Get into Bed with Google
The book is Get into Bed with Google
What’s this nonsense about if you do a Google search you get ‘about 12 results per page’. Eh? Google displays 10 results per page by default and you couldn’t even change it to 12 if you wanted to. Couldn’t he even be bothered to count? I know that’s a minor detail but it is a book about Google!
My advice is to steer clear of this one unless you’ve got an SEO expert to hand to check your facts with.
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Back into the swing of things
Poor neglected blog. I disappeared into a black hole time-wise last week as we had a visit from my parents. Just about managed to keep on top of things in between spending time with the folks and had a massive catch-up session on Friday. Back into it properly this week. I’ve had a good start to Monday – got up at 6.30 and did yoga. I’m now thinking about what’s happening today before getting started. Always good to have some kind of plan in mind for the day.
What would I like to achieve today?
–This morning–
Clear build-up of emails from the weekend
Finish of the couple of web maintenance jobs hanging over from last week
Prepare for meeting with prospect
Clear in-tray and update accounts
–This afternoon–
Meeting with prospect
Banking
–Any remaining time–
Work on FAQs for our website
Think that’s enough to keep me going.
Time for a beer
Blimey, I’ve had a bit of a day of it. Seemed to be one thing after another. The main event of the day was launching a website we’ve been working on for a few months. Bit of a complicated one so had to take it a step at a time. Every time I thought I’d got it sorted something else would come up. And this has been going on since 8 o’clock this morning to now. The final problem threw me into a bit of a panic – was something I’d never come across before. Thankfully I found a solution fairly quickly. A few more grey hairs but apart from that everything is ok I think (touch wood).
I definitely deserve a beer after all that!
Is it all in my head?
I generally find it very difficult to take time off. I’m worried about not keeping on top of things and letting clients down. But is it all in my head? Our business advisor once asked me ‘would it really be the end of the world if it doesn’t get done right away?’. To me it feels like it would be but realistically speaking the world probably wouldn’t end if it took a day longer to finish something off.
We’re going to be taking some time off next week to spend with family but I’m already planning how I can get bits and pieces of work done around that. Do I need to chill out and just switch off for a few days?
It’s tricky when it’s your own business!
A busy week
After a fairly quiet couple of weeks things have definitely been getting busier this week. I was meant to go speed networking today but decided that doing a quote for a prospective client had to take precedence. I was going to go but 5 minutes before I was due to leave I was on the point of stressing out over getting things done, so decided to stay and work instead. Turned out to be a good move because I’ve got loads done and can start the weekend without any important jobs hanging over me.
An ok seminar
I went to a Business Link seminar this morning. Yep, they actually held an event in my area! It was on ‘online trading’ which sounded like a reasonably general subject and something that I could pick up some tips on. Actually it turned out to be for a very specific audience – shops who want to set up an ecommerce shop. The three people I sat nearest to didn’t fall into that category either.
It was quite an interesting seminar. Completely uninteractive which meant concentrating turned out to be quite difficult by the end, though the two presenters did do very well at talking for three hours. Some useful facts and figures which might come in handy at some point.
What I wasn’t so keen on was the paperwork at the end. After three hours of being talked at my brain had turned to mush so the task of creating an ‘action plan’ was a bit beyond me at that point:
What three issues have you identified from the seminar? Erm, I don’t run a shop, I’m not that great at concentrating and I’m really quite peckish?
What three actions are you going to take and when by? I don’t know, the seminar wasn’t directly applicable to what I do…
What three things can Business Link do to help and when do you want us to contact you? Leave me alone, I want to go home, mull over the seminar and, even more importantly, have some lunch!
All a bit full-on in the paperwork department if you ask me. Will make me think very hard about anything Business Linky again.
How to Talk to Anyone
You know what it’s like when you go to a networking event and there are one or two there who seem to just breeze around the room, being greeted by loads of people they already know and talking to new people with ease? Wouldn’t you love to be just like that? I know I would, but instead I’m the one nervously standing in the door desperately looking around for a friendly face. Actually, I’m not as bad as I used to be, I’ve definitely got more confident but I would like to feel more comfortable with striking up a conversation with someone I’ve never met before.
One of my fears when it comes to networking is not knowing what to say when I meet someone for the first time. This book provides you with techniques for overcoming that – not just things to say, but the whole thing from how to enter a room and choose who to talk to, to how not to answer certain questions that might leave the other person at a loss as to how to respond. Great stuff! I can certainly see how I can do things differently. A lot of it is being more aware of how you are reacting to the situation.
I’ve got this one down as a book to dip into every now and then. I don’t think I’m going to be able to go out there and put all 92 tips into practice straight away, I’d never remember them all. So, I think the thing to do would be to try out one or two at a time and see how they help, gradually improving my networking and conversational skills.
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