Spruce Up Your LinkedIn Profile

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As I mentioned in my last post, I recently got a great tip from a LinkedIn connection about how to make my profile look more professional.

It’s such a simple fix and I never really knew it existed until this fellow pointed it out. In your profile section, you can list up to three websites that you can connect your profile to. You probably have this already set up.

When I first joined LinkedIn, you had the option of putting in links for My Website, My Blog and My Company. Well I did not know they had updated this so that you can actually edit the top text for these links so they can say whatever you want them to say.

So now my labels say, ‘Tracey D’Aviero, VA, Your VA Mentor and Your VA Mentor Blog – which is much clearer than the generic labels that were there before.

It only takes a moment to change, but I really think it makes a big difference in how you profile looks. Here’s how to update them: http://linkedintelligence.com/making-the-most-of-website-links-on-your-linkedin-profile/.

I’ll be on the lookout for other cool tools to share with you! (If you haven’t updated your profile in a while, there are some neat new applications you could be taking advantage of!)

Do You Comply with the LinkedIn Terms of Use?

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So I mentioned in my last post that I had a semi-heated discussion with a LinkedIn connection after we disagreed about my open question.

At first he was concerned that I would log in to my client’s LI profiles to post their information, which he pointed out is a violation of the Terms of Use Agreement that everyone agrees to when they sign up. No problem, I only post things to their profiles by connecting them to a feed system using an application that LI allows. I don’t even write the material that I post, my clients do. I simply do the data entry portion for the application, and the system does the rest. Check.

Then he pointed out that my own profile was not in compliance with the TOU from LinkedIn. WHAT? How could that be? I did everything right … at least I thought I did. He pointed out that I had my email address listed in an area that was not a designated field. That was true. I did. He mentioned that this violated section 10B4 of the TOU agreement … “Include information in your profile or elsewhere, except in designated fields, that reveals your identity or sensitive personal information such as an email address, phone number or address or is confidential in nature”
I had read that to mean that my privacy would not be protected if I posted my email address outside of a designated area. I was fine with this so I left it where it was. It seems that this error could breach my TOU with LinkedIn. Interesting! I removed it and I feel better already! (I am sooo not a rule-breaker!)

This made my connection discussion start to ease up a bit. He was impressed that I cared enough to make the change. It wasn’t that I was trying to break the rules, I had only misunderstood the jargon. Anyway from there we became friends again *haha* and he actually gave me another great tip to make my profile look more professional.

Stay tuned – I’ll let you know what that tip is next time … so you can do it to your profile too!

Farewell to my friend and mentor, Val Belcher

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Earlier this week we came home to hear some terrible news.  A dear friend, Val Belcher, passed away from complications from congestive heart failure. He was my former boss, my friend, my mentor and even my client for many years.

Val Belcher

Val founded the restaurant chain (Lone Star Cafe/Big Daddy’s Crab Shack) that my husband and I worked at (we met there!), and after I left the company and started my own food and beverage consulting business, the corporate office became my client for 8 years. Val and I worked very closely to cost everything on every menu to be sure that we were managing our controllable costs to the best of our ability. The restaurants grossed 10s of millions of dollars per year, so it was important to ensure our costs and profits were where they should be … and the head office essentially became my full time client.

After Val left the chain himself, we continued to work together on his other ventures (Big Easy’s). We had a great working relationship, and we did work I was very proud of. It was a very valuable relationship for me in my career, and one that I don’t think will ever be replaced by someone else.

He called himself a ‘big old football player from Texas’ (with that Southern drawl), but he sure knew what he was doing when it came to the restaurant business. He believed in procedures and analysis. He taught me that attention to detail was a great thing … sometimes a painful and tedious thing … but a great thing. Together we had a really good handle on food and liquor costs in every restaurant and it was due to the fact that we thought out our procedures and we used checks and balances with everything.

Val taught me a lot, but more than that he put his faith in me every day, and he trusted me and instilled confidence in me that I had never experienced in my career before.

Val built an empire and inspired so many people in the process. Being part of the Lone Star/Big Daddy chain ‘way back when’ allowed us to make some great friendships, some of which (like mine) blossomed into marriages and families, and many went on to have success in businesses, because we all put our hearts and souls into our work. We learned about stellar customer service and Southern hospitality from Val, his brothers Gary, Russell, and the Belcher family.

Tonight we will honor Val at a memorial service, and he gives us the opportunity to gather together with our old friends to catch up and share our great memories. 

Rest in peace, VB.  I will miss you and I will never forget you.

~ Trace

Ask a Stupid Question …

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The other day I put an open question on LinkedIn … very simple, or so I thought! My question was this: ‘Do you use automation in your social media strategy? Do you think it’s a good thing or a bad thing?‘

As you may know, I do automate several of my social media posts … you know, the product and service ones. I only have so much time to post on my networks, and really what I want to be doing when I am ‘live’ is to be connecting with people, not tweeting or posting about the services I offer. So I automate those so that people can get a sense of what I do and how I do it.

So I thought by asking that question on LinkedIn I would get some input as to whether people liked or disliked the automation aspect as I see it. Instead, I got all kinds of answers that really surprised me. Many people thought that automation was a bad idea, no doubt because of those bots that post dozens of posts every hour (you know the ones) in an effort to monopolize the twitter feed. I auto-post about once every two hours on Twitter … in order to reach my audience at various stages of their day.

Anyway, most people said they didn’t like automation, and I agree to a certain extent. I know when you ask a question you have a 50/50 chance of people agreeing with you, but it doesn’t help if they don’t really understand your question.

This was an interesting exercise for me because I realized that what is so clear to me in my head really doesn’t always translate to others without more explanation. I actually had a semi-heated discussion with someone about this very topic as a result of me posting that question (but that’s another blog post!).

So my lesson was this … when posting on social forums or networks, be sure to make your point clear. My intention was to post a question that would generate discussion, but what I received in return was opinions that either agreed with my viewpoint, disagreed vehemently, or were way off track on what I was actually asking.

Clarity … essential when trying to foster discussion. I chalk it up to ‘ask a stupid question’ and I will be sure to be more careful in the future. By the way, I am grateful to each person who took the time to answer my query … whether we agreed, disagreed, or completely misunderstood each other! 

Communicating online is not always as simple as communicating in person, but it certainly expands our networks farther than we ever could have in person. Good to meet all of you!

5 Keys To Building and Nurturing a New Relationship

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Working with someone new can be an exciting time, but it can also be stressful. Everyone goes through it at one time or another. Whether you are a client working with your first VA, or a new VA with your first client, it can be a scary time … all the uncharted territory … like a child on his first day of high school! But if you lay some clear boundaries and keep the lines of communication open, it can be a really easy transition.

Decide who will do what. It’s important to determine who will be taking care of which tasks, and when they will be taken care of. If you don’t use some type of collaborative software, at least keep a simple checklist that everyone can work with. There is nothing worse than missing a deadline simply because someone wasn’t sure that it was their task to complete.

Schedule regular check-ins. Although it can be tempting to pick up the phone every time you have a question, it’s easier to schedule regular check-ins to cover updates for more than one task at a time. Email is such a distraction, but a good way to ensure that everyone is communicating is to simply reply to an email when someone sends you one. A simple ‘yes I got it’, or ‘I will send it to you this afternoon’ can save so much worry, especially when you don’t have a regular communication routine going yet.

Ask questions. Be sure that the tasks set up are clear, and that the steps to complete them are also clear. Just because someone has used the same service as you to send a newsletter before, doesn’t mean they will do things the way you want them done. When a task is completed, be sure to discuss whether it was completed properly, and work out any issues before the next time.

Build standard operating procedures. The best time to build your standard operating procedures is when you first start working together. Write everything down as you get it done the first time, and be sure that the procedure is right for the next time. Keep your procedures up to date once you begin!

Get to know each other! It is much easier (and more fun!) to build a strong working relationship when you find out a little bit about each other. Ask about family, hobbies and things like that. You don’t have to have long drawn-out conversations about what you watched on television the night before, but little tidbits of information can help to break the ice when you are just starting to get to know each other.

Bonus Tip: Be honest and open minded. It’s important to be honest with each other as much as possible. If something isn’t going exactly the way you planned, be sure to speak up. Likewise, if your new partner gives you some constructive criticism, try not to take it to heart, but work with it so that it benefits both of you. Not everyone works the same way, so compromise will be key to keep everyone happy. By working together, you will form a solid lasting relationship more quickly!

31 Days of Laughter – Day 29 to 31

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This was so easy – the hard part was remembering to post.

We laugh so much in our house, in our everyday lives, that it is so difficult to pick a moment (or sometimes remember it!)

Day 29 – Ha ha – I remove wine cork from bottle (it makes that great sound!) and Owen yells ‘Opa!’ 🙂

Day 30 – Checking out the hall with our friends Ivan and Dar (they are having a big party in a couple of months). Many laughs, but probably the most fun was me suggesting that we serve venison on the buffet. Ivan almost jumped out of his chair (he hates it!). Soooo funny!

Day 31 – watched Old Dogs … Robin Williams and John Travolta. I actually laughed out loud several times!

Thanks for playing!

31 Days of Laughter – Day 22 to 28

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Still going –

Day 22 – Dave came to breakfast! It was his birthday after all. Our server Kendra got my laugh today when she said, ‘They talk about different stuff when you’re not here!’

Day 23 – Dinner at the inlaws – just us. How nice! Donut stopover at Mom’s and the Tony show was on.

Day 24 – Mike’s campaign launch at Liam’s. Laughs with mom Sadie … she was trying to figure out whether to have white or red wine, and I suggested since she already had a ginger ale and a water that she should have white so she wasn’t hung over the next day by mixing. 🙂

Day 25 – Dinner at Dan and Steph’s. Heavens. Well, Tony got a little full … ahem … and rolled around on the floor with Gracie and Tyson. We have pictures. Yikes. A week’s worth of laughs this day, for sure.

Day 26 – Boondock Saints two. Again. You look like you might have seen one up close. 🙂

Day 27 – Dinner out with Mom (big dinner week!), and plenty of laughs as she related her conversation with Richard, an old friend of Dad’s. 

Day 28 – much late night fun with Martine, who is probably going to slap me next time she sees me because I am not a big fan of the lobster roll. Ah whaddaya do?

31 Days of Laughter – Day 15 to 21

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Wow third week in of 31 days of laughter. We really do laugh a lot in our household. That makes me happy!

Day 15 – Sunday morning breakfast with Mom and the sibs. Discussing a family friend who is on an executive committee for my ball tournament, and is also getting into broadcasting with my sister Lynne at Rogers. Sister Lynne gives him some great advice and tells him to bring the idea back to my committee. I say, ‘I’m going to tell him that’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard … who gave you that idea?’ hehe. Lynne laughed so hard she almost spit out her coffee!

Day 16 – Father in law has surgery to replace battery in his pacemaker. We go over for dinner to see how he is feeling. Neighbour walks in with a AA and hands it to him and says, ‘I brought you a battery so you can replace it yourself next time!’ Good one, Glen!

Day 17 – Oh did we laugh tonight – dinner and Mom’s and Lynne was telling us a story about a child she met at work who had a wish fulfilled by the Children’s Wish Foundation – he went to Walt Disney World and got the royal treatment (which was great) and she was listing all the things he got to do, and instead of saying Chip and Dale tucked him into bed, she said Chippendale’s … oops! No, it was definitely Chip and Dale!

Day 18 – Called our pest control company when we woke up to a scratching noise in the furnace … we soon realized it was our pet hamster, Carl, who had escaped from his cage and toured in previously uncharted territory. Had to call the company back and cancel the appointment when Carl surfaced in a bedroom vent! Man!

Day 19 – Driving Owen to Ultimate Camp for 8 am and Tony sees a guy standing beside his SUV with his arms in the air in front of him and announces, ‘What the ..? Is that guy a mime?’ and we get a little closer and realize he is actually fixing the line on the end of his fishing rod … not a mime at all!

Day 20 – Had the Blanchfield Road Blanchfields over for drinks and Tony was definitely on his game … telling the story of going to Helen’s Place and talking to Helen’s sister, all the while thinking it was Helen, and wondering why she didn’t seem to recognize him … and then Helen came out of the kitchen, and he figured it out!

Day 21 – still laughing at Kelly walking through our front door at 11:30 at night … just to locate her family! And a great phone call with Natalie too – she told me a story about some annoying locals who sat too close to them on their recent trip to Martha’s Vineyard, and then proceeded to complain that it wasn’t as great a vacation as Spain was (the names have been changed to protect the identity of the annoying tourists!)

31 Days of Laughter – Day 8 to Day 14

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Continuing on our fun quest to identify one great laugh each day for a month, here are some more for you!

Day 8 – Family Ball Tournament – cleanup day … retelling stories of the weekend while we cleaned up the site … Paul almost taking out Danny’s drumset is still one of my favourite memories this year. 🙂

Day 9 – Stress Free Monday here at our house – tough day at work so laughs were welcome –  watched Yes Man with the boys after dinner. Every girl deserves to go to a ball!

Day 10 – Family Dinner at Mom’s – Spencer went indoor skydiving and we watched his video – we all laughed pretty hard at Chicken Man – we still can’t figure out what the guy was doing, but he kept coming out with his arms bent like wings, and he looked like he was about to do the chicken dance! It was so great to hear all the kids laughing at him each time he came out!

Day 11 – out to dinner with my boys at Fiamma in Barrhaven. Don’t know how it came up in conversation but watching Owen do his impression of the Ab Circle Pro was truly hilarious!

Day 12 – waiting for Owen during his guitar lesson, got a hilarious text from Tony … sorry, unfortunately can’t repost here, but suffice it to say the people at Shoppers Drug Mart were wondering what was soooo funny!

Day 13 – cut out the centre of the lid for Carl the hamster’s new play area so we could be sure he was getting lots of air, and quickly realized we gave him a super easy escape route! One plastic lid, ruined – and now the big box is a supervised play area only!

Day 14 – Saturday. Aaahhh. Nice night for a bike ride. Owen and I visited Mom (geez, we spend a lot of time together!) and there is nothing more precious than watching him tell a story and see my Mom laugh her head off. He’s a great storyteller – he gets right up off his chair and starts, ‘No seriously, this is the way it went…’ and then he goes into his story. Precious for sure! What a kid.

31 Days of Laughter – Day 1 to Day 7

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Found this great idea from my colleague Anastacia Brice about paying attention to how much laughter is in my life (I know there is a lot!).  Of course we all know how great laughter is for the soul, but it’s also good for your blood pressure, your stress level, and so many other things.

The rules are simple: make a point of laughing every day for 31 days – and share it with those around you if you like!

I am going to share my daily laugh (well, one of them …!) here on my blog.

To learn more about how to incorporate more laughter into your life, and to take part in this fun little challenge, visit:  http://www.31daysoflaughter.com/

Tee hee! Looking forward to sharing!

Day 1 – sitting at Mom’s, having a couple of drinks, trading innocent insults with Tony, and all of a sudden Owen stands up, hands flapping, and hollers, “you’re tearing this family apart!”  OMG too funny!

Day 2 – watching Blue Collar Comedy Show movie – Jeff Foxworthy is giving redneck definitions of words: INITIATE (use it in a sentence): My sister ate two hamburgers … in-i-ti-ate some potato chips. 🙂

Day 3 – one of my clients and I were discussing how many people I know who have died in the last year and a half (four in the last couple of weeks, actually … that’s not the funny part, obviously). He asked, ‘Is it safe to know you at all?’ I actually laughed out loud. I don’t think he was joking, but it was my best laugh of the day (as I prepared to take the following day off for a very sad memorial service).

Day 4 – more laughs today than I expected, given the sad occasion … but had a good one with Sean for sure … purposely driving the wrong way down a one way street to get a parking spot … with a whole bunch of cops watching us!

Day 5 – watching GrownUps … Steve Buscemi was sooo funny in the body cast!

Day 6 – Family Ball Tournament – how can I choose just one laugh? hmmm … okay, then Carina and Brad Quinn singing Jesse’s Girl at our karaoke. 🙂

Day 7 – Family Ball Tournament – again, so many laughs … watching Terry Helem get down on his knees to pitch to Tommy Doyle in our alumni game (and Tommy hit it!)

Next week we’ll do it again!