Jane Pollak’s Blog

When my caller ID showed the message US News World Report you can be sure I picked up the line! How exciting to be interviewed by such an eminent publication. My main question was, “How did you find me?” but I graciously delayed asking until the interview was complete. Liz Woglemuth, the reporter, was unable to remember how she’d found me, which I guess is a good thing.

As you’ll see from the complete article, this was about telecommuting. I reminded her that my home office experience caters to entrepreneurs, which was fine with her. Here’s an excerpt from the full article:

Problem: Your home office doesn’t feel like an office.
You may underrate the importance of your physical environment in the beginning. You think you can work from anywhere. “For some people working from home the first time, they want to make sure they have a clearly delineated space,” Slim says. Keep the area clear, and make sure you have the tools you need—that your phone will work for teleconferences or that your Internet connection will carry bandwidth-heavy work applications.

Be straightforward about marking your territory. Jane Pollak, an entrepreneurship expert and coach, says she loves her renovated home office. “It really staked a claim that I’m serious, that this is my office,” she says. “I have friends who write ‘World Headquarters’ on the third bedroom door. It’s a way of saying: ‘This is where I go to do my work.’ “

My inspiration for this was hearing Rosita Perez, esteemed member (and my mentor), of the National Speakers Association.

My dear friend Kathryn invited me for a birthday lunch last week. We sat outside in her spectacular garden, ate a deliciously prepared macrobiotic feast, then went inside for her gift to me, a session of healing touch which she’s been studying.

In addition to being nourished and nurtured, Kathryn also inspired me with her description of an Omega Institute writing class she had signed up for. What hooked me was the enticement to the workshop provided by the instructor. “When people try to write stories they tend to drag the stories behind them,” says writer and cartoonist Lynda Barry. Rather, this inspirational teacher said, she wants writing to feel as though you are being pulled on water skis.

I was instantly struck by the power of that metaphor. Planning my Create Your Own Future preview party had exactly that feel. From the moment Laura Newman, my PR coach made the suggestion, I’ve felt as though I were being pulled by a speeding motorboat. It’s been an exhilarating ride as opportunity after opportunity flew into my life–Artifact, the spectacular venue; the women who are co-presenting with me, the interest of the press and the 70 women who have signed up to attend.

For more details on the event click here.

Years ago Anne Taintor and I met when we were each exhibiting our artwork at the Westport Creative Arts Festival. I’ve been following her career ever since.

She has branded herself brilliantly over the years and created a look uniquely hers. Whenever I see her products on sale I’m thrilled for her success. I was tickled to see her featured in O Magazine’s June 2008 issue. In an article enumerating 101 ways to say “no” they selected one of Anne’s hilarious message pins. I immediately went to place an order for 100. They are perfect fun gifts for my clients who find themselves giving away precious time.

However, when I selected the item to add to my cart I got the following message:

Scarlett De Bease, my wonderful Image Consultant, asked me to write a testimonial for her LinkedIn profile. I was very happy to oblige. But I knew that it would take me awhile to figure out exactly how to fulfill her request. I had never posted a recommendation on that social network before and assumed there were several steps to making it happen.

I responded to Scarlett’s request saying, go ahead and cut and paste the testimonial I gave you for the website. She gently let me know that it would have to actually come from my profile and wrote out the step-by-step instructions for posting. She saved me considerable time, demonstrated being pro-active and professional.

Scarlett took into consideration that I, too, am a busy professional and figured out a way to achieve her goal and help me at the same time. I was struck by this as it occurred shortly after another request that would have benefited from Scarlett’s forethought.

At a networking event last week someone approached me with kind words about how she’d been watching my career build over the years. She then asked if I would keep her posted on all the future events I would be attending. She was confident that she’d like to go to those too.

I’m not quite ready for Twitter where people post there whereabouts on a regular basis, but will add my networking travels on a regular basis. I requested that she, the requester, check my blog for the information rather than put the responsibility on me to let her know.

Listening to Andrea Adler’s CD, To Advertise or Not To Advertise, That is The Question, I heard validation for a practice I’ve already embarked upon–making an offering. Next Thursday evening, July 17th, I’m offering a sneak preview of my Create Your Own Future event to be held at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA next January.

Making an offering is based upon the same universal principle as tithing–that as we share our talents and resources, the universe returns the favor in kind.

Your offering can take the form of a gift certificate for your services, a donation of your art form or a lecture to a group, like the Rotary. Mine is a free demonstration of some of the experiences guests will have at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires–beautifully prepared and health-giving food, body awareness and movement, plus the experiential exercise I’ll provide to stimulate thoughts about each individual’s dreams and vision.

Here, says Adler, is why making an offering works:

1. You give back to the community.
2. You educate people about what you do.
3. You make yourself available, visible, reachable.
4. People are able to put a face and voice to your product of service.

All of these factors help to build trust. Please join me!

For some reason I’d never taken the time to stop annoying emails from clogging my inbox. Must’ve been that I didn’t realize how dead simple it is. Every day I get what feels like 200 notices about discount theatre tickets, daily news briefs from an industry I’m only peripherally interested in plus invitations to events 75 miles away. I tried unsubscribing, but that only doubled the in-flow.

I finally asked (my daughter Lindsey) HOW do you create the filters to stop the traffic. I couldn’t believe it was as easy as a right-click on the address to add to my junk mail folder. Now, once a day I go to that file, breeze through the mail, delete it and smile at the efficiency of it. About once a week I find an item that should not have been there, but those are rare occasions and easily corrected.

This tool is one of those small good things that make entrepreneurial life easier. I’d love to hear your tips and tricks.

Last week we snuck off for a couple of days to spend quiet time by a lake in Litchfield County. The first night was idyllic as was the next day. But, the morning of our departure brought a horrific experience. At 4:50am there was a banging on our door and a man’s voice shouting, “Let me in! Let me in!”

I’ll cut to the chase. We learned that there was a freak car accident outside the Inn which everyone survived. Apparently, one of the young men involved panicked and ran to the carriage house where we were staying, knocked on our door screaming to let him in. Having no idea why he was at our door, we of course did not let him in but called 911. It was terrifying and upsetting. We felt violated and powerless at the same time.

Needless to say, the accident was the talk of the dining room at breakfast. We told the waitress about our experience. She said, “I know. The maintenance man was trying to remove the bloodstains going up the stairs to your room.”

After processing the experience for the last several days I felt angry that no one from the Inn acknowledged our frightening experience. Even when we were checking out. Not in the week since we’ve been home. Ever.

I decided to call the owners of the Inn a week later to describe what had happened. The office there informed me that they were not authorized to give out the owners’ contact information. Light bulbs started going off in my head. I began putting together several teeny, tiny issues that had caught my eye but not affected my stay. But this was a biggie, and I wanted to offer feedback. No one was paying attention to the details or taking responsibility for the customer experience.

The General Manager fielded my call with less than positive results. She was defensive. I didn’t feel heard. When you’re running a business, customer satisfaction is critical and the lessons you learn from serving your client base will make your company better, if you care. They obviously didn’t and lost our future business.

I just checked tripadvisor.com and see that others have been critical as well. The knock at the door put it over the top for me.

Last week during a long car ride, a colleague told me that he had tons of ideas. Something about that phrase–tons of ideas–struck a chord. I hear a lot of people use it. The similarity among those who say that, and why I think it sticks out for me, is that many of them are not very happy. This is not a criticism, but an observation. They have lots of ideas, but they’re not acting on them.

Of course, I then thought about myself. Currently, I have two big ideas, one of which I’m pursuing with all my might. I’m planning a luxury spa retreat for women business owners who want to take charge of their own futures. I’m having a sneak preview event to help publicize it on Thursday, July 17th. I’m completely engaged in the process of developing this idea.

I have another idea waiting in the wings until this one is fleshed out and progressing. Then, I’m quite sure, I’ll dive into the next idea and have another one floating further in the future for when Idea #2 gets seeded.

I don’t have a lot of ideas, but the ones I have take up lots of my time and keep me incredibly happy.

All of my coaching groups are on hiatus for the summer. My speaking kicks back into high gear mid-September. Several individual clients are taking a break from coaching over the summer. So I scheduled a brainstorming session with myself to figure out how to best use the open spaces on my calendar.

I came up with a healthy list that may stimulate you as well.

• Go through files. As dull as this looks, I always find gems in my drawers–opportunities laying in wait.
• Review goals sheets from my Mastermind Groups for themes, successes and patterns.
• Re-visit marketing my Distinguished Speaker Series to other Chapters of ASID around the country.
• Go through entire database (3500+ names) and segment, delete and update.
• Send holiday cards. I choose to reach out to my friends, clients and associates in the summer when mine is the only card they’re receiving, not one of 100. Our daughter got married in April, so I will send a photo to everyone along with warm wishes.
• Create a video for my website.
• Design a teleclass offering for 2009.
• Brainstorm book ideas.

I attended a spectacular EWN event last month with over 150 women business owners. The keynote speaker was Beth Schoenfeldt, co-founder of Ladies Who Launch.

One of the cool things about this Grand Networking Event is that in addition to an hour of mingling time before the dinner, each attendee sits at 3 different tables and meets the 7 other women business owners at her table. There is a round-robin of self-intros so it’s more than just a card swap.

The question is, what do you do with all those cards, information and notes? Here’s my method:

I sort through the cards and immediately toss (sorry!) the ones selling products/services that aren’t of interest.

I put dates on my calendar to initiate calls with the women I want to spend more time with.

I sent a thank you and a gift to the speaker.

I enter information from business cards and notes I’d taken into my database increasing the resource base I’ve already established.

I look up everyone’s website and assess the maturity of the business: under construction or fully functioning with rich content.

I plan time on my calendar to write thank you notes to the committee chairs for their incredible service to this organization.

And, when those dates appear on my calendar, I honor the commitment I made to myself and dial the number or write the note.