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business podcasts

Jessica Rhodes – Additional Fuel for Your Launch: Leveraging other’s Networks to Appear on Popular Business Podcasts (AoL 129)

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Unfortunately, not all of us have gotten to the point where we can just reach out to 50 some podcasts and YouTube channels and have tons of interviews about our new warez.

However, there are folks out there that have a comparable network to those well known thought leaders. Many times they’re publicists, but in this session’s case, we’re talking specifically about being booked as a guest for podcasts!

Jessica Rhodes is the founder of Interview Connections and has been building her business by being the matchmaker for podcasters and expert guests.

In today’s conversation, we talk to Jessica about how this business of hers got off the ground and how she and her team can do the footwork for you in getting your message out.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How was Jessica first introduced to the thought leader industry? 9:26
  • When did she realize that she had a specific niche that she was suited for? 14:07
  • Why should people still consider to be on podcasts in 2018 and beyond? 19:12
  • What are some of the habits that Jessica practices that have helped her get to where she’s at today. 24:52
  • How did Jessica develop her team? 34:52
  • What should a thought leader do if they’re launching a new product but don’t have a lot of podcasting friends to help get the word out? 42:10
  • If someone wants to hire a booking agent or publicist, how much should they budget to start working with one? 46:38
  • Are there any milestones that people should have hit in their business before working with Jessica? 51:11
  • What’s going on for Jessica the rest of the year? 53:08
  • What’s a documentary that she recommends people check out? 55:59
  • If she could have dinner with anyone, who would she choose? 56:27
  • What would she do if she was recently told she’d be going back to January 1st, 1990. What would she do when she got there?? 57:44
  • What is one thing she believes all high school students must know? 58:31
  • How can someone be a difference maker in their community? 59:33

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Jessica on how she Wrote her Book

Making a Press Page for Guest Appearances

Qualifying Podcasts Before Making an Appearance as a Guest

Jumping through Hoops, or Working Together?

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Castbox, iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

Enneagram Personality Types

Erin Rocchio – Exploring the Use of Enneagram Personality Types in Coaching (AoL 128)

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It’s true when they say leadership, influence, and business go hand in hand. If you don’t have influence in your organization, company, or team, how do you expect to get anything done?

Knowing what people want and what motivates them is a big part of being influential – especially when you’re dealing with the higher levels in leadership.

And one of the best tools, I’ve found, is utilizing what I know about personality types. This knowledge allows us to group people in a manner so that we can interact with them at their level.

There’s all kinds of tests out there which will help you find your own personality. Recently, I’ve been hearing more and more about the Enneagram. It seems that a lot of my favorite podcast hosts know what number they are on it.

In this session, team and executive coach Erin Rocchio gives us a basic introduction to what the Enneagram is and how she she helps her clients use it.

Listen in as we learn how this powerful tool can positively affect you and your organization or business!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How did Erin get started in coaching at the age of 17 years old? 9:54
  • What’s the Enneagram test and how does she use it in her coaching work? 15:26
  • How does knowing about different personalites assist with people transitioning in their professional roles? 22:19
  • How does Erin help someone when she finds out that their stress is coming from structural constraints in their work? 25:44
  • What kinds of things does Erin look at when she’s working on cultivating high performance teams? 33:54
  • How would Erin work with Richard from the HBO show Silicon Valley? 36:30
  • How does she want to finish up the year? 38:19
  • Who are some influencers that have helped Erin get to where she’s at? 41:48
  • If she could have dinner with anyone living or dead, who would it be? 42:53
  • Does Erin have a new belief or habit that has helped her improve her life in the last 5 years? 43:46
  • What advice does she hear adults giving children that she calls bs on? 45:40
  • What’s the secret to achieving personal freedom? 48:02

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

 

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Erin interview by Ronald Couming

Erin’s interview with Nissar Ahamed

Ginger Lapid-Bogda on “The Enneagram in Business”

David Cooperrider on Appreciative Inquiry

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Castbox, iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

achieving the dream

Achieving the Dream – Why One Degree Makes All the Difference

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I recently got the opportunity to spend some time with Harrison and Dr. Ping up at Purdue. We had a chance to see a lot of the change that is going on around campus – and… man, there’s a lot!

While we were exploring a bit, we also paid a visit to the Triple XXX Family Restaurant. Whenever someone’s new to the area, that’s one of my go to places because it’s been a Purdue establishment since 1929. In fact, it’s such a local treasure that Guy Fieri visited it back in 2007 for his show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

achieving the dream

After leaving there, we went to meet up with one of my business mentors – Mike Cassidy – on campus.

As Mike was chatting with us about our plans, we came to a part of the discussion where we were talking about his students and members of the Amplify Hope program.

Something got stuck in my mind about both groups of people. I realized that they were trying to build their dreams without fully having a real plan in place. They’re doing what they’re doing because their emotions are telling them to. (That’s actually one of the things that Mike helps his students with – getting out of their own head and looking at their business objectively.)

There might be a few minor issues they’ve overlooked, but over time those minor bugs can lead to huge problems.

 

Why One Degree Can Make a Huge Difference

These minor issues might not seem like a big deal. I mean, a few minor tweaks going along the way and the problems they might cause can be mitigated, right?

Well, sure.

However, if they’re not taken care of, then we’re looking at problems that might be noticed until it’s too late.

The traditional illustration of this principle is one of distance traveled:

Let’s say you’re going somewhere and you’re off course by just one degree. After one foot, you’ll miss your target by 0.2 inches. Trivial, right? But what about as you get farther out?

 

  • After 100 yards, you’ll be off by 5.2 feet. Not huge, but noticeable.
  • After a mile, you’ll be off by 92.2 feet. One degree is starting to make a difference.
  • After traveling from San Francisco to L.A., you’ll be off by 6 miles.
  • If you were trying to get from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., you’d end up on the other side of Baltimore, 42.6 miles away.
  • Traveling around the globe from Washington, DC, you’d miss by 435 miles and end up in Boston.
  • etc…

 

See what I’m talking about?

In real life, this can mean the difference of creating a business or nonprofit that is sustainable or pursuing a mission that makes someone take a 2nd or 3rd mortgage out on their house.

The key is to not let emotions and the pursuit of passion get in the way of our own success.

 

Delusions of Passion

David Anderson and Mark Nathan spoke in detail about this in their book, The Delusion of Passion: Why Millennials Struggle to Find Success.

In the book they argue that there’s several delusions we Millennials struggle with.

  • Where there is Passion, There is No Pain
  • Where there is Passion, There are No Problems
  • Passion Precedes Total Commitment
  • You Must Be Passionate About the Process
  • Living Passionately Is all About You

When we believe one of these delusions, we’re knocking our navigation off by a degree or more from the very beginning!

 

Action Steps

If you haven’t had the chance to read this book, here’s the link. Also, I’ve had both Mark and David on the podcast to discuss their perspectives a bit further.

I imagine it’d be worth your time to see if any of these perspectives are sabotaging your efforts to get to where you want in your career in life.

entrepreneurial process

4 Phases of the Mission Driven Entrepreneurial Process

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When I restarted my own entrepreneurial process 3 years ago, I used Fizzle to help me design a roadmap of what I wanted New Inceptions to be.

Since then, I’ve realized that I was trying to build something that I couldn’t by myself. So, last summer, I started really putting an emphasis on meeting the right kinds of people to help things go bigger faster.

That’s about the time that I started doing more things locally and getting started with Amplify and C317.

Well, fast forward to today, and I have to say, there’s a lot of things I’ve learned along the way. And one of those things is that when you’re talking about scaling a business where you’re making a huge impact, you’re talking about a business that has gone through several stages to get where they’re at.

In this post, I want to share what those phases are so you have an idea of where you’re at.

 

Definition of the Entrepreneurial Process

Traditional Process

So there’s several entrepreneurial processes out there. One is the model that a lot of people know from academia or other traditional sources. It looks a little like this:

I’m not saying that this isn’t correct, but it’s not very functional. It “might” be functional if you’re in the tech entrepreneur space. But in reality, most entrepreneurs don’t focus on these topics today – especially not “Developing a business plan”!

 

Fizzle’s Three Phases

When I was in Fizzle, they had their own entrepreneurial process. It looks like this:

This is a much more practical model. And when you listen to Corbett, Chase, and Steph on their podcast, it does make a lot of sense in why they made it this way.

However, as I’ve been going back into studying other entrepreneurs out there, there seems to be an alternative path to the one above (which, I think is a great plan otherwise I wouldn’t be a proponent of theirs!).

This 4 phase path is one I wanted to share with you guys

The New Inceptions Roadmap

So, New Inceptions – what does that mean? When I first came up with it, I had recently seen the movie Inception. In the movie, we see this world where dreams happen in dreams. And if you’ve heard the podcast or talked to me in person, you might have heard that I feel that my job in life is to pull people out of mental prisons. Whether or not they put themselves there OR they’ve allowed others to put them there, they’re stuck.

So my 4 phase process includes one phase in where the focus is simply getting “unstuck”. I believe that this is is the most foundational phase and I see a lot of entrepreneurs skipping right over it as well as the next one. They start in phase 3, eventually find that they don’t like the work they’re doing or they’re simply not happy, and then have to start something again.

Our goal here is to prevent that from happening to you!

So, just to lay them out – here are the four stages:

  • Phase 1 – Set the Foundation
  • Phase 2 – Personal Mission Development
  • Phase 3 – Product and Service Development with First Customers (Start Becoming the Expert!)
  • Phase 4 – Optimization and Growth

 

Let’s take a little more of a look at them:

 

The 4 Phases of the Mission Driven Entrepreneurial Process

entrepreneurial process

Phase 1: Set the Foundation

You guys know that I’m also a huge fan of Dane Maxwell and Andy Drish’s The Foundation.

When I heard about it back in 2012, it blew me away. Up until that point, I had only really heard of the first process I presented here.

One of the things that The Foundation does a great deal of work in is helping people with their limiting beliefs.

It’s these same limiting beliefs that keep people stuck in their mental prisons.

So in this phase, a new entrepreneur should be essentially taking dumb action. Just getting a feel for what’s out there. What sounds interesting to them? What do they feel like they gravitate towards?

Another thing we need to look at is how do we communicate with ourselves and the world around us. Are we real when need to be with ourselves and others? If not, why not? Do we lump all people into one group or are we aware of the different personalities that are out there?

Also in this phase, we need to focus on moving a external locus of control to one that is a bit more internal.

This is all important stuff that needs to be thought about before we can dive into the next phase.

 

Phase 2: Create Your Personal Mission

In this phase, we’ll be looking at crafting your own personal mission.

This is a vital phase that many entrepreneurs skip over. However, time and time again, I’ve heard those from the top say they would have gotten to the top faster had they taken the time to understand what their work actually meant.

In particular, in this phase we’re looking at discovering our Passions, Purpose, and preferred Process (the 3 P’s) and how that relates to our overall mission. We’ll also be looking at all the options you could put your unique skill set towards.

And we also want to make sure we’re starting to develop our network. But we have to make sure we’re doing it strategically. There’s some key people that we need to be meeting if we want to do extraordinary things. We have to seek those folks out who have been there before.

 

Phase 3: Product and Service Development with First Customers (Start Becoming the Expert!)

Now that we’ve developed a understanding of who we are and the skills that we can bring to the market, it’s time that we actually see if someone would be willing to pay for what we can help them with.

Here’s the thing, though. It’s not about what we THINK we can help them with. It’s about what we KNOW we can help them with. And the only way to find out what we can help them with is by actually ASKING them.

Once you know what they want – how are you going to bring it to them? Are you going to get external funding or are you going to do a presale (hint: if you’re smart, you’ll do a presale before you ever lift a finger creating a service, course, SaaS, or even a physical product).

There’s a lot of moving parts in this phase. However, if you do them in the right sequence, it can be super fun.

 

Phase 4: Optimization and Growth

Once you have your first handful of customers, you’ll need to start thinking about your systems. No business became an empire without having a set way of doing things. The more automated you can make things, the more you can leverage your time… and your TEAM’s time.

So, yes. This is the stage where we start thinking about hiring people to help.

Also, if you haven’t made a website yet, then you’ll want to do that in this phase. Because when you’re marketing to the masses (regardless of how you do it), you have to give them something to go to that’s not controlled by third parties.

 

Action Steps

So, this is a lot to throw at you. And really, it depends on where you’re at in your journey. I’ve known people who were in phase 4 and ended up having to go back to phase 2 to recreate their career. In fact, the last two books I read were all about that – people who were at the “top of the world” came crashing down only to build a less stressful and much more enjoyable life.

So where are you at in your journey? Let me know where you’re starting from and I’ll help you get to the next level.

industry trends

Keeping Up with Industry Trends – Should Businesses be Overly Concerned about Being Trendy?

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Many of us struggle with finding content to write about. Especially if we’ve been writing or making content for awhile. As you’ve guys have seen this year, I’ve been writing in this blog since 2010. Since then, I’ve written quite a bit.

I have to admit, there’s times where I wonder if I’m going over the same stuff over and over. And if I am, is it worth it to you guys to go over something I’ve might have talked about not too long ago?

For those of us who are regularly creating content, it’s easy to do this because it’s what we know.

However, there are times where we might feel that we’re not keeping up with the times. That perhaps we’re missing something on this or that social media. Or that, perhaps, social media is where we should be to put our message out there.

Is that really the case? Let’s look at this a bit closer.

 

It’s All About Your List

When it comes to having a successful online business (or any business for that matter) is having a list of people who like what you’re about and could be a potential customer.

So, it’d make sense that the longer your list is, the more income you could possibly make when you release a new product.

This is true. And in fact, that’s the real power of Facebook and other social media platforms. Businesses of any size can “rent” parts of Facebook’s list (their users) by paying for ads. Or, as an alternative, if you don’t have a budget to spend on ads, you can spend more time by making a Facebook group.The more activity you have in your group, the more Facebook will share your group with its users. The more users you have in your group, the more you’ll be able to market to them.

But there’s a catch. You’re still using Facebook’s list.

And really, you need to own your own list. And still to this day, as I said in a recent interview, the best way of doing that is owning your own website and building a list of emails.

 

If You’re Not Trendy Can You Still Be Successful?

Now at this point, you might be thinking about that old saying “What brought you here, won’t get you to there.” Meaning, can my bread and butter – whatever you’re good at – can it take you to the next level?

The short answer is that it can – but not the way you’re currently doing it. What you’re offering people or however your servicing them, it should stay the same. If you want to scale, the way to do that is by changing your process.

However, don’t mistake this for new products or new services. Sure, you can get new customers by offering new things that are more trendy. BUT, that’s not what attracted your original customers.

What do your original customers want and are they still getting it? Ask yourself how can you service them better?

 

McDonald’s Attempt to Stay Trendy

Let’s take McDonald’s for example.

McDonald’s has a process that we’re familiar with. Every store has the same process. If you watched the movie “The Founder”, you’ll know that what Ray Kroc did to make McDonald’s better wasn’t by just toying around with the menu, it was by how he was able to scale the company. He offered the same thing at every store and that brought them loyalty.

That model worked for decades – until people started realizing what they were eating and wanted to eat better.

Now, McDonald’s realized that people wanted healthier alternatives. So they started offering all kinds of different products to cater to the healthy consumer. Their menu got larger and larger until in 2013 or so, not only could you order your regular burger, but you could order a fairly large chicken wrap.

The problem is, though, that these healthier alternatives that McDonald’s was trying… they weren’t improving their revenue. In fact, I’m guessing they were losing money with this bloated menu. Because it wasn’t too long that they got a new CEO and the menu was scaled back to a more basic selection.

They decided to cater to WHO got them there in the first place.

And one of the biggest ways they did this was by expanding the times in which they offered breakfast food.

That said, here we are in 2018 and I’d pretty much say that McDonald’s menu is about the same as it was when I was growing up. That’s why they’re still in business – not because of all the healthy alternatives they were starting to offer.

 

Social Media is Designed to be Addictive

Something else I want to point out is that social media is designed to keep you interacting with it. When I was in Honduras in January, I didn’t have a reliable internet connection. So I had just enough time to get me off of Facebook. Sure, there was a couple of times a day where I connected, but for entertainment – I read. And in fact, I read a good book you’re probably all aware of by now (Meaningful Work).

Unfortunately, that hasn’t helped me be the best steward when it comes to the Junto Facebook group. I still think that people get more fulfillment out of working their personal mission – but at the same time, they need to be actually working on it. On one hand, I don’t want to be the reason they spend all their time on Facebook, on the other hand if I didn’t care about that, the group might be growing at a more steady rate.

So, right now to get back on the horse with the Junto, I’m going to schedule time for me to actually be present on there and post. Because really, I’ve just stopped using social media altogether recently. It’s a great feeling, but I need to make sure I’m connected and connecting still too. So yeah, be it a half an hour or an hour, I’ll create a little time in order to do stuff in the group and create buzz in other groups.

 

Action Steps

So trends. Sure, they can be useful in creating more customers. But if you’re already a successful entrepreneur, stay with what you know works. Identify who those raving fans are and figure out how you can serve them better.

Are trends something that you can ignore all together? Probably not. Carve out a day once a week or once a month where you can explore to see what’s popular out there – where you can experiment in growing your business. Not only will you see more opportunities this way, but you’ll also be helping yourself avoid burnout!

As usual, let me know what you think below. How do you utilize trends in your work?

How to be a Good Interviewer

Michael O’Neal – Don’t Make It About Your Podcast Gear! – Learning How to be a Great Interviewer (AoL 119)

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When it comes to podcasting, you can get geek out about equipment and marketing tactics all day long. However, what separates the good from the great is, especially when you have an interview based show, is the content.

When you have an interview based show, this means that you should have a good feel for interviewing.

For me, I’ve listened to a number of interviewers styles since I first started: Larry King, Tim Ferriss, Cal Fussman, and Lewis Howes are some of the folks that I’ve tried to emulate.

Another is this session’s guest, Michael O’Neal.

According to Michael, when he first started the Solopreneur Podcast, he wasn’t sure how to help people get better at interviews. It was just something he was naturally good at. But, over time, he’s been able to deconstruct his ability and help hundreds of interviewers get better at their craft.

In this session, we’ll learn about what we can expect from his course as well as some new tips he learned recently at Podfest.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How’d Michael end up as a Steelers fan? 9:16
  • What was his experience like being a cohost with Hines Ward? 11:19
  • How’d he realize that he was unemployable? 14:28
  • What was the attraction to podcasting that got Michael started with it? 22:17
  • What’s his process in connecting with influencers and producing the podcast? 25:48
  • Has Michael seen a drop in his Google Analytics since shortening his show notes? What are a few things he learned at
  • Podfest 2018? 28:22
  • What can someone expect from his course “The Art of the Interview”? 32:02
  • Who are three influencers that have helped launch him to where he’s at today? 42:54
  • How does Michael say no to all the opportunities he receives these days? 43:18
  • Something he’s been learning about recently that he’s excited about? 44:44
  • What’s his least favorite social custom? 45:27
  • What’s the secret to achieving personal freedom? 45:45

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

 

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

 

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Michael starts Hand & Foot Combination Practice

Michael on drums at IGNITE 2016

Solopreneur Hour #377 with Pat Flynn

Solopreneur Hour #338 with Hines Ward

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

professional etiquette

15 Professional Etiquette Tips to Help Your Business Blossom

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You know that feeling. When someone doesn’t quite live up to your standards. It’s hard to describe that particular feeling though.

Do you feel let down? Sure.

Maybe a little bit of shame because you feel you might have dropped the ball somehow? Quite possibly.

Maybe, it’s neither. Maybe you just brush it off and place a label on that person as “not up to par”.

Well, having grown up in a old patriarchal family that was HUGE on manners, I can tell you a thing or two about how it’s helped me throughout the years.

I remember one particular instance where I reached for food in a wrong manner, and was stabbed with a fork.

It taught me a lesson in being polite at the table. Reaching for things across other people – not a polite thing to do.

Today, however, stabbing someone with a fork (or most discipline for that matter) is not acceptable in our PC liberal leading world. In fact, I’m sure it would be considered child abuse.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of people out there practicing business that might not have been taught how to be polite growing up themselves.

Quite regularly, for example, I hear the question “does profanity bother me in business?” Well, that’s kinda like asking “Does nudity bug you in public?”.

I mean, of course they’re not the same thing. But the same principles of self control are used in both.  

Personally, it’s hard for me to trust people who don’t show self control up front. It makes me wonder if they’ll show self control in the rest of their life and business.

 

Manners Matter!

That being the case, what are some ways of making sure that people don’t get the wrong impression of you when you first meet?

Of course the answer is being mindful with your manners.

Manners are a great way to illustrate that you practice self control. And self control is one of the keys in building long lasting trust.

You want a good working relationship, that first impression (as well as your 2nd, 3rd, and etc.) is huge when it comes to self-selecting yourself when it comes to opportunities.

Likes attract likes. If you want to attract Gary Vaynerchuk type folks in your life, work it like Gary. But I’m not saying just be crass – I’m saying have people skills and know how to get the job done. Otherwise you might end up like looking like a try hard Jesse Pinkman type of character.

So here’s a few things that I think many of us online business folk should probably get a little better at:

 

First Impressions

First impression is the best way to start building good moral right away. Besides not swearing as if you’re beer buddies, it’s also good to present yourself in the manner you want to known. Sure, you can dress like Elliot Alderson if you want or you can suit up. Personally, I’m somewhere in the middle.

 

Few more pointers include:

  1. When meeting someone, always shake hands firmly while making eye contact. No wimpy hand grabs. And make sure that if you’re sitting, that you get up to shake their hand when you first meet them. Note: It’s ok to sit while shaking hands when you’re agreeing on something!
  2. Pay attention to their name and use it as frequently as makes sense. Up to a point, the more you use it, the more they feel important. (Just don’t use it in negative examples.)
  3. Besides learning their name, give other cues that you’re paying attention to what they’re saying. Repeat what they say sometimes.
  4. Use your inside voice. Sometimes people are obnoxiously loud when meeting new people. Might be because they’re over-excited. Might be because they’re not aware that their voice carries as well as it does.
  5. Put away any digital devices when meeting someone. Better yet, put it on silent or turn it off completely so that you can have a good uninterrupted conversation.

 

Communication

Speaking of turning off digital devices, there’s some things that you should probably think about with communication etiquette:

 

  1. When it comes to a phone in particular, maintain your usual speaking volume. Also, if you’re speaking with someone on the speakerphone – let them know. This might actually keep them from looking like a tool… or both of you if they drop something on the line that might not be the best thing for people near you to hear.
  2. When it comes to email and other online messages, you can never be too cautious. Generally speaking, in person, we all have an easier understanding of what others are trying to say. But if you use too many exclamation marks, reply in all caps, or use too many emoticons.
  3. Also, when it comes to emails – use professional email addresses. At one point, this meant just not using names like “sweetie@…”, “coolsugarman@…” or other cute or fun names. That still is good rule, but we live in a time where if you have a business, you should have a business email. You can get up to 10 of them for free at zoho.com.
  4. When it comes to messaging people, whether it’s on Facebook or through texts, try to keep the conversation short. Also, don’t be a negative through messages. Important conversations need to be had on the phone or in person.
  5. If you miss someone’s call, get a text, or an email try to respond to them promptly. In a world where ghosting is a thing, you don’t want people to get the idea that you’re avoiding them on purpose.

 

Other Stuff

A few things that don’t necessarily fit above include:

 

  1. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. A good rule of thumb is to not disrupt the ways of the locals. Whether that means keeping your space tidy or labeling food in a refrigerator  in a coworking space or knowing a bit about the language.
  2. Be timely. Be on time as much as possible. End meetings on time and never use more words when you could use less.
  3. Unless someone is volunteering information or you have their permission, don’t brain-pick! Always ask permission to get someone’s advice or when you want to be direct with them.
  4. Be strategic when choosing meals. You don’t want to order anything that splatters with new people. If you can, only do meals with people you feel comfortable with.
  5. Might be a little old fashioned, but handwritten thank you cards go a long way. Pat Flynn has a wall where his fans’ notes end up! Also, when not handwriting, make sure you always use spell check!! 🙂

 

Action Steps

That’s a good list to get you started. I’m sure there’s plenty of pointers I’m missing, though. What are some things you’ve noticed people have done that left a sour taste in your mouth? Let us know in the comments below!!