel, and is easiest to tie well. The tie should complement your suit, not match it. No outlandish, flamboyant ties are necessary. The length of the tie should be extended to your trouser belt.

Shoes should be brown or black leather.

No other materials or colors are acceptable.

Socks should complement the suit, blue, black, gray, or brown.

A briefcase is a symbol of authority, which makes a strong professional statement. Brown and burgundy are the colors of choice.

As with women, men’s jewelry should be kept to a minimum. No visible body piercing or tattoos -if you can help it.

This clean cut, well manicured image says a lot about a professional man. He should smell wonderful, have a nicely trimmed hair cut and appear clean and crisp.

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The kitchen is the heart of the home. It is a gathering place, a special place. From your kitchen come sights, scents and sounds that signal the appetite. It is the most memorable place in your home.

Your kitchen might come complete with plenty of cabinets, cupboards and drawers, and some may not. Whatever your unique situation, it's how you utilize the space you have and how you discover ways to add more storage solutions (as needed) that makes a difference.

An efficient kitchen

Use the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen to contain items that are grouped together.

For example, place your dishes in a cupboard that is either near the eating table or near the sink area. Food should be gathered with like-items together, and not spread out into different cabinets that contain unrelated items (or having the same type food item put in two places).

Place your coffee machine on a counter-top above a cabinet area. Place your coffee and tea items together near the machine. Pots and pans can placed near the stove area.

To start with, it might be best to empty out the cabinets, one section at a time, and rearrange the items back into cabinets that best suit "the flow" of how you work in your kitchen. Take your time for this takes some thought.

When you decide you organize you will have a place for everything and everything in its place. To accomplish this you will need organizing "tools" in which to store items. You can browse through catalogs or department stores for ideas on what to buy.

Get away from cluttering the counters with too many appliances. If you use the appliance often enough, keep it out. If not, keep it stored away where it cannot be seen. Consider building a shelf above the counter to hold appliances. This will free up your counter space to work on.

Establish a place in your kitchen to keep 1) a message center and/or paper-related items, like a note pad and pens near the phone, 2) cookbooks and recipe boxes, 3) a mail center...

Organize your refrigerator in the same way as you would any other cabinet: group like-items together. Try to avoid keeping leftover foods in containers that sit in the back of the shelves, as they often go bad and smell up your fridge. It's a good idea to clean out the refrigerator weekly to be rid of foods that have "expired."

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Here it is holiday time again, and while Ms. Abby and Manners takes care of our social etiquette I’d like to share some practical tips for business holiday parties.

Here are some DO’S...

Attend the Event: It’s an unspoken expectation that showing up may not be mandatory or can it be required, but attending isn’t really optional. That is if you want to be working there next year.

If you RSVP - by all means ATTEND: Many business functions are paid on the basis of the number who attend, and that is calculated by the number of RSVP’s.

Mingle, Mix, and Move: Talk to different people and learn something new. Don’t stick with your usual watercooler pals.

Pay Attention to Start and End Times on the Invitation: This is there for a reason, and you don’t want to overstay your welcome.

Remember that Any Business Party is really a Business Event: Although it might be outside the standard office meeting and be accompanied with food and beverage, the same rules of conduct apply.

Limit Gift Giving: Colleagues will often feel obligated to give gifts in return for receiving gifts. If you do give, give from the heart and keep it simple, and priced at a minimum.

Dress appropriately and professionally: All eyes are not meant to be on you, and this is not the time for provocative dress. Lean toward the conservative or classic look.

Give Thank-You’s: When appropriate write either a note of thanks, or if at a private home tell the host/hostess in person that you enjoyed the celebration.

Now for the Don’ts...

Say “yes” to a Blind Date: You don’t know who the person is or who he/ she might know. Rule of thumb - when in doubt, go stag.

Be Flirtatious or Get Frisky: This is crossing the line of appropriate and adult behavior at a business event.

Drink Too Much: it’s not worth taking the chance that you’ll say something you wish you hadn’t. Rule of thumb is- limit yourself to 2 drinks.

Talk All Business: BORING! After all it is a social gathering. The guests are supposed to have fun, get to know each other, and have a different experience outside of daily office routine.

Prospect for New Business: TACKY!

Assume Everyone Celebrated the Same Holiday: If you say “Merry Christmas” to someone who doesn’t observe the holiday it might offend them. Be generic and say “Happy Holidays.”

Give Gag Gifts: This is not the place to risk offending or embarrassing someone.

Gossip: Gossiping in any situation is usually damaging and not a good practice, but it’s especially not appropriate at a business-related event.

Hopefully with these tips under your belt, your appearance at you next business holiday event will go successfully.

The majority of business professionals know these things, but there’s always some newcomers to the firm who may not be as seasoned as some of us.

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And on that note I reckon it's time for that story I promised a little earlier on, about a guy that approached me some time ago with a joint venture offer. It was possibly the worst attempt I'd ever seen, but I'd like to give you a little idea of what you're up against. How not to do things, and what you're capable of now you have the information in these reports, compared to this guy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting you've ever done anything like this at all. This is the harshest example that I can remember. Have a little fun, and take everything you've learned in this report and pick this story to pieces. Here's a real life example of a joint venture approach. What can you spot that he's done wrong?

So here’s me, sitting at my computer in the late evening, listening to my relaxing ambient music, while at the same time briefing a freelance programmer on some work I wanted doing to some affiliate software. From nowhere, up pops a message through my instant messenger "Hello". Now, I don't like to give out my IM addresses to just anyone, I generally keep them to the people I know or have had previous joint ventures with.

Anyway the conversation started with me trying to figure out who this was "Sorry do I know you?". "No" came the reply. "Ok, are you one of my customers?". "Yes". Jackpot, so this is a customer of mine that somehow managed to get a hold of my instant messenger handle. Not a problem. I politely requested that if he has a problem to submit a ticket. "Oh no, I'm not here for that, I wanted to ask you to do something for me". Ok now we're getting somewhere. "Right ok, what's that?" I replied. "Well, I'm launching a new website and wondered if you would promote for me".

At this point I thought hey, joint venture offer. Strange approach but I have half an hour before heading out with a few friends. It's a rare ‘not busy’ moment for me now I'm done with the programmer so I'll hear him out. Normally I wouldn't have had the time. I would have apologized and asked him to e-mail me but it was just a lucky break for him.

So he proceeds to send me to this website. It didn't look too bad at first glance, but after reading the sales letter, something jumped out at me. I recognize this. I asked him when he wrote the product, which happened to be a very basic marketing training guide. He told me, in a round about way, that he didn't write it at all. It was a re-sell product from the late nineties, not even a re-brandable one.

Yikes, ok this is where I start to back away. So the best way I know how I tell him, sorry no can do, and of course, why. The reason, this time around, was because he had a weak product. To be honest, with his indirect hidey type approach, that took fifteen minutes longer to explain than it should have, he was lucky to get this far and even get my attention, or anybody else’s for that matter. However, I'm a patient guy.

Anyway, off I go thinking no more of the encounter. I return home, have some food, grab forty winks and jump online again to meet the programmer who I'd arranged to talk to later that day. By this point it was about three in the morning. On goes the computer, on goes the messenger, and take a guess what pops up. "Hello". Uh oh. "I wonder if you've reconsidered my offer". Well I hadn't to be honest. "No sorry, the product isn't strong enough".

Alright so granted his product wasn't strong enough, and the approach he used wasn't exactly to his advantage, but if those two factors had been all present and correct, would I have said yes? Not likely. Where's the evenness, the give and take of it all? He's given me nothing at all that I would want in return. It was clear he hadn't planned this well. I couldn't resist it. Out came a little friendly advice.

"Look man, I'll be honest. If you want to secure a joint venture like this with someone, you need to offer them something in return. A bit of give and take ya know?". Big mistake. "But I want you to be my marketing manager". The phrase which would eventually become the bane of my existence that week. He proceeded to tell me that he'd give me a dollar per sale on his fifty dollar product, which would go up to four dollars if I sold over a hundred copies.

So not only was his product dodgy and something I wouldn't recommend, and not only would he not even give me it to see (He pointed me to the order link at the bottom of the page when I asked), but he was offering me the worst possible commissions ever. Everything about this deal is totally negative and a huge no. After a week of him messaging me every time I got online telling me "I want you to be my marketing manager" he was blocked, and it's safe to say I'll not be doing business with him anytime in the near future.

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When building your own website there are a few things to consider. If you know nothing about web design, you will need to pay someone to design it exactly the way you want. Make sure you use a reputable source so you are not wasting your money. Be very picky about choosing your domain name.

Make sure it is short, sweet and memorable. One popular site you can visit to check what domains are available is.

This is also a good site to see who owns a particular domain you are interested. If the owner is not using the domain, you can offer to purchase it from them.

Probably one of the most important factors in an internet company is choosing a very good web host.

If your web site goes down, you are completely out of business. When searching for a web host company make sure they have secure server capabilities, fast servers, lots of space, unrestricted CGI access, SSH and FTP access, web-based administration, access to raw server logs, full email services, power and daily server backups, and no minimum contracts.

You may want to test their technical support and see if they offer services, scripts, and software. Inquire about their downtime and how long they have been in business. Make sure you are not being charged for the extra services.

When a customer visits your website, you want them to see professionalism, knowledge and fast connections.

If your visitors notice advertisements from your free or low cost web host server they will perceive your site to be unprofessional and very small time.

Slow connection speeds will definitely lose customers and cost you much money. So, choose your web host server carefully and you will be well on your way to creating a website that will attract all types of visitors.