Your self-presentation through written reports, mail, email and all other forms of written communication is the face or image you most frequently present to the workplace or professional community. With email correspondence, informality usually rules. That is a big mistake! Email at work is a formal communication device or tool and should look like formal communication with a greeting (Dear John), a closing (Regards) and a signature file that tells who you are, your title, department, work address and telephone number. Proper communication will win everytime.
Just when I am feeling like the weight of the world is crashing down on me, I get a reminder that things aren’t really so bad after all!! I know that many of you are dealing with personal/family problems and over shadowing many people is the economy. It’s easy to focus our attention on only these things and forget to see the bigger picture.
I was reminded twice recently about this. We have very good friends, Jim and Debora, who are missionaries in Africa. Let me tell you—if I had to face the hardships and dangers those dear friends face all the time, I would probably have run home as fast as I could long ago. I notice that when they are in the states, their hearts and minds are back in Africa with the children in the orphanage they run. Those children have all lost their parents due to AIDS.
I received an email from Debora last Thursday. When they built the facility, they had to go through over 1000 feet of rock to find water. That was a lengthy and very expensive process. Last week (they also had 25 visitors from the US there), the well went dry. The water tanks were empty and the well was totally dry. In that country, this is known as the red death sign….and means no more water will be found. Imagine their fear. Not only did they have 25 visitors in the facility with them, but they are responsible for close to 100 children. They also feed one hot meal a day to about 1000 people who otherwise have nothing.
You are probably feeling like I did last week. My problems didn’t go away, but they didn’t seem nearly as large as they had an hour earlier. Debora and Jim could have just given up…moaned and groaned…or walked away from it all. They chose rather to focus on their only source of help. When you are in a foreign country…and especially in the poverty stricken area they are in…I think your reliance on God’s mercy is great. They immediately began praying for God’s help. Within a short time, Jim ran into the facility saying all the tanks were full and the well had overflowing water.
Why did I tell you of my friends and their miracle? I want to encourage you to never give up. Keep on believing for better things and miracles in your own lives.
Linda, Support, Blogger
p.s. Watch for another post—I will tell you of the second thing that happened to make me realize I am a blessed woman!!
If you’re in this business for any length of time you quickly discover that there is only ONE thing of any importance – your list. Do you have one? Are you building one? Your list is GOLD.
A lot of emphasis is placed on getting the list. But not a lot is put on what to do once you have. Traffic driving and marketing is about getting the list. But relationship building is about what to do once you have one.
Are you building a relationship with your list? You should be. Are you emailing them two or three times a week? You should be.
And these should be quality emails. If you intend to try to ’sell’ your list on a weekly basis then you need to cushion that sales attempt with two quality emails that contain real valuable information within them.
Again, the best thing you can do is put your emphasis on the relationship and not the sale.
Part 2 to the first post I made recently. I know it’s taken me longer than I hoped to write this, but here it is!
In the last post I talked about how Reading and Writing will help you not only overcome writer’s block, but also make you a better writer overall. And this isn’t just with Blogging, but with any type of writing.
I really can’t reiterate how important this is.. but I’ll try.
Read and Write. Write and Read. And Save.
That’s all. Just keep reading other people’s Blogs for ideas (and read anything in general) and keep writing. Even if you feel it’s not that great, write it anyway. Keep a Word file or Notepad file of ideas and posts you don’t wanna publish that you’ve written to combat Writer’s block. You’ll have a collection of random ideas and rough drafts. And once in awhile, go through these files and you may discover future post ideas as well!
Patronize Don’t Plagiarize.
Another tip to get through Writer’s Block is to read other blog posts, articles, forum posts, stories, etc and take their idea and base your post on it. Don’t rip off other posts! No no no. But you can take the topic, write it in your own words, add your own thoughts, ideas and stories, and post it.
This method can also teach you more about certain topics, and even writing techniques, that you can slowly (or quickly if you’d like) incorporate into your own Blogging. It’s a good way to get around blocks and get around times when you have no idea what to Blog about anymore. (Hint- Sometimes you just run out of steam and feel clueless about what to post. Good news is, once you push through it, you’ll find it easy to post again for quite awhile!)
You can even sometimes approach other Bloggers and ask them (via comment or email) if you can repost their post on your blog. They’ll usually say yes. You can even copy 2-3 paragraphs of their article (crediting them of course) and write something like, “To continue reading, visit John Doe’s excellent Blog post ‘Example Here’” providing a link back to his Blog. That way, you have a Blog post! And links between your two blogs!
Some Other Tricks.
Just believe in yourself. Read, Write, Save, Incorporate Ideas By Others, and Do It. Don’t let a few moments or days of frustration lead to letting your Blog die, and perhaps your business as well.
Writer’s Block does fade away. It truly does. Just believe it fades, and half the battle is already won!
Look forward to future posts from me about Writing Techniques and Tips in General.
Also see the Posts- By Larry Category on this Blog for excellent Blogging related posts by our Article/Blog/Writing expert Larry Smith! And drop by to see any new posts we may have made each day and week!
