Cat Mulan's Mindful Musings

About a month ago, I was asked if I would provide a back-of-book blurb for a new cat book coming out called "Cat Mulan's Mindful Musings."  The author mailed me the manuscript and--as I found the writing and pictures to be fun and enjoyable--it was easy to provide a blurb. I mailed my comments back to the author in the enclosed pre-addressed envelope she'd sent along with the manuscript.

When I went to check the mailbox yesterday, there was a medium-sized box addressed to me from the author. I opened it up and it was as if Christmas had come early. The first thing I opened was her thank-you letter. She'd taken pictures of Cat Mulan "opening" and "reading" my letter, including little quotations like, "It's from Dena!" and "Yes, uh-huh, excellent. Very good." It was laugh out loud funny.  Tucked inside the box were then kitty toys galore. There's also a cat mug and wrapping paper with Cat Mulan's image on them.  It was like the bottomless box as I kept pulling one thing and then the next out.

It was incredibly sweet and fun, more so because I wasn't expecting it in the least.  I find her thoughtfulness touching.  It's also smart networking on her part. I'm giving a talk in November (along with my good friend Pam Cable) on "Publicity, Promotion, & Pulling Your Hair Out," at the NC Writers Network Fall Conference. This is a good example of a small thing an author can do to make a difference. Will I remember this author now? Yes. Will I think kindly toward her? You betcha.

Meanwhile, Lucy & Olivia are having fun with their new toys. And I think they're jealous their own images aren't (yet) on a mug. I'm working on it girls... I'm working on it.

"Niche Your Pitch"

I spoke last night at the Naja Greensboro chapter of the American Business Women Association. My topic was "Niche Your Pitch: How To Create Memorable Personal Commercials." I haven't spoken in a while and I forgot how much fun it is, especially with a group that's eager to participate.

I gave a quick background as to what comprises a personal commercial, went through a series of "Before" and "After" examples and then had the group brainstorm ideas for members on how to liven up their commercials.

There was a guest at the meeting who had completed her massage therapist training but now had to perform a certain number of practice hours on clients for free to receive her certification. She had just joined a networking group but felt--rightly--that just saying, "Hi, my name's Dee and I'm a massage therapist" wasn't gaining her any leads.

We came up with, "Hi, my name is Dee and I'm looking for people I can get my hands on," as an opener. She has the personality to deliver it and was thrilled.

A successful commercial is brief, unique, and memorable. One of the best commercials I've ever heard came from a member of my Wednesday morning leads group. Bill Simmons sells office furniture. Snore, right? But look at Bill's Commercial:

Hi, I'm Bill Simmons and I'm looking for dirt. If you pass a construction site, see dirt being moved, or even spot a bulldozer, call me. I sell office furniture and companies make decisions about furnishings while buildings are being built. Once a structure is up, it's too late. So remember, if you see dirt or a bulldozer, call me, Bill Simmons.

I love this because it's brief, unique (no one else in my group is asking me to look for dirt), and it has sticking power. Every time I see a bulldozer, I think of Bill and call him. It's a great example of giving people a memorable nugget of information and not overloading them with information they don't need.

I have the speaking bug, now. Might be time to put some energy toward landing more engagements. I'm speaking to a rotary club next month. Once you speak at one, it's easy to land invitations at others and that's a huge circuit. Something to think about.

www.denaharris.com

TA-DA! Today marks the formal unveiling of my revised website. Please visit www.denaharris.com and send me your comments or suggestions--either here or by e-mail. And send your praise to my web site designer, Melody Watson. Melody is the uber web site maven. As a testament to her patience with me, at one point she was e-mailing me messages that read, "Go to www.denaharris.com/test#77."  And she did it with a smile and no hint that I was most likely driving her to drink.

I had to lose my maniac kitty-cat logo on the site, but he'll still be hanging around on this blog.  The only thing not up and running on the site is the Press Kit area and that's because I've procrastinated on it beyond all reasonable time limits. That's part of this week's work--to bring that together.

If you find typos, PLEASE let me know. I've looked at the site so much I actually launched it with the word "Corporate" in the heading spelled as "Corpoate." Oops. 

I feel like I have a fresh start. Not only do I have a new website, I spent 5 (count 'em, 5) hours yesterday purging my file drawers. I hauled 3 1/2 hefty bags of trash to the curb, gathered over 1000 sheets of paper to be recycled (i.e., I'll use them to print on the blank side) and salvaged about 50 file folders. My office must be a good 20 pounds lighter and it feels awesome. (Although last night when Blair asked me how my day was and I triumphantly told him of my purging success, his response was "So you didn't do anything today that would actually earn money?" Party-pooper.)

No excuse not to work now. On the agenda: a press release, arranging time for an interview with the president of the largest tilapia-producing fish-farm in the nation (envy me), doing prep work for a 35-minute keynote speech I'm delivering to an ABWA dinner meeting next week, AND working on my press kit.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A quick shout out to my friend Trisha who stayed up until 1 AM, completing a 1,000-piece puzzle she and her son started after Christmas. With eyes drooping and head pounding, she stayed at her post until the last piece was put together.  Trisha, darling...seek help.  

Dena Harris...Corporate Tyrant

I don't see myself ever returning to corporate life. I enjoy setting my own schedule, being able to meet friends for a 2 pm coffee and finish my work at night, and never knowing what new projects are coming down the pipeline.

The main reason I can't return to corporate life however, is meetings.  I am ill-equipped emotionally and  mentally to deal with meetings. And I proved this fact in high form the other week.

I was sitting in a meeting for one of the non-profits of which I am a board member.  There was a question on the table of how we should log the name of guests to our group. One option was to have guests fill out a 3x5 card with their contact info and we would collect. The other option was to buy a guestbook and have guests enter their names there.  Pretty simple choice, huh?

TEN MINUTES. That's how much discussion time was devoted to this topic. Ten precious minutes out of an hour-long meeting.  We had to discuss who would buy the notecards, where would we keep the notecards or the book, aren't cards hard to keep track of?, what if (God forbid) a guest put down their name and phone number but no address? Should we have someone stand nearby to make sure we got complete information? And on and on and on...

I lost it. I truly did. In an overly-loud and highly annoyed voice, I half-yelled,  "PICK SOMETHING. This is not brain surgery and I can't believe we're wasting time on this. Just pick something, decide to do it, and DO IT!"

Yeah... that Dale Carnegie training on how to win friends and influence people is really paying off.

People  jumped a bit in their chairs at my outburst and I could tell I'd made them uncomfortable.  Not that I cared at that point... I just wanted to move on.  And they did make a decision and move on, but not because I think they were done with their discussion.  I think they were trying to appease me and even a little fearful I might bark at them again.

And here's the scary part... I liked it. I was so past my patience threshold that I didn't care that I was getting things done through force versus group buy-in. I just wanted the s--- done.  I told Blair later that night that I could see me becoming one of those supervisors that rules by fear and intimidation.  I have--to steal a phrase from a friend--a low tolerance for stupid.  And I can't stand wasting time on what I deem to be non-critical items.

But I don't WANT to be that person. I don't respect people who rule by fear. I respect people who make others feel valued and heard.

"What would you have done?" I asked Blair, the Great Communicator.

"Well," he said, "I would have said something like, 'This is all good discussion and everyone has raised some excellent points. But we've got other items on the agenda we need to move on to. So let's go around the table and right now, cast your vote for cards or book.' Then I would have moved on. "

"Oh," I said. "Huh. That never occurred to me to handle it like that."

"I know, sweetie," said Blair sighing and patting my hand. "I know..." 

Leadership is hard. I think it's best for all involved if I just stay behind my computer...