soho-life.com

I had a meeting with a business acquaintance at the Melbourne Airport this morning.  This man originally made contact with me December 2005 on an off chance that my Virtual Assistant team in Australia might be able to assist his business in the UK.  At that time I was only a few weeks away from travelling to the UK for the first time and I asked him where he was. The answer was London and when I told him I was flying in there the following February (2006) he offered to come with his wife and meet my husband and me and take us to lunch.

That started an email business relationship that is slowly growing over time. We have connected via LinkedIn, post about each other periodically on blogs (and here I am, doing it again) and the business we discussed this morning means we’ll be working more closely together very soon.  What he has been developing since we first met has some exciting promises for my industry and for small business people in general.

You hear often about the ‘hunters and gatherers’ who collect email contacts or business cards at networking events, but then there are the ‘farmers’ too, who sow seeds, nurture, water and feed, and over time grow a harvest that is later ready for reaping.

There is value in building relationships and spending time waiting for the right time. True, you might be able to turn around some quick business bucks by grabbing cards and making follow up contact, but often it’s not till people really get an understanding of who you are and an appreciation for your experience and knowledge that longer-term benefits begin to show.  So it’s important to maintain contact without making a nuisance of yourself - no hard sells, but regular contact through newsletters, occasional emails and catching up with each other whenever someone is in town.  You never know what’s going on in the lives of others and maintaining contact, even if casual, can often reap a harvest at the most unexpected times.

Tags: Networking by Kathie Thomas
2 Comments »

I’ve written about it often in newsletters and in blogs and I’ve emailed everyone who includes me on a list using To: and CC: and advise them of the proper way to send broadcast emails. I’m astounded at how many business people just do not seem to know or understand this simple way of protecting their lists.

My series on Email Etiquette has been republished in many articles and publications online and in printed publications also. They are also amongst some of the most viewed articles at Evan Carmichael’s Motivation and Strategies for Entrepreneurs. Pity the staff at Ticketek didn’t read them.

Last week my husband received an email from Ticketek with a long list of email addresses in the To: field. What a blunder and a public blunder at that. We were astounded at the time that they would do that and he emailed them advising he was unsubscribing from their list.

In The Age today there is an article about a Spam Alert after Ticketek email blunder. They’ve highlighted how it is a privacy breach but I have other concerns about what this could do.

If any of the recipients have a virus or Trojan on their computers the rest of the recipients are at risk if they don’t have up-to-date antivirus programs active on their computers. But more to the point, their email addresses have just been given away to any of those people on that list keen to build their own lists. What a giveaway!

Let this be a lesson to all who broadcast emails to lists of people. DO NOT USE the To: or CC: fields if you are sending email to a list of people. It should not be done. Get into the habit of using BCC which protects and hides the email addresses of everyone on your list. Each individual will only see their address and no-one else’s when this is done properly.

Broadcast email, spam, To:, BCC, Ticketek

Tags: Warnings by Kathie Thomas
3 Comments »

Wish I’d thought of this post! At Aussie Bloggers an excellent post called “It’s Just Like A Party” has been written by Jeanie about participating in forums and it’s real commonsense stuff. And yet I see so many breaking the often ‘unwritten’ rules of etiquette when it comes to forum participation.

I love being involved in forums - a great way to network with others in a casual way and really get to know people. Perhaps further down the track you might do business with them or socialise with them face to face, who knows where it will lead, but it’s important to start off on the right foot first.  Otherwise you could end up being branded a spammer or troublemaker when it’s possible you’re just being enthusiastic and didn’t think. Especially if you operate a business - all business owners want to let others know what they do and where to find them, but it’s best to play down that enthusiasm and get to know the lay of the land first before linking right, left and centre and being accused of spamming a forum.

Why not read through this list and think on it when you’re next in a forum? It might just help you to have a lot more fun!

Tags: Having Fun, Networking by Kathie Thomas
2 Comments »

Do you have a blog theme addiction?

I have and I have it bad. I spend hours and hours and hours looking for just that right look and sometimes I ‘put up with a theme’ until I have time to go in search again.

Case in point - my Proverbs 31 Woman blog. I just can’t find the right look but I would like to portray a woman with old-fashioned values who is a mother at home and a business woman too. So she could be pictured with an apron, or with kids around her, and definitely in a home environment. But I’ve not see many blog themes that match that description. And then it also needs to have a blogroll that categorises blogs although I believe I can add a code for that.

And sometimes when on the hunt I find other templates I love and I end up starting blogs I really don’t need but love the template so I want to use it. Another case in point - Kathie’s Garden. This one is badly in need of new posts.

But sometimes I can find just the right template like the one for this blog - I’m happy with it, and for several other blogs I have or blogs I manage for clients. One of my latest ones is Block’s Indicator - I actually found about 5 different templates ideal for that one so we’re trying them out as the blog ages gradually.

I did eventually find a theme for Proverbs31-woman.com though that I like - although it doesn’t have the look I originally envisioned. But I like the way the categories are done.

So, tell me about your favourite themes or your blog addiction!

blog themes, blog templates, blog addiction, favourite theme

Tags: Wordpress by Kathie Thomas
6 Comments »