After an eventful four-month period of general craziness, it's come to a New Year. Solace always takes a back burner to everything else, and of course after Zoë, it's time to start focusing on it as my next priority.
If I don't start ramping up the hype, someone else will take my idea and do better with it.
With that, here's my Goals for Solace for 2008:
1. I need to revamp my storefront around my new methodologies. I no longer teach small classes - the masses have spoken, and they want individual care. People were willing to pay more for an hour of individual time, so that's what they'll get.
My big dilemma was how to spread the word that people can come in for an hour and learn ANYTHING, whether it be questions, or something more structured.
I think I did it successfully. I have a new ad campaign called "How will you use YOUR hour?" In the flyer, I give brief descriptions of how others have used their hour. I am very careful to also include use of the word "learning" rather than just "training". Training implies benefit to the employer. Learning implies personal benefit.
In addition, I am also calling myself a "Technology Coach", which implies one-on-one personalized care.
Right now, I have notepads free to everyone, especially clients. As they say right on them, "Keep this pad by your computer. When it's full of your questions, bring it to Solace."
2. I need to be more retail-oriented to encourage in-the-door traffic. I am in a boutique-retail walking shopping district, complete with coffee/ice cream shops, cafe's, and a beautiful Victorian strolling park. I am right across the street from the town library and neighborhood pizza parlor. There is lots of foot traffic!
I currently have a fun marketing scheme. All around my office are "Solace" themed things. The coat hooks have "solace for your coats" written above them. I have coffee mugs that say "Solace for your early morning sleepiness." I want to find computer-related tchochkes to sell, that are gift-quality and unique. Even 1Gig USB drives with "Solace for your data" on them would be perfect.
However, this plan brings me to goal #3:
3. I need to find funding to get a receptionist onsite for at least 20 hours. I have lots of jobs. I am a Lotus Notes and Domino consultant, with many writing contracts in between. I hate the fact that my shop sits empty for too long. A part time receptionist would be able to be a face to the company, and could answer questions and make appointments, which I desperately need right now.
4. I need to write Press Releases until I become one. I am bringing affordable computer learning to everyday users. This is revolutionary, and everyone needs to know about it! My goal is therefore to get a story in at least ONE magazine this year.
5. I need to stick to my "Tuesday night is free friend help" plan. I love helping my friends with their computer issues. However, each friend does not realize that at any given time, there are also 20 other friends requesting help also. There has to be limits and boundaries. Therefore, this year I am instituting a new policy. Tuesday nights are when I help friends. If I am all full on one Tuesday, they can book for next Tuesday.
6. Finally, I need to stop taking every SNAFU that occurs as a sign that I should close up shop. Matt can attest, or maybe I'm just paranoid. But it's hard not to get discouraged when I pick a night to have a special event, and the power goes out in my shop. Or when I spend money to order custom notepads, and many of them get soaked because I left the car door open overnight when it rained. Trust me, this happens a lot.
So apparently I'm doing a BoF!
Posted by Jess in Lotusphere2008
Why the word "apparently?" Because I had no idea my abstract was even submitted to be one. :-)
I submitted an abstract for the Best Practices track titled "Blogging Best Practices". This was the description:
Whether you already have a blog or are just thinking about getting started, you'll walk away with info you didn’t know! This session will cover why you’d want to blog in the first place, creative uses for blogs, blog software options, corporate blogging, how to build your brand, and some quick "Writing 101" tips to keep your readers happy and coming back!
I didn't hear anything about it, so I inquired. It couldn't be used, which was not a big surprise, especially after seeing the AMAZING track listing.
What WAS a surprise, however, was getting this in my email:
Re: Blogging Best Practices
Dear Jessica Stratton:
Once again, this year we asked all registered attendees to pay special attention to the Session Preferences voting application - the BoF submissions with the most votes would be the ones included in this year's agenda. There was tremendous interest and excitement in our new approach, and a huge turnout of voters as well.
We are pleased to inform you that your BoF session listed above has been chosen as one of the Bofs attendees would most like to see included on this year's agenda.
Well, cool!
Because this is a "Best Practices" type of discussion, I think I may include a few discussion points such as some creative uses for blogging (such as meeting minutes), and your favorite tips for keeping return visitors to your blog. I also want to talk about potential blog "faux-pas" (if you care about that sort of thing), etc.
What else would you like to discuss?
Oh, and who wants to tell me how you run a BoF? I was a deer caught in the headlights reading THAT email. :-)
Edited: For those that aren't sure, a "BoF" is a 'birds of a feather' discussion at Lotusphere2008. Instead of a formal presentation, I'll be leading a discussion on the topic above. Think talk show host. This is in response to an email I got from my mom about five minutes after posting this, that said "Congratulations, I think. By the way, what's a BoF?" :-)
Goog411 - my new best friend
Posted by Jess in Tech Talk
Google has a new, free service for phones: Goog411.
From any phone, dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (800-466-4411). A fast an accurate voice prompter will ask you for a city, state, and name or category listing. It will then walk you through choosing the possible results, will speak the information for each, and then will dial the number for you.
Of course, I had to try it with "Westerly, RI - computer training."
In no time, the number one listing was announced to me - "Solace, located at 43 Broad street in Westerly." Apparently, it will read to you any information listed in it's Google business directory, or send it to your phone as a text message. You can also connect directly to it.
Could they be using this to gather marketing information? Possibly. Do I care? Absolutely not. I use Windows Mobile on my Treo. Fumbling with the dial pad is not a favorite past time of mine, and now I don't have to. I have Goog411 listed as a speed dial right on my Today screen, so it's completely hands-free.
I was quite surprised at the speed an accuracy of the voice-recognition software. Apparently, it's all volume-related. Google has millions of accents, voices, and dialects to use to train it's software; the "individual" need is now irrelevant.
Try it. Never has looking up information been quite as much fun!
LotusUserGroup.org blog
Posted by Jess in Lotusphere2008
* ...begin friendly reminder... *
This is just a friendly reminder to add the LotusUserGroup.org blog to your RSS subscriptions if you haven't done so already!
As always, anyone is allowed to log in and sound off. I've been hosting it during the "off season", but now that Lotusphere approaches, once again be prepared for some good traffic!
We get all sorts of cool people logging in and telling us which sessions they liked best, how Lotusphere is going for them, and how things are going on the Product Showcase. One thing I really like about it is that it's a great way to feel like you're there and get caught up in the good energy if your reading from home.
The URL for the blog isn't that user-friendly, which I'm trying to see if that can be changed, so here it is:
Tales from Suburbia - You've Been Booed
Posted by Jess in Day to Day
I've posted tales about my street before, most notably a summation in the Suburban Diary. Anyone who lives in the suburbs has probably heard of a Halloween phenomenon going on called "You've Been Boo'ed".
1. Before Halloween, fill a gift bag with candy, or any treat or goodie.
2. Print out the flyer, which includes a cutesie little poem about what to do, and an "I've Been Boo'ed" sign. Put the flyer in the gift bag.
3. Go up to a neighbor's house, leave the bag on the door, and ring the bell.
4. That neighbor then puts the sign on their door (so they don't get "boo'ed" again), and does it to someone else.
Until this year, our little street had happily escaped this little side project leading up to the holiday, but then one day, a bag showed up at one of the houses. It didn't take long for the good-natured phone calls to start flying around.
(names have been changed to protect the guilty) Maggie called Sharon: "Who started this shit? I don't have time for this!" Sharon calls Jess: "Lock your doors, there's a 'boo' thing going around." Jess calls Kelly:"I think Mary boo'ed me. Her kids love Scooby Doo, and mine contained two packs of Scooby Doo gummy treats. Doesn't she know that's a dead giveaway?" Maggie to everyone: "OK, this is getting ridiculous! I got boo'ed twice! I put the freakin' sign on my door!"
***
The aftermath...
The girls in my neighborhood meet once a month for "Girl's Night." We plan out our entire year in advance, and each month we're at someone else's house. Since we can all walk there, it's easy. It's a night of eating, gabbing, catching up, and lots of wine drinking (at least for the ones who don't happen to be pregnant that month. Come to think of it, in three years, we've never had a month where everyone can drink).
The girl's night after the "Boo" saga was hysterical. It didn't take long before the stories of each boo came out. It turns out, all the kids really enjoyed it, and pretty much every house got boo'ed. There was a surprising amount of sneakage going on behind the scenes!
Some of the more notable stories:
1. When Matt and I got boo'ed, the outside lights were off and the doorbell rang. It only took Matt about four seconds to get down the stairs and answer it. The bag was there - the person was gone. Turns out, my neighbor's three-year old daughter did it while mom waited in the wings. Sneaky!
2. Matt boo'ed our new neighbors next door. He had it all planned out. Ring the bell, and run behind our house under the deck. I heard Matt run over and ring the bell. Silence. Then, about twenty seconds later, underneath our deck, I heard a loud CRASH BAM BOOM!!, which could only have been a cunning plan foiled by two large garbage cans.
3. Even the older community members had fun getting involved. At girl's night, Carolyn told us her story of ringing the bell, and having no where to hide. The neighbor came out yelling, "who's there? What is this?" Carolyn ran behind a tall bush. The neighbor walked over to the bush, causing Carolyn to sneak around it slowly. It turned into an all-out cartoony-James Bond moment, with Carolyn staying one step ahead of the neighbor. What made it so funny, was the fact that Carolyn is an older woman with no kids living with her, and here she was, having a great time. When she recounted the story, she got up and did the motions sneaking around the bush.
4. Some neighbors met in 'mid-boo'. After ringing the bell, Sharon ran behind one neighbor's house to get back to her own house with her children. On the way, she bumped into Jennifer, who was dressed in black en route to someone else's house!
Oh, and Maggie really did get boo'ed twice. We're still not sure why.
But, the important thing is, we DID find out who started it, and got our retaliation. Stay tuned.
