The female of the species is known by many names, some positive, some less so.  Wikipedia describes it thus:

Female (♀) is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova (egg cells).

Thrilling.  Not really summing up how I see myself.  Also, not a term that your would probably use to describe someone, as in “The speaker is a very interesting female”.  Unless you have not long been resident on our planet.

A more commonly-used term for the female human is, of course, Woman.

A woman (pl: women) is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as “Women’s rights“.

Now, ‘woman’ is innocuous enough, usually, as long as not used in the “Oh, for goodness’ sake Woman” kind of tone, or other similarly less-than kind manner.  Or even ‘Women’s Rights’, when approached negatively.  There are obviously still differences apart from the physical between male and female of the species, which differ geographically amongst other things.  And therein lies the problem.

Where “Man” can be “Hey, Man”, or “Man, that’s cool”, etc, I cannot think of a time where a female, or male for that matter has uttered the immortal phrase “You go, Woman”, or similar.  It is at this point that the challenge becomes apparent.

In that situation, “You go, Girl” might fit, or even “Hey Lady”, etc, but where does that fit for general day-to-day conversation, with a slightly less ‘street’ vibe?

Some might say that being introduced as a lady makes them feel old, but equally calling a 23 year-old a ‘girl’ might seem belittling.

I am 32, and now feel quite thrilled to be called a ‘girl’, and even quite happy with ‘woman’ when ‘business’ is placed in front of it!

Now the quandary which I mentioned related to an American ‘female’ and the term used by her when referring to the fairer sex.  She had decided, upon discussion and debate with her peers, that ‘Chick’ would fit the bill.  I think, personally, that would probably only work across the pond.

All ‘us females’ have a preferred moniker, possibly dependent upon who is uttering it, myself included, but which one is the right one to use generically?

I would love comments on this blog, from either females or males, letting me know your thoughts.

Girl Power!

I am trying to impart wisdom, or at least items of interest on this blog at least weekly, ideally more often.  That is at least 200-400 words per week minimum, 52 weeks of the year.  That is between 10,400 and 20,800 words per year.  That’s a novel!

That is a rather big ask, if you look at it in those terms, and can be a bit daunting.

I have therefore started thinking about my blogs in more bite-sized chunks, and hopefully with a series of themes running through them.  See what you think as they appear, and please do comment!

But what do you do when that blog just won’t come?  The deadline is fast approaching, you are feeling the pressure.  The most important thing is not to give up and not bother.  That causes people to lose interest in your blog, and makes it look disorganised and as though it is not important to you.  So, what to write?

Well, I have come up with some easy tools for easing that block:

1. Call a friend – it is amazing what discussing ideas, or just what is going on in each others’ lives can do to inspire a new line of thought.  It really is, as they say, ‘good to talk’.
2. Make a cup of tea – that few minutes spent filling and boiling the kettle, finding a tea bag, popping it in your favourite cup, and then waiting whilst it cools can be very good for clearing the head.  Often we think better when our hands are occupied with repetitive or well-known tasks.  You could even combine items 2 and 1 and see if the effect is amplified!
3. Another repetitive task – ironing.  It is amazing how much thinking you can do whilst doing the menial tasks that need to be done!
4. Walking the dog.  This is a new one for me, having only had our dog for three days, but it seems to really work!  I know a lot of great writers who all seem to have dogs, and now I know why!
5. Speak to someone in the know.  I have been speaking to Mark Richards at Simple Words Co recently http://www.simplewords.co.uk/ and he has inspired me to think more laterally about my content.  Why just blog about the same things as everyone else, when there are so many other things out there to talk about.  The old adage ‘you can’t please all of the people all of the time’ is true, so when blogging, I think a lot of it needs to be down to pleasing yourself and ideally writing great content.  It will resonate with some people, even if not all.  Think about your favourite film, or something you heard on the radio.  If it is interesting to you, then blog it!

Now, I have suggested these ideas as a cure for bloggers block, but they could be adapted and used for copywriting of all sorts, or even if you are writing a 12,000 novel!  Whatever it is, good luck, and send a link to it when you have done it so that I can read it too!

If you have enjoyed this, or even if you haven’t, please comment and pass it on, as somebody else might hopefully find it useful too.  Thanks!

WANTED: PERSONAL SOCIAL NETWORK COORDINATOR

Permanent full-time position for a personal social coordinator for a New York-based web designer.

Your primary responsibility will be managing my accounts with various online social networking sites including, but not limited to, Friendster, LinkedIn, Tribe, Orkut, Ryze, Spoke, ZeroDegrees, Ecademy, RealContacts, Ringo, MySpace, Yafro, EveryonesConnected, Friendzy, FriendSurfer, Tickle, Evite, Plaxo, Squiby, and WhizSpark.

Specific duties include:

• Approving or rejecting invitations and friendships
• Managing a database of usernames and passwords for each of the social networking sites
• Sending out friendship invitations
• Keeping my social network synchronised; that is, invite friends from one social networking site to be friends in all of the other social networking sites
• Handling requests be friends to be introduced to a friend that they might not know
• Keeping track of my current likes and dislikes and updating my personal information within each service accordingly
• Writing testimonials for friends
• Various ‘damage control’ functions when rebuffed ‘non-friends’ become upset due to non-acceptance of their offers of friendship
• Continually browsing my friends 1st and 2nd degrees for potential new friends and business contacts
• Participating on any of the sites message boards on my behalf

Future duties may include discouraging companies and individuals from starting new social networking sites so that additional staff won’t be necessary in the future.  Past employment as a bouncer, ‘heavy’ or hired goon may be helpful in this regard.

Benefits include addition as my friend in all the social networking sites I belong to.

This article was clearly quite ‘tongue-in-cheek’ at the time, although maybe less so now…

Today, I read a piece, pointed out to me by @bestmansfriend, at http://www.saabsunited.com/ .  It was written by a gentleman who has been running SAABs United for as long as I have been aware of it, and who, as well as being a SAAB enthusiast, is a social media fiend like myself.

In this piece, not only does he explain that due to an excessive number of commitments, he will no longer be at the helm of SAABs United, but also that in a total lifestyle sea-change, he is now going to be working as part of a global social media management team for SAAB.

For me, this is fascinating.  Not only because I am an avid SAAB fan, having owned five in my 16 years on Britain’s roads, but also because it highlights what might have seemed like Science Fiction when the article above was written, pre-Web 2.0, but is fast becoming a reality.

Wherever we look now, there are companies advertising their services as an outsourced provider of social media management for those time or skill short in that department.

At a time when we have a dearth of unemployed young people with smart ‘phones, I for one am fast coming to the conclusion that this is where we could excel as a nation.

It is a fact commonly acknowledged, I believe, that we are a country of texters, and knowing the ‘youth’ as I do, a lot of them would rather avoid speech of any kind most of the time!  Given the skills we have for condensing anything into 140 characters, surely apprenticeships for Twitter managers, chosen from the ranks of unemployed or underemployed late teens could really swell the numbers in our skilled workforce?  We could promote this new young army of Twitterati to foreign businesses, they could liaise with them and translate their Tweets, or build networks between like-minded businesses.  We could all benefit from a collective knowledge and skills base!  Utopia!

I may be wrong, and very occasionally am, but wouldn’t it be lovely if I am right?

Please comment, and if you have enjoyed this blog, please pass it on!  Thanks.

www.businessboots.co.uk

Suffice it to say, all was well, and at the end of 1 hour 18 minute cycle, my beautiful Miele washing machine, which can be programmed to give me information in Dutch or Spanish, allowed me to access my son’s PE Kit, and various other items entombed within.

This is not just a ramble about my washing machine, but possibly a point which may resonate with you too, reader.  Not necessarily in that context, but in terms of what tasks take your mind off the ball when you are working? These could be along the lines of what you are going to have for tea, or could be more in the vein of ‘Where did I leave that envelope for the accountant?’

What I would like to know is what occupies your mind in the few precious idle moments of your working day?  I am hoping that the comments I receive will provide interesting ‘blog fodder’ going forward, so do tell all!

A man walks into a supermarket.  He is in a rush to get back to the office.  Things to do and a short lunch break today.  He needs supplies for tomorrow morning.  He goes to the cereal aisle.  He looks at the generic sugar-coated flattened corn snacks, he considers the slightly more intriguing, although highly calorific chocolate-based ‘fun breakfast-time treats’.  He looks at the eco-warrior muesli in the recycled cardboard box, with its brown and green logo, and, and all the recycling symbols/awards, etc, proudly printed in environmentally sound ink, and decides that maybe that is too virtuous for first thing before you have had the morning cuppa.

He reaches up to get his usual brand of slightly cheerier, but still quite virtuous, Sundrenched Oat Drops.  He goes to grab a packet.  His hand hovers over the box at the front of the shelf.  He pauses…

The box that he sees on the front of the shelf is dented.  Not badly, and the contents are not damaged (you can’t really damage porridge oats glued together with honey, seeds and whatnot).

He stops, puts down his basket, reaches up with both hands, and moves the damaged box out of the way whilst he goes for the one behind.

That has maybe taken him 20 seconds which he really couldn’t spare, but tells us something about human nature.  We don’t want the dented box.

Now, in applying this analogy to business, my point is as follows:

If our business cards are tatty, or our attire is not appropriate to the task in question, we are at risk of being the dented box.  This doesn’t mean always wearing a suit.  Those in the industrial sector and tradespeople may be happier to see their suppliers in a pair of smart jeans and a shirt.

The point is, I suppose, not a new one.  We need to portray our best image at all times.  In the same way as young ladies in the Victorian era learned deportment and all the social skills and etiquette required to get themselves a husband, I believe that we all need to place as much importance on our appearances, and the appearance of our business.

Therefore, might I suggest that anyone wishing to have their branding looked at, or just freshened up, take the time to have a chat with Kelly and Steve at NY Design. www.nydp.co.uk  I can recommend their work with confidence.

And of course, in a smaller business, please do speak to my good self if you would like additional representation at events, or copywriting and proofreading assistance to make sure that box remains undented.

Today, having been in this situation, I found out what was more annoying.  Because the bank in question (a four-letter word – literally) is trying to be paperless, all complaints are dealt with without communication with the customer in question!  I therefore, have to merely ‘hope’ that this situation will be resolved, but it will sure take some explaining to my husband!

I am sure that many people have had equally unsatisfactory goings-on, both with financial institutions and businesses alike, and equally I am sure that many people have received the feedback and service they desired right off the bat, and are thrilled when this happens.

I, for one, am happy to mention the amazing service I always receive from my web designer, Richard McDougall at www.creativesqueeze.co.uk .  He is fantastically supportive and helpful, and always adds value to our working relationship.

What I am wondering, however, is how often we tell someone when we are really pleased with what they have done, and either offer a written testimonial, or a referral?  I know that this isn’t always possible, but it all helps us to build trust and good working relationships.

So, for this week, my Call To Action, as it were, is to have a think about who we all know, like and trust in business, what they have done for us, and how we can help them get more business through referrals or a positive paragraph or two to put on their website, blog, LinkedIn profile, or all of the above.

Start thinking please people, and please do add your comments and testimonials for those that you can recommend, so that I can pass them on too!

I remember half pennies, black and white television, and the days when some people had Betamax players.

My son will turn 10 this summer.  His only awareness of cameras with films comes from his school re-using the old canisters for storing small craft items and the like.  He doesn’t remember the moment when an expectant British public ushered in the Brave New World of Channel 5, or before almost everyone could view 57 channels with nothing on, 24/7.

Most of his friends have a mobile of some description, and for all of them, touch screens are as sensible as breathing.

We got computers at my school in the year I did my GCSEs, and they could quite easily have been powered by hamsters on treadmills for the speed they went at.

My son, just over two decades younger than me, emails his friends from the laptops set up around his school, and uses Powerpoint and various animation applications with total ease.

I know that I am not telling you anything you don’t know already, but it does bring into stark relief for me the fact that 100 years ago the motor car was a pretty amazing new invention, which some said would never catch on.

In the early days of the computer, the boffins working on them wanted to get a computer down to a size where it would fit into a single room, and now we have effectively hand-held computers in the form of smart phones, and think nothing of it.

I used to watch ‘Tomorrow’s World’ with interest, amazed by the idea of self-cleaning double glazed windows and DVDs.  Now programmes like the ‘Gadget Show’ show us tech which sometimes seems to have so many unusual and amazing uses that I can hardly think how to describe the item!

My pre-teen son engages in a form of social media through the likes of ‘Moshi Monster’ and ‘Club Penguin’, and this is a perfectly normal way for him and his friends to ‘play’ remotely.  Although a little scary, all this is exciting, and begs the question: what next?

What I would like to know is how you see the business world twenty years from now in your industry, and what are your plans in terms of ensuring success for your business at that time?  Please do comment and pass this on.  I would love to be able to report back on people’s thoughts, and maybe in twenty years’ time, like watching an old episode of ‘Tomorrow’s World’, we can see if we all ended up where we thought we would!

I say ‘free’, but there is, of course, a cost. It is TIME.

I have spoken to people recently, when I have been swept up in LinkedIn enthusiasm, and they have said things like:

“I tried LinkedIn a bit, but I couldn’t see the value/I prefer face-to-face networking”

To that I say:

“Yes, LinkedIn is a great way to build relationships, but it needs to be worked in tandem with a variety of other means of networking and other marketing tools”

I am not saying AT ALL that face-to-face should go, but if you spend 60 seconds speed networking with someone, and then possibly don’t see each other for months or years, do you fully understand their business, and they yours?

Equally, you may be very structured when you network, and follow up religiously after the meeting.  You might find that this is hugely beneficial, but it could take a LOT of time.

Still, not to say it shouldn’t be done.

When you make the contact with those people, why not connect in a way that will guarantee, if it is a year or more before you have need of each others services, that even if you move business, or change job role, you know this fact, and can manage the relationship accordingly?  LinkedIn operates for me like a constantly self-updating contacts database, with extras.  And more!

However, to put into context my point here, I was speaking to a lady who is some hours’ drive away from my location, so we shall possibly never meet.  She wanted to know to whom she was speaking, and what I could possibly do for her, and I wanted to know who she was as well.  Now, generally, I am sure a lot of us look up the website of the company to whom we are speaking whilst on the ‘phone, and this gives an understanding of their business.  If, however, we could be more specific, and know where the person we are speaking to has worked before, who we both know, and other pertinent information (hopefully all up to date), then how much easier would it be for us to build a relationship in a short space of time?

LinkedIn allows me to know what associates are doing, planning to do, and what events are going on, as well as allowing me to read archived newsletters from connections, and to generally engage in a time and cost-effective fashion, and to keep my finger on the pulse, as it were.

To elaborate on this, I have attached an article which further fuelled my enthusiasm for social media, and I think makes the point that it is here to stay, and we need to make the most of it!

http://blogs.forbes.com/ciocentral/2011/02/16/why-linkedin-is-more-valuable-than-facebook/

I would also ask, if you can spare a moment, if you would like to answer my poll question about photos on social media profiles. 

Enjoy!

Thanks,

Caroline Anderson

Business Boots

www.businessboots.co.uk

Twitter: @businessboots

I would just like to extol the virtues of networking and positive referrals.

Sounds obvious?  Well, it is, but we don’t always appreciate the value of these matters!

I have been truly honoured this last week or two to not only meet people for whom I shall be able to offer referrals in the Future, I am sure, but also I have had Christmas come early in terms of getting the opportunity to meet with and work with some of the people I have had on my ‘wish list’.

What I would like to ask, Dear Reader, is that if you have someone on your list, that you get in touch, and see if I can help in any way.

Keep in touch!