From the Desk of Janet Barclay

Email has really taken over as the #1 form of communication, to the point where it’s rare to receive anything significant by mail. As a result, when you do, it really stands out. That’s the principle behind companies like SendOutCards and Client Connections. And I have to admit that I love it when something unexpected shows up in my mailbox. Like a couple of weeks ago, I was puzzled to receive a large envelope from EzineArticles.com, but my confusion turned to delight when I opened it to find a mousepad with "Ezine Articles Expert Author" on it. That made me feel really good! (Now I just need a mouse to go with it.)

On the other hand, email is so easy and so affordable, that some people really abuse it. I recently heard through one of my online groups that a certain marketing expert was going to be offering her very last free teleclasses this week. I had heard of this person many times so I thought I should take advantage of this opportunity, and signed up for the teleclass. As expected, I received an email confirming my registration. That was fine. I also received a newsletter and a "special announcement", which was not fine, but I thought I’d better wait until after the teleclasses to remove myself from her mailing list to make sure I received the link to the recordings. Over the past week I have received at least 8 emails from her, including three "courtesy" messages reminding me about the call being "tomorrow," "today," and "in a few hours" PLUS a voicemail reminder. I haven’t looked up "courtesy" in the dictionary lately, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mean the same as "harassment." This experience has made me question the value of the information being offered – is this the way she recommends people market their services? No thank you! And I will definitely not be purchasing or recommending any of her products or services either.

One last comment, before I get off my soapbox – back on the topic of paper mail. I received something in the mail from a supplier, who spelled both my business name and my last name wrong. That doesn’t endear me either.

What do these stories have in common?  They show the ways that your communications can influence your clients. So, remember these three things:

1. Show your clients you appreciate them by occasionally sending a card or small gift instead of an email.
2. Do NOT assume that potential clients have nothing more important to do with their time than read multiple messages from you containing the same information.
3. Make sure you spell their names correctly!

I recently attended a networking event called "Intimate Alliances" which was organized by Neworld Coaching. Since these are the same people who run the Beehive Game Online and The Beehive Game Live, I was sure it would be unlike any other event I’ve been to, and I was not disappointed. Instead of self-introductions and unstructured "mix and mingle" time, a specific amount of time was allotted to meet one-on-one with each and every other participant in order to explore the possibilities for forming joint ventures with that person.

As a result of one of those meetings, I’ve been invited to be a presenter at Small Business Marketing Make-over, a half-day workshop taking place at the Holiday Inn in Kitchener on Thursday, April 17^th. This workshop is being offered by Holibyte Online Solutions, who specialize in online marketing, and Trudezign Graphics & Marketing, who specialize in branding and print marketing, and my role is to give a short presentation on the ways a Virtual Assistant can help you to carry out your marketing strategies. Since it’s the same day as my teleclass on The Four Steps to Organization, I unfortunately won’t be able to participate, but I will be contributing helpful information to the workshop handout package.

I wish I could be there, not just for the speaking opportunity, but because I am sure Craig and Trudy’s marketing ideas will be quite valuable! If you’d like to learn how to get an advantage on your competition and achieve a stronger and more prosperous market presence on a limited budget, be sure to register soon –early bird pricing is available until March 31^st, and space is limited!

I have another exciting announcement – the second one this week!

I’ve been invited by the President of the Association of Online Resume & Career Professionals (AORCP) to conduct a series of teleseminars for their members, who are primarily career coaches and resume writers who market their business and/or provide their services through website technology. As I’ve been contacted a number of times about people outside my local area who were unable to attend my live workshops, I’m especially pleased that the sessions are open to non-members.  (If you’re one of them, here’s your big chance!

The topics are as follows:

• Organizing Your Home Office – Thursday, April 3, 2008
• The Four Steps to Organization – Thursday, April 17, 2008
• Organizing and Your Computer – Thursday, May 1, 2008
• Maximizing Your Time with a Virtual Assistant – Thursday, May 15, 2008
• Organizing Your Life, Your Way – Thursday, May 29, 2008
• Paper Management – Thursday, June 12, 2008

Click for further details and registration information

I’m looking forward to this opportunity to connect with some of my blog readers!

A couple of years ago, I was asked by a local organization to come in and teach their staff how to effectively use Microsoft Outlook. Like many people, they were given the program to use with no instruction, and as a result were only using it to send and receive email, and not making full use of the program’s many powerful features.

I devoted many hours developing a booklet to accompany the classroom training, and when my husband Scott, a certified Microsoft Office Specialist in Outlook 2003, recently joined me at Organized Assistant, one of the first tasks I assigned to him was to fine tune the material and further develop it for users wishing to learn independently.

 I’m very excited to announce that Maximizing Your Time with Microsoft Outlook 2003 is now available as an e-book! It’s full of step-by-step instructions to help you organize your messages, contacts, schedule, and activities, and to reduce the time you spend processing email. For a limited time, you can order it at a special introductory price of $5.99! For more information or to order a copy, please click on the cover image on the left.

I have long been a believer that despite what some of the "experts" say, there is more than one way to manage time effectively, and what works well for someone else may not work for you. To prove this point, I’ve interviewed Australia’s multi-award-winning Certified Professional Resume Writer, Gayle Howard of Top Margin. Although she is outstanding at what she does, she does not in any way attribute it to her organizing skills. In fact, she admits that her typical workday begins and ends with one word — procrastination. She explains,

"I never seem to be able to do anything unless I’m under an extreme and stressful deadline, and then I can knuckle down and start working. It is almost like I am in teenage rebellion mode, but the person I’m rebelling against is myself!"

Gayle describes her daily routine as follows:

"My day starts as I stumble bleary-eyed downstairs to read my email while having a coffee around 6 am. Email tasks are usually finished by 7 am and I have the rest of my breakfast. I then get presentable to meet my public (the ones I never see!) and I pretend to start my first project for the day about 9 am — an action that kids no-one, least of all me. From 9 am to 10 am I mess around. Write two words, look for a meaning for a word on the internet, answer a query from a course student, write another two words, have a friendly email discourse with a résumé writer or two, read and respond to e-list postings, jot down a blog entry and read the newspaper. I’ll do this until a mental calculation tells me that I won’t be able to finish the writing project I have scheduled if I keep messing around one minute longer. After this mental calculation I then mess around about a half an hour longer only to panic, act surprised like I don’t know where my day could have possibly gone, and then knuckle down and start work. By 5:30 pm, I have met my deadline by finishing the work I had scheduled for that day."

Did you notice that, despite the lack of a structured time management system, Gayle is able to complete her work on time? I’m sure she is not alone in this, although I’m one of the people who needs structure if I’m going to accomplish anything. As time management guru Donald Wetmore explains it,

"There are racehorses and tortoises. Racehorses might schedule all their activities in one day, and a tortoise might spread it out. At the end of the day, both of us have accomplished the same, but gone about it differently."

On the other hand, Gayle also confesses that she finds this rather stressful. She concluded by telling me,

"Five minutes later I vow I cannot live like this and with my hand over my heart, swear it’s going to be different tomorrow. I’ve done that for the last decade and it’s starting to feel like Groundhog Day."

How about you? Are you a racehorse or a tortoise?