THIS BLOG HAS MOVED

Hi there!
I have moved this blog onto my website ...so now you can simply go to one site for any information on what I am doing, what I have done, what you might find interesting. You can see video clips, and hear my audio samples for voice over. You can also comment on anything you like...just like a blog...only better.

See you there!

www.ellajames.com




Ella

Are you being heard?

I recently MC'd the launch of the new Quickbooks QBi series Accounting Software for Reckon around Australia. It was a fabulous time as two blokes and a blonde told gathered audiences all about this fabulous new software that gives users more time for life, spending less time on bookeeping procedures. So, in each city, Clayton Oates from QA Business, Gavin Dixon ,CEO Business Division Reckon Ltd and I, would hit the stage, the two men informing and me entertaining. At night it was a different event, and a different crowd. We went from 300 to 500 business people, bookkeepers, accountants, to 100 retailers who were to sell the software, and hosted events for them at Bowling establishments around the country.

It's easy to keep people's attention when they want to know what you have to offer...it's an entirely different matter when they really want to bowl and have a drink and a chat to their friends. A decision was made to tie two coffee tables together and provide me with a microphone in order to reach the group...and this photo is me, unsteadily on the two tables, with Fran (Event Manager) and Alex (National Sales Manager) sorting out the prizes for best bowler beside me.

That was the easy part...and it worked....by making me the focus of attention, and loud, we got the message out and the audience had a great time but it made me think about how often in business, we are not being heard.
I don't mean like me of course..I mean, when you're speaking, and people appear to be listening, but don't seem to be getting your message.

It may be because you aren't communicating effectively, or it might just be that the person for whom your message is intended...just ain't listening!

What to do?

Firstly, make sure you are delivering your message to the right person...someone who is interested in what you have to say, and will act on it. Secondly, if you are delivering a tough message, to the right person, but they don't want to listen, start speaking in their language. Find a common ground on which to communicate. I liken it to going to a dinner party and launching into one of my jokes at full speed and top volume. Of course, we would never do that...! (would we??..only joking) We go in, quietly meeting people on their own level, doing a fair amount of listening, and working out who we want to be in conversation with by dessert. Success! Only ever foiled by nerves and too many bread rolls (you know what I mean). Love to know your thoughts...what is the most boring, uncomfortable message you have ever been forced to endure...and what have you done to spice up your comm skills!

iWONDER

I am having dreams of something deliciously smooth, beautiful to look at, feels so wonderful in my hands, just makes such a difference to my life......yep, I am thinking iPHONE! But there are so many 'IF's'....like, with such a beautiful BIIIIIG screen, can I just chuck it in my handbag? yeah, I know....I had always planned to put my Nokia n70 gently into the purpose designed possie in the side of my handbag..but sometimes...just sometimes...it gets hurled into the bottom to fight it out with the odd mint, a comb, my collection of 5 MAC lippies, enough spare change to fund 15 parking meters and an unused and unusable tissue. Won't it be hurt? What does one do, does it come with it's own little iCONDOM to protect it's gorgeousness?

NOW JUST BACK UP!!!!!!

I love my MAC. I have a thing for keyboards and screens in general...I have an iPOD an iSHUFFLE...I am pretty well the earliest adopter in my circle...however, I am blonde. I don't mean BLONDE as in dumb...I mean blonde as in, if there is something I find tedious and uninteresting, I will fail to do it every time.
And this is where BACK UP comes in.
My friends at Quickbooks have encouraged me, after I travelled around Australia with them promoting their highly sexy new software package QUICKBOOKS QBi SERIES, to upgrade. Upgrading most things is exciting...think, cars, boyfriends, from economy to business...heck even business to first...however....upgrading software creates a fear in the pit of my stomach...and it's these words that come with the upgrade instructions that do it.

"Before you convert your data file, it is important to do everything you can to protect your data. To ensure accuracy in your data you will need to complete the following;"


WARNING WILL ROBINSON...WARNING WILL ROBINSON (to those of you too young to remember Lost in Space...these fateful words were emoted by the passionless robot to warn his young master whom he would guard with his life.

Last week, I lost all my data, when I hit one simple key twice...DELETE....are you sure????????

Yes, of course I'm sure...DELETE GONE.
OH NO
GONE
OH NO IT MUST BE HERE SOMEWHERE....

A friend who shall remain nameless but is pretty big in the world of gadgets, widgets, wikis and such....her hardrive crashed...and guess what...she hadn't backed up for 8 weeks....

AAARRRGHHHHHHHHH!

We should know better.

So, I see

Before you convert your data file, it is important to do everything you can to protect your data. To ensure accuracy in your data you will need to complete the following;
and I think....I might just leave that until I am fresh and full of at least two cups of coffee..

What are your back up solutions? Your comments appreciated!

have a lovely long weekend.

Ella x

Welcome Dermatology Nurses, Quickbooks users and Alfresco Open Source Users and lateral Minds

Hi !

I can't tell you how fabulous it was to meet you this week! To the woman who asked me how I can get her superiors to cotton on to this..I wish I had an answer. The flippant answer would be to say 'get them to organise me for a conference" . So I put this out to all users...how do we get our management teams to adopt positive psychology...please comment here to help everyone. Remember, collaboration rules!
I wish you much happiness.
Ella x

Laughing Baby

ADVENTURE BEFORE DEMENTIA

Hi! I am just back from speaking to two groups from BUSINESS WOMEN CONNECT. One at the beautiful Wollongong Golf Club in Wollongong, and the second at Crowne Plaza Terrigal.

Thankyou so much for your kind feedback. I want to share a story with you, and invite you to comment. A couple of you have contacted me after speaking and have told me that you 'get it'. You have spent so much time on others, your business, your parents, but the 'me' time is just lost in the mix. As I said, I don't have any answers as to how to get it back. I don't believe it's by having a bath! Burning some incense. The other thing, if you PLAN it, it's not the same is it? Love your comments on this. If you have found 'me' time successfully, let me know your secrets!!! Share for all!!

Jan Hellyar from Property Penguins 'gets it'. We have since spoken about the notion of how we 'disappear'. We become corporate...lose the 'colour' in our lives. Where did the younger version of YOU go? I'm not talking about the non droopy maybe slightly slimmer less wrinkled version, but the version on the inside? Do you feel you've lost her? Do you feel you have 'slowed down' in more ways than one? Not just that your get and go, has got up and gone, but that the fire in your belly, your 'red hair' seems to have calmed down. Now, this is a good thing in some ways. All that emotional fury of youth can be a bit hit and miss...but what about the energy of passion?

Jan reckons the best bumper sticker she's seen is
ADVENTURE BEFORE DEMENTIA!

How fabulous is Simone Preston at Business Women Connect. She and Rhonda are dynamic women aren't they? I really enjoy presenting to you, their members. Love to know your thoughts on networking? Some success stories perhaps? How you make it work for you?

I love that!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Tags: dementia, women, 'women in business

The Ella James Show

Tags: "ella james" "talk back" talkback tv "the voice"

More Bang than buck?

It's not bang it's buck.. Really? The argument of people buying for service or experience over price is fought often. How do you handle it in your business, when your customers (potential customers) tell you they can get it for cheaper down the road?

I found this interesting blog BRANDAUTOPSY which talks about a company in the US that is providing a great experience.

I told them that there are great companies doing business like this in Australia, including Pierce Cody's MACROWHOLEFOODS

Is your business going for gold by aiming for price competitiveness, or are you driven by a happy experience? Would love your comments.

Happy New Year, Ella

Tags:

Business Women Connect in Sutherland

Thankyou so much for having me speak at your luncheon today. I really enjoyed it. Here are some links to the things I spoke of. If you roll your mouse over and click on the highlighted bit.

Dr Robert Cummins, Deakin University AUSTRALIAN UNITY WELLBEING INDEX You will need ADOBE ACROBAT FOR THIS ONE.

Authentic Happiness - Martin Seligman, try the quizzes!

BBC TV PROGRAM ON HAPPINESS

I wish you all great success, and a fabulous, less stressful 2007.

Warmest Regards,
Ella James

PS You can get more copies of the TIME BUDGET 26 HOUR DAY from my website.
www.ellajames.com

Those of you interested in blogging. Make a comment here, and I will post some blogging information after Christmas.

What is Success?

I found this quote 2 years ago, and it works for me
What is success
Ralph Waldo Emerson

To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children ,to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition ;to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived...this is to have succeeded

The Dearth of Female Bosses

I found this article in the NEW YORK TIMES about the dearth of women as bosses in the US. We seem to have this problem in Australia too. Why do you think this is? I would love to hear your comments on this? What is it going to take for women to rise in business? Sure, there are some women who have navigated the glass ceiling, but they are few and far between...what is holding women back?

Welcome the women of Business Women Connect in Sutherland

I am looking forward to meeting women at the Business Women Connect Luncheon at the Sutherland Trade Union Club on the Kingsway on December 20 2006.
Find out more about this fabulous networking opportunity here BUSINESS WOMEN CONNECT

Customers

The customer is always.....the customer! One wag once told me 'business would be fabulous if it wasn't for customers, they take up so much time!' Is he right or wrong?

They can be difficult and demanding...and course...we are customers too from time to time..and we can be all those things and more, right?

So how about some interesting ways to handle customers and complaints. This information came from some business managers I recently addressed in Sydney.

Serving Customers and Handling Complaints
Train Staff around complaints and how to deal with them in the first instance so you as a manager can get on with growing your business.

Set guidelines for staff and all them to take ownership of the issue.

Empower staff to make decisions within their discretion and support them.

Shape and mould new staff to suit your management style.

Really be clear about your expectations of customer service standards. If it's excellence you're after. Lead by example.

I once attended a sales training conference and remember getting some great information. A manager from a Ritz Carlton Hotel was talking about their style of leadership. How they used to manage using the standard pyramid, with the big boss at the top and the underlings trickling down to the lower levels. The boss made the rules, and everyone followed. Sure, it has to be that way. But what if you allowed another paradigm to operate at the same time. Empower staff on that bottom level to operate within the organisations guidelines?
So here's what happened. It was late one Friday afternoon. A guest was waiting for a taxi to take him to the airport. The taxi was late, it was Christmas, and there were no vacant taxis driving past either. The doorman had an idea. He ran to the managers office, grabbed his car keys, left a note for him saying 'Guest must get to airport, taking him in your car'. Imagine the guests surprise when the doorman said 'here you go Sir, I'll drive you'. The guest made his flight, and now always uses Ritz Carlton hotels.

Ok, so you've heard it before, going that extra mile. The manager was shocked, then surprised, then thrilled. The story has gone around the globe and is one of the reasons the Ritz Carlton is known for going the extra mile. Other staff heard the story and immediately thought of ways they could 'go the extra mile' too.

What ways can we go the extra mile for our customers to improve our productivity? Love to hear your thoughts.

Visit again soon, for more information on how to make the most of your uniqueness in your career.

Warm Regards,
Ella

Hi there!

Welcome first timers. This is a source of information for you to improve your working life and life balance. I trawl life searching for interesting information that I hope you will find valuable. It is meant to be interactive, so you can comment on what you have read and add your own information for others to read. Think of it as a community of like minded people. I also understand it's possible to spend HOURS on the internet and waste a lot of time. So this is going to be a place where you can instantly see if something is going to be of interest to YOU! I look forward to chatting to you. Please click on the comments tab at the bottom of this post to respond to this and write your thoughts. If you have no idea what blogging is, or you would like more information, this is a great place to go all about blogging
Remember to come back though! Bookmark this site now!

What makes your work rock?

Found this great blog entry from Perrie Croshaw (Sydney Morning Herald blog)

What makes your work work?

IT AIN'T WHAT YOU DO...

It sure ain't, I mean, er, isn't. But then again, in this case, the song has enjoyed a quarter of a century's popularity for that very reason. If Ella Fitzgerald had sung IT ISN'T WHAT YOU DO...would the song have enjoyed such immense success?

Sometimes you have to break the rules to get the results.

Meantime, if you'd like to read more about the science of interruptions and distractions, you can read the whole article from the NEW YORK TIMES ON SUNDAY which was written by Clive Thompson in October last year. Please click INTERRUPTION SCIENCE




Regards,
Ella