Business Email- Etiquette

After receiving a few too many odd, unprofessional business emails this week -- I've decided to post a reminder about email etiquette:




1) Spell check your emails before you send them. I haven't seen an email program without a spell check program. Misspelled words in a business email is not only distracting to the reader, but also makes but the receiver of the email wonder about your intelligence. (Harsh—I know—but TRUE!!)



2) Be short and to the point—we’re all busy!



3) Use the subject line - readers of your email want to know at a glance, what the email about.



4) Use an email footer. Its free advertisement for your company. Example:


K. Patrice Williams, JD
Author, Speaker, Business Consultant
http://www.kpatricewilliams.com/

5) Try to respond to business emails within 24 hours.



6) NEVER use all caps in the subject line or body of your email. It's annoying, distracting and in the email world, its code for Shouting. If you're not shouting at your email reader, then don't use all caps. (Yes—I was shouting TRUE on point one)



7) Don't forget the attachment. There is nothing worse that pointing the reader to review an attachment and then not attaching the document.



8) Last reminder, instead of trying to convey a complex idea over email, sometimes it's better to make a personal call to the reader.

Pushed into my Purpose

Pushed into my Purpose, is not only a book written by Wanda Childs, Owner of Blessed 24:7, but it also describes many of us who have experienced professional transitions at work.


To most, I suspect, being laid off, is devastating. For others, like me.....it is pure liberation -- but with a bonus, also known as, a severance package. I really loved my colleagues, my supervisor, city officials, service providers and the people I served.....at Citizens Housing (CHC), a non-profit affordable housing company based out of San Francisco. But the truth is, working 40-50 hours a week at CHC and then working another 20-30 hours a week for myself, was simply........draining.

CHC going out of business, although sad, in effect, was an amazing opportunity for me to run my own family of companies, full time.

Although, I admit that I have a great disposition by nature, it's been kicked up about 10 notches. I am downright thrilled each day. I go to bed each night, smiling. And anxiously hop out of bed each morning and go into my cute home office (that I lovingly refer to as 'the money pit') with the 'L- shaped' desk, mustard colored accent walls, white boards and mini-water fountains, tricked out computer..... and get to work. All the passion, energy, love and vigor that I used to put into Citizens Housing, now gets put 100% into my own projects and companies! It's like living out a dream.

Kippy, my Nutritionist and Reiki Practitioner believes that we are in a global transitional shift right now, layoff's force folks to find their true passions in life. I agree, but takes a bit of self analysis and courage for most of us to figure out what we really want to do, our passion, and then to go for it. 

Living out our passions,  may mean a reduction in income in a new field, going back to school or starting a company. But then again, there is no better feeling than doing what you love each day.

Land yourself a Job by Blogging

Unemployed?

Land yourself a job by Blogging. Imagine, your a unemployed Customer Service Manager. You start a blog (which is free and takes about 5 minutes) about your field of expertise....in this case customer service. On your blog, you post your thoughts about how to increase customer service in different aspects of a business.

Now you add your new blog url to the top of your resume and reference it in your coverletter.

As a hiring manager, I look at about 50-75 resumes a year. I would be very impressed by the candidate that has a subject related blog. It effectively sets the candidate part because the hiring manager can immediately see that the candidate can write and knows the subject matter.

There are many free blog hosting sites, a few that I know include:

www.blogger.com (owned by google. I use and really like blogger because post are uploaded and searchable on google very quickly)

www.livejournal.com

www.wordpress.com (extremely popular)

Wishing you the best, in finding your next position.

Patrice

Facing Difficult Life Decisions?

Sound decisions should be made in still waters.

Live within Your Dreams

Are you doing what you love! Do you awake each morning happy and ready to go to work? Or are you just there to collect your paycheck?

Todays reminder: Live within you Dreams

Maintain balance within your Work life and Personal life

This month, I am reminded that maintaining a work-life balance can be difficult. It is essential that we disconnect from work and maintain a rewarding personal life.

To take control of your work-life balance:

1. Set your personal priorities. What's important in your personal life? Make a list:
· Do you like to exercise, attend Yoga class, go to the gym?
· Do you have people you like to spend time with like a spouse? friends, children, girlfriend or boyfriend?
· Do you like to go to the movies, hike, read books on the beach, write or play computer or video games?
· Do you donate your time to a local nonprofit or church?
Whatever your priorities, make time for it and be present in your personal life.

2. Manage your time at work. When you are at work, give 110%. Work efficiently and with purpose. Sometimes overtime or being on call is required, a lot of times, being married to our jobs are self imposed. Work your 8 hours, efficiently, and then leave! Enjoy that other part of you...your personal life!

3. Protect your privacy. When you leave work, turn off the blackberry! Don't go home and log in to your work email or take calls from your boss. It's your personal time, quality time that you need to rebuild your mind and body for the next day.

Overhaul your Resume and Coverletter

While a student at Howard University in Washington, DC--I started my first business. I would write resumes, cover letters, type research and term papers. In fact, my now husband, was one of my first customers. Today, naturally, I see alot of resumes and cover letters, with there being such a high competition in the job market, I'm always surprised when I see bad ones.

A few tips:
1) Remember that your resume is your first chance to sell yourself to the employer. What do you want them to know about you? What professional attributes do you bring to an organization? And, does your resume and cover letter reflect these attributes.
2) Content isn't enough, your resume MUST look professional. Get rid of the weird fonts and margin sizes. Either pay to have your resume professionally typeset, or have a friend that is really good in word, layout your resume and cover letter.
3) Eliminate Designer emails off of your resume! Keep email addresses professional and simple like: janesmith123@gmail.com or jane.smith@yahoo.com. When I see email addresses, littlemama@gmail.com and peanutbutter@aol.com, I am immediately turned off. I think, if this person cant present themselves professionally on paper, what will they be like as an employee.
4) Correct grammatical errors and typo's. Your spelling must be perfect!
5) Give some thought to what you would like to accomplish in your next job opportunity, then rewrite your objective statement.
6) Get feedback! Ask your friends and family to look at your resume and give you honest feedback. What is their first impression?
7) Your resume is a work in process, re-read and edit it every few months.

LOVE your JOB!

What is worse than going to a job that you hate? Spending the weekend--dreading going to work on Monday. Or spending the weekday--- wishing for Friday.

Well, with the state of the economy, alot of us are lucky to even have a job. The job market is saturated with job seekers. So you cant just quit your job--and hope to find a replacement so quickly, and there are bills to pay. So, make lemonade out of lemons....here's how:

1) Make fold a blank piece of paper into two. On one side of the fold, write what you love about your job. Example: mentoring and developing staff, training, helping clients, creating budgets...

2) On the other side of the fold, write what you don't like about your job. Example: interoffice gossip, the boss that micro-manages, work stress that seems to leak into your personal life

3) Think: How can you change the things you do not like about your job? Can you take on more responsibilities or projects focusing on what you do love? Or is there an open position in your company encompassing more of the responsibilities that you like? Disassociate yourself with the gossipers? Talk to your boss about his micro-management style? Improve your time management skills to work more efficiently?

4) Can you delegate the responsibilities that you don't like?

Is there nothing about the job or company that you like at all? Don't worry, there is a solution for this scenario as well....figure out what you want to do, do you need a degree, to take classes, to put out cover letters and resumes, make the right contacts....put a plan in place and work on your plan after work or on your days off.

Even if you absolutely don't like your job, you will still feel better at work knowing that you are actively working to move on.