If your business is really easy to do, don't gloat. You might be out of a job soon.

When you cover the economy as a reporter, there's one part of the job that is always easy: finding economists who disagree.

Whenever you hear news about jobless claims or the unemployment rate, you should translate that in your mind to one simple phrase: Stay in school.

It's quite a job, so to speak, when you can really be with your child for 21 out of 24 hours.

A rule of thumb: If the company you work for provides a product or service that's pretty much the same as what was offered last year and a few years before that, it might be time to start looking for something new.

The so-called skills gap is really a gap in education, and that affects all of us.