2-21-19 My cat draws more responses on Facebook than my cute grandkids

We have had our rescue cat, Dash, for three years now. As one of the volunteers at the Cat Cottage in Freeland pointed out to us, “He’s your cat!!  We decided he was and brought him home.

About a year after we had Dash, I wrote this item on my marketing Blog:

I am mystified by Facebook.  I admit to not always knowing or understanding what draws attention, especially when you’re trying to figure out what you can show in social media that will result in responses.

I often see that what my daughter made for dinner draws 20 or 30 “likes,” yet when I post incredibly cute pictures of my grandchildren or something else I find especially interesting, maybe I’ll get 10 or 15 “likes” (although some of my grandkid and daughter photos have occasionally gotten more).

There has been a recent exception to my past experiences.  A little over a week ago, Rich and I got a three-year old kitty from the WAIF Cat Cottage in Freeland….and I posted a photo.  I had nearly 40 “likes” and an amazing number of comments.

Things haven’t changed much. I keep posting my pictures of my really cute grandkids (of course, they are “really cute”), and I get a few likes. Last week, when we had an amazing deluge of snow (the most I have ever seen here), I posted several pictures of the snow around our house, but it was a picture of Dash sprawled in front of our living room gas stove absorbing the delicious heat that drew the responses.

I am not sure what this all means except people really love seeing pictures of cute animals.

2-13-19 Visit Langley and thank the businesses for keeping the town alive during our snow days

Two of my major themes for people who own businesses is that they display courage and passion.

The last few days several Langley businesses persevered, despite the heavy snow, and provided food and retail experiences for those willing to brave the weather and head into town.

Despite the daunting weather (I've never seen snowfall like this in the 15 years I've lived on Whidbey), some businesses in Langley were open.

I don't want to mention any names because I'm afraid I might leave somebody out, so it would be a good idea to simply take a walk around town, and whenever you find that a shop owner stayed open for any of the heavy snow days - Saturday - Tuesday - let them know how much you appreciate their contribution to keeping Langley alive!

Thursday is Valentine's Day, an especially good day to see what Langley has to offer for your Valentine!

2-7-19 Having passion for what you do makes good business sense

If you have been a consistent reader of The Business Spotlight that I write for Whidbey Local (https://www.whidbeylocal.com/articles/1/5243), you likely have noticed a common theme for these business owners: Passion for what they do.  Just about everyone whose story I have told loves what they do and/or the products that they sell.

I was thinking about my Blog for this week and I thought about the wineries, food business, craftspeople, retail stores and others about which I have written in the last several months.  And the word, “passionate” came to me.  These people care about what they are doing almost more than making a living at their business (though obviously this is a major consideration and most of these businesses appear to be successful).  These business owners are doing something that gives them a great sense of pleasure and accomplishment.  They believe that what they are doing generates something positive in the lives of others.

If you are doing something that you really aren’t enjoying, maybe it’s time to ask yourself, “What ways of earning money are possible for me that will give me a sense of passion?”

1-31-19 Are we losing some of our communication skills as we rely more on texts and emails?

I’ve talked about this subject in earlier emails, but I am starting to have real concerns about whether the generations coming after me, and after my children, are going to lose basic communication skills.

Have you received an email with several misspellings or grammatical errors?

Have you had numerous text exchanges with someone and finally gave up and made a phone call to resolve something?

Have you received a group email that got sent around several times to several people, including you?

Do you find yourself sometimes struggling to get through a long email, only to reach the end and realize you’re still not sure what it was all about?

Have you sent an email or a text assuming the other person would understand your words and your tone, only to get a response back that didn’t really relate to your intentions?

I’m sure you can come up with several other items to put on this list. In our high speed communication age, we rapidly email and text and tweet several times a day (our new President believes in this). But are we really communicating?  There are some disagreements about how much human communication is non-verbal, but I think that we all can agree that lacking voice intonation, facial expression, body language and simply feeling another person’s energy, words alone will not necessarily convey thoughts accurately.

I have a bit of a silly streak in me (those who know me might say it is more than a bit). I learned a long time ago never to use my silliness in an email unless I was absolutely sure that the person knew me well enough to understand the communication (and I’m not sure it’s wise to send anyone a silly email). Of course, I can add an imogi, but……

Here are a few suggestions to avoid misunderstandings when emailing or texting:

• Keep it short and simple
• If at all possible, save your sincere, serious communications for in-person or by phone
• Read every email over before you press “Send”
• If you are sending out a longer email or something with important information, make sure you have someone else read it before you send it
• If you are feeling angry or frustrated with someone, DO NOT send them an email or text and let them know this; cool down first, and then make a phone call
• If you are sending an email to a group of people, use the bcc, even if everyone knows each other; it will seem more personal and it will be impossible for someone else to press the “Reply all” and send out swirling emails that can drive us crazy.

Better yet, whenever possible, call or meet with the person to whom you are sending an email.

1-24-19 Creating a To-Do List for your business

Sometimes it can be overwhelming to think of all of the things you need to do for your business. Feeling overwhelmed is definitely not productive; in fact, it often stops you from moving ahead with things you need or want to do.

I have become a strong believer in the power of a To-Do list. Begin by writing everything you can think of to include in that list, major items and small items. It’s important to review it every day and add to, or subtract from the list as you choose. This To-Do list is for your eyes only, unless you want to share it with someone else.

Once you have created the list, review it and prioritize the items – A, B, or C (or 1, 2, or 3, it doesn’t matter).  Then, make a commitment to yourself to tend to some of the things on your list every day, beginning with the lowest priority items if you choose. The important thing is to know you are accomplishing things on that list every day.

Once you have gotten into a habit of tending to things on that To-Do list regularly, you’ll find it becomes easier to get more accomplished. Each item you do on your list is an affirmation of your ability to get things done. Anytime you complete a high priority item, give yourself an extra pat on the back and acknowledge your ability to take care of things that are important to you.

(Note: This kind of an approach works well for the non-business items in your life, as well.)