Convention Lessons

May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

During the last week of March I attended my first business-related convention and I’ll tell you what, it was nothing like I expected! The presenter not only had a stage, she started the “show” with a band, hired a professional and well-known comedian to emcee the event, showed movies, played upbeat music, had an exhibit area for sponsor booths, and had a multitude of speakers… all in addition to the material she was teaching! Talk about information overload!

But it was all good. I was given the opportunity to meet several fellow virtual assistants and a couple of clients I had never met face-to-face before. Of course, I met a LOT of other people too since there were over 650 people in attendance.

So you might expect this newsletter to cover some of the topics I learned regarding marketing, networking, promotion, business planning… but I’m not. Instead I’m going to share some of the nitty-gritty nuts and bolts I learned about the process of attending a convention instead. Even if you don’t travel to conventions, I think you’ll find some of this information to be useful even for vacations!

  • Make a list of what you need to take. Most people know I’m a huge fan of lists, and traveling is no exception. I made a list, starting a week in advance, of everything I knew I wanted or needed to take and added to it as the thoughts popped into my head. It’s fantastic for those last minute things that you might otherwise forget in the rush to leave.
  • Roll your clothes when you pack them. I never tried this trick before but I actually was able to fit far more clothes in my suitcase than I’m used to packing. I don’t think it cut down on wrinkles, but as long as I hung out my clothes, the wrinkles lessened.
  • Taking extra vitamins might not be enough to keep you from catching something! This particular event was held at a hotel located in the Orlando airport. Meals were eaten among the general travelers. Even though I washed my hands often and don’t touch handrails and such, I still came down with one of the worst “colds” I can ever remember having. I can’t speak for its effectiveness, but next time I’m giving Airborne a try.
  • Be yourself. Everyone lately is talking about being authentic, being different, standing out from the crowd to get noticed. I learned through networking with some folks that simply being myself got more attention than when I tried to put on the professional business woman guise. Yes, I am one, but that’s not the skin I am comfortable in. So, be yourself and be relaxed.
  • Have plenty of business cards HANDY. Conventions are typically places where you’re expected to network… i.e. exchange business cards. Someone showed me a great tip for keeping my business cards accessible: I put them inside my plastic name badge holder but behind the name badge. It worked like a charm!
  • Establish a collection method in advance. Have a system for where you will put all the business cards you collect, as well as all of the receipts. There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing you have a piece of paper with important information on it and can’t remember which of five places you might have put it.
  • Have a plan for doing something with all of those business cards once you get back! I made notes on the business cards I collected so that I would know who they were later when I reviewed them. When I returned home, I decided with whom and how to keep in touch… and I followed through. I’m amazed at how many folks, especially the booth sponsors, have not added me to their mailing lists or reached out in any way. That’s poor follow-up.
  • Somehow you will always come back with more than you took. This convention gave us notebooks, binders, bags and countless other goodies that took up far more room than you would expect! Plan for this additional baggage in advance, especially if you are flying.

Traveling can be stressful, confusing and overwhelming, but if you take just a little bit of time to plan in advance you’ll find you can lessen the hectic moments of panic. Enjoy your travels!

Filed Under: Random Thoughts Tagged With: , , , ,

Everyday Leadership and Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World

February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Oh my, I just love this poster with “Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World.” Could this be any more elegant, in both thought and appearance?

(You can even get it in a PDF file suitable for printing. The artist is giving it away free, by the way. Isn’t it amazing how creative and generous people are?)

I stumbled across this gem awhile back on Rosetta Thurman’s fine blog, where she also wrote:

Leadership is not just what we do at work or in our communities when the spotlight is on us and the stakes are high. Leadership is what we do every day, from how we treat each other to the small actions we take to make good on our dreams.

Well, well. I’ve thought a lot about leadership — what it looks like at its best; how we can develop it in ourselves and others; what it looks like in business, nonprofits, public service. Sometimes the whole notion of “Leadership” with a capital “L” starts to feel a bit grandiose … even with a touch of “who do I think I am?”

And then someone like Rosetta brings it back within reach. We’re all leaders, even if we lead only ourselves.

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Ezine Etiquette

January 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I don’t usually rant and rave about too much, but this issue has come up a couple of times, and I thought now would be a good time to see what others think.

When you manually sign people up to receive your ezine, do you ask permission?  I always ask permission and about 2% of the time I receive a “No, thanks. I already get so much information in my inbox.”  No problem.  I can certainly understand that.  But these same people — twice now — have turned around and added me to their ezine list without asking my permission!

These people were prospects, and we had some e-mail communication, but does that mean they can just arbitrarily add me to their list?  My opinion is no, they should not be doing this.

Now, granted, if they asked I would probably have said yes.  I mean, I can always unsubscribe if the information is not what I’m looking for.  But it irks me that I gave them the respect of asking and yet, they did not show me the same respect and added me without asking.

So how do you handle signing people up for your ezine?  And what are your thoughts when people add you?

Filed Under: Random Thoughts

Are You A Small Business Owner Or Entrepreneur?

December 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Have an Entrepreneurial SpiritAre you a small business owner or entrepreneur?  Think about that question for a minute.  Which are you?  Small business owner or entrepreneur?  You might be thinking that they’re basically the same and to some extent, you’re right.

When I think of entrepreneur I think of someone who is creative, lives on the edge, is excited about their business, and is always on the frontline of the newest trend.  When I think of small business owner, I think of the hair salon or the mechanic down the road.  They have a brick and mortar business, signs on their building, and they wait for their customers.  Maybe they run their business or maybe it runs them.  Small business owner could also be a virtual or online business.

Now which are you?  And which do you want to be?  When you started your business were you full of excitement, new ideas, and ready to go — like the entrepreneur?  Do you still have that entrepreneurial spirit…or have you slipped into the small business owner mind frame, living and running your business in chaos?

If you’re not careful, as the years go by — or even as you’re struggling in the early years to be successful — your business can slowly drain your emotional capital.  From Conquer the Chaos “Emotional capital is the currency you use to wake up every day and fight the battle.  It’s the passion, enthusiasm and positive outlook that propel you through your day, keeping you driven to achieve your goals.”  If you don’t make deposits to your emotional capital account, the next thing you know, you’re living in chaos — the ambition and drive you had to have a successful business is wearing thin, and your business is running you!

How do you keep your emotional capital account in the black?  There are a few things that you can do to make deposits into your emotional capital account, and that’s what I’d like to share with you.

Network with other entrepreneurs.  These people do not need to be in the same industry as you.  This is a time to share your entrepreneurial stories — successes, failures, and dreams.  It can be a small group, just three or four people.  Discuss problems and ways to overcome those problems.  Let the ideas, creativity, optimism, and support flow — all the time making a deposit into your emotional capital account.  This group of like-minded entrepreneurs can also be accountability partners.  Have you ever said, “I’m going to do X, Y, and Z this month” and then never did it because you didn’t have anyone holding you accountable?  This group can do it.

Next thing you can do to make deposits into your emotional capital account is to read books by the experts.  You’re not the first person in the world to try to build a successful business.  There have been plenty of others before you, and some of the more successful ones have written books about it.  Here’s a few books on the suggested reading list:

~ The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
~ How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
~ And of course, Conquer the Chaos by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau

I know what you’re thinking…”I don’t have time to read books.”  There are things you can do to help you read faster, like speed reading.  Check out my blog for some tips on how you can read very quickly.

Seek out inspirational quotes.  There’s something about a one-sentence quote that can pick us up when we’re feeling down!!  Take advantage of those to add to your emotional capital account.  There are several websites built around quotes for different occasions.  Sign up to receive their “Quote of the Day” or “Quote of the Week” e-mail.  Social media sites are also loaded with them.  If you see one that calls to you, share it with your peers.

Read inspirational stories.  Maybe the quotes aren’t enough for you.  Maybe you need just a little more to make that deposit.  Who inspires you?  Who do you admire?  Read those success stories.  But also remember to stop periodically and look at your own successes and give yourself a pat on the back, too.  Perhaps quarterly, stop and acknowledge your accomplishments over the past three months.

Let yourself dream.  Get that entrepreneurial spirit back and dream big!  What can you do to make the good things better?  Think about the reasons and feelings that drove you to start your own business to begin with.  What were you hoping to achieve?  How big did you want your company to be?  What were you hoping to find in starting and running your own business?

Reward yourself.  Set a goal — even a small one — and decide what your reward will be when you reach that goal.  Then follow through and do it!
Now that you know how to build your emotional capital account, spot-check it occasionally to make sure you’ve got the funds needed to continue your entrepreneurial dream!

Filed Under: Random Thoughts

Internet Surfer Beware

July 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Internet has become a way of life for 75 percent of the population in the United States (according to Internet World Stats).  But how reliable is the information they’re seeking and you’re finding?

The recent stories of Shirley Sherrod are a real life example of how misinformation on the Internet can harm someone.  In this case, a blogger posted a portion of a speech she had given which made her appear to be racist.  Shortly after, she was forced to resign as Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture.  This is the short of the story — there are a whole myriad of other issues involving this case, which I won’t get into in this post because this is about being aware of the Internet and the misinformation it provides.

Another example involves a fellow Virtual Assistant.  Several months ago she had a couple of her articles, taken from one of the article marketing sites, reposted on another website.  She was given credit for the articles, and this is within the rules of the article marketing sites (i.e., you can use the articles as long as the author is given credit and the article is unchanged).  The problem was the article had been substantially changed and the changes were not good — incorrect grammar and random words added and changed, making the article appear like it was written by a first grader.  She does copywriting and anyone who Googled her name would see these horrendous writings.  She has tried unsuccessfully to get the articles removed.

On Friday evening I was watching the news and it talked about a doctor who — between surgeries — visits social media sites to disperse correct medical information because, according to him, he had too many patients coming in with false information they had read on the Internet.

Why all the false information?  Well, basically everyone has an opinion and if they have a computer and access to the Internet they can voice those opinions!  They can be whoever they want to be on the Internet, so they can also appear to be an expert in that field.

How can you protect yourself?  First, what is the purpose of the site?  Is it selling a product?  Is it to entertain?  Is it a place where Joe Smith basically rants and raves his opinions?  Next, is there contact information on the site — or an About Us page?  Is the site sponsored by a company or is it a forum where anyone can post?

Check multiple sites.  Don’t just read the first one you come to and believe what they say.  Do more research.  When I do a Google search, there are particular websites that I read first because I know they’re reliable, but I will also check some of the other sites and see what their opinion is.  When I came up with the 75 percent of the U.S. population using the Internet (above), I looked at several sites before I determined the 75 percent to be accurate.

Just be aware of the sites you’re reading.  And if you still have questions, call an expert in the field you’re researching and talk to them!

Filed Under: Productivity, Random Thoughts Tagged With: , ,

The Attack of the Malware

July 6, 2010 By 1 Comment

Malware AttackYesterday started out a good day….  I was taking the day off in celebration of 4th of July.  Late morning I was searching the Internet for a recipe — yes, I was going to cook — when McAfee started popping up that it blocked this Trojan and that Trojan.  What??!!  I was just looking for a recipe!!

Then next I get a window pop up called Defense Center Installer and to click okay to continue installing.  No!!  Not what I want!!  Then another window — Windows Security Center warning me I don’t have any antivirus installed and yet Defense Center Installer telling me I need to uninstall my current antivirus software before it can install.

Ah!!  What’s happening??!!  I just wanted a recipe!  First thing I do is restart my computer.  Nope, that didn’t fix it.  And now I have all these questionable icons on my desktop.  Ugh…  Next, I unhook my router adapter because if there’s something still downloading from the Internet, I want that to stop!  Then I start to run McAfee Antivirus scan because I figure, hey, it was trying to block it.  But partially through that my computer reboots itself.  Hmmm….

Ever have one of those days?

Then I decide to go online on the other computer to look up this nasty little booger.  Sometimes manual removal is necessary.  The information I find is to run a malware program, such as Spybot Search and Destroy, which luckily I have and had actually just ran a scan last week.  After several attempts to restart in safe mode, I went ahead and restarted in regular mode – I have too much stuff loaded on my computer and couldn’t get to Spybot S&D while in safe mode.  Yes, I’ll be cleaning off some old programs this week!

And the happy ending to this story is that Spybot S&D found all my problems and fixed them and I went on to enjoy the rest of my day!!
Now I could go on about people who create these Trojan programs to cause disruption in peoples’ lives, but instead, I’ll thank the people who create the programs and definitions to STOP those trying to create hell and havoc.  And remind you to make sure your antivirus definitions are up-to-date, as well as your adware and malware programs.

Filed Under: Productivity, Random Thoughts Tagged With: ,

Welcome to the New Blog!

January 11, 2010 By 2 Comments

I’d like to start with welcoming you to the new Gulf Coast Office Support blog.  I will be transferring posts from my old blog to here over the next few days.  Come back often to check for updates, or better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed!

Virtually yours,

Filed Under: Random Thoughts