by Sue Horner | Jan 31, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
“You can have it fast, you can have it good, you can have it cheap. Pick any two.” If these are words for independent communicators to live by – reflecting the value of what we do – why do so many of us buckle when a prospective client balks at the price we propose? A...
by Sue Horner | Jan 10, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Are you getting paid what you’re worth? Anyone can appreciate the value and attraction of that concept, but perhaps independent business owners most of all. I attended a networking/professional development event on just that topic, put on by IABC/Toronto’s...
by Sue Horner | Nov 8, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Two things jumped out at me about the 2009 IABC/Canada online salary survey*: 1. “Nationally speaking, men do appear to make more on average than women.” According to the survey, the mean (essentially the average) yearly salary / median (the middle-most value when the...
by Sue Horner | Apr 29, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Are you always the same person, or do you act one way with friends and family, and a different way with clients and colleagues? While on vacation, I was chatting (over a few margaritas) with a few ladies I had just met, and one of the women spoke warmly of her son....
by Sue Horner | Apr 5, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
You wouldn’t believe it, looking at my office last week, but I am not a hoarder. Hoarders, as displayed to the world in the A&E show of the same name, have “an inability to part with their belongings” that is so out of control, they are on the...
by Sue Horner | Jan 29, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
While at the dentist’s office getting my teeth cleaned, the dental hygienist mentioned something we both found shocking: The dentist got his sister-in-law to buy everything for his wife’s Christmas stocking. Okay, so spinmasters will say Dr. P. was...
by Sue Horner | Jan 6, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The start of a new year always seems to prompt at least a couple of weeks of good behaviour. Yeah, this is when so many people talk about losing 10 pounds, learning a new skill, getting organized. In my case, I looked at the mess in my home office over the holidays,...
by Sue Horner | Dec 18, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
It was still dark as I drove my husband to a 7 a.m. doctor’s appointment. Traffic was building on the highway, but at least it was moving. In another half an hour, cars would probably be keeping no better than a snail’s pace. It suddenly occurred to me...
by Sue Horner | Oct 15, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
At a networking event given by IABC/Toronto’s Professional Independent Communicators (PIC), I shared why I volunteer, as did my colleagues Leslie Hetherington, Donna Papacosta, Barb Sawyers and Lee Weisser. PIC supports more than 100 independent communicators,...
by Sue Horner | Oct 2, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
While decluttering my office, I ran across a battered 1981 edition of The Canadian Writer’s Market. In it I found 32 pages of agency listings, each entry with a pencilled X or check mark beside it, plus new telephone numbers and scribbled names. Flashback: I was...
