TashWord

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Tash is a professional writer who loves helping people communicate clearly and effectively.

Generosity isn’t just money

Published 14 February, 2009 | By TashWord

Last week I wrote about generosity killing mediocrity and I wanted to add that I don’t think generosity only involves money and things.

Sharing information is also generous

Generosity also doesn’t have to be about sacrifice or ‘doing without’ on your part either. I believe it is about contributing and benefiting someone else – the focus is on who you are helping rather than on you. Obviously, the more you give, the more generous you are being but we all have to work within our own constraints.

You can be generous in many ways, even as a business. Here are some examples of non-monetary generosity:

by giving someone your time – for example help at a working bee
by sharing your expertise – for example I share tips in this blog and in my articles and speak at workshops and conferences
by providing a free service – for example, I want to find a Victorian business and help them rebuild their documents after the bushfires
giving a smile and nice messages when dealing with people – it takes little effort but can mean a lot
arranging something, such as a fundraising event or a networking function
sharing resources
by promoting something. For instance, referring someone to your client’s website, linking to a charity or reviewing a book
networking – I don’t mean just going to networking events but helping people you know connect with each other as relevant and forwarding useful/interesting things to those in your network.

With the bushfire appeal high on the minds of many Australians at the moment, thinking of ways to be generous may mean we can give more than our finances alone will allow.

*image courtesy of 123rf

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Tagged expertise, generosity, giving, money, network, time | Leave a comment

Verses vs. Versus

Published 9 February, 2009 | By TashWord

Verses: a section of words in a poem or song, similar to a paragraph in text
The third verse in that song was sung a bit out of tune.

Versus: a term to link two things being compared against each other.
It’s Richmond versus Collingwood in the footy this weekend.

vs: The abbreviated version of versus.
It’s Richmond vs. Collingwood in the footy this weekend.

Not sure how to remember which is which? Just remember the us in versus relates to us against them!

Posted in Monday Meanings | Tagged define, meaning, verses, versus, vs | Leave a comment

Generosity kills mediocrity

Published 8 February, 2009 | By TashWord

I was been doing some online reading and came across the following at the end of an article by Jen Harwood on turning mediocre moments into great or magnificent moments.

In my experience, I have found that mediocre people say and do nothing and expect everything. Magnificent people say and do what needs to be said and done and expect nothing. Generosity kills mediocrity.

It is great concept!

I think we have all come across those people who give very little or nothing and yet expect everything, and people who think they deserve things because they are {insert their term here!} Let’s face it, they aren’t the people we usually want to spend more time with or call magnificent!

So next time you are feeling life is a bit ordinary, spark yourself up by being generous to someone else. At the minimum, you’ll feel better and you could get unexpected rewards from it.

Posted in writing | Tagged generosity, magnificent, mediocre | 1 Comment

Make blogs interesting, not advertisments!

Published 7 February, 2009 | By TashWord

Some time ago, I wrote about avoiding a sales pitch as your blog ending. I was recently reminded of this when reading a post on a new blog.

The post was about others not having enough skill to offer professional services, which is a fair point (and one of my pet hates, too!) However, a middle section of the post was “Others wrongly offer a and b. Our business offers x and y”., and expanded on what they offer.

Instead of explaining their point of view so I could learn something, they told me what they can do – I still don’t know why they think their way is better than anyone else’s way. Consequently, I gained no knowledge and they gained no credibility.

Blogging is not just a form of cheap advertising – it is about building a community where people share information, ideas and opinions. The more you give through your blog, the more likely that people will start trusting you and valuing your expertise. That is how blogs bring you customers – not by boring them with lists of your services.

Here’s to interesting blogs to read!

Posted in blogging | Tagged advertising, blog, endings, information, interesting, sales, sharing | 1 Comment

Payment via credit card

Published 6 February, 2009 | By TashWord

I was going through some emails and found the following at the end of an email from someone who considers herself knowledgeable in business.

PS. If you don’t want to go through the process of payment on the web simply send me an email with your credit card details and I will send you both books via email for the low cost of $15.00.

If anyone ever asks for your credit card details via email run away – well, at least say no and arrange payment some other way. Emails are not secure so you risk credit card theft if you provide details in an email.

Of course, the same advice applies if you are sending information about accessing a website or other password protected system. As soon as you put a URL, username and password together in an email, there is a risk someone else can get access.

If you receive a username & password via email, change your password ASAP to guard against this security issue.

If you have to send access information (e.g. giving a new web designer ftp access to your site) pick up the phone, use instant messaging or SMS, or if you use email, separate the elements into different emails to reduce the risk.

It is much safer to make credit card payments over a secure website or phone so don’t give details via email, and never ask your customers for their details over email.

Posted in writing | Tagged credit, credit card, email, payments, secure, theft | 1 Comment

Government help for small business…

Published 4 February, 2009 | By TashWord

“Businesses in Australia – especially small businesses – are the engine of the Australian economy and deserve direct support during a global recession.”

I agree with the Treasurer that Australian business are a crucial part of our economy – and helping those businesses will therefore help the economy.

Yesterday, the Rudd Government announced a huge package to help prevent or reduce the recession for Australia. Part of the package is aimed at business, whilst the remainder is aimed at creating jobs and increasing spending.

The small business and general business tax break is described in the Treasurer’s media release and fact sheet. For most small businesses, it makes the purchase of a new computer or other eligible assets (excluding cars and trading stock) more affordable.

Great news if you need a new computer – or you sell computers!

There are of course conditions to qualify for these deductions, such as having a turnover under $2 million to qualify as a small business.

The 30% tax deduction only applies for assets greater than $1,000 which may exclude many micro businesses. For example, an additional $300 deduction applies if you buy a $1,000 computer before the end of June 2009 – how many micro businesses would be buying a $1,000 computer unless in that industry?

However, if you are considering buying a new sewing machine, desk, computer, printer, camera, or similar, maybe the tax deduction will make it feasible for you to buy a larger and more expensive model.

How valuable do you think this tax break will be for your business? Will it impact on your buying decisions in the next few months?

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Tagged assets, break, deduction, government, small business, tax | 6 Comments

Learning from SEO spam

Published 1 February, 2009 | By TashWord

Last week, I wrote about SEO offer spam emails. Having just received another one of these annoying emails, I thought I’d give some examples of why I don’t trust them…

We can put your site at the top of a search engines listings. If this is something you might be interested in, send me a reply with the web addresses you want to promote and the best way to contact you with some options.

Sincerely,

First Last

So what is wrong with this email?

no greeting is rude. Even if he didn’t want to take the time to research my name, he could have said “Hello” at the minimum
who is he? There was no other information to help me identify his business or contact him except by reply email
if he doesn’t know what my website is (so how did you email me then?) how can he be sure he can help my rankings improve? Maybe I’m already at the top, maybe it’s a family site I don’t care about rankings for, maybe a thousand different things that mean his service is not relevant
what does he mean by ‘top of a search engine listings’ anyway? Top of page 10 in Google is still top but not something I aspire to! Top for an irrelevant or obscure keyword won’t help me either. By not being clear, he missed an opportunity to show me he knows what he is talking about and starting some trust.
where is he located? Yes, we could deal via email which means his location isn’t too important, but knowing he is overseas helps understand time differences. Further, I would be more likely to hire an Australian as they understand my market better and I don’t have to deal with the dollar value.

Whilst I hope you don’t send out spam to get business, the above tips will hopefully help you avoid answering spam like this and help you write better sales emails.

Use your words wisely!

Posted in bad writing examples, web content, writing | Tagged email, seo, spam, tips, trust | 2 Comments

We must not be defeated…

Published 31 January, 2009 | By TashWord

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
Maya Angelou

I came across the above quote in the December Design Lines and liked it – I also thought it might be inspiring if you are reviewing 2008 as part of your goal setting process. No matter what happened in 2008, you can choose to make 09 bigger and better!

Posted in writing | Tagged defeat, goals, inspire | Leave a comment

Goal setting process

Published 29 January, 2009 | By TashWord

I have previously posted about SMARTY goals and rewarding yourself when you achieve goals, so I thought I would add a little about the process of setting goals.

There are a number of ways of setting goals (brainstorming, asking a coach/mentor/friend for help, breaking down bigger goals, adding onto previous achievements, doing workshops or workbooks or just following the SMARTY acronym for example.)

I have found some recent examples of goal setting processes which you may enjoy reading:

Belinda Lindhart has recently gone through the process of setting business, artistic and personal goals for 2009. She has posted about her process in her blog and I think it is a great process that she is sharing.

Chris Brogan has a very different goal setting technique – he uses three specific words to keep him on track for the year. It is actually a very challenging thing to do, but has a lot of potential – I think I will try this one myself! I also love the words equip and armies that Chris has set for himself – he probably wouldn’ t mind if I copied them as it is my aim to equip people with clear communications (through my tips and own writing) and environmental consciousness, and I would love armies of people to push for clear communications and more respect for our planet. However, I will sit down and see what words I come up with myself.

Ali reminds us that goals should be fulfilling as they happen, not just for some mythical future happiness. While not every step of a goal will be fun, it will ideally have some reward for you along the way – and certainly be something you want rather than what you ‘should’ do.

“A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step” said Confucius. Apparently, the Japanese system of kaizen has a similar meaning and I agree with Emma that taking baby steps is the way to achieve anything – and I loved reading that she used this system for breaking a habit like smoking as it is exactly how I think such habits can be broken!

Some years I ago I used a list of questions (out of a book originally but I can’t remember it’s title or author now) to review the previous year and start the new one. The questions were things like ‘what did you learn this year? what was your biggest achievement? which goals did you reach? which people influenced you this year? what was your biggest challenge this year?’ and then repeat them for the upcoming year (so what do you want to learn next year? what do you want to achieve next year? how will you overcome/avoid those challenges? which old goals need refining?) It was an effective exercise in choosing a direction and goals which I could then write out.

So what process do you use, or will you now use, to set 2009 up as your best year so far?

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Tagged 3 words, examples, goal, goals, kaizen, present, process, setting, SMARTY | 2 Comments

Small business tax help

Published 28 January, 2009 | By TashWord

As part of the Government’s attempt to reduce the impact of the global financial situation on Australia, they announced some cashflow relief for small businesses. It was announced in December but applies to payments due, in the main, at the end of February (or late January for some.)

In short, if you have a PAYG installment due for the October to December quarter, you only have to pay 80% of the amount requested by the ATO.

However, it is very important to note that the 20% discount only applies to payments due now – the actual amount of tax you need to pay for the year is not being reduced. If you pay less now, you will have to pay the remaining 20% as part of your annual tax return.

So in choosing whether or not to take the discount this month, remember

it is 20% off your Oct-Dec quarter IAS/BAS
it is not a tax cut so you will have to pay it eventually
it may help your cashflow

If you are very organised and will not overspend, you could take the discount and keep the 20% earning interest or paying off loans. If there is a risk you will forget to put aside money for a larger tax bill later this year, consider carefully before taking up this opportunity.

What do you think – are you likely to take up this offer? Do you need help with your cash flow at this time of year?

P.S. Your business must turnover less than $2million p.a. to qualify for the reduction. And you have a couple of extra days to pay, too – it is due on 28 February but as that is a weekend, you have until 2 March.

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged BAS, cashflow, IAS, PAYG, tax | Leave a comment

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