Goodbye, old friend

My local Barnes & Noble is closing on December 31^st. I saw the sign in the window but the news didn’t really register until I walked through the doors. Incited by 50% off signs all over the store, holiday bargain shoppers had already decimated the place, and it was packed with still more of them. With the understandably unmotivated staff not making much effort to maintain order on the selling floor, the overall effect made me think about vultures picking at carcasses.

And yet, I stayed for a few minutes, chatting with an employee who had become my “personal shopper” over time. Most of the people working in that location have been there for years. Of retirement age, my former advisor wasn’t very concerned about her own future, but she was clearly upset by how job loss was going to affect her coworkers, one of whom will have to drop out of college until he finds other work. She also talked about how that location had served six elementary school districts in the area as an alternative to poorly-funded public libraries. With this store closing, the entire county would now be without a freestanding bookstore.

Always a high-volume store in a prime location, she said B&N was closing this one because the lease had expired, and the increase the landlord was demanding made it easy for B&N to make the decision. My friend also said it’s her understanding that B&N’s long term business plan is based on electronic publishing, so all their stores are on life support for various lengths of time.

Ironically, she was the same salesperson who talked me into a Nook less than a year ago. And as we stood there talking, we acknowledged the fact that it and all the devices like it are here to stay, and the paper and ink publishing industry is going, going, almost gone already.

My friend made a much bigger, more important point, though – the publishing industry is not creating or sustaining jobs here in the U.S. She compared it to the horse and buggy age. When cars were invented, the people who made buggies were able to convert their skills and adapt because production stayed here in the U.S. Electronic publishing manufacturing is mostly done overseas. So the Barnes & Noble we’ve all been so loyal to, the brand that became such a staple in our lives, is repaying our loyalty by hurting our economy – unless you own stock, of course.

 

 

The New Kid on the Block

I’ve been toying with Google+ for a few weeks now and I must admit – I don’t hate it. There are a few features in particular that I’ve found quite useful or unique:

Circles Unlimited friend-sorting possibilities! I created multiple friend groups in Facebook, and when I add new friends, they’re automatically sorted into those groups. Many friends have asked me how I did that and requested personal assistance to help get them started. With Google+, that’s one of the first things you set up, so there’s no back-filling to do.

Real-Time Editing How many times have you hit “share” on your  posts only to see later that you’ve misspelled something? Your choice is to either re-post and delete your previous version, or just live with it. In Google+, you can edit AFTER you’ve posted. A very convenient feature!

Unique Photo Sharing Google+ has an Instant Mobile Photo Upload feature that lets you manage photos so easily it’s hard to believe. Let’s just say it helped me avoid a potentially embarrassing situation when I wanted to get my sister’s opinion about a dress I was trying on in a department store — I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

Check out Google+ for yourself. While I don’t think Facebook and Twitter have anything to worry about quite yet, I do think Google+ has the potential to be a serious alternative.

Change is Good…..Right?

Both personally and professionally, I’m all about social media. I Facebook, I Tweet, I Digg, I Stumble, and of course, I blog. I guess I would call myself an early adopter. I don’t necessarily wait for sites to be popular before I start using them. I jump in, learn the ins-and-outs, and start using various tools that appeal to me. I consider myself to be pretty social-media savvy, but let’s face it – I have to be, so I can offer these services to you!

Still…no matter how savvy I am (or think I am), I do get a little anxious when these sites announce they’re going to make updates. For example, it seems that every other month Facebook makes a change to their site. Sometimes they’re minor, but sometimes it’s pretty significant. The more significant ones do knock me off kilter a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty good at figuring things out for myself, but the idea of facing yet another change to the status quo always makes my heart beat a little faster. Maybe I’m confusing anxiety with excitement…I don’t know! I can only imagine what update announcements might do to someone who’s not so social media savvy. Do you experience anxiety when it comes to change? How do you react when a social media site announces a significant update?

The End of Unlimited Data

I’ve been a loyal Verizon customer for many years. And, like many, I’m quite addicted to my smartphone. I’m on the Internet on my Blackberry all the time. I can’t imagine life without it – how I managed to survive before cell phones is beyond me. Anyway, last week Verizon announced the end of unlimited data plans for new customers, but would honor existing customer contracts. Panicked, I assumed I would need to upgrade NOW so that I could maintain my free-wheeling, data-loving lifestyle on my phone.

Their new pricing structure is $30 for 2GB, $50 for 5GB, and $80 for 10GB. A co-worker told me that she’s upgrading immediately so that she can avoid paying more for data under the new plan structure. Convinced I needed the highest package as well, I reluctantly accepted I would soon be paying more for my data dependency. But then I decided to just check my data usage over the past 6 months to see if I could get away with maybe the 5GB package. And do you know what I found out? I don’t even come close to using up 2GB! Month after month, I’m leveling off at around 1GB…all that checking of email, visits to my favorite sites, shopping for those must-have shoes — and I barely accumulated that much data usage on my phone! What a pleasant surprise.

It got me wondering how many others jumped to the conclusion that they need a higher data plan. Do you pay attention to how much you use the Internet on your phone, or do you blindly plug along and surf the Web to your heart’s content?

Bottom line – don’t jump to conclusions when it comes to data usage on your smartphone. It pays to understand your real consumption!

Thinking About Q and Z

Much has been written already about cursive handwriting – also called script – taking its place alongside the dinosaurs, but I’m having a hard time letting go. When I’m writing by hand (yup, still do that), I write in script. But when I’m using words that start with what I call the “harder” letters – q and z, I invariably print those letters and then continue in script. Quirky, but effective – because how often do you use the letters q and z when you write? (As in, how often do you use words like “quirky”?) It’s hard to remember what q and z look like in script.

Case in point: This morning I was writing a check (yes, I still do that, too) to a company with a name that starts with the letter Q, and out of nowhere – I think I experienced automatic writing for just one second – I wrote the Q in cursive script. Do you even remember what that looks like? It’s a fancy version of the number 2. But I now realize what I actually wrote was a Z – a capital Z looks very similar to capital Q and the number 2, but it has a tail. If you don’t recall – or never learned – what I’m describing, search “cursive script” on the internet to get a visual.

I’m pretty sure the company I wrote the check to will notice or care … I did write the amount correctly.

“Suffering from amonia” — a language tragedy

A saw a Facebook posting recently about someone whose elderly mother was suffering from a “touch of amonia” (but was recovering). In the same post, this person wrote about several other events that weren’t about her mom, so it’s safe to assume she was not under any undue stress when she posted.

I wondered what to think… was her mom doing herself harm with household substances? And if that’s  the sad but true situation, then is my friend guilty only of spelling the word “ammonia” incorrectly?

Or, is Mom suffering from a touch of pneumonia? Since I know this person’s mom, that’s far more likely the situation.

I posted a reply to point out the error (and say I was glad Mom was on the mend), and  then multiple reply posts popped up, all of them chastising me for my post.

If you were me, and these were your friends, what would you have done?

P.S. The original poster  is a junior high school teacher.

Santa — jolly old elf or effective networker?

I walked away  from the main branch of the USPS empty-handed this year, after more than 15 years of giving to underprivileged children through the USPS letters to Santa program. It hasn’t been shut down, but there are now (comparatively) severe new rules for participating. The reason  – child sex offenders were using it to hunt for prey. The new rules aren’t outrageous, the cause is still very worthy, and I’m 100% in support of protecting the kids, but the program now bears little resemblance to the one that resonated with me so personally  year after year.

Once slow to embrace the power of networking to create business opportunities, I now unleashed it full-force in my determination to find a more personal way to give back. One conversation led to another and another, and before long, to a guidance counselor in a nearby town’s high school. The guidance counselor told me about a 16-year old who is living in a rented room to get away from drug-abuser parents, working two part-time jobs to support herself, and determined to finish school – but she doesn’t always have enough to eat, or warm clothes to wear. Until now.

I don’t think I ever really understood the saying “when one door closes, another door opens,” until just a few days ago. Now that’s networking!

Yes, there is a Santa — is it you?

If you’re looking for a way to give back and get yourself into the holiday mood, I find there’s no better way than participating in Operation Santa Claus. The premise is simple: needy children (or their parent) write to Santa, and you go to the post office and go through as many letters as you like until you find the letter(s) that touches you. You fulfill the wishes expressed in the letter — anonymously.

I started doing this probably 15 years ago, after seeing something about it in the newspaper. The letter I selected that first time was from the parents of a young family asking for help with essentials. At the time, I was dating a man who owned a retail pharmacy, so we mailed them a gift certificate for his store. We were truly humbled to see a needy family come in and use it to buy baby formula and diapers, nothing frivolous. I was hooked, and wished we had been less impersonal about it. Every year since then, I’ve taken the time to shop for, wrap and ship the actual items requested in the letters.

Fast-forward to Christmas 2008. I was inspired to offer one of the doormen in my building an opportunity to earn a few bucks delivering my gifts, rather than mailing them anonymously and worrying about whether or not they arrived safely — which is what I had been doing every year since that first time. It had been a very tough year for me in many ways, but the stories my doorman told me about the people he met while making my deliveries put the Christmas back into Christmas for me.

I haven’t yet selected this year’s letters, but I’m betting there will be more than ever this year given the events of 2009. I’m not here to proselytize — just to tell you that if you participate, you’ll feel like you’re the one who got a gift.

 http://www.operationlettertosanta.com/Pages/santa_tips.htm

How effective are your everyday emails?

If you’ve ever heard a colleague or an existing customer tell you that they “must have missed that email,” they just might be telling the truth. It’s easy to find advice about how to write more effective advertising and prospecting emails — but what about your ordinary business correspondence?

To increase your chances of being read (and understood) in your email communications, try to follow some basic rules:

Use the subject line and the first line of text to make sure you get someone’s attention. This doesn’t mean you have to be clever or mysterious. Just let the recipient know why it’s in their best interests to read it. 

Say what you have to say in as few words as possible. People get too much email and they tend to scan them. Too many words and you’ll trigger a filter that may cause them to miss something important.

Break up your message into short paragraphs. Use of white space helps people scan the text more effectively. However, think about who you’re writing to. If he or she is likely to see your email on a Blackberry, they might not get past the first paragraph, thinking that’s the full message.

NEVER USE ALL CAPS — there really is no reason for it, and people don’t react well to it.

Incorporate your signature in every email you send, including the ones you reply to. Make it as easy as possible for people to reach you, especially by phone.

Last but not least — a P.S. is still a good way to reinforce a point. People tend to know it’s a way of highlighting something particularly important.

Networking with a purpose

As a member’s guest, I went to a small business owners’ networking event for the first time last night. I have made new contacts at various events over the years, but I never went to one specifically to network. I avoided it because I thought it would be too hard — too hard to introduce myself to strangers, too hard to sell the services and talents I have to offer.

What I found instead was a room full of people who had the same purpose — and the same issues. So it was just like the cliche about jumping into a pool – once I was in the water, I was fine. Yes, I still felt self-conscious and I did fumble my words in the first few conversations, but I gradually began to notice that some people in the room were clearly uncomfortable (i.e., profuse sweating), but others were “working the room” with ease and purpose. I took comfort from the former, but decided to pay more attention to the latter. I decided if they could do it, I could too.

The result is I exchanged business cards with enough people to feel I had made a good effort, and signed up to join the organization. I still need to perfect my “elevator pitch” for a smoother introduction, but I’m looking forward to the next event! If, like me, you’ve been in avoiding mode, take it from a champion procrastinator — jump on in, the water’s just fine.