We discussed what small businesses can be doing to prepare for the coming year in Part 2 of the series. Today, we’ll get into the fun stuff: focusing on you.
Your personal “look” says a lot to clients. Whether you’re in the office every day or work at home in sweats and tee shirt, eventually, [...]
Archive for the ‘How To’ Category
End-of-year self review part 3: updating yourself
Thursday, Dec 24th, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: How To, Small Business, Uncategorized
Filed under: How To, Small Business, Uncategorized
End-of-year self review part 2: preparing your small business for the New Year
Monday, Dec 21st, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: How To, Project Management, Small Business, Uncategorized
Filed under: How To, Project Management, Small Business, Uncategorized
We discussed basic office organization in part 1 of the series. Today, we’ll focus on the home-based office. We recommend starting with the organization discussed in part 1, as it will make your small business tasks we’ll be tackling here much, much easier.
Step 1: Review your professional materials
While we live in a primarily digital world, [...]
End-of-year self review, part 1: organizing your office life for a happy New Year
Sunday, Dec 20th, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Consulting, How To, Project Management, Small Business, Uncategorized
Filed under: Consulting, How To, Project Management, Small Business, Uncategorized
It’s the end of the year, when offices are mostly empty and the self-employed are at the movies. Whether you volunteered to stay at work “in case a client calls” or you’re just taking it easy in the home office, you have work to do. In this three part series, we’ll discuss the key tasks [...]
Forget Toastmasters, improve public speaking through podcasting!
Monday, Nov 2nd, 2009 by Dave Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, How To, Podcasting, Work Tools | Tags: apple itunes, audacity, audio editing software, audio recorder, basic tools, free music, levelator, podcast, Podcasting, Toastmasters, WordPress, xml feed, Zoom
Filed under: Blogging, How To, Podcasting, Work Tools | Tags: apple itunes, audacity, audio editing software, audio recorder, basic tools, free music, levelator, podcast, Podcasting, Toastmasters, WordPress, xml feed, Zoom
We recently launched a podcast for our gaming blog, and it’s made a real difference in my public speaking. I joined Toastmasters years ago, and while it’s a great tool for some and definitely wins out in the social department, it never cured me of my ums and ahs.
But after three weeks of podcasting, they’re [...]
Get inside your customer’s head: It’s just like packing a lunch!
Wednesday, Sep 16th, 2009 by Dave Kramer | 1 Comments
Filed under: Customer Focus, How To, Project Management | Tags: customer data, customer experience
Filed under: Customer Focus, How To, Project Management | Tags: customer data, customer experience
For some reason, relating the work I do to the customer’s experience of it comes naturally to me. I think it’s because I’m empathetic, which in high school made me pathetic but now, as an adult, it’s a job skill! I just instinctively look at a particular deliverable (be it a site, article or tool) and [...]
Planning a Client Visit, Part 3: Final Prep
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Consulting, How To, Project Management
Filed under: Consulting, How To, Project Management
You’ve refined your story, prepped your team and picked up a roll of quarters just in case parking is a problem. Now, it’s time to round up the team and head out! Here are some tips for the 24 hours preceding your visit:
1. Remind your team the day before. Send an e-mail to the team [...]
Planning a Client Visit, Part 2: Prepping Your Team
Thursday, May 21st, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Consulting, How To, Project Management
Filed under: Consulting, How To, Project Management
You’ve done due diligence to get to know your client. Now it’s time to help your team prepare. While technology tools are helpful in keeping everyone on track, don’t assume people pay as much attention to them as you do.
To help keep your team on track:
1. Set specific deadlines for each person. If a team [...]
The ins and outs of Outlook profiles
I use Outlook 2007 as my primary mail client, and for what I do it’s a good choice. I use it to manage mail from two different Exchange servers, plus Hotmail, Gmail and six different POP mail accounts. These accounts are, by necessity, divided into two profiles since you can only have one Exchange mail [...]
Planning a Client Visit, Part 1: Better Know Your Client
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 by Jacqui Kramer | 0 Comments
Filed under: Consulting, How To, Project Management
Filed under: Consulting, How To, Project Management
Your team relies on you to be the travel agent, correspondent and reminder service all in one. You can help your team help you by doing some pre-meeting homework and ensuring everyone does THEIR homework as well. Here are some tips to help ensure a successful client visit before you enter the lobby.
First impressions do [...]