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Careful: Your Words Might Say More Than You Think

Written by: Mathew Georghiou

Article Overview: When communicating, using the right language can make or break a business relationship. Read on to find out more.

Careful: Your Words Might Say More Than You Think

When communicating with a prospect, partner, or customer, using appropriate language can be very effective in realizing your objectives. This goes beyond being polite and articulate, and focuses on making the person feel at ease and comfortable with the conversation and the
result that you are attempting to achieve.

It is important to recognize that your delivery can directly affect how your message is received. This is particularly true in situations where you are not face-to-face with the person(s) you are communicating to, such as with email correspondence or telephone conversations, when you do not have the opportunity to support your message with appropriate body language.

Written words, such as in email and letters, are often the most difficult to interpret properly. It is quite easy to misinterpret language as harsh, impolite, impersonal, sarcastic, or accusatory. Extra care must be taken when using written communication.

With telephone communications, a simple rule is to smile while speaking. It is believed that a smile will infuse warmth into the tone of your voice and improve how your message is received. Also be sure to listen intently, speak clearly, and be responsive when the
other party is speaking.

If you feel the words you are using have a chance of being misinterpreted, then chances are they will be — so improve them. Here are a few sample phrases that you might find useful to bring in to your communications:

• “Help me understand …”
• “If you don't mind...”
• “Is that reasonable…”
• “Would it be convenient for you …”
• “Do you mind if I ask …”
• “Perhaps we can explore the possibility of … ”
• “Just to make sure we are headed in the same direction …”
• “Let's summarize …”
• “What happens when you …”
• “Who else might be involved in making this decision …”
• “What is the process going to look like…"

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Ad words - And I forgot... you could give Google Ad Words a try. I've used that in the past and was never able to get my click rate below 20 cents, but perhaps you'll have better luck. With Google Ad Words, your ad (which you must make sure you write properly) will send people to your website, so it's a must have.
Re: How To Drive Traffic To Your Site Through Our Forums - Thanks for this post, it has been bothering my mind on how I can generate traffic to my blog site and now you have point me to the right direction. Words cannot express my joy for this post. Thanks.
Meet Mary Sue Milliken - chef and restaurant owner - Mary Sue Milliken will be at our "Launching an Edible Life" event February 4 in Los Angeles ... come join us! Contact aswift@ladieswholaunch.com for registration details. If there's just one thing you need to open a restaurant, it would have to be a stove, right? Think again. When Mary Sue Milliken and her best friend/fellow chef/business partner Susan Feniger opened City Cafe in Los Angeles in 1981, they had no stove or oven, only a hot plate and a hibachi out back in the alley. Humble digs, especially for two professionally trained chefs-Milliken had attended Washburne Culinary Institute, while Feniger studied at the Culinary Institute of America. Their resumes included stints at three-star restaurants in France, Spago in Los Angeles, and Le Perroquet in Chicago, where they met in 1978-the first women working in that restaurant's all-male kitchen. Rich in experience and vision, but not in funds, they were happy to have a restaurant to call their own and quickly began perfecting a unique, multicultural fare, which incorporated recipes from Greek, Indian, and Thai cultures, as well as their own mothers' recipes. Once they expanded to City Restaurant in 1985, they became culinary icons, recognized for their fresh mix of refined culinary technique and exotic Third World flavors, all dished up with down-home charm and playful enthusiasm. Now overseeing 375 employees between the Border Grill restaurants in Santa Monica and Las Vegas and Ciudad in downtown Los Angeles, the partners have also found time to write five cookbooks, including the recent Mexican Cooking Essentials for Dummies; host the popular Food Network shows "Too Hot Tamales" and "Tamales World Tour"; and launch the Border Girls brand at Whole Foods Market. What we learned from Mary Sue: Not every venture will be successful, but every experience will be worthwhile. "You've got to bounce back and just keep going. They're all great lessons to learn." Words of Wisdom "I think we both subconsciously were willing to start in a really meager setting, just because it was an opportunity not to work for a man." Penniless But Passionate "We had come home [from France] with the intent to open a restaurant together, and we didn't have a penny to our names. I was 23 years old. I had not been to college. I had no idea how to launch a business. None. Susan had a degree in economics and had been to chef's school. She's five years older than me. But she also didn't have any idea how to launch a business." Cook What You Know "First of all, you just copy things. But then, it starts to be a very personal cuisine, which is what we basically used those three-and-half years at City Cafe for-to create our own personal style of food. And it was so well-received. It started out as country French food, and it kept expanding all the time." Eclecticism, Not Fusion "We did some really groundbreaking stuff. This was in 1984, and still, when our City Cuisine cookbook came out in '87, people said there's nowhere to put this book on the shelves of the cookbook aisles, because you guys are all over the map. And there just wasn't that kind of integration of different culinary ideas. We never called what we did "fusion." We always felt like we stayed very true to the Greek cuisine, or the Indian, or the Thai, or the Mexican, or the Scandinavian, or whatever it was." On-the-Job Training We slowly started learning about business, so when we launched City Restaurant, which was really the thing that put us on the map, it was a 125-seat restaurant with a full-on kitchen. It was on La Brea. We raised the $660,000, and had to do a whole prospectus. I'll never forget, my net worth was $12,000, and Susan's wasn't much more. But we were able to learn by the seat of our pants, and we've been learning ever since." How Much Is Enough? "We were just making educated guesses-or uneducated guesses. In the end, $660,000 was not enough money at all. We were completely short, and we had to get an angel to come in and sign a guarantee on a bank line of credit for us. Really, it was a stressful opening, because we only had like two-and-a-half days in the kitchen with food before we had to open the doors to the public because we were so broke." Hindsight Is 20/20 "If I knew then what I know now, I would have somehow found some financial bridge so that we could have had a little more practice before we opened. I mean, literally, the first couple weeks, there were nights that we didn't even go home, and we were really burning the candle down to zero." It's a Man's World "I think we were both ready to be on our own. And the prospect of working under men, and working our way up, and trying to fight through all of the barriers, looked less fulfilling than just starting out [on our own]. Even though we didn't even have a stove, we still opted to start out calling our own shots." Know When to Grow "The growth ... it's a really personal thing. It depends on how equipped you are for the challenge and stress of growth, and how your business is doing. I mean, we've grown where things worked out really well, and we've grown where it's created a big strain on the existing businesses, and the new businesses didn't work." On Losing Money "When I look back on it, I think, 'Well, I didn't go to college. That's about how much college might cost me. I'll just chalk it up to experience.' Now I have an even better understanding, and luckily, it didn't happen at a time when I really couldn't afford it. But I'll tell you, being an entrepreneur and being in business is a real roller coaster." A Thankless Job Has Its Rewards "When the Food Network came asking for us to come and promote our second book, and they noticed we were funny and how we finished each other's sentences, they said, 'You girls should have a TV show.' The reason we should have had a TV show was that we did all of this really thankless teaching before that, and I'm not even sure it brought bodies into the restaurant. A lot of people might have looked at it as a waste of time. But I think you never know what skill you're going to develop, [and our teaching gave us the skills we needed to do the Food Network show.]" Be a Great Boss "We learn a lot from our colleagues, and from other companies that we want to be like. We're always looking for innovative ways to really make our workplace so phenomenally attractive that we can't lose good people, and we can attract the best. Those are big goals for us all the time." My Most Rewarding Business Moments... "... are when one of our past employees mentions how working for us made a difference in their lives. It's the best feeling in the world!" Be Good at Everything "You have to be a great leader, as well as a great cook, as well as organized, because it's a business of so many details. I think there are a lot of restaurants that fall through the cracks because they're missing the boat on something, and customers just don't come back." All Work and No Play "You have to be willing to walk away when you have a pile of work on your desk and stuff that you really should get done. You've got to be willing to walk away and clear your mind and be in the moment with your children or your husband, or whoever. You have to convince yourself that it's equally, or more, important than your job." This Featured Lady was profiled by Sarah Tomlinson, a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.
Meet Kim Kleeman - Shakespeare Squared: Named one of Inc.'s - THIS IS PRETTY INTERESTING. WISH I'D THOUGHT OF IT FIRST!!!! Meet Kim Kleeman: Shakespeare Squared: Named one of Inc.'s 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Recognized as one of Working Mother magazine's 25 Best Small Companies. Awarded the title of Illinois Family Business of the Year. Lofty accomplishments for company founder Kim Kleeman, a woman who just a few short years ago swore she would never own her own business! Having grown up the child of business-owner parents, Kleeman knew well the stresses and demands that entrepreneurial life can place upon a family. She met her husband, Jay, on the first day of college, and together they earned their teaching degrees and started making plans for a modest but happy life. When Jay's stint as a student teacher strained the family budget, though, they both started doing subcontract work proofing elementary school textbooks. Before long, they were taking on bigger jobs and hiring other teachers to freelance on various projects, and from that point on, they never looked back. In 2003, the couple founded Shakespeare Squared, an educational development company that employs an army of freelancers to write and edit materials such as textbooks, lesson plans, teacher guides, activity workbooks, and test-preparation materials. Initially a home-based business managed by Kim while Jay continued his work as a high school teacher, the company now has a full-time staff of 20 and is branching out in new directions, publishing its own materials and offering an educational editing certification process. In three years' time, the company has grown by an incredible 815 percent, bringing in $2.3 million in revenue last year. What we learned from Kim: That the most incredible resource for launching might very well be your own friends and family. Kim started this business with her husband; her best friend since high school is her director of human resources; her sister is a remote project coordinator; her lawyer brother weighs in on various matters; her mom is a managing editor; and her parents are her de facto advisory board, with whom she meets every morning to share a cup of tea and conversation in their backyard. Words of Wisdom "Trust your instincts and empower your people." From Teacher to Tycoon "I don't know if I had a big 'aha' moment about starting a business; our growth was really organic. After my second child I immediately got pregnant with my third and there was no turning back, because we weren't going to be able to afford day care for two babies on two teachers' salaries. I had been working from home and continuously had one or two projects going, and I set a goal of having 10 projects running simultaneously. So after my son was born, I enacted my own guerilla marketing plan and e-mailed every editorial director at the big publishing companies, looking for projects. We soon landed our first big client, HarperCollins Children's Books." Not About the Money "I just wanted to make the best company that I could and be happy doing it. If that included millions of dollars, great, but that wasn't really the goal. I didn't know at first how much work we would end up getting, but I think the extensive classroom experience of our people sets us apart in this field. As teachers ourselves, we understand the needs of our clients and we deliver on that." It Takes a Village "We employ over 400 freelance writers. Most are former teachers but we pull from publishing, journalism, and other fields as well. We developed a writing test that covers everything from copyrighting to educational taboos, and prospective freelancers must earn at least a B+. A nice plus with our business is the opportunity we can offer teachers for life beyond teaching. I really promote teachers in the classroom, but if the classroom just isn't your thing and you're still passionate about education, there is a place for you here." Those Who Can, Teach "Educators in this country are getting a bad rap. We ask them to perform many roles and yet we're not supporting them as a society. Prospective teachers must student teach to become certified and are expected to not work while doing so, but there are so many people from diverse backgrounds who would love to teach-and who would be great teachers-who can't afford to do that. The Shakespeare Squared Foundation helps pay for prospective teachers to student teach. My passion is to get the right teachers in place, because that makes all the difference for students." The Best and the Brightest "It is definitely a challenge to find and retain the best talent, because I am up against large publishers. I have to provide a different culture and be creative in the way I offer benefits. We really believe in the work/life balance and offer such things as flex hours, remote work capabilities, and a working-parents room in the office. We've been recognized for these efforts, and because of them, our turnover is very low." Networking 101 "You have to go into a networking situation with the idea in mind that there will be one person in the crowd who can make a difference to you, and you have to find that person. You may be talking to someone who makes shoelaces and has nothing in common with your business, but she may know someone in your field or know about an interesting business practice that could translate to your own. But the bottom line is that if it's not the right conversation, you politely cut it short and move on." Strength in Numbers "There is so much value in the process of incubating an idea with other women. I am always looking for women who are coming together creatively and collaboratively because things flow from it that you would never dream. When women support other women, we empower each other to take charge of our lives, whether by owning our own businesses or making a career change or making decisions about our families." Best Advice "I read in Working Mother magazine that women CEOs need to take the ability that they have in their work life to delegate responsibility and create a management team and apply that to their home life as well. So I really try to think of running my household the same way I run my business; whether it's cleaning ladies or repairmen, I find people I trust and have them take care of tasks that I don't need to spend time on. This has relieved a lot of guilt and allowed me to focus on the things that are really important." 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Erica Ehm profile, Ladies Who Launch - Meet Erica Ehm Interview Meet Erica Ehm in Toronto at Ladies Who Launch LIVE on September 29. Erica Ehm rocks. And she does it with the lights on. At least, she used to. One of Canada's most recognized media personalities, Erica was barely in her 20s when she became the first female video jockey on Canada's MuchMusic cable TV station. Erica went on to launch a multi-media career that has included television, radio, film, theater, journalism, songwriting, and music publishing. The birth of her son, Joshua, however, changed her pace and direction on a dime. As a new mother, she found herself confused, afraid, isolated and depressed, and she wasn't alone. Yummy Mummy Club was launched to create an online community for women with "kids, guilt and no time for themselves." Cheeky and playful, it speaks to "finding the impossible balance between the single sexpot she used to be, the woman she's become, the professional she works hard to be, the wife she aspires to be and the mother she has to be." What I learned from Erica: the key to success is to dream. "To make your dream come true, you first have to have a dream." And,"You have to be very specific as to what you're trying to achieve. Go at it, day in and day out. Meet people. Network. Use others' expertise to your mutual benefit. Find the 'frenemies' around you. And, be prepared for more work than you ever thought possible." Birth of a Video Jockey "I always wanted to be in music and acting. They were my passion, and, as a VJ, I could combine the two. "When I was 16, I worked at a local radio station. My next jobs were at larger radio and TV stations. They saw that I was passionate and driven. I was able to make a demo tape and I basically thrust my talent on MuchMusic. 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Ups and Downs of Celebrity "I was somewhat of an introvert and initially not comfortable with people. I just wanted to interview rock stars and understand their creative abilities. I didn't think about and wasn't prepared for celebrity. "It did allow me the opportunity to get my message out. I learned how to use the media for my own ways and how to navigate an interview." Shock of Motherhood "I was totally unprepared for the psychological, emotional and physical changes when I had my son, Josh. I did all the research, but it hit me over the head like a hammer. I was in a fog and totally depressed and terrified." Dirty Little Secrets "I wondered if anyone else was having such a terrible time. Out at parks and places, I started to talk to other mothers and tell them my experiences. "They'd say, 'Me, too.' I realized it was a dirty little secret that no one is sharing because they're too ashamed that they're not the perfect mother. "I thought, there has to be some way to talk to moms and tell them they're not alone, that we're all going through same thing and it's OK." Yummy Mummy Club "I wanted to create a place on the internet to share and celebrate our lives as mothers. The idea was to stop talking to moms like they're just moms. "We are women first. Part of the discussion will be about motherhood, but we are also lovers, girlfriends, athletes and so much more. A mother is not just a caretaker of children. So many of us forget that when we have a child and start to lose our identity. Definition of a Yummy Mummy "It means different things to different people. She's an inspired multi-tasking mom who feels good about herself and takes good care of herself. She's a great role model for her friends, kids and family." Hooked up With a Delicious Daddy "A Delicious Daddy is a father who is connected to his family on a domestic level. He doesn't just go to work, come home and say, 'Honey, where's supper?' He's connected on an emotional and physical level. Imperfect: The New Perfect "Moms need to lose the guilt and fear. It's all a state of mind. It's important to keep the idea of 'happy mummy, happy family' in perspective. Sometimes a mom has to take care of herself and put her needs first. Refreshed and inspired, she'll be able to be there for her kids in a better way." Prepare For Chaos "For all the talk about balance, really there is no balance. As soon as you have it, something goes out of whack. Be prepared for chaos." Turning Point "My business model has been based on my own intuition. I built my website by hand myself on intuition. Its message and feel reflected my strong vision. I was a one-woman operation until recently. "Now I've hit a plateau. I'm still doing most of the hands-on, but now someone does the site for me. I hired a mom-preneur of Craigslist. I've hired a firm to handle the invoicing and I have virtual assistants. My sister in law is the 'prize queen' and she contacts our contest winners. "I love the transition. I'm very careful about who I'm asking to join my team. Everyone has exceeded my expectations. The secret is, hire moms. They know how to multi-task, they take great pride in their work and they know about self-employment. Moms are the best untapped market." Yummy Future "YummyFriends is my new social networking site for women and moms to meet and support each other. It's a place to share sexy secrets, fave books and cool questions. "My biggest initiative to date is a user-generated contest to find Canada's Yummiest Mummy. It's a 12-week contest beginning over Labor Day. Thousands of videos will be uploaded and there will be prizes for winners, voters, and people who forward news of the contest. It's a huge undertaking with a cheeky, playful vibe." Yummy Last Words 'The only way you'll succeed is to put work and time in. It can't be all about money because then you'll start compromising left, right and center. You have to be consistent about your dream. Have the attitude, 'If you build it, they will come.' "Starting out in the spotlight so young, I learned that the key to success is to be fearless. Don't be afraid to ask, to take chances and to risk being turned down. Roll with the punches and get back up."


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