Here is a pair of words that sound exactly the same but have quite different meanings - yet I’m not sure any people realise there are two words instead of one with different uses.
discrete - distinct, separate, individual, referring to numbers
It was a series of discrete performances across the country.
discreet - tactful, subtle, unobtrusive
Her boss was very discreet about her illness.
{see how the t separates the es in discrete?}
Obviously, there are many reasons behind people starting up a business rather than being an employee. But a common reason, or support for another reason, is the desire for flexibility.
I have heard “I hate working 9 to 5 so I started my own business” or words to that affect a number of times. And yet those same people may well find that running a business requires more than 8 hours a day, 7 days a week to be a success.
Valerie Khoo not only discusses this issue but gives some good tips on how to plan flexibility into your businessin a blog post last month. I think her most important point is the planning - you need to know what flexibility you want (or need) and then plan the business around that.
For example, one flexibility I want is to be able to go on school excursions with my daughters, especially while they are young enough to be excited by my presence! Therefore, I do not claim to be available during all business hours and my regular clients know I sometimes work at nights or weekends instead of during traditional business hours. One client had a deadline for an article last week when I was at the zoo so we agreed he could call me at the zoo and I would talk him through any technical issues. Flexibility.
I would find it much harder to go on excursions if I had a traditional office where people were encouraged to drop in for meetings.
Sometimes a compromise will be necessary to achieve the desired flexibility. For example, to only work 3 days a week you may have to accept earning less than if you worked 5 days a week or accept having staff or outsourcing more.
If you run a business, from home or elsewhere, do you have the flexibility you expected when you started? Would you like more flexibility in your life to do things other than business?
I would suggest you plan your ideal week, business and personal combined, and see how far it is from reality then look for ways you can move closer to the ideal.
Use your time wisely!
Going on from my recent post about repeat messages in emails, where I mentioned owning up to a mistake rather than sending a corrected version as if nothing had happened, I thought I’d share this post I found with you.
Joan Pasay discusses getting a lot of emails with “Whoops!” in the subject line because people had discovered an error in the emails they had sent out. I agree with her suggestion of being upfront and ‘grown up’ in the subject line when you announce an error. As she says “I guess the lesson here is to just admit you made an error and not try to cover it up with a “Gee wilickers, I think I just might be a moron” type subject line. “”
Personally, I have never received an email with a whoops subject - have you? I’ve had emails announcing an error, but they mostly have been along the lines of “our may newsletter - with correction” which is perfectly acceptable. Although I always wonder if I should delete the original because I can’t be sure (without taking the time there and then to read the email) if the corrected version includes the entire message or just the correction.
So now am I wondering - what sorts of subjects have you seen from people who realise they made a msitake in an email already sent?
Use your words wisely!
There are pairs of words that are frequently misused. However much they sound the same, using the wrong word can totally change the meaning of your sentence.
And you can’t rely on your spell checker to find these errors for you.
A good, old fashioned dictionary is the best way to make sure you are using the correct word in any situation. If you don’t have a dictionary at home, and the old school one probably doesn’t count, I would strongly suggest you get one so you can avoid unnecessary errors in your writing.
As I still see many of these words used incorrectly, I am going to show the different meanings as a blog category - and I’ll post one every Monday.
Please let me know if there are any particular words you aren’t sure of and I’ll include them, too.
If you send out announcements or ads to a mailing list, be careful not to overdo it. I recently received two emails only days apart from the same person for the same ad, although she tried to make it look like two ads - it didn’t impress me as I wasn’t interested in it the first time!
Using a different example, the first message she sent was “Tash is presenting a workshop on clear communications in Mulgrave”; the second message was “Learn about clear communications in our workshop”
I think it is insulting to your readers to assume they can’t tell that this is the same ad in different words - and how embarrassing would it be for someone who tried enrolling in ‘both’ seminars?
If for some reason you are going to repeat an ad to your mailing list, then be honest about it and say so. Some possible introductions are:
However, make sure it is an honest reason you give and don’t do it regularly as it looses any credibility it may have had. I have received emails from people who used the ’sorry, wrong/forgotten link’ more than once in two months and it looked very tacky and led me straight to the unsubscribe button.
If you are sending an email about somethig with a specific date, such as a workshop, then you can send a reminder closer to the date - note, it should be a reminder not just the same message again. And again, don’t send lots of reminders as that is just as annoying as repeated ads and also makes it less likely that the reader will respond to any of them.
Use your words wisely!
P.S. I am actually giving a workshop on clear communications in Mulgrave on Monday, 26th May. If you can make it, please make sure you introduce yourself to me on the day.
Did you know that you are allowed to say no sometimes? Even to new clients or a long standing client, it is acceptable for you to say no - politely of course!
It is a little silly, but I was reminded of this through the Rat in the Hat! Melissa Khalinsky often uses children’s TV shows to point out business lessons, and in one of her blog posts, she shows how Rat is quite the entrreperuner.
Melissa wrote “Don’t overextend yourself - this is something Rat does often in his quest to meet the needs of everyone on Cuddles Ave. Unfortunately Rat doesn’t know how to say no ” and I had to nod in agreement, both for Rat in a Hat (yes, I’ve watched him, too!) and for many business owners I know.
As a small business owner, it is hard to turn down a client - there’s that little fear that maybe this was the last work request you’d get for 6 months so how can you afford to not do this project? Or maybe it is a fear that saying no will make that person hate you and bad mouth you to other potential clients?
But let’s look at it the other way:
I will cover the various reasons for saying no, and how to say no nicely in the next few blog posts. But for now, just take on the belief that you can say no and the world (or your business!) won’t end!
A media release is generally an announcement of something you consider newsworthy enough the media may tell your story. So when do you tell the media?
There is no simple answer, but there are some guidelines depending on what type of release you are sending out.
If your release is announcing something that has happened (e.g. “we won an award”)
If your release is about an upcoming event (e.g. “our school fete is on the 9th May”)
In addition, if your release is about the launch of a new website
If your release isn’t time critical, then you can send it at any time of course! But I would question its newsworthiness if it really has no time frame attached..
The timing doesn’t have to be hard - just use a little common sense really.
Happy writing!
Anybody reading my blog or newsletter knows that I am passionate about helping people write clearly for their business purposes. Which I assume is why the Business Mums Network has invited me to speak at their next morning tea workshop.
The details are as follows:
Confident Communications
Who are you talking to? The key to clear communications is keeping a focus on who you are communicating with.
This workshop will start by identifying the groups of people we may need to communicate with as a business and appreciate how each group is different and how information can be presented in different ways for best results with each group.
Monday, 26 May 2008 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Monash Incubator Centre, 5a Hartnett Close, Mulgrave
To register phone 03 9018 8947 or email events@businessmums.com
It’s unlikely that you have never done a survey or filled in a feedback form about a seminar or such. Unfortunately, it is also unlikely that everyone one of those questions you answered was clearly written or easy to understand.
If you are involved in preparing any surveys/feedback forms, it is important to think carefully about how you ask questions. Obviously, the first step is to know what answers you need - do you want to know how old people are or just the difference between adults and teenagers?
Here are three recent examples I have come across where the question is not going to get the right responses:
“1. Please list as many soft drink flavours you can think of”
“2. For each flavour, please select A, B or C where A is ‘yes, I knew it was a flavour but forgot it’, B is ‘I didn’t realise it was a flavour’ and C is ‘I’ve never heard of it’. {and then list every flavour whether or not the person listed it in question 1}”
So if you had written orange as a flavour in question 1, how can you select A, B or C in question 2? As it was an online survey and answering was necessary, people would guess an answer so the final results mean nothing.
“Were you satisfied with the course handbook?
The options do not answer the question - was I satisfied can only be answered with yes/no/partially. To offer those choices, the appropriate question would be ’How would you describe the course handbook?’
“Which of the following have you ever given your child?
Personally, I hadn’t given any of them to my child but there was no option to say ‘none of the above’ or even ‘other vitamins’.
So once you have written any questions, go back and read them in order to see if they make sense and are complete. One way to check multiple choice answers make sense it to add each one to the question so “were you satisfied with the course handbook? excellent” quickly shows an issue.
I’ll go through some tips on writing useful questions soon!
Since posting about international business card etiquette, I have read more about different culture’s practices. One site discusses business etiquette in Australia and I couldn’t resist seeing what they advice non-Australians. They wrote:
Business cards are often used in business dealings, but Australians don’t fuss about them. It is acceptable to hand over and receive a business card with one hand. It is good practice to put your counterpart’s business card on the table during the meeting, although some people will put it straight in their pocket.
It got me thinking - should a business card go on the table or into a pocket?
Obviously, if you are at a stand-up networking event, there is no table so cards go into a pocket (or bag or diary.) And if you receive a card in passing, a pocket is appropriate.
Personally, if I am in a meeting and receive some business cards I leave them on the table in front of me, face up. Not only is it a good reminder of people’s names and titles, I think it shows respect that I value their card enough to keep it in sight. In those same meetings, I have seen people leave cards on the table and others place cards in holders of their document folder (so they could still see the cards but were also protecting them), and that does feel better than seeing my card go into a pocket (sometimes without even a glance).
I think it may be different at a meal-based networking event, though. In that case, I often put the card straight into a pocket to protect it from food spills and being lost amongst the dishes and table paraphernalia. Sometimes, I hold the card for a while as I talk to the person sitting next to me - it makes me more familiar with the card and the person, plus I think it is respectful to listen as they talk rather than fiddling with cards and pockets/bags/card holders.
Where do you place business cards as you receive them at a table? Is this habit or have you consciously decided to do it that way?
Use your words wisely!