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Hello, In September I attended the inaugural Business Mums Network Conference in Melbourne. I spoke in a forum on goal setting and also did a presentation. More importantly, I listened to some wonderful speakers and came home enthused about my business and wanting to use my new knowledge! One thing I did notice was how important your personal presentation can be. I witnessed people actively choosing not to use two business providers because of how they presented themselves at the conference - the main factors being disorganisation and being pushy rather than helpful. A highlight of the weekend for me was being presented with an award. The Network Founder, Melissa Khalinsky, presented a founder's award to me as "someone who is doing wonderful things with her own business but also contributes tot eh network and other business owners." It was an honour to be acknowledged from so many determined and gutsy women. I also want to apologise for the delay in sending this month's newsletter, and thank those clients who are being patient with me at the moment. My Grandmother died last week and I have taken some unexpected time away from my business. Use your words wisely! Tash
PS I have finally
started a blog! You can read it at
wordconstructions.wordpress.com/
although they aren't many entries yet! It will be added to the Word
Constructions website shortly and links are on the website already.
The value of
business seminars/conferences As a small business owner, you may find it hard to justify attending a seminar, conference or workshop, both in terms of time and money. But you may be surprised at how beneficial such events can be. For example, one networking breakfast I attended gained me two new clients whilst another event taught me that copyright can only be assigned in writing with a signature. At the Business Mums Conference, I developed relationships with people including a web designer (who is now quoting me on some work), a virtual assistant (who sent me some referrals for a client), a marketing person (great resource I have already shared with clients) and some potential clients. I have a new article on the advantages of attending such events, plus tips on how to get the best out of those events you attend. You can read it here. If we don't change, we don't grow.
If we don't grow, we are not really living.
Understanding the purpose An important part of running a business is to market that business. And part of marketing often includes marketing materials, newsletters and blogs, attending trade fairs and expos, website and speaking to people. Before you rush into preparing any marketing and sales tools, you need to understand the real purpose of t he tool.
Christmas is coming -
How prepared is your
business? Yes, it's only October, but now is definitely time to be organising your business for Christmas, especially if you rely on Christmas sales. The following articles may help you get started...
Getting ready for Christmas
 A personalised and unique Christmas gift idea
Do you plan to give clients a Christmas gift? How
about a bottle of wine for your suppliers? You could make some children very happy and impress their parents, so why not check out the possibilities here. Dealing with competition Have you thought much about your business competition? Then share your thoughts in the BMN competition survey by clicking here. The more who answer, the more accurate the results will be. Poor examples Sometimes, the easiest way to learn the correct way to do something is to see it done poorly so in this section of my newsletter, I show you some real-life examples of writing that need a little help. Today's example comes from an email sent to a supplier - it took the supplier two days to figure out what was meant by this. Remember that it is not just communications with customers that is important in business - your suppliers can't service you correctly or efficiently if you don't explain clearly what you need. example: Issues with this example: The key issue is that it doesn't make sense! The writer obviously hasn't proof read her work to realise she typed 'sued' instead of 'used', or 'to' instead of 'two'. There are really two aspects of this sentence and splitting them would make it much easier to understand. Starting with a capital letter and ending with a question mark would be useful, too. Personally, I'd never send such a request without attaching some common courtesies either - please is easy enough to add. A better version would be: (without changing the meaning) Can you also do tick boxes for the "From", "To" fields please? This form has to be used two ways and the data operators need to be aware whether it's to the fund or from the fund. You are welcome to pass this newsletter on to anyone you think will be interested, but please send it as is without changes. If you were passed this email by a friend, you can subscribe here. This newsletter is only ever sent to my clients and people who request the monthly newsletter & writing tips found at www.wordconstructions.com. Your email details will never be given, lent or sold to any party whatsoever and you are free to leave this service at any time by unsubscribing here. Important: This email (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender. Whilst Word Constructions has taken reasonable steps to ensure this email is virus free, it accepts no responsibility and makes no warranty. The recipient should take its own steps to ensure there is no virus. Word Constructions accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. |
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© 2007, Tash Hughes