I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
Read, subscribe to my newsletter, enjoy!Tash
Crucial planning ahead for problems
Contingency planning and being prepared are important steps for a business owner – but steps that are not urgent so can easily be left behind in the day to day busyness of business and making a profit.
I was reminded of this topic today when I read an article called ‘When bad stuff happens’ – being about small business owners needing to think ahead to potential problems. And having procedures in place to cope when problems do arise.
Back in 1999, I had a contract to prepare some contingency plans for a major Australian company. We did various things, but one key task was preparing a checklist and contingency plan for the morning of 1 January 2000 – the day computers were going to fail and planes fall from the sky! The checklist included things such as ‘turn on a light switch. If it doesn’t work, try a second switch. If it still doesn’t work, look at neighbouring buildings and street lights – do they have power?’ We thought ahead and gave staff options to get all the information before emergency procedures were put into place.
So what sort of things do you need procedures for in your business? Obviously, that depends on your business, but some simple procedures you could start with are:
- make sure someone else has a list of key contacts in case you are suddenly out of action. For example, my key clients and contacts are on a list with my husband so they would not be left wondering about me if I disappeared for a while
- give someone else access to your PO box, or at least permission to get your mail redirected
- prepare a list of essential business passwords so someone else can manage things – for instance, passwords for your blog, email and online shop administration
- if you send out products, writing a procedure on how to package and send them is crucial for another person to be able to pick it up for you
- if you are a service provider, establish some relationships now so there are people you can refer clients to or outsource work to if you can’t complete promised work
- give your bookkeeper, accountant or a trusted person the means to be able to complete IAS/BAS statements for you, including how to pay any tax owing, so you avoid fines and problems with the ATO while you are ill or unavailable
- prepare some standard responses to emails so the same message can be sent out even in your absence. Think about adding some of that common information to your website, too, to reduce how many people ask the same question – much easier for someone trying to fill in for you, but also a great time saver for you in the mean time!
If you start implementing some of these plans into your business, I’d love to hear about it – although I hope it never becomes necessary to use the procedures for a negative problem (using them because you win a trip around the world is a different story!)
Use your words and time wisely!
All together now…
Altogether: completely or totally. Overall.
He was altogether mad!
All together: the entire group at the same time or place.
We were all together when we got the news.
Think of altogether being one word and meaning complete compared to all members of a group being separate even when together.
Promotional Articles
Think about why you use the internet for business. Sure you look at the graphics and pictures, but the main activity is collecting information, right?
So, does it make sense that one of the best ways to pull people into your site is to give them information? Selling your product or service is your main business aim, of course, but if you give people information they will trust you – and they’ll stay on your site long enough to learn your name.
How can you use information to get people to visit your website?
By far the easiest way is to submit informative articles to various web sites and ezines. That doesn’t mean you submit an article about you or your business as that will bore and annoy your readers. What you have to give them is good information about something relevant to your business, something they can use and appreciate you for.
If you are a mechanic, you could submit articles explaining what fuel injected means or how to jump start an engine; a wedding planner can write about how to decide on a guest list; an accountant can explain negative gearing or claiming GST inputs; and a butcher could write about the different cuts of meat.
You also need to make sure the article is interesting and basic enough for your potential clients to understand and finish. It must be accurate and presented professionally as well, if it is to promote your business positively.
At the end of the article, you include a short bio about yourself and your business. You can see the bios I use at the end of business and health articles.
If you have a web site or email address, make sure the bio includes this information so it can be hyperlinked back to you. Thus anyone reading your article and wanting to know more or use your service can contact you instantly.
I mentioned the value of promotional articles a few weeks ago, and I will cover ways to make use of them in coming posts.
Font sizes…
Surfing some of my favourite blogs today, I came across a post by Donna-Marie about choosing suitable fonts. As well as being a good summary of which fonts work well in different media, it reminded me of someone recently asking about using different sized fonts – and recent experiences of unsuitable font choices.
I remember doing school assignments where I’d use different fancy fonts for each heading and changed the text to suit the amount of information in each section, and so on – and I was proud of being so versatile! But looking back (or at children’s work now) I can see that it looks childish and puts the focus on the fonts rather than the content. It isn’t very professional to give the impression you are trying to minimise the content!
As a general rule, it is better to stick to one font style and size in a single document. It is consistent which makes it easier to read (the eye doesn’t have to keep adjusting to different fonts) and it also looks clean and professional. And to be honest, it is also easier to prepare than swapping fonts all the time!
The common exceptions in font sizes would be:
- heading and sub-headings are often a little larger than the text font
- labels on diagrams and tables are often smaller to work with the labelled items
- the ‘fine print’ such as a disclaimer, a copyright notice or unsubscribe information – this text can be smaller but it must still be big enough to easily read so less than 8 point is getting too small in most cases. I recently edited a document which had footnotes to a table in a 7 font and it was too small to read and also looked out of place amongst the 11 font table and general text.
- fonts within an ad design may show more variation, but be careful to not overdo it
If you are tempted to change font sizes to break up a chunk of text, consider bullet points, italics, bold, more paragraph breaks and page layout as alternatives.
Ants or -ance?
Assistants: two or more people who are helping
His assistants were busy preparing the report.
Assistance: the help being provided
I really appreciated your assistance yesterday.
The use of -ants and -ance is often confused because they sound exactly the same despite the very different spelling. The easiest way to remember which is which is to think of ants (yes, the insects!) as doers and use that ending when you are writing about people doing something.
What makes a good conference?
Everyone I have spoken to enjoyed the conference I attended in July and that got me wondering why – and thinking about other conferences I’ve been to and heard of. So I want to know what makes a good conference?
Knowing what makes a good conference is very useful if you ever have to plan one, but it can also be useful in deciding whether or not to invest your time and money into a particular conference. Business events can be a great resource – but they can also be a waste of time and money if you don’t choose carefully.
Some of the features that I think helped make this particular conference good are:
- It was fully catered (morning tea, afternoon tea and lunch) so no one had to leave the venue to find food. That meant we all stayed together, had networking opportunities and time to visit the expo stalls
- Sessions went for about 75 minutes each which was long enough to get useful information but not so long everyone was restless and loosing concentration. Longer sessions also means more people get up and leave the room which is distracting
- more than one session was run at a time for most of the conference – everyone was together for plenary and forum sessions – so we had choice. That meant I didn’t have to attend any workshops aimed at beginners and no one had to struggle with irrelevant or overly advanced topics if they didn’t want to
- we got a handbook which included notes from all presentations – so I can read about the sessions I missed as well as not gathering single handouts that are easily lost
- the presenters covered a variety of topics which seems appropriate for small business owners (as we have to know about so many topics to succeed!) Of course, a conference may not be as varied and still be good depending on the overall topic of the conference
- all presentations included practical ways to use the information so it was easy to implement it straight away – and we all know that if you don’t use new information quickly, the chances of benefiting from it later are much less. This was actually promoted as part of the conference which wouldn’t always be the case
What features have you particularly appreciated about a conference or business event? Do you agree with the features I listed as being valuable (especially if you were at this conference!)?
You’re from the days of yore?
One pair of misused words that I find really annoying is your/you’re. It isn’t hard to learn one is possessive and one is an abbreviation (for you are), but so many people use the incorrect word which shows a lack of knowledge and attention to detail that does not represent them , their content or their business well.
Your: refers to something you own
Is that your bike?
You’re: an abbreviation of ‘you are’.
You’re going to work tomorrow.
Yore: referring to the past, although it isn’t often used now
In days of yore, a Lady’s ankle was never seen.
Although these three words sound exactly the same, they obviously can’t be used as substitutes for each other. No catchy memory tricks for this one – you simply need to remember that the apostrophe replaces the a in you are to create you’re.
Clutter free and productive
One of the conference workshops I attended last week was called “Working in a clutter-free, productive place”, run by Natasha Crestani of Inspired Honey. It was fantastic!
I must say I agree with the premise that less clutter makes it easier to concentrate and to find things, both of which make you more productive when you try to work and function. But when you get busy, it can be hard to manage the clutter.
If you tend to hoard things and surround yourself with clutter, I believe you have to be ready to let go of things or it won’t happen. But even organising your clutter will make a difference if you can’t actually lose much of it yet.
Some tips I got from Natasha – either directly or by thinking about what she said – are listed below and hopefully one or two will help you be more productive in your business/office!
- develop a system for incoming paper – use that system on new things even if you still have piles of old papers lying around
- reduce unnecessary papers entering your office. For example, add a ‘no junk mail’ sign to your letterbox, open all your mail next to the recycling bin so unwanted papers never reach the house/office and don’t print off emails/web pages/etc unless you really need to
- make regular time to declutter or sort – it’s much less intimidating to tidy for 5 minutes than to sort a desk hidden under stacks of paper
- get some sorters, document trays or upright file holders and aim for nothing lying loose on your desk when you aren’t using it. Even two or three semi-sorted piles of paper makes things easier to find than one huge pile or paper strewn everywhere
- have a notebook to write notes in – notes from meetings, ideas that come to you, phone numbers, references to check, and so on – rather than using lots of scraps of paper that you can never find when you need them
- have a recycling bin in your office so paper can go straight into it when you are finished with it
- if something comes to you that can be sorted very quickly (like in less than 5 minutes) deal with it NOW as that is quicker than having to reassess it and do it later
- use lists – getting clutter out of your mind is just as important as getting it off your desk!
What systems will work in your oficce and situation depends on you, your business and what resources you have so the bad news is that there is no magic bullet to fix clutter and disorganisation. The good news is that you can change things and become more productive 🙂
As a busy writer, I admit that sometimes my desk and office got out of control and were hidden under piles of paper. Since Natasha’s workshop, I have reduced clutter and it feels great! I am implementing new systems, too, so I will never lose my desk again!
Still, I would love to hear your business/office organisation tips so please add them as comments…
Driving torture?
Another pair of words many people could easily confuse is tortuous and torturous.
Tortuous – twisting and winding, such as driving along a tortuous road.
The wagon was too long to drive along the tortuous track.
Torturous – painful, agonising, upsetting, such as a torturous stay in prison
Listening to the new student play the violin was torturous to the music lover.
To tell them apart, think of the word torture and torturous together as painful and unpleasant.
Links in emails
Email marketing is a valuable tool for any modern business, but it can backfire if you don’t use it carefully.
I recently saw an email that was very short, started with my name and included unsubscribe details – all of which are good points in an email. But it also included three links to a web page they were promoting – not three pages, but three links to one page!
In a short email, I am quite capable of finding the link even if I have read further on – it will stand out!
Over do something like providing links, and I begin to wonder why you are pushing it so hard and I get suspicious. Finish with “This isn’t hype” to convince me this is hype and not substance.
Add in a comment like “Seriously, this puppy is sick” and the email has no credibility – I deleted it without clicking on any of the three links!
So the lessons from this email are:
- treat your readers with respect – they can find links in short emails
- avoid unnecessary repetition – it is boring and raises questions as to why you need to repeat it
- avoid statements that are cool or trendy – not everyone will agree with you and they age your message quickly. What is cool today is sick tomorrow and wicked the day after, and so on
- if your content isn’t something (e.g. hype, spam,viral) then you don’t need to write that fact – it is more likely to raise suspicions than allay them
Use your words (and links!) wisely!
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