Time Table

Do you ever get frustrated because the person/people you want to connect with aren’t on your time-table?  I do.

I had a prescription filled this morning and the pharmacist told me it’d be :15.  I ran a few errands and returned in :30.  She told me that my insurance number was wrong; they hadn’t filled my prescription.  I gave her my current card, she re-filed the number and said she’d have it filled in :15.  Now, the pharmacy is only a mile or so, but it’s time.  Why didn’t the pharmacist look up the current number?  She had other people to serve and prescriptions to fill.

A client is eager to get some training and told me I needed to talk to the manager before we could “sign” the deal.  Well, I thought a day or two would work, but no, it’s 10!  Why aren’t they as eager to start the training as I am?  What’s so important that I can’t move up to number one?  When we want something – are desperate to get it – it seems that the people we need to make a decision, purchase a package, fill a prescription, drive 10 miles over the speed limit, or call us back aren’t as eager as we are.  Put them in a different situation – wanting my workbooks, wanting my corrections, wanting me – then I’m number one, and they’re not.

Every hour of your day is  important to some outcome and maybe my input, being, my queries aren’t important – right now.  If I’m number 20 on the list, then my eagerness to pursue my goal wanes for another week, two, or more.  If I’m number two or three, then maybe it’s a few hours.  I get frustrated with auto-responders and trying to find out information.  Don’t you?  I want to talk to someone…NOW!  I don’t want to wait on hold, answer a few questions from a robot, or press 5, then 3, then 1.  I want a human to give me information, to hear my plea for help, service, information or answers.

I’m waiting patiently for the manager to get back in town so she can make a decision – the one I wanted last week.  I know the answer will be yes, but I wait.  It’s her time-table, not mine.

It’s always nicer to be the one being pursued instead of being the pursuer.

Happy Tuesday.

www.DeeDukehart.com

Excuses

It’s Monday:  How many excuses did you make to yourself, family, friends or strangers last weekend?  Made any so far today?  We all make excuses, some valid, most not.

Last Sunday I gave a gallery four pieces of art to appraise.  Initially the director told me “Tuesday.”  I called on Wednesday and spoke to the gallery owner.  “I want to take the pictures out of the frames to see if there are any specifying marks.  You can have them back on Thursday.”  I waited until yesterday – Sunday, a week later –  to go by the gallery, thinking even without a phone call that my pictures would be ready.  Not so. 

Excuse #1. “I’m sorry, I should have called you.”   #2.  “My framer was sick last week.”  #3.  “I was out-of-town on Thursday and Friday.”  #4.  “We haven’t seen any pictures like this before and want to do some more research.”   #5.  “The owner wants to talk to some other collectors.”  Lousy excuses, lousy. 

I would have appreciated a phone call.  That’s only ten numbers to dial and leave a message or say, “Dee, we’re still working on your appraisal and we’ll call you when it’s done.”  I need to know something.  It’s the old, “over promise and under deliver” syndrome.  I told the director that I was upset.  She said she’d  definitely call me Monday.  I said, “Don’t tell me a day, surprise me.  I’ve been disappointed twice.”  If she calls today, I’ll be amazed.

We all make excuses; I’m guilty too.  Why don’t we just come out and admit our reasons and feelings?  Instead of, “Oh, I don’t feel well,” when asked why you left early or didn’t come, why don’t you say, ” I wanted to stay home, or go shopping, or stare into space,”  instead?  We give friends, co-workers, bosses, clients, patrons, and family members myriad “reasons” for making/doing or not making/doing chores, work, social obligations, telephone calls, appointments… the list goes on.  What do we gain from these excuses?

Let’s start a 2010 resolution:  No more excuses.  Either tell someone – yourself – that you’re going to get the project, the call, the work, the favor done in more hours or days than you know it will take, or just say, “no.”  The “over promise and under deliver” costs us time, money, respect and business.  “Under promise and over deliver,” helps us make others and ourselves happy and abundant.

No more, “The cat ate it.”  No more, “My eyebrows needed trimming.”  No more, “My fingers hurt.”  Just either do or don’t do, but be honest.  It’s such a relief to know that I can trust what you say and to meet your obligations.  Don’t you agree?  Good.

Happy Monday.

www.DeeDukehart.com

What’s Your Time Worth?

How many people have wasted your time this week?  One?  More than four? Too many to count?  Why do people waste other people’s time? 

I attended a :90 informational workshop on how to do business with a local government agency this week.  I’ve attended it before and thought that my training expertise wouldn’t be of use because they usually look for construction companies, or vendors of products from a – k  to bid; I’m not there.  But I spoke to the woman who was co-conducting and she recommended I attend, so I went.

We started a few minutes late, and then the organizer introduced us to the woman who works for the agency and would be our point person if we were to work for them.  She talked about the agency statistics, played mind-numbing games about numbers within the agency, and then turned it over to the woman who was to help us with the vital information about our applications.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I can read.  I can also understand that when they ask for my name, company name, and other particulars about me and my business, I’m there, 100 percent.

For :90 I sat there and listened to information that I could have easily attained in, oh, :10.  “Fill out this sheet and turn it into Ms. C, fill out this form and turn it into Ms. G, fill out the application, add your business card…” and a few other tidbits.  That was all I needed to know.  To take an hour plus of my time to give me ten minutes of information is cruel.  Not to mention, neither of the presenters were good.  They did think that they were funny, so that was somewhat of a plus…but I could have done without their humor.

When you schedule an appointment, webinar, meeting, workshop or phone call, make every minute count.  What’s your time worth?  Do you charge by the hour?  Do you spend your time appropriately; get as much out of an hour or a day as possible?  I hope so.  Do I dally around daily – yes.  I know I could get more done in a day, but then again, it’s my choice.  No one has told me to attend anything, be anywhere, report this or that, I just work at my own pace; some days are more productive than others.

I do know though that when I meet a friend, prospect, client or vendor for coffee, lunch, a drink after work, or dinner that I make certain that their time is well spent: they get vital information about who I am, what I need, what I give, what I charge, what benefits and value they’ll receive.  If I’m conducting a webinar, I want the listeners to take away three, four, ten points that they can implement immediately.  Have you ever listened to or attended a free webinar and basically heard nothing except stories, or egocentric babble?  I have. 

Your time is worth a certain amount.  Other’s time is worth approximately the same, maybe less, maybe more.  It doesn’t matter if you’re talking to a sales clerk at the grocery store, the CEO of a company, your best friend, or your boss, everyone’s time is valuable. 

Think about what your meeting, workshop, report, conference call, webinar, luncheon is about and get to the fact, cite them and get to business.  Get to the point! (This also pertains to your written reports, e-mails and letters.) Networking and catching up time can always be done in the hall. 

I hope your reading this blog hasn’t taken too much of your time.  If so, thanks for reading; now get back to work – after you forward this to your co-workers, clients, prospects and friends.  Time is money!

Happy Thursday.

www.DeeDukehart.com

In Flux

Have you ever been in flux?  Of course.  Have you even been flummoxed?  Most assuredly.  Well, I’m capturing both of them today.

My career is in flux: I have to get some new clients…now!  I’m flummoxed over just how to do that?  I know, just make the call.  But…who are you gonna call?  No, not The Ghost Busters!

How do we get out of our own way?  What keeps me from picking up the phone – cold or warm calling – and asking for referrals, asking for help, asking for work?  I have a “salesperson” personality, but I’m still “scared.”  What’s the person on the other line going to do to me?  I know, nothing.  Even a “no” gives me direction.   All those sales’ stories about how many “no’s” get me to a “yes,” still don’t give my arm and fingers the electricity they need to power up my calling and marketing momentum. 

I’d so hoped that not one, but two prospects would come through in December, and then I’d be in relatively good shape.  How did I get those prospects? One I met at a luncheon and she inquired about my writing for her.  The other is a 30-year f”riend.”  Neither came through.  Why?  Money was the excuse for the non-profit, and you have me in a blind for what happened to my “friend.”  I e-mailed, I left phone messages, and nothing.  Not even a simple, “no thanks.” And she initiated the connection.  Baffles the mind.  I can’t look back; no “shoulda’s, wouldas, couldas” for 2010.

Maybe that’s the cause of my hesitation; rejection.  But I’ve asked for better and worse things than hiring me, and yet…!  It’s a quandary.

But, if I’m going to pay my bills, if I’m going to meet my obligations, if I’m going to go to the movies, eat dinner, buy a birthday card, mail a letter or just buy a lottery ticket I must have money!  So, I’ve made two calls this morning.  The goal:  ten a day.  I have eight more and I’m flummoxed – who to call.  (It’s so much easier to send an e-mail – no initial rejection.)  If I stay in purgatory and flux, then I’ll be in dire straits and no one, no one wants that, especially me.

Here’s to me.  Here’s to getting courage and keeping it in my head, heart and dialing fingers.

Happy Thursday.

www.DeeDukehart.com

Making a List, Checking it Twice

I don’t make New Year’s resolution.  I also know the statistics on those of you who do, that you’re bound to revert to your old ways within 60 days.  In the pre-dawn hours at 24 Hour Fitness I see the “resolutionists” arrive this week – some even have the nerve of using “my” machine when I need it.  Then I remember, they’ll be gone in six weeks, so let it go.

What I do make in January is a goal list.  I realize that I can write down my goals and keep them close to my heart so I will accomplish them within the year.  If I don’t, then I know I can keep them for 2011!   I make this list and check it twice a day – in the morning and then at the end of the day to see what I’ve accomplished, how many steps I need to take to accomplish them, and how I feel about myself after I can cross off the goal.

A few goals:  1.) Get four articles published by June 2010  2.) Reduce my debt by 50 percent.  3.) Acquire two new long-term – six-twelve months – clients.  4.) Keep my weight where it is today.  5.) Re-connect with an old friend and stay connected.  6.) Finish my booklet.

You can see that these goals are attainable – for me they are.  Have you written down your goals for this year?  If not, start today.  If so, check the list twice – in the a.m. and the p.m.  It’s a great incentive to keep you on track.

Happy Goal Setting!

www.DeeDukehart.com

It’s Only Temporary

“It’s sad that I’m in this position.  It’s only temporary though.” 

Do you ever find yourself in a situation and you think, “This is awful.”?  Then less than three months later you find yourself in a much better situation and you laugh at the you of three months ago?  I think we’ve all been there.  Then there are the “temporary” situations that seem to drag on and on. 

Is our economic downturn only temporary?  Absolutely.  But when are we going to see that temporary go away?  Do you have a situation at home, work, in your neighborhood or on your bottom line that gives you hives?  I’m there.  I do know that it’s only temporary, but I’ve also been here before: crying for help. Financial help.  Client referrals.  Career help.Computer help.  The list goes on.  What’s kept me from being in the flow?  I don’t know.  I do know that some of the temporary set backs in my life have been temporary way too long:  not just weeks, not just months, but over a year.  It’s sad.

How do you survive your “temporary” set backs?  How do you cope at home and at work?  How do you make the best of it?  How do you keep your head and spirits up?  It’s hard, I know.   I also know that denial can get you in trouble – big trouble.

For 2010, I’ve decided to do some marketing that makes me cringe:  cold calling. I also know that I have to make plans not just for the moment, but also for my financial future.  Being adult about my business is probably the best adjustment I can make.  I can’t keep depending on someone else, something else, or winning the lottery.

What can you do in the next 30 days to get your temporary situation(s) – if any – in the “completed” category?  1.) Send your pride to the corner. 2.) Speak up and face the consequences now, to get it over with and move on. 3.) Ask for help, take it and pay it back and/or forward. 4.) Ask yourself what you can do today – two or three small steps – to move your situation into the positive column.  5.) Understand that you are not alone and that there are people, friends, family members, neighbors, mentors, shrinks, whomever, who are more than willing to help you get out of whatever “temporary” set back you’re in.   This will also shorten your “temporary” to possible hours or days, from months.

Facing reality is a great way to start 2010.  What do you need to do to be the best you can be?  I know I need to spread the word about me.  I need and will write more articles and hopefully get them published.  I will borrow money and pay it back within six months.  I will face myself in the mirror and be proud of the person who smiles back at me.

Look at yourself in a positive manner.  Do something just for you, your career, your head or heart today, tomorrow and the next day.  No, not selfish acts,but acts that make others and yourself proud of you.  Take the temporary set backs, write them down on paper then burn the paper, blow the ashes into oblivion and move forward with grace.  I know I can do it; I know you can do it.

Here’s to health and abundance in 2010.

www.DeeDukehart.com

Happy New Gear

Welcome 2010!  I don’t know about you, but I’m glad it’s a new year; no sorrow in saying farewell to 2009!

I’m setting a new course and changing gears this year.  It’s not that I’m going to re-invent myself, but I’m going to switch gears in what I market and promote.  Instead of being solely a trainer and consultant, I’m going to be a writer.  Yes, I’m a writer.  I can help you write your newsletters, I can help you write your annual report,  and I can help you write your proposals – most important!  I can also help myself with my writings.

Do you want to change gears this year?  Do you think you can promote yourself in a different light?  How many times have you sworn to do something and haven’t done it:  lose weight, quit smoking, start an exercise program, be nicer, connect with an old friend, forgive yourself, forgive someone else, and yet, it’s still the same old neutral gear; you dont’ get anywhere.

Reve up your gears for 2010.  Get out of low or neutral and start moving forward with the activities that you know with help you both personally and professionally.  You know you want to, so what’s keeping you from doing so?  You!  It’s the damn self-talk that keeps us in purgatory.  Change that voice gear and move it into forward, positive motion.  You’ll be so glad you did.

I’m off to write four articles this week.  I’m going to finish my 100 blog posts, copy them and format them into a book.  It’ll be grand.  I geared myself up to write them, I’m almost there, and when I’m finished – this week – I’ll have a product to promote: a book!  How wonderful is that?  Do you have an unfinished project that you’ve let lie; buried it in your head and yet your heart keeps saying, “do it.  Do it now!”  If so, unbury it, bring it out in the open and breathe new life into it.  It’s a new year, a new gear, relish it!

You have company with procrastination.  You have company in letting life pass you by.  Why not get into a new company of success, wellness and abundance.  Do something for yourself every month: twelve finished “to do’s.”  Yeah!

I’m still speaking, training and consulting – I love them all – and I’m also switching the neutral gear to third and fourth gear so I can move forward, see and acknowledge my momentum and distance, and then arrive at 12 destinations with glee.  I’d love to have some company on this success ride.  Join me.

Happy New Gear/Year.  Here’s to your success.

www.DeeDukehart.com

Phone numbers

I just want a phone number.  Is this too hard to ask? 

Why do companies want us to use their website to make reservations,  find information, pay our bills, purchase a product or sign-up?  I’ve searched various websites for the company address and phone number; no way.  You have to “contact us” by e-mail.  Why?  Has it really come to the point in our lives that humans are no longer necessary? 

I know I’m not the only one who’s frustrated with auto-responders, automated voices, and only a computer to tend to our cares and needs.  It’s only going to get worse; I’m certain.

I love the internet, and yet, I appreciate human connection 100x more.  Don’t you? Customer service is a misnomer.  I’m also so confused as to who gets my automatic payments and is it for the coming month or the following month?  Obviously if I’d grown up with computers, iPhones and Pods, etc. I’d be happy, less confused, not used to human beings and content to type my life away.

If you saw “Up In The Air” with George Clooney, you’d also know that what we’re used to is also how we cope.  George Clooney’s character flies 300 days a year and he has a science for going through security; it’s a hoot to watch.  When we know the “drill,” we know how to cope, how to breeze through with little or no aggravation, and we do it on rote response.  But, still…I want to talk to someone.

Anyway, enough.  It’s the age – computer and mine – that makes the difference.  But, I still wish that companies would put their phone number on their websites so I could call them instead of waiting for an internet response or wanting to throw my computer out the window.  It’s only ten small numbers and it would make a huge difference – at least to me.

Ah, well.

Happy Tuesday.

www.DeeDukehart.com

The Right Word

“If your not on my free training webinar:...”  (Sent this morning from a webinar junkie.)  What’s wrong with this sentence?  If you say, “nothing,” then keep reading. Even if you do see the error, keep reading. 

Maybe it Christmas party hangovers, or too much sugar, or visions of Sugar Plums dancing on your brain, or not enough ho, ho, ho.  I don’t know what’s happening, but within five days I’ve received over a dozen e-mails that use the wrong word in a sentence.  It may not seem like much to you or the person who misuses the language, but to those of us who want and need to have good grammar, punctuation and syntax, it matters.

Here are my top-ten stocking-stuffers for you, not only for this holiday, but also throughout 2010 and beyond:

1.Affect/effect. Affect is usually a verb meaning: change or influence.  Effect is usually a noun meaning: result or consequence.  Think: Affect – “a” for change; Effect – “e” for result. 

 Her mood affects everyone on her team.  The effects of the research made them money. 

2. Assure/insure/ensure.  They mean “to make certain or to guarantee.”  Assure is limited to people.  Insure is only for insurance.  Ensure is to guarantee.

Their boss assured them their jobs were solid.  Each year you must insure your house, car, health and life.  The management team wants to ensure that there’s a smooth transition.

3. Farther/Further.  Farther is for actual distance. Further is for characterisation of distance; moreover; in addition.

They drove farther than they thought on the first day of their cross-country journey.  After further consideration, her parents let her move into her own apartment.

4.Fewer/less.  Fewer usually means items that can be counted.  Less refers to mass items that cannot be counted, like water, air, chaos.

The seminar had fewer participants in 2009 than 2008.  (You can count the participants.) There was less confusion about the Health Care Bill after it passed legislation. (You can’t quantify “confusion.”)

5. Lay/lie.  These are forms of the verb lie.   Lay means “to put” or “to place and requires an object to complete the meaning.  Lie means to “recline, rest or stay.”  (If confused, substitute the word place, placed or placing for the word in question.  If one of these works, use lay.)

Please lay (place) those presents under the tree.  I lie awake at night thinking about the economy.

6. Its/it’s.  Its is the possessive pronoun.  It’s is a contraction for it is or it has.

My car had its engine replaced. I know it’s (it is) time to take a vacation.  It’s (it has) been snowing for four days. 

7. Than/then.  Than is a conjunction used in comparisons.  Then is an adverb meaning “at that time.”  

This winter is colder than last year’s.  When it stops snowing then I’ll go to the store.

8. Toward/towards. Both are correct; toward is the  most common. 

9.  Would have.  Use have, not of.   I would have (not “would of“) taken a different job, if I’d known the company was for sale.

 10. Your/you’re.  (This mix-up is the most common mistake I see. Refer to my opening sentence example. )    Your is the third-person possessive pronoun.  You’re is a contraction for you are.

 ”If your not on my free training webinar:...”   This needs to read, “If you’re not in….”  Use the contraction.  (“If you are not….”)    

I liked your training webinar.  When you’re available, I would like to go over the report.

 These are my top-ten word worries.  I hope you will look at them, study them, and then pass them along to everyone in your department, company and/or family.  Use the right word and you’ll stand above your competition; it’s a mark of excellence. 

Happy Friday. www.DeeDukehart.com  

 

Contact Information

I belong to two book clubs: Doubleday and The Literary Guild.  I’m a voracious reader; love to turn out the world and get into someone else’s, whether it be fiction or non; love the quiet;  and the taste and feel of the authors’ writing skills.  I can easily read a book a week during a work week, and two or three when I’m on vacation.

Each club sends monthly marketing materials.  In the envelops, along with the monthly pick-of-the-month selections and other book synopsis, I get a dozen fliers for some DVD, CD, Music club or specific authors’ book  synopsis.  I get both around the same time of the month.

I was cleaning my desk yesterday afternoon – a rarity, to say the least! – and I found a green, square – 4″ x 4″- “Click and Save,” 16-page brochure from one of my book clubs.

Front page:  “Kick-start your membership with 6 online coupons!”  Page 3: “Here’s a fast & easy way to save even MORE on your online orders!”  An arrow at the bottom of the page shouts,”Turn the page & start saving!”  Page 12: “Buy one book, get one for $1.99, plus s/h.”  The last page tells me that the offers end at midnight on 31 March 2010, and then they bullet seven marketing tips.  Not once, not on any page, never do they give me the website to go to, nor the name of the club.  I obviously miss out on the offers.

Where is your contact information?  Do you have it on everything that goes out of your office or home?  If you don’t send someone a return address or tell them how and where to contact you, it’s like sending an unsigned check – it’s no good.  I couldn’t believe  that the brochure had no contact information. ( I shouldn’t be too amazed, because I’ve seen this before.)

When you meet someone you usually give them your name, right?  Yes!  Your name is the most important word in the world; it identifies you above everyone else in the Universe.  Yeah.  Your company name is the same for the company: the most important.  Your company’s name identifies you; your website identifies you, your product, service or commodity; your e-mail address and phone number allow others to contact you.  Don’t you want people to call or e-mail you?  Don’t you want people to buy? Absolutely! 

Every letter you write – we used to have stationery – has your name and e-mail address at the top.  Remember to give it to me again at the end.  Do you have a signature line and logo that identifies you at the end?  If not, make one.  They’re easy to design and they help you stand out above your competition.

Give your readers your contact information, even more than once.  It’s okay, we like seeing contact information, especially when we’re in the buying mode.

I assume the book club sent out that little green brochure to all of their new members – 100s?  1000s?  I don’t know.  But, what a waste of money, time and energy.  The company put who knows how much time, money and energy of several people and the printer, for what reason?  I’m still trying to figure it out; therefore, it’s been a waste of my time, which is money, and energy.

Who are you?  What do you do?  Let me know and let me know where to find you.  It’s amazing what contact information can and will do for your bottom line.

Happy contact-information Thursday.

www.DeeDukehart.com