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, and enjoy!Tash
Our new office
Over the weekend, we moved into our new office. It has been a long time coming, but it is wonderful to be here.
We’re still in the same building but the office itself has moved so we’re now on the north side of the house which means lots of natural light and winter sunshine. It is about double the size of our old office so we won’t be cramped any more, can fit in a third desk and even have floor space for the baby to play and crawl.
I am also looking forward to the luxury of adding a futon shortly so that I have somewhere to sit for proof reading and reading rather than staying at my desk (changing location does help when proof reading!)
You can see from the photo that we have a blue office (of course – it is the Word Constructions colour as well as being a peaceful colour to look at all day) and that not everything is unpacked yet. And look at all that spare shelving, too!
It was an interesting exercise preparing for this move. When planning rooms in our home, we take time to choose colours and surfaces, adding furniture and decorations to make it a nice environment. Yet so many home offices are based on putting a desk into any spare space.
Planning our new office gave me the chance to really think about what I wanted – I realised that I spend more waking time in the office than any other room so surely it should be the room I put the most thought and effort into setting up. So we modelled different layouts, spent time agonising over paint colours, contemplated various floor coverings and I am getting new desk organisers.
Now we’re here, I will also choose some nice art to go on the wall instead of just business registrations and useful information – of course we don’t have a lot of wall with so much shelving and window, but there’s enough to add touches that make it a nice place to be.
As a writer, I am excited about a large window and nice art to stare at when thinking or looking for inspiration!
I’m also going to get myself a white board so I can write reminders and ideas on it. I prefer that to bits of paper because it is environmentally friendlier, will be highly visible and can’t get lost under other papers/books/baby toys/etc.
If you have a home office, when is the last time you put effort into how it looks and functions? Have you considered the importance of making your work area pleasant and welcoming for you? You’ll probably find that many expenses associated with improving your work area are tax deductible, too – I know my new desk area will improve my productivity (in fact it already has!)
Value of education
Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.
Thomas Huxley
An interesting quote… Thinking of education in a broader sense (that is, not just going to school for a formal education) I tend to agree with Huxley. By learning more through seminars, books, articles, conferences, discussions, professionals and so on, we often have a better idea of what we could do to achieve an aim.
So what will you learn this month? How will you further your knowledge and give yourself more power?
Can you see the site?
Cite: to reference something and identify that source, especially in academic and legal papers
The lawyer decided to cite John’s affidavit but not Mary’s.
Site: a location or area
They had to clear the site before they could build on it.
Sight: being able to see; what is seen
She lost her sight after staring at the eclipse.
“What a sight!” said the hikers when they reached the mountain top.
The word cite is used less often in general conversations and probably doesn’t suit most business documents. But I do see site and sight being misused.
Think of site as a place where you can sit and it may help you remember which is which.
Stimulus bonus
Assuming you qualify, you may get (or already have) a bonus from the Government as part of the stimulus package. Remembering this is a tax free payment (how many hours would you have to work to get that much after tax?) have you seriously thought about how to use that money?
I think there are two useful ways to spend your bonus – pay off debt (credit cards or mortgage) or investing it (shares, property, etc, or to your super or in your business.) Either way, the bonus can then go towards your financial future. Of course, the aim of the stimulus package is to get us spending rather than saving which is why I think the bonus could be well used for your business…
- spending on your business is an investment that can increase your long term profits – which means you can spend more later!
- whatever you purchase will help another business and stimulate the economy!
- this tax free money can buy you things that are tax deductible – and I suspect your accountant will approve of that!
- depending on what you buy, it may also be eligible for the extra tax deductions available at the moment – this can make bigger things much more affordable for tight budgets
Given we’re potentially talking about $600 or $900, I don’t mean buying a few pens and a ream of paper! Investing in your business could include some of the following expenditures:
- upgrade your computer or some software
- update your website – think about a CMS, shopping cart, design, content, new photos and graphics
- attend some training – seminars and conferences can pay back their price and time many times over through information, ideas and people met
- get some professional help – a trademark lawyer, accountant, coach, writer, image consultant and so on can make a long term difference for your business
- hire some help, whether it is a cleaner, VA, packer or letterbox deliverer
- buy a good chair – your comfort is worth it especially if you sit for hours to run your business, and it will increase your productivity
- buy some resources – books, DVDs, videos, business guides, magazines
- get some flyers or postcards printed or some promo items made to spread the word of your business
- look for some sponsorship or prize opportunities to help others and build exposure and publicity for your business
Capitals change the meaning
It’s Monday but I’m going to do the Monday Meanings post a little differently today in honour of Anzac Day on Saturday.
Sometimes, a capital letter can change the meaning or significance of a word.
Digger: an Anzac soldier
The Diggers proudly walked off the ship in Melbourne.
digger: someone who is digging or regularly digs
Sitting in the sandpit, the digger created a moat around his castle.
The general rules for the use of capital letters obviously still apply, as does the annoyance of over using capitals. For the above example, I added a capital letter to a regular noun to make it a proper noun as I could also do for words such as Mother/mother, Father/father, Nurse/nurse and Captain/captain.
Phone or email…
When writing about including an email address on printed materials the other day, I mentioned that I prefer emails to phone calls.
Other than anyone’s personal preferences between writing and talking, here are some of the reasons I prefer communicating via email in my business:
- it is much easier to ignore an incoming email than phone call. If I am concentrating on a document for a client, I don’t like interruptions and prefer to keep working so ignore incoming messages
- I can manage my time better with emails – I choose a time to go through emails and respond as it suits me, but a phone call won’t just sit and wait for my convenience! Yes, I have an answering machine which can allow me to call back later but that doesn’t mean the other person is available when I do call back…
- I don’t always work conventional hours – I can read your email at 3am but I doubt you want me to return a phone call at such hours!
- an email forms a record of what is discussed. This makes it easier for me to check facts and deadlines when working on a project rather than relying on memory or finding where I scribbled notes during a phone call!
- in an email, I have the time, when necessary, to plan what needs to be said and how to present it; on the phone, an immediate response may be regretted later
- I can appear professional in an email no matter what is happening in the office – not always feasible over the phone in a home office with three children and renovations in the background!
That said, the phone can be quicker and easier for clarifying information or an involved discussion. And obviously my reasons don’t apply for different types of businesses.
Do you prefer email contacts over phone calls? How do you prefer to contact potential suppliers/service providers yourself?
Keep your emails out of junk folders…
Last week, I wrote about reducing the amount of spam you receive in your inbox. The other side of the issue is having your legitimate emails being caught by a spam filter and not reaching the recipient.
isp providers and email programs both use rules to sort out real emails from spam – that’s how some emails never reach you and others go into your junk folder instead of your inbox. That’s great for keeping your inbox clear, but not so good when your emails aren’t arriving…
I spoke this morning at a seminar for the Yarra Ranges council and mentioned how certain words can get your email classed as spam even if you use those words in an innocent way. Many mass email tools can review your emails and tell you which words may cause a problem, which is handy. Alternatively, you can find lists of such words online (some examples are here and here.)
For words that are in the spam rules, you have a few choices:
- use the word where necessary as some words are just too hard to avoid – for example if you sell fishing rods it is very hard to avoid writing ‘fishing’ (yes, fishing is a word to avoid!) If you only use one or two words and otherwise pass the spam tests, your email has a fair chance of getting through
- find an alternative word to use. For example, use ‘go to’ instead of ‘visit’ or ‘click here’
- write the sentence differently – to stay with our fishing example, we could write ‘we went to catch some fish’ to replace ‘we went fishing’
- break the word with symbol (this is why you see ‘V.isit us for a f.ree valu.ation’ and the like.) This divides trigger words into two part words which spam filters don’t worry about, although some are also being added to rules. I hate the look of doing this but am coming to accept the necessity of it unfortunately.
Avoiding the use of such trigger words can help you get past spam filters, but these are not the only rules to be aware of. Spam assassin provides some tips for keeping your emails out of spam folders, as does Bob Thomson.
Reducing spam
I just came across a blog post that very clearly outlines some anti-spam techniques for your business email. While it is hard (impossible even) to stop spam completely, we can reduce it for our own sanity.
I will add that contact forms are not a guarantee against getting spam. I have found that the contact form is immune from spam for months and then they hack it and I just reset the form with a new email address to solve the problem. Using captcha or recpatcha reduces the spam entries into the form itself, too.
Stephen made the suggestion of not adding an email address to business cards and printed stationery so there is no need to reprint things if you change your email address. I understand his point – reprinting is expensive!However, I do a lot of my business via email and actually prefer it to the phone so I want my email address on my cards.
My compromises to Stephen’s suggestion are:
- have a soft copy letterhead you print as required so it is easy to adjust the email address
- use a different email address on printed items and never use it online so it is less likely to be found by spammers
- don’t put an email address on expensive printed items
- only give out your business card personally – use a different card or a flyer/postcard for use in mass handouts (eg in a showbag, at an expo, in a mail out) and don’t add your email address to that
Again, as someone who likes emails, I would find it annoying to get a business card which didn’t include an email address – then I would have to search their website for one. So I think you need to decide if your clients & prospective clients would expect an email address or not before deciding whether or not to print it.
Do you include an email address on your business card? What about on your letterhead and invoices?
Cavalry and Calvary
Cavalry: a group or fighters (soldiers, warriors, etc) mounted on horses
The foot soldiers will follow the cavalry into the valley.
The foot soldiers will follow the cavalry into the valley.
Calvary: the Crucifixion place for Jesus; also used to refer to crucifixion crosses and sites in general or to describe intense pain
The pilgrims went to Calvary in Jerusalem.
Unless you write or read a lot of Christian materials, you probably won’t come across Calvary so learning to spell cavalry alone may be enough!
Recent Comments