Ten Tips for Telephone Mastery

How many of your business conversations happen on the phone? For a lot of people, it’s most of them. Add in web-based platforms like GoToMeeting and WebEx, and some of us spend way more time talking to people we can’t see than we do in face-to-face interaction. The visual component of communication is huge. So…

A bundle of bad business cards

What does your business card look like? If you handed it to me, would it tell me something about who you are and what you do? And would it be appealing enough to make me care? An awful lot of people should be answering “No” to those questions. I came home from a recent event…

Where do you draw the line? And how?

How do you set boundaries in your business? Or maybe I should ask, do you set boundaries in your business? A lot of people have trouble with that, whether they’re independent professionals serving clients directly, or they work for a big company. What happens when boundaries are lax? We wind up doing more work than…

The language of business…in any tongue

If we’re connected on Facebook, you know I was in Senegal last week (and if we’re not, we should be, don’t you think?) It was a mission trip to Eglise Methodiste Unie au Senegal and my mission was communication training, mainly for women who desperately need to earn some money. How desperately? Get this: About…

Talk is Better than Text: Here’s Why

You know how it goes. You post your opinion on Facebook. Somebody else disagrees. Another “friend” takes issue with one or both of you. And then it’s off to the races! People start piling on. And calling names. Challenging each other’s intelligence, moral standards and, quite possibly, parentage. How do things get so out of…