Forget Me Not – Julie’s memoirs

Day 17 – Forgetting my Challenge

Day 17 – Forgetting my Challenge

Forgetting my Challenge

Forgetting my challenge seems a ridiculous statement to make, but this happened today.  I had such a busy day with some client work and then watched a few teaching videos on editing a video.  It just slipped my mind that I had not uploaded this blog and video.  I had some narrative written about networking but have had to amend that to cover my forgetting my challenge.  I wrote the article on the correct day. The video had been created on the right day, albeit at 5.30 pm when I was at home.  Putting the two together didn’t happen until the next day.

I got the critical client work completed

I did all the billable work expected of me, and my clients are happy with the work sent to them.  Keeping my clients happy is an essential part of my job.  Making sure my clients are delighted.  The 31-day challenge is an example to everyone that writing your memoirs is not as difficult as people think.

Networking could be an excuse for forgetting my challenge.

I am a member of BNI; this is a networking group for businesses that meets every week.  The primary goal for BNI is that each member of the chapter helps other members get business.  In effect, the chapter members become our sales teams when talking to their clients.  The commitment for BNI is that you have to bring a contribution each week.  There are three types of contribution:

  • An offer of a referral to provide a quote for yourself or one of your clients
  • A testimonial for one member that you have worked with or for one of your clients
  • A testimonial for BNI and what they have helped you achieve

What is BNI?

BNI is an American organisation that is successful the world over.  Some chapters have over 200 members (in India).  In the UK, we have an average of about 25-40 people per chapter.  I think this is a good number, as the primary goal of networking is to create lasting relationships with people.  As the phrase goes, people by people and if you can recommend them all the better. 

During Covid, meetings are online, so we now have the opportunity to visit chapters worldwide.  I am not sure how many people have taken up this offer.  I have taken part in other chapters from the comfort of my office.

BNI is strict, and there is a set formula followed every week.  The same script read the same people deliver the leadership. Each week, every member gives a small presentation about their business (60 seconds, or 30 in larger chapters).  BNI is one of the most formal networking meetings you will ever attend, but it has a wealth of experience.  There are online business training courses and help and support.  If you are a small business, BNI is undoubtedly worth visiting.  BNI is not a 90-minute membership.  Most relationship building takes place outside of the meeting during the week.

To find out more about BNI click here

What I learnt about forgetting my challenge when writing my memoirs

  1. My time management is good unless I am learning a new skill
  2. Preparation for networking meetings also takes longer than you think
  3. BNI it not about one meeting of 90-minute every week, and it is up to the member to take advantage of the offer available to them.

Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts

Day 21 – An Expert
Day 25 – Bullying is Slow
Day 29 – Bullied Health
Day 22 – Fire a Client
Day 26 – Management
Day 30 – Survival
Day 23 – A Dilemma
Day 27 – Accused
Day 31 – I Made It
Day 24 – Sold
Day 28 – Promotion

Day 16 – Interruptions when working from home

Day 16 – Interruptions when working from home

Interruptions when wroking from home

Interruptions when working from home are very different from those the workplace.  Interruptions are distracting, costly and annoying.  On average, one person interrupting you can take 10 minutes away from your productivity.  It may seem that the interruption is only for a few minutes, but by the time you have stopped what you are doing.  Interrupted your thought process to understand what it is the person is asking of you.  Answer the question correctly.  Then go back and pick up your thought process takes about 10 minutes. 

Not to mention your attitude to the interruptions.  Suppose you are deeply engrossed in your task. In that case, it is difficult to tell your facial features to be pleasant, smile and be accommodating.  (Resting Bitch face comes to mind).  Then you must explain to the person who has interrupted you-you are deeply engrossed in a task.  Once you have been interrupted, your mind then focuses some of its attention on the question or purpose of the original interruption.  Now you have two trains of thought, your task at hand and that of the question asked of you.  It’s called attention residue.

In an office, there are strategies you can put in place. 

  1. Tell people you are unavailable during certain times of the day
  2. Only open emails at set times
  3. Create boundaries you and your colleagues’ respect
  4. Turn your phone off

Interruptions working from Home.

All brilliant strategies, but what if you are working from Home?  How do you deal with those interruptions?  With Covid-19, many of us have changed our working style and moved our office to the dining room table or the spare room.  We have had to manage family commitments and our bosses’ constant demands.

The strategies we had for interruptions in the office are no longer valid at Home.  It is difficult to tell your loved ones you are unavailable for a chat from 9 am to 5 pm.  They can physically see you.  Not only that, but they can also reach out their hands and touch you.  To them, you are there, in person.  As a result, able to be spoken to and answer the question.  Interrupted, able to answer just one question, for example, what are we having for dinner.  To your family and friends, being in lockdown means you are constantly accessible.

Interruptions when working from home - 31 day challenge

Interruptions when working from home

Interruptions when working from home - 31 day challenge writing my memoirs

How have I coped with these interruptions?  Not well to start with, a plan was needed to deal with interruptions.  My home office, entitled ‘The Studio’, is the converted garage.  Suddenly I am available with my family and friends who want to speak to me.  When in the office, they respected my time and rarely called or popped in.  When working from home, suddenly, the rules seem to have been thrown out of the window.  So new rules had to be set in place. 

The new rules are:

  1. Work starts at 9 am, and I will finish at 5-6 pm depending on the tasks at hand
  2. I will take a break in the morning at 10.30 for 15 minutes and will talk and discuss whatever is needed
  3. Lunch will be at 1 pm for 30 minutes, and again, I will chat and discuss whatever.
  4. I will take a break at 3.15 for 15 minutes
  5. Work will finish at 5-6 pm depending on the task

What I learnt about writing my memoirs

  1. I needed to set new boundaries when working from home
  2. Just because someone is at home, it doesn’t mean they are not working
  3. Another person’s break is not my break

Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts

Day 21 – An Expert
Day 25 – Bullying is Slow
Day 29 – Bullied Health
Day 22 – Fire a Client
Day 26 – Management
Day 30 – Survival
Day 23 – A Dilemma
Day 27 – Accused
Day 31 – I Made It
Day 24 – Sold
Day 28 – Promotion

Day 14 – Finding my Personality at last

Day 14 – Finding my Personality at last

Being me and finding my personality

My personality has been called into account during my video recordings over the last few days.  I have pondered all the advice I’ve received on recording my videos, writing my blog posts, and getting my personality across. The momentous decision that I’ve made is that I’m going to ignore most of it. I have taken some on board, and I will put some into action. But overall, I need to be true to myself. Because if I am not true to myself when people work with me, they could not work with the true me. When people work with me, I want them to understand that I have a passion for what I do. Not everybody likes you, not everybody will want to work with you, that’s fine. I want to enjoy the work I do and the people I work with.

My clients and My Personality

I spend many hours making sure that my clients’ books of their memoirs are perfect for them. I’ll probably spend more time than I should. However, I want the product of the book to be the best it can be. I want them to enjoy looking at their book. I want them to pick up that book and remember what happened in the past.

As a result, I have to be true to myself in the videos and my writing narrative. I don’t have 100 people working for me; I don’t have a massive studio or sound equipment. All I have is a camera, a computer and my passion.

I know my videos will be raw. There will be some incorrect words, they’ll be some good points as well, but you know what, it’s me. I don’t understand why it has taken me 14 days to realise this. When I started, I just wanted everything to be perfect. You look at YouTube, and there are some fantastic videos up there. They look professional; they feel professional, and the people spend hours making sure these videos have a look and feel. My job isn’t about making videos. My job is about recording memoirs and helping people remember the past. Assisting people to remember what they have overcome and how far they have come. My job is about creating books. It’s about making some beautiful art and helping my clients create memories. If I can get my message from being authentic and being me, I have done my job.

Julie Farmer forgetmenot.publishmystories.com
Finding My Personality

Working with me

If you want to work with me and get your memoirs published, drop me a line, call me or email me. I will always reply, but what you see in the videos is the person I am. It’s the person I like, and it’s the person I want to be.

What I learnt about writing my memoirs

  1. I need to be true to myself to be believable
  2. You don’t need fancy equipment to get your passion across
  3. It’s the message that is important, and those people who work with me know that

Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts

Day 21 – An Expert
Day 25 – Bullying is Slow
Day 29 – Bullied Health
Day 22 – Fire a Client
Day 26 – Management
Day 30 – Survival
Day 23 – A Dilemma
Day 27 – Accused
Day 31 – I Made It
Day 24 – Sold
Day 28 – Promotion

Day 10 – Customer Services

Day 10 – Customer Services

All businesses will deal with the public in one form or another. You could say your organisation is B to B (business to business) or B to C (business to customer). It doesn’t matter what terminology you use; you are all going to be dealing with people. As a result, you’re going to need customer service. Underestimating good customer services will be detrimental to your organisation.

Indeed, many websites promote businesses that have excellent customer service. For example, trust pilot, this site is where people write about the experiences they’ve had.

Get one critical review from an unhappy customer could damage the business reputation. It is now common to hear people write reviews on trust pilots. The business owner can reply to the the review or correct any wrong or nasty reviews, because of the enormous damage it can do to an organisation.

If you do not have excellent customer service within your business, then you will lose clients.

When I started my business, it was just myself and any issues that arose I could deal with instantly. When I took on staff, processes were not in place. I remember one incident one of my members of the team phoned me when I was sick to say that she’d upset one of my customers. She was worried that she couldn’t resolve his issue. It also turned out that they had an argument, and my staff member didn’t like the way he spoke to her, and I thought he was insulting. My client couldn’t understand why somebody in my employment would not do the work he had asked her to do. A complete breakdown in communications at that point in customer services was void. I had to speak to the employee and the customer to find out exactly what’s going on. It transpired that it was just a miscommunication of my employees not understanding his tone, narrative, and requirements. My client thought my employee was rude, obnoxious is unhelpful.

I still have this client working with me, and my member of staff has now moved on. Not that she was inadequate at her job. She was very good at her job—however, the terminology my client used and her attitude towards him breakdown. I had to nurture both relationships to ensure I kept both my employees and my client. As a result, a complaint procedure is in place for our customer services team.

What I have learnt about Customer Services

  1. Customers aren’t always right, but they like to think they are, and you need to stand up to your customer if they are wrong.
  2. It is easy to misunderstand terminology and tonality.  There are times you need to step back to resolve the issue.
  3. The relationship between the customer and the business is delicate.  The relationship should be nurtured.

Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts

Day 21 – An Expert
Day 25 – Bullying is Slow
Day 29 – Bullied Health
Day 22 – Fire a Client
Day 26 – Management
Day 30 – Survival
Day 23 – A Dilemma
Day 27 – Accused
Day 31 – I Made It
Day 24 – Sold
Day 28 – Promotion

Day 9 – Destination Shopping while writing my memoirs

Day 9 – Destination Shopping while writing my memoirs

Destination Shopping while writing my memoirs.

Continuing the research into destination shopping, I visited Tubney Retail Park in Dorset.  The retail park itself is a destination shopping centre.  There is ample parking easy access for cars, walking and buses.  However, I think their target audience is car drivers.

As an aside, and by comparison

IKEA has thought about the customer, the customer journey and envy purchasing.  They have their showrooms laid out in a way that invites aspirational living. IKEA has been in the United Kingdom for many years and is incredibly popular.  Indeed, in some towns, you queue to enter the shop (pre pandemic). 

The three shops I visited today do not appear to have thought about the customer. They are stuck in the same layout as was around in the 1950s. The customer journey and envy purchasing are non-existent.

Dunelm’s

The first shop I went into was Dunelms.  A shop specialising in home furnishings.  Like most shops in the United Kingdom, there is a dedicated path through the shop.  Items are in order of interest and psychological purchasing. Dunelm’s should look at how IKEA has attracted customers.  I was looking for new towels, but I didn’t enjoy my time in the shop, the staff were too busy to talk to me.  In short, I felt like I was intruding on their lovely displays. As a result, I bought nothing in this shop.  I didn’t have that enjoyable customer experience I was looking for and became frustrated.

The Range

The next shop I entered was The Range.  I have walked out of this shop before as I dislike the lighting, as it is too oppressive.  The lights are dim; it feels dark; the fixtures are so full, you can barely walk around the shop without banging into something.  I spent 15 minutes in this shop, and that included going to the loo. 

Home Bargains

The last shop I visited was Home Bargains, selling cheaper homeware, from food and garden furniture to toiletries.  The shop is bright, light and there is plenty of walking space.  I have, on previous occasions, spent up to an hour in this shop just looking around.  Thinking about the products for sale, could I use them in my home.  However, on this occasion, I asked for help from one of the shop assistants.  Unfortunately, she had no clue about the products she was selling.  My conversation was very abrupt and along the lines of, it’s over there if we have it. 

Dunelms Bedroom
The Range Bedroom
Home Bargains Bedroom

I am not a demanding shopper.  However, I work hard for my money, and I want to enjoy spending it.  When I purchased a computer a few years ago, I walked into PC World and laid down my expectations.  I told the assistant that I wanted to buy a laptop and have an enjoyable experience or go elsewhere.  The assistant couldn’t have been nicer.  He was attentive, helpful and guided me directly to the Laptop I needed.  An enjoyable experience and as a result, I often go back to that shop.

Destination Shopping via a website

As my business is very much an online business, I want a destination website.  I went to the website of each business. 

Dunelm’s has some images perfectly correct.  There are some aspirational images of their products.  The beds look luxurious, and you can see yourself asleep in them.  Then they look at each item.  I am not sure I would look at their website if I weren’t writing this post.  However, I would look now.

The website for the Range could appear just as busy as the shop.  The top banner is dynamic with loads of clashing images.  However, the website is bright and full of information.  I am not sure where my eyes fall on the homepage as there is too much to see.  The product pages are helpful and bright.  I prefer more space with images, but that is very much a personal style issue. Would I visit this website?  I am not sure.  Maybe for price comparisons.

The final website was for Home Bargains.  Like the previous two websites, it was bright, easy to read and navigate.  I would not have thought to visit their website in the past.  It would never occur to me that Home Bargains would sell online.  I don’t know why.  Would I revisit this site? Yes, I think I would.

All three shops have a physical presence.  All three shops have a website that is also selling their products.  Do the shop and website give the same customer feel? Dunelm’s and The Range certainly don’t.  It feels as if they are two very distinct businesses (which they could be).  Home bargains was a surprise.  I visit this shop every week.  The website appears to have the same feel as the shop.

My View and my clients

I want my clients to have the same feeling when they meet us in person as when they visit the website.  It is going back to getting that personality of the business and website to match.  Maybe that is the key to marketing, being coherent?  All touches with potential clients have the same feel and personality.  Is branding about the ethos of the company and saleable products? 

What I learnt about writing my memoirs

  1. I don’t want to fight a website for information.
  2. My website and company should have the same message, the same personality.
  3. Reviewing successful websites and businesses to see what they do well is valuable for the success of your business.

Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts

Day 21 – An Expert
Day 25 – Bullying is Slow
Day 29 – Bullied Health
Day 22 – Fire a Client
Day 26 – Management
Day 30 – Survival
Day 23 – A Dilemma
Day 27 – Accused
Day 31 – I Made It
Day 24 – Sold
Day 28 – Promotion