Tesar-Reynes

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In today’s world it is important to keep your skills as sharp as possible.  One of the more painless ways that I found to do this was to subscribe to Lynda.com.  It is a site that I have used for over a year to sharpen my skills in Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop and in my conversion to Apple’s new OS, Leopard.

The neat thing about the site is you are allowed to sample.  The first couple of lessons are free in any of the software that they are teaching.  This gives a good flavor for the …

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I don’t think most of us go out of our way to create enemies. But many people constantly poison their well for the future. Here are some recent stories that have been related to me.

“My boss is an idiot.”

Maybe these aren’t the exact words, but people email or text this to a trusted friend. The friend could forward it where it is benignly at the bottom of a forward to someone else. I also know of a lady who was out of the office and needed an address off her computer and asked her boss to find it for her. He found more that just the address.

“Let me tell you how bad my company is.”

On an interview situation, some people can’t shut up. When asked why they are leaving, they tee off on their current employer. …

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An article in today’s Wall Street Journal (Grad Tidings by Sue Shellenbarger) reminded me of some testing I did when I was part way through my career.

The reason I took the testing was because I had it with my current choice of jobs. In the …

These 4 books have helped me find my way as a new marketing person. They’re easy reads and the kind of books you can absorb in a short amount of time.

I recommend them to you. They’re more about basic communication and people skills than marketing theory. I guess since I’m young, I thought it important to get the basic fundamental skills down first.

1. How to Talk to Anyone, by Leil Lowndes

This is one of my favorite books. The book’s cover reads, “92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships.” The book is just that, 92 little things you can do that will immediately improve the way you communicate and interact with people.

2. The Book on Writing, by Paula LaRocque

We all know …

My best friend is a financial director for a person in the US Congress. On a recent mailing, the response rate was less than .5%. Now a good direct response person would say that the list or the offer was bad. I happen to believe that the addresses were good; I can’t attest to the message.
This instance does remind me of the fact that people don’t respond to my messages. I sent out 37 in-mails in Linked In and I only received 12 responses. The addresses were good and the offer, from my vantage point, had no negatives.

This all brings me to a question: why don’t people return calls and …