 For some months now I've been receiving an email newsletter from a fairly prominent recruitment company here in Christchurch. The first time I received the newsletter I replied politely that I could show them around the content manager for formatting, give them a few tips and tricks so that when they email the newsletter out, it looks great and people want to read it. Well, no reply and I guess when you receive an email like that you don't want to reply.... But surely you could get over it and do something about it because lets face it you just received some great feedback and an offer of assistance that won't break the bank. Some months on now and I still receive the newsletter and its still in the same format and I have to chuckle... it really is terrible. Would you walk into a sales meeting in a crinkled white shirt and stained trousers. No! Well, why send out a newsletter that looks like a poor 2nd, 3rd, 4th or so on. If you are going to send out an e-newsletter or any newsletter for that matter... do it well. If you haven't the ability to create a nice template with images, then use a text template. Not only are these text emails effective they are more likely to get through spam catchers. So not only do you need to ensure your wording is readable, you need to ensure your layout is the best possible for more readership of your newsletter. AdminCorp can assist in setting up your email campaigns using various online applications. We recommend online applications as they provide statistics, reporting and templates. Email info@admincorp.co.nz. Some resources for further reading: http://www.davechaffey.com/Total-E-mail-Marketing/Eyetracking-email-marketing http://www.useit.com/alertbox/newsletters.html http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29795 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch–Kincaid_readability_test  Some people did... well, they went to the shores to watch it and what else could happen if it was real but to be dragged away... ta dum ... I live in Christchurch and as much as it was unlikely that it was going to hit our shores, I made the executive decision to be first out and first setup on safe ground. I treated this warning as my first practice. What was I going to do, how was going to make the decisions, how was I going to execute my decisions, and what was my rationale. While all my colleagues went to work for the day, I set about completing all things urgent and then I packed up and took to higher ground in a great holiday home high in the hills. It was such a great night away. And did anyone notice... not really... all but two of my clients were advised and the rest, it was business as usual. As soon as I got to high ground, I plugged my iPhone into my computer (forgot my vodem), I turned on internet tethering on my iPhone and I was connected. Business as usual. So what did you do? Did you wait for Civil Defence or did you take responsibility for you and your family? Did you trust the reports? So here is what I learned: Christchurch is not built for mass evacuations to higher ground; Civil Defence will spend the next 3-4 warning testing their processes; some people are thick; one needs to be prepared (I forgot dog food); one also needs to be able to make decisions. And here is my rationale: If I am the first one out at warning 1 (whether it's likely or not), I will be set up and working again by the time an evacuation is advised. Its unlikely I'll need to work if there is an evacuation but if their is a regional evacuation, the rest of the world doesn't go away and of course, I'm probably going to be very useful. So think about what you will do when a tsunami warning comes around again, be prepared and know that AdminCorp will be prepared. Debra Clark Tara McGowan, AdminCorp's Auckland Licensee has posted a record profit for her 4th month in operation. Debra Clark, Founder of AdminCorp Limited says that Tara is a true hard working administrator with great ethics and discipline. Tara's drive and enthusiasm contributes to her daily successes making Tara a great asset to AdminCorp and the business community. At a time when businesses are downsizing and looking for more productive and effective ways to spend their dollar, AdminCorp has provided a top quality solution ensuring more productivity and quality to benefit any businesses bottom line.  Leadership and Excellence Recognized 2009 Administrative Professional of the Year Awarded to Debra Clark, AdminCorp The 2009 Administrative Professional of the year has been awarded to Debra Clark of AdminCorp Ltd www.AdminCorp.co.nz. On Saturday 9th August Debra won the 2009 Administrative Professional of the Year Award for the Association of Administrative Professionals New Zealand (AAPNZ). This year the competition was strong with finalists from senior roles and all from the South Island. AdminCorp was developed in 2003 by Debra and focused on providing corporate level Administrative services through a virtual environment to small and medium businesses nationally and internationally. In simple terms instead of your executive personal assistant sitting outside your office door incurring onsite costs, an AdminCorp Licensee is sitting in their virtual office providing a more productive and effective quality service. In this current economic market with employers and companies seeking to reduce costs and increase productivity AdminCorp has noted an increase in demand for their services. This has seen Debra take her Business to a new level with operators being established across the country; currently AdminCorp is operating directly in Auckland and Christchurch with pending expansion into South Canterbury, wider Auckland, and Wellington. Debra still finds time to be a mother and wife to her two children Bailey (13yrs) and Amethyst (5yrs) and husband Brian. In addition to this Debra has been actively involved with and supports groups such as Business Chicks Christchurch, Otautahi Maori Woman’s Refuge, and is the current President Christchurch AAPNZ. Debra and Brian have also cared for children through CYF and seen the children go on to start their own careers or start their own business and succeed in life. Debra displays the true meaning of working hard to succeed and contributing back to the community. An aspiring leader modeling good ethics, a sense of community and one who embraces new technologies and opportunities. That networking group was a waste of time! 07/29/2009
 Have you ever been to a networking function and found yourself amongst those you wouldn't normally network with? I have and so have many of you I imagine. So do you suffer through the time or do you work it? If you suffer through the time or even leave, you've not only wasted your time but you've wasted an opportunity. Remember, networking is based on 6 degrees of separation. Even though these networkers may not fit with what you were wanting, take the opportunity to educate them about your business and arm them with your business card, because, guess what! They may pass your details on. Jenn who trawls networking groups for sponsors may not be your ideal networking partner but what if you told her about your business and something great about your product or service and gave her your card. She will undoubtably contact you in the future for sponsorship (which by the way you can say No to), but what's more is that she may be at her next networking function and someone says in passing that they need a business to do what you do and lo and behold, but Jenn gives them your business card. How simple is that! Where in the world are you going? 07/28/2009
I've been reading Tim Ferriss' book the 4 hour week and am convinced I'm ready for what he's talking about. So quarter of the way into the book I've already made some substantial decisions to pave the way forward for the next five years of my life and I'm impressed. Here's some of the tiny things I've done; 1. changed the word efficient to effective 2. stopped trying to cram more into my time 3. changed my hours (down) 4. stopped talking about doing what I 'want' to do and now I'm going to what 'excites' me. The next chapter is dreamlining .... So where in the world are you going? Check out Tim's website here. Stop that! or else... 07/21/2009
Patrick McFie recently sent out a group email to all members of the Linkedin group NZ online Start-UP community regarding 'guidelines' around posts about marketing or traffic building. Stick to your knitting 07/14/2009
 Heather McDonald a fellow administrator posted a blog last week 'stick to your knitting' which got me thinking... How much do I do and how much can be outsourced and why haven't I done it! Heather talks about her wordpress website and I too have a website I created myself using weebly.com. Why did I do it myself? I had actually outsourced this but the relationship between myself and the web company didn't gel or progress as I'd like and in sheer frustration I whipped it up myself. I do have 'outsourcing the website' on my business plan in the future though. So I think when you are in small business you do need to take things on yourself until you are in a position to outsource. No point outsourcing to me if you haven't the funds to pay me. No point setting up a website that's going to generate 150 hours of work a week when there is only you. It's all in the planning and execution. If you decide to create your own website, I suggest you use www.websitegrader.com tools and marketing papers to support your project. I also suggest you put an entry on your business plan at what point will this be outsourced and why. What are you going to achieve by outsourcing and how will you measure the performance of the site. Don't be a Twit! 07/07/2009
 Ever said something online and received a not-so-nice response? Digital media (emails, blogs, tweets, online posts etc) don't carry your emotion or your expression and sometimes this means that the reader, doesn't get what we are saying. This can be rather frustrating, so have a plan in place. - read your posts / emails / tweets etc before you hit send - review your work objectively, from different aspects - be prepared for responses; good and bad - never retaliate, always respond, show the world your professional And above all, when you can, moderate responses.... this way you review them before they go live... unfortunately not possible on twitter... I stood up for my country today ... 06/28/2009
Make sure you pay the updated account when paying AdminCorp! We've moved banks. As we only have one bank owned by NZ the decision was relatively straight forward and easy. |
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