So, is email a good thing or a bad thing?  Depends on when, why, and how you use it and what you write. As it turns out, you can write an email where you can make someone feel really good, yet in another email, you can just plain hurt the reader or even yourself. Once you press the send button, that message is gone for ever and ever and you will have absolutely no control over who sees it in the future.

Like anything, email has its ups and more than its share of downs. This week I had my share of bad and ugly emails. I let an email get the best of me and I responded and pressed send!  Oops! …. Too late, I can’t take it back, the message is gone.

You can then get into the endless back and forth responding and sending emails to see who wins making their point, without ever resolving the issue and just getting deeper and deeper into trouble…. Not a good strategy.

The pros (good):

• Email is easy to use. All you need is the appropriate software that runs on your computer.  Email requires less physical effort than sending a letter. It means there is no need to buy stamps or envelopes or for a trip to the postbox.
• Email is extremely fast. No matter where you’re sending your message, whether it’s on the other side of town or on the other side of the world.
• Email is inexpensive or free of charge. Outside of your normal online connection charges, Internet email costs precisely nothing and you save on long distance bills.
• Email messages are easily stored (also a con, see below). The electronic nature of email means we use less natural resources and we don’t have to bother with things like fax paper.
• Email is practically universal. Not only do millions of people on the Internet use email, but every major email system in the world allows their users to send messages to and receive messages from the Internet.
• With email it is easy to send the same piece of information to several people simultaneously.

The cons (bad and ugly):

• Email is impersonal.  Impersonality of email leads to a big problem, where we forget that, most of the time, a live human being will be reading your message. Once the email is sent, there’s no way to retrieve a message that was written in a fit of anger or emotional distress.  Sometimes folks use email when they do not want to have a difficult face-to-face conversation.
• Email can take over your life. Before you know it, you can spend most of your day just reading and responding to emails.  Most business employees today spend from one to two hours of their working day on email for reading, ordering, sorting, and writing email. The use of email is increasing due to increasing levels of globalization
• Email is not as private as a regular letter. As your email messages are on their way to their destinations, they have to pass through other, public, systems.
• Email messages are easily stored, all of them including the good, the bad and the ugly. If you say nasty things in a message, a saved copy could easily resurface and come back to haunt you sometime in the future. A good rule to follow is to assume your message will be read by the general public and to write accordingly.

So, when should we use email and when should we not?

Use email when:

• It is important that your audience gets your message
• You need to deliver a message to more than one person
• You want a quick but not an instant response
• Your audience is at a distance
• You want time to compose your message: Use email in preference to a phone call or in-person meeting
• You require a record of your message

Don’t use email when:

• It is not essential that all of your audience gets the message
• You need an immediate response: If you’re in a real hurry, use the phone or walk to the person.
• You are delivering sensitive information: At worst the recipient needs to hear the tone of your voice and that means getting on the phone . Much better is to say it in person, when your body language can do most of the talking.
• Text is not a powerful enough medium: If you need to convey complex processes or principles, to grab attention or influence attitudes, then text is unlikely to be enough.
• You are agitated: Sometimes it’s more tempting to say what you think in writing than on the phone or in person. Don’t.  It’s e-rage (for electronic rage) and it’s not good for your career or your soul or even your heart. If you are agitated, it’s better not to communicate at all, go do some meditation, exercise or yoga. It will help you relax and think before you write and click.

Bottom-line: next time you chose to use email make sure you understand why you are using it and read twice before you press SEND.

Until next time!

sonia

To be a “balanced” individual, you must successfully achieve goals in several areas of  your life. The major areas of your life include:

1. Personal Development:
   • Body –physical goals (health/appearance)
   • Mind – intellectual goals (learning, reading books)
   • Being – spiritual goals (meditation, praying, etc)
2. Career and Business
3. Time – organizational goals
4. People
   • Relationships – goals concerning the most important people in your life
   • Community and charity – goals to help others and be part of a community
5. Money – your financial and wealth goals

Setting and achieving goals requires the following critical 9 steps:

1. Write your goals down –  For each of the major areas of your life listed above, set and write at least 3 goals. You must write the following information for each goal and put this information where you can see it daily:
   • What do you want?
   • Why do you want it?
   • When do you want the goal achieved (due date)?
   • What are your expectations?
   • What are the anticipated hurdles and sacrifices you expect?
2. Be passionate – love what you do
3. Have talent or ability – achieving goals requires that you be good at what you are doing
4. Be responsible – don’t blame others if life is not going perfect for you, and do not complain. You are not a victim.  Remember that everything we do in life or we have in life is in one way or another the result of our actions and thoughts.
5. Have support – having an accountability partner or a support group will help you stay accountable to your commitments.
6. Stay positive –
   • Do not be around “toxic” people, they will hold you back and bring you down.  A toxic person will not make you feel positive or good. Avoid toxic people like the plague!!
   • You must talk positive to yourself, negative self-talk fosters negative self-image and will sabotage our success more then anyone else. Remember Winston Churchill’s quote: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
7. Be aware – you need to stay aware of what is happening around you
8. Be flexible and adapt to change – if you make a mistake, fix it and keep going.  If the situation or conditions around you change, then be ready to auto-correct and keep going! I like the book “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson.
9. Be persistent – The key to success is how we view our failures and rejections. Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” And as Winston Churchill said “Never, never, never, never give up.”

What does success mean to you? How do you go about setting goals and achieving them?

Until next time!

Sonia

I did a quick search on the web by Googleing “networking tips” and I got the following articles/blogs that caught my mind:

1. 10 Tips for Successful Business Networking, by Stephanie Speisman
2. Top 10 Conference Networking Tips, by Scott Allen
3. 7 Unusual, Uncommon and Unexpected Networking Secrets to Help Boost Business, by Scott Ginsberg
4. 7 Habits of Highly Horrible Networkers, by Scott Ginsberg

My summary is as follows:

1. Networking is about attitude, being genuine and authentic, building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.  Networking begins with attitude.  Networking is not about:
   • selling products and services to everyone in the room
   • distributing as many of your business cards as you can possibly give out
   • and it is not about you
2. Optimize your networking in meetings, conferences or tradeshows:
   • Why are you participating  in networking meetings? You need to identify groups or folks that will help you get what you are looking for. Some meetings are based more on learning, making contacts, and/or volunteering rather than on strictly making business connections.
   • Have a plan in advance, don’t show up unprepared. Know in advance whom you want to meet, which speakers you want to hear, and what booths you want to visit.  If you know that there will be people in attendance whom you know that you would like to see, call or email a few weeks in advance to schedule a time to meet.
   • Say hello to people, ask questions, and listen.
     • By using a simple “hello”, it will be easier to talk with folks when you see them again.
     • People are usually more interested in themselves than they are in you, so ask them questions to help them get to talking and do a lot of listening.
     • Ask questions such as who, what, where, when, and how as opposed to those that can be answered with a simple yes or no. This opens up the discussion and shows listeners that you are interested in them.
     • Utilize the time on breaks to meet and talk with others rather then to use your phone or laptop. You do not want to send the message that you are unapproachable because you are busy.
   • Introduce others. Be the conduit who connects people with others who might be beneficial to them.
   • Have a clear understanding of what you do and why, for whom, and what makes you different from others doing the same thing. In order to get referrals, you must first have a clear understanding of what you do that you can easily articulate to others.
     • What is your story?  It is not your Elevator Speech or your 30 Second Commercial. It’s your story. It is a tool for helping people and potential customers get to know you and connect with you.
   • Be able to articulate what you are looking for and how others may help you.
   • Follow up quickly and build the relationship. When people give you referrals, your actions are a reflection on them. Respect and honor that and your referrals will grow. Own the follow up after you meet people and send them an email or a handwritten note telling them how much you enjoyed talking with them, and plan for future discussions, have an action plan and well defined opportunities for collaboration.
     • Stay in touch on a regular basis. If you let more than a month go by without making contact they’ll forget that you exist.
     • Demonstrate the value of your expertise or products by sending prospects and clients an idea or suggestion they can use right away
   • Pull information.
     • Get business cards from prospects.
     • Gather information from everyone you meet.
     • Expand your network by asking those you meet for referrals to other prospects.
     • Enter information into your database.
     • Stay in touch and regularly demonstrate the value of your products and services.
3. Become known as a powerful resource and subject matter expert for others. When you are known as a strong resource, people remember to turn to you for suggestions, ideas, names of other people, etc. This keeps you visible to them.
   • Hold volunteer positions in organizations. This is a great way to stay visible and give back to groups that have helped you.
   • Offer to give talks. By speaking, you position yourself as an expert, validate your credibility and increase your company’s visibility.
   • Write and publish. Another underused networking tactic is writing articles or tip sheets about hot topics in your industry.
     • Similar to speaking, writing articles in a publication read by your target market is the perfect way to position you and your company.
     • Blog.  If you don’t already have a blog for your business – get one. A blog is an online journal on which you can post comments, links, stories and articles. This popular new medium through which to share your feelings, experiences and emotions is a free and fun way to network with other online professionals.

So there, I have written Sonia’s 3 networking tips: have the right attitude when you network, optimize your networking opportunities,  and become known as the subject matter expert (SME).

Any tips you would like to add or share with us?

Until next time!

Sonia

I respect my friends, my family, my colleagues, my time and money, hence, here are several reasons that I use to help me evaluate when and where I travel.

1)       Is there a return on investment (ROI) through:

• Creation of new business opportunities,
• Closing of existing opportunities, or
• Lead generation?

2)       Will I learn something new?

• We all need to continuously improve and learn new skills
• To be leaders in our fields we need to keep up with emerging technologies

3)       Network, network, network

• People need to know you and trust you
• You need to know people

Being at the right place at the right time is not a coincidence or luck it is an intelligent choice!

Are there other reasons why you chose to go on a business trip or to attend a conference?  If so, please share your ideas with us.

Until next time!

Sonia

Have a great weekend!

Sonia