Back Online!
It’s been a real headache, but I am finally back online. It seems the house we moved to had a bad underground cable, and a construction crew had to pull a new cable across the street and through our yard. Many visits by the cable company finally got the service working, so I’m now up and running (and looking at many, many unopened emails).
Hoping to have a couple of interesting things ready to post early next week.
Downtime
Well, my office is all packed up and I will be turning off my Internet service momentarily. We are moving to Ojai, California, and it will likely be a week or more before I have my office and Internet service operational again. In the meantime, I’m sure there will be many challenges directed at small business, so there will be many topics to tackle when I get back online.
Good luck in all your ventures, and I’ll be back soon.
Bob
President Obama’s School Speech
With all the furor over the speech our President is about to give to school children, I am wondering if America has lost its way. Between ignorance and the effect of “fomenters,” we have certainly lost the ability to exercise public debate. What a shame.
For anyone interested–here is the text of President Obama’s upcoming speech.
Talk About Customer Service!
Just read Seth Godin’s blog, and watched a video he made three years ago, titled “This is Broken.” If anyone has any interest in customer service, customer communication, or customer relations, this is a must watch video. Check it out here:
Let’s Lighten it Up!
There has been too much doom and gloom on the “ethers” lately, and since it is Saturday, I thought I would just lighten things up a little. Check it out!
(email subscribers–view on blog)
I hope that picked up your spirits a little. Have a great weekend!
Dressing for Work – at Home!
A Gallop Poll tells us “2 out of every 3 Americans show low self-esteem.” My online dictionary tells me that self-esteem is “confidence in one’s own worth or abilities.” Putting these two things together then would indicate that two-thirds of all Americans have low, or reduced, confidence in their own worth or ability. Why is that, and what does this have to do with those of us who work out of our homes (either full or part-time)? Well, as I understand it, self-esteem begins with how we look at ourselves—what we see when we look in the mirror, and how we consider our capabilities—or lack of.
So, in considering all of this, I tried a two-week experiment a while ago. In the first week, when I got out of bed, I threw on my old comfortable sweats and, after breakfast, went into my den/office and worked for a few hours. After lunch I worked some more and then, when I was through with work, I went about my normal routine for the rest of the day.
During the second week, I got out of bed before sunrise, went for an hour walk, shaved and showered, and dressed in fresh khaki’s and a sport shirt, and, after breakfast, I went into my den/office and followed the same routine as I did in week one.
The results of this experiment? Not only did I accomplish much more during the second week, but I also felt much more positive about my work, and myself—I felt invigorated.
Obviously, if you have clients or customers coming to your home office you would dress appropriately, but when there is no one around but you, why should it matter what you wear. Well, in my case at least, I think I did better (and more) work when “dressed for work”, than I did when I was dressed for lounging around. Perhaps this is the same phenomenon as when an Interview Coach tells us that, when giving a radio interview we should stand up and walk around, visualizing the audience we are speaking to, rather than just slouching down in our comfy chair.
It seems it is also important to sit up straight when using the phone. Apparently our posture comes across in our voice on the phone, regardless of what technology we are using.
Well, it seems to work for me—how about you? How do you dress for working at home, and do you think it really matters?
My Book
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