Chewability, cowpats and more expressive writing
“I grew up sort of basted in words.” That wonderful evocative sentence comes from Richard Bach in The Bridge Across Forever. The line explains his childhood, where his father read stories in German – translating as he read – and the boy’s mother...
Missing IABCWC13
The flurry of #IABCWC13 tweets and jolly Facebook posts about exciting adventures in New York has bombarded me for days, each one a sharp reminder that I did not attend this year’s IABC World Conference. I’m feeling a little sad about that, although it...
How do you answer ‘How much does it cost?’
The caller got right to the point. “How much does it cost for a 250-word newsletter article?” The thing about services is that there’s rarely a simple answer to “How much?” You can always answer with a range, but that’s only helpful if you provide context and details....
Pricing, follow-up and other business tips from PIC
Whether you’ve been in business for one month or more than 20 years, there’s always something to learn from fellow independents. Here are just some of the useful tips shared at an IABC/Toronto Professional Independent Communicators networking exchange: LinkedIn...
The art of the interview
“Grizzle makes me sizzle.” You can bet that I will never mispronounce (retired) Judge Stanley Grizzle’s name again. For the record, it’s “Grizz – ZELL.” But mispronounce it I did when calling to set up an interview with the...
Life is short; you might as well dance
You won’t reach the end of your life wishing you had danced less. That’s what my friend Debby decided. She’s been taking ballroom dance lessons for more than a year, and loves it. Like the contestants on Dancing With The Stars (my guilty pleasure,...
Clever LinkedIn – I clicked, did you?
When it comes to engaging and involving the people who use their networking site, the folks at LinkedIn are doing a good job. This is somewhat belated, but I thought the short video put together for LinkedIn’s 10th anniversary (what? already?!) on May 7 was...
12 tips for reducing email overload
And you thought your in-box was already overflowing. These days, many bloggers suggest people subscribe by email rather than to an RSS feed. Canada Post is encouraging consumers to sign up for epost, to get bills by email rather than snail mail. And businesses see the...