Summer is officially over next week – and soon it will be time to say goodbye to swimsuits and flip flops and hello to scarves and sweaters. But our wardrobe isn’t the only thing that needs a little adjusting as we head into fall. 

Now’s a great time to finish up any home maintenance projects before the colder temperatures, rain and snow have a chance to do any real damage. I know what you’re thinking, there’s still plenty of time for that. But do you really want to be stuck with no heat in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner? I didn’t think so. Here are a few home maintenance tasks to complete to ensure your home is ready.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should come as no shock to anyone that mobile technology has become a huge part of our daily lives. We use our phones for everything – navigation, social media, watching TV, and sometimes, to call people. In fact, 91% of smartphone owners have their phones within arm’s reach 24/7.

Why does this matter? If your business has a web component and you aren’t planning a mobile marketing strategy, then you are costing your company a very significant source of visitors, and ultimately customers. Being able to conduct business on your phone is the ultimate form of convenience, and if your company isn’t easily accessible to customers, they may think, “meh, why bother?”

Gone are the days when it was only the morning news shows and Oprah who told us what products to buy. Now, we just trust strangers.

That’s right, 33 percent of millennials, which represent about a fourth of the American population and possess $200 billion in annual buying power, rely mostly on blogs before they make a purchase.

Marketers are taking notice, trying to find ways to implement blogs and other user generated content into their marketing campaigns. But a blog can’t simply be written by your CEO, that’s not who millennials want to hear from. What these powerful shoppers are looking for is content from peers and celebrities on what’s hot and what’s not.

School is back in session. The pressure for vacations and trips is off, and you can rest easy knowing that for now, all you have to plan is day-to-day life. Flights, hotels or visits to foreign countries will be put off for a bit.

However, Thanksgiving break and winter vacation will be here before you know it, and those family vacations will be back in full swing. Remember the misbehavior and challenges you didn’t anticipate while traveling with your kids over the summer? Reactions from other adults, your partner or even your children might have hinted at something wrong in how this last vacation worked, or well, didn’t.

You have a great team. Employees show up to work on time, deadlines are met and customers and vendors are happy. Then, the unthinkable happens – your best employee gives their notice. How could this happen!?

Unfortunately, it’s more common than you think. CareerBuilder found that while 59 percent of workers are generally satisfied at work, one in five said they plan to change jobs this year or next. One in five is a staggering figure, but what’s worse is that just 10 percent of employees surveyed said there was someone internally who could step in to fill their role if they abruptly left their employer, according to a study from the staffing firm Robert Half Management Resources.

The importance of a succession plan is a discussion for a different day, but the hope is that your best employees won’t leave your company. To help make sure that happens as little as possible, read on for the top four reasons employees choose to move on.