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What is a thought leader?

A thought leader is a recognised expert; a go-to person in a particular field. They are by definition individuals or organisations who are foremost in their industry. This perception of being a leader in your field is, in itself, a benefit of being a thought leader, as having a title of such prestige is likely to bring increased business opportunities and professional rewards to your door.

Why is it important to become one?

A thought leader will be rewarded greatly in accolades and commercial coverage, and will be respected as a standout, authoritative professional in their area of business. Additionally, a thought leader is influential in their field and can promote themself effectively and efficiently, which gives them great potential to expand their business and to develop lucrative new opportunities.

How can I become one?

Firstly, it is important to master your chosen field, to know and understand your target audience and to be clear about what your core message is. Once you’re sure that you have achieved these things, you can then undertake the following steps:

1) Self-publish regularly

Developing your presence, name and brand are hugely important. You can use blogs, social media, podcasts and other relevant avenues to publish your material and build authority in your field. Be creative and innovative, but use tried and tested channels also. As you become more established, you will likely get the opportunity to write in publications of greater prestige, in industry journals or magazines and for other authoritative blogs in your field.

2) Guest post in influential places

Guest posting in relevant, well-regarded places will add authority to your brand. Research where is an effective place to post, and look at all available avenues. When targeting websites or blogs, be sure to research the editors, other contributors and the target audience. Learn about who you’ll be reaching with your posts, and then decide whether or not this is an effective place for you to post.

3) Network

Networking is integral. You cannot become a thought leader without communicating and networking with fellow professionals in your field. Becoming a thought leader also requires excellent communication, reputation and promotion, and effective networking is essential to developing these skills. Furthermore, the bigger your network is, the larger response there will be to your work. No thought leader ever becomes one by having all their information safe in a database or in their head. To be a thought leader you need to get your message, brand and expertise in the public domain. If you have a wealth of knowledge, then get it out there.

4) Constantly evaluate

Consistent review and evaluation of your work is paramount in any field. You may be having real success in one area, but without reviewing your own work, receiving feedback and assessing how your work has been received, how will you ever correct mistakes, tweak small details or discover where your biggest wins lie? And how will you know which of your work your audience is responding to best?

So, listen to feedback and take advice. No expert works (or learns) alone.

Conclusion

Being considered a thought leader will bring the rewards of recognition, opportunity and increased profits, but becoming one is not easy, and it shouldn’t be. It will require effort, dedication and work to become a thought leader, and it is not a term that’s given to people who employ short-term, quick win tactics. However, if you can become considered a thought leader in your field, then it is a title which will bring rich professional rewards. So keep going, keep working hard, and don’t give up!

When Penguin and Panda rolled out, many website owners were devastated as their ranks were swiftly taken away at the blink of an eye. It’s an issue no business or entrepreneur wants to endure, but will if not careful. Google is very serious about its algorithm and providing users with the best search results possible. At this point, website owners scrambled about, looking for SEO services to help their company get back into the good graces of Google.

No one was spared from these updates – not even the billion dollar corporations that faced Google penalties for whatever reasons deemed necessary. It took a long time for some businesses to get a foot hold on their rankings. The longer they suffered from low rankings, the longer their bottom line suffered.

If you found that you were affected by a Google penalty, then you can use the tips some of the best SEO services companies use to bounce back.

Understanding Penguin and Panda

In order to bounce back, you first need to understand what changes Penguin and Panda brought, so you can have an idea of how it works. This way, you can potentially avoid getting back into trouble with Google. An Internet marketing agency can also help you better understand this:

Penguin: Better catches websites that are using spamming methods, such as purchasing links or getting links through link networks for the sole purpose of boosting their ranks in Google.

Panda: Designed to filter out web pages that are low quality.

Getting Your High Ranking Back

Here is a list of quick tips you can use to get your website back on track after being penalized by Google:

Take a look at your search console on Google. This will have a notification if your site was tagged for web spam.
Take a look at your backlink profile. You can download you link report from the Google Search Console, once known as Webmasters. Check for links stemming from spammy websites and attempt to disavow them.
Analyze the content on your site. Make sure there’s no duplicate content or pieces that were poorly written. Also, avoid using keyword stuffing.
Review recent Google algorithm changes to see if you are in violation of anything. Google is known to change its algorithm between 500 and 600 times annually.
You can work together with an SEO services company to analyze your site and right any wrongs that have been found. This is the quickest and most effective way to get back on the right path to business growth.

How much do you think you spend on your heating bills at present? According to the Energy Saving Trust, on average half the money spent on utility bills in the UK goes towards heating and hot water.

Is it therefore any surprise that come the first sign of winter, many households have the same debate rumbling on, whether to put the heating on. But, did you know that by taking precautionary steps, you can reduce your energy bills at the same time as keeping your home warm. Five top tips we recommend are…

Make an Extra Layer Your First Choice:

Many of us opt to switch the heating on the moment that we feel a chill in the home. Automatically reaching for the heating will cause your energy bills to rocket. Instead, your first option should be to make an extra layer of clothing your first choice to keeping warm.

Have Your Boiler Serviced Annually:

As with all appliances within the home, general usage can take its toll on your boiler. This wear and tear will leave your boiler performing below its optimum level, hindering its efficiency and costing you more in energy bills.

To reduce the risk of wear and tear on your boiler, you should have it serviced annually. Ideally the service should take place before winter takes hold.

Along with getting your boiler serviced, it’s also recommended to install a CO2 alarm next to the boiler.

Bleed Your Radiators:

If you’ve put your heating on and found that the top of your radiator is cooler than the bottom, then you’ll need to bleed them. This isn’t a difficult task, nor is it time consuming. But it is one which should be carried out at the earliest opportunity to save you money on your energy bills.

To bleed your radiators, all you’ll need is a radiator key and a towel.

With your heating off, use the radiator key to turn the valve at the top of the radiator to release any trapped air. Whilst doing this, hold the towel just below the valve to catch any water which may trickle out. As soon as water appears, close the valve.

Set TRVs Low:

Many modern radiators come with TRVs, which enable you to set the temperature of the individual radiator. Whilst many of us will turn the TRV to six, this will cost you money without heating the room any quicker.

To help save money on your energy bills, set the TRV to its lowest setting, before gradually turning them up until you find a comfortable room temperature. It’s also recommend to keep the TRVs on a low setting in rooms which aren’t frequented often. This will help keep the room warm without wasting heat.

Utilise Natural Heat:

OK, so the sun isn’t as strong during the winter months, it can still provide the required warmth to naturally heat your home. To make the most out of the natural warmth from the sun, leave your curtains open during the day, and closed during the evening.
Along with closing your curtains during the evening, it’s also a good idea to keep internal doors closed where possible.

These five simple steps will help you to save money on your heating and energy bills, at the same time as keeping the house warm. But, for those who are looking for an additional heat source there are a number of portable radiators available which will provide the heating requirements you need.

Moving is stressful, but what is more stressful is when the move impacts areas that it should not. This can include a relocation of your home or office, whether it is across town, across the world, or simply to a new company.

This is why when wealth managers meet with a finance industry recruiter they are advised to make sure the move is as seamless as possible, meaning that clients understand what is happening ahead of time, are kept abreast with a quick note during the process, and that they do not get any negative surprises in the process.

This applies to the financial advisor who moves from one company to another, as well as to a wealth manager who decides to convert his focus to caring for family offices.

Mistake #1: Announcing a Move Before it is Final

One advisor who is a client of ours was all set to move from his current firm – a large bank – into a leadership role at a private equity firm. He succeeded in all of the interviews, made a great impression, and had just accepted his employment package. Emotionally, he was gone.

However, the firm was going to have him start at the beginning of the year – 2 months away. When December came he gave appropriate notice to his supervisor and then began to speak freely about the move to clients. It was that week that that firm fell under investigation for securities fraud and later closed down.

It made him look very foolish, and clients couldn’t help but question his judgment.

Mistake #2: Not Announcing the Move When it is Final

Another person we know was able to make a very successful move. However, he had failed to communicate the change to his clients. When they received statements the only thing they could conclude was that something was wrong. After all, they always banked with ABC, not XYZ.

It all ended up being okay, but it was a lesson in customer service that wouldn’t be forgotten.

Mistake #3: Losing Sight of Customer Service

Moving takes a lot of time and energy, so it is understandable that one may find him or herself in a whirlwind, but for clients who feel as though they have lost access to you, they may wonder why they are with you, especially if they get bogged down in the day-to-day fluctuations of the market.

A simple way to resolve this before it occurs is to make sure that clients receive your new contact information. This should be done by email and through the mail. For those who have 100 clients or less, it would be a great idea to reach out by phone to each of them over the course of a week. The calls will take just a minute or two for the most part, but it’s also an incredible opportunity to get to know them better to solidify the relationship.

Wealth managers can do just about anything once they have earned their stripes. However, the skills involved with managing wealth also include managing relationships, which is what everything is built upon.

Banking has become an essential part of our life. Money matters everywhere. It’s the lifeline for banks. Even the richest person needs to keep money with a bank only. The dealings with banks and conduct of accounts go a long way in determining the benefits a person derives from them. There are many opportunities to prove oneself as a good and loyal customer. However, the five aspects discussed here cover the avenues for developing pleasant relationships.

1) Opening of account: Get the list of documents necessary for opening an account and seek the clarifications and guidance. Never be in a hurry when opening a new account. Banks are required to verify the genuineness, and confirm the credentials of the person or firm opening the account for the first time. No bank will issue a debit card or check book on the same day of opening the account. So, have patience for the banker to comply with the systems and rules in vogue. However, keep in touch with the bank to know the status and give any information or clarification when sought.

2) Operating the account: Regularly and properly transact as per the rules and regulations of the account. You cannot use any account for illegal or unlawful activities like Smuggling, Terrorism, etc.. Maintaining the account with good balance earns not only interest, but goodwill from the bank. Do not forget to send greetings or compliments on special occasions like New Year eve, Festival, etc.. In case of emergency or inability to deposit funds in the account, talk to the banker about your situation and seek help. A prudent banker will never turn down a valid request.

3) Personal contacts: At times, you might be visiting your banker to avail a service or for some other purpose. This is the opportunity to impress the banker. Politeness, Clarity and Precision are sure to produce long-term benefits. Even when the response from the banker is not as expected by you, try to convince by projecting the issues and seek the right solutions. Even if the bank’s rules do not permit what you request, its officials will make honest efforts to get done. Nonetheless, do not hesitate to appreciate the sincere efforts of the bank and express thanks every time your purpose is satisfied.

4) Loan repayment: A common mistake committed by many borrowers is the failure to repay the loan on time. A borrower, if necessary, should seek the extension of time for repayment. No bank will decline a genuine request. However, the banker will neither excuse any default after such extension nor consider any repeated request for extension. Similarly, when there are changes in residence, job, phone number and other things, keep your bank informed of such changes by email or letter. These are courtesy and duty as well. So, the banker will be able to direct the future communications to the new address and phone. Banks take legal actions only when the borrower doesn’t respond to their notices or when the latter’ house is found locked at the time of visits by the banker or his agent.

5) Helping the Bank: Bringing business by way of new deposits and good customers makes a bank value your relationship. Likewise, your voluntary efforts to settle or recover the sticky loans by the defaulter earn reputation and rapport from the bank. Sometimes, buying an asset auctioned by the bank indirectly enhances the relationship.

One customer brought a brand new car to the bank office to show his new acquisition and thank the bank for guiding him to invest in a mutual fund that matured into a huge sum and enabled to buy the prized car. The staff at the bank felt proud of such good customers. Some people tend to deal with a particular bank for decades together. Even the fourth generation of a family prefers to continue with the same bank. The reason for such loyalty is the RELATIONSHIP with the bank.

Over the past few years, SEO has evolved faster than the previous decade. And this has made it harder for users to keep up with most recent updates. The launch of Penguin and Panda changed the way things worked in the past. In short, the way Google used to rank website has changed a lot. But if you want to reach your objectives, make sure you avoid some common SEO mistakes.

1. Avoiding RELEVANT CONTENT

In the start, Google said that it would rank websites that have the most relevant content on its first page. This statement is still valid. What has happened is that the search engine has become a lot better at achieving the objectives. In other words, now, Google is in better position to know what is relevant and what is not.

So, what you need to do is offer content that is relevant and avoid content is not relevant to your niche. Of course, the content should be informative and unique.

2. Following Tricks

People have been using many illegal ways of cheating the search engine algorithms for traffic, exposure and backlinks. Some of these tactics can still give you a temporary edge, but they are bad for your blog or website for the long-term.

So, you should avoid using low-quality, duplicate content, keyword stuffing, questionable redirects or cloaking for traffic. It may be tempting to go for these short-cuts, but they will just hurt your ranking, and may even get you banned for good.

3. Overloading your site

It has been a common perception that photos, videos and other graphics make a website more appealing for the viewers. To some extent, this perception is true; however, there should not be too much of it or your website will take ages to load. Your viewers don’t have all day to wait for your site to load. If your blog takes longer to load than other websites, the viewers will just click away. You will not only lose viewers, you will also lose ranking against other websites.

4. Making navigation difficult

Navigation is one of the most important factors for any website. It’s important for both viewers and search engines. Ideally, your viewers should be able to get the desired information from your website in one or two clicks. This may not be an easy task for you. So, what you can do is put important content on the main page of your site. This the users will be able to get what they want more easily.

5. Misunderstanding THE BACKLINK PROCESS

You may not want to be obsessed with obtaining a lot of backlinks. Although you don’t have to have backlinks from authority websites to establish your credibility, it helps a lot. However, what you need to do is try to get backclinks in a nature fashion. But it’s not a good idea to buy backlinks. This is one of the worst mistakes that you can make.

Quality content is the key to SEO success. Content doesn’t just mean your text contents. Images must be an integral part of your content strategy. At times, single images can be far more effective than your 1000 word blog post. It also helps you improve blog post quality and performance.

Images, Infographics, Videos and all other multimedia contents on your web page will help you in increasing the user engagement on your site and makes the visitors stay on your site for longer duration which helps in reducing the bounce rate.

Not just adding images to your contents, you should also optimize those images for better SEO performance. Optimization of images must be the one important aspect of your on-page SEO process.

If you are using images in your content, there are many aspects to be considered related to SEO.

Relevancy

Using images doesn’t mean that you should fill up your content with loads of pictures. You should use it only when it is required and also you should use images that are more relevant to your content.

Placement of your images is an another important aspect. It should be placed at a relevant location in your content according to your text content.

Use original images

Originality always helps in improving your user experience and your authority. Usage of original images will be helpful in improving your SEO performance. You can create original images with a graphic designer or you can take your own photographs with a quality camera. It is the reason top White hat SEO companies employ talented graphic designers for creating quality images.

If you are not able to employ an in-house graphic designer or if you are running out of time, you can always use high quality images from the web. But the important factor to be considered is it should be copyright free.

There are many tools available for getting copyright free images without any cost. The most popular ones are Unsplash, Flicker, Freeimages.

Image Size

Images are the main source for damping your site’s speed. And site speed is a crucial factor in your SEO performance. So, you should be extra cautious in using images without compromising your page speed.

It should not also affect your image quality, you should have a correct balance between. You can achieve this by reducing the file size by compression. You can use tools like Photoshop for compression.

File name

Search engine crawlers are visually impaired, it can even interrupt a 5000 word text content, but it cannot interrupt a single image and what the image is about. It is the reason using a keyword rich file names for your images is an important aspect in image optimization.

Google bots and other search engine crawlers can read your image’s file name and if it is named with your target keyword, it gives a signal to search engines about the image topic and thus helps your SEO performance.

For example, if your image is related to selling sports shoes, rather than using the file name as “IMG_89868″ you can use it as “Black_Tennis_Shoes”.

Alt text

Similar to the file name, search engines can read Alt text of the images. Alt text is known as “Aleternative Text”, is an HTML attribute used to describe the content of images.

You should use Alt text which is relevant to your images and it should be clear and descriptive. You can use your target keywords in the Alt text but be cautious about Keyword stuffing.

If you are not focusing on Image optimization, you are missing a huge opportunity in improving your SEO performance. You can use above mentioned best practices in your on-page optimization process.

American youth currently face challenging realities along their way to adulthood. With parents working longer hours and the absence of grandparents and other community adults who used to make up support systems, the intergenerational fabric of community has been frayed. Youth development strategies aim to reweave community fabric in a new way – one that takes the supports and opportunities young people should have, and re-institutes them in the context of young people’s realities today. While many of these realities are harsh ones, we know that young people themselves want to be involved in their communities. The importance of building positive youth/adult partnerships in this process cannot be stressed enough.

The mobilization effort is based on influencing three critical elements: information, attitudes, involvement. The transformation of each of these areas, both in the public and private domains, is a necessary condition for change. For example, in the area of information, the country is currently focused on collecting primarily negative youth information, e.g., teenage births, dropouts, and juvenile arrest rate. Inspiring a 180 degree shift, we need to collect information such as: average number of hours youth participate in after-school activities, computer to youth ratio in non-school hours, and the percentage of youth who hold part-time jobs. The three elements are intertwined, for how information is gathered and communicated impacts attitudes as well as how and if people choose to become involved.

Only through broad community commitment, strong public will, and diverse partnerships can youth development take root, go to scale, and be sustained over time. Ultimately, the mobilization must be supported by partnerships among all of the systems in a community that affect young people (i.e., education, corporations, health care, juvenile justice, religious groups, and recreation). To build these relationships and establish youth development infrastructures to improve developmental paths of adolescents will take at least 10 years.

Localities currently spending their resources on efforts to “fix youth” will need to pool, redirect, and increase their financial commitment to youth development. These additional dollars will ensure all youth equal access to supports and opportunities, especially youth living in economically distressed areas.

Our information on the services young people need, and use, is still hit or miss. Communities do not know what they have or what they need. They usually have no way to tell how well services are being used and what services need to be improved.

Good information is important for youth services for exactly the same reasons it is important for everything else. Accurate, accessible standardized information lets people find the services they need and use them effectively. It lets communities manage, evaluate and improve their services and determine the need for changing them, eliminating them, or developing new ones.

Many national efforts to measure outcomes presently use deficit-driven indicators to assess young people’s condition in society, such as teen pregnancy rates, juvenile crime numbers, and percentages of high school dropouts. Although these measures are important, they do not tell the whole story about young people’s experiences. Measures that reflect positive conditions and experiences of young people are also important.

The accelerated trend of the past decade toward empowering our nation’s young people to succeed has fostered a new awareness and commitment to this most valuable resource. Some basic questions are:

- How much do we currently spend?

- How much should we spend?

Some progress has been made through new initiatives in education finance reform and services integration, providing more effective delivery of social, health and educational services for children and youth from the classroom up to the government. This document establishes an initial framework and formula for assessing the financial resources and mechanisms necessary to move American society closer to this ideal. The following were found to be potential root causes of these trends in spending:

- Devaluation of adolescents.

- Lack of consensus on youth development.

- Lack of adequate and protected funding. Funds are not protected and dedicated in the manner necessary to sustain the long-term, comprehensive process that is youth development.

We can support the move toward the ideal by:

- Seeking new types of information.

- Building on the after-school momentum.

- Making a sustainable public investment.

Youth development is an investment that must be made by each sector of the wider community – public and private. Examination of the federal-state matching, local dedicated taxes an incentives for business and philanthropy could lead to models for providing adequate and sustainable funding for youth development. National intermediaries must work to cultivate this leadership at all levels of government, and at the grassroots, by creating constituencies.

Several states are taking the lead from California, Oregon and Illinois by offering state-sponsored retirement plans that encourage or require private sector employers to participate.

The plans are referred to as auto-IRAs because eligible workers are automatically enrolled, generally within 30 days of employment. The default contribution rate is typically 3-5% of a paycheck and the employee can stop, restart or transfer plan assets depending on their needs. Referred to as “public-private partnerships” by the Pew Charitable Trust, there is no cost to the employer. Proceeds are managed by a private financial firm management for a pre-determined fee. The plans are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) like other sponsored pension and benefit plans.

This article provides an overview of the states that currently offer savings programs, as well as those that plan to do so in the future.

OregonSaves

Oregon was one of the first states to implement a savings program for employees of small businesses who are not otherwise eligible for a workplace sponsored pension plan. Titled OregonSaves, it is a state retirement program that is available to an employer or an individual planning for the future.

OregonSaves had almost $57 million in assets as of mid-2020. Employee contributions averaged $127 to $135 per month as of that time.

Enrollment is automatic for employees, with contributions being made through payroll deductions. Each employee account is portable and can be moved from one job to another.

All Oregon employers, regardless of employee size, must facilitate the State’s program for their employees if they do not offer an employer-sponsored retirement plan. The plan is working with small employers to make the process as simple as possible.

CalSavers

CalSavers is available to California workers whose employers do not offer a workplace retirement plan, self-employed individuals, and others who want to increase their savings. Plan participants contribute to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) that belongs to them.

California employers with more than 50 employees must register with CalSavers by June 30, 2021 if they do not already sponsor a retirement plan. Registration is available to all California employers with at least five employees.

The CalSavers program opened statewide in July 2019 and had $4.3 million in assets as of mid-2020. On average, participating employees contribute $105 to $120 monthly. Like the Oregon plan, the default savings rate is 5% of the employee’s pay and employees are automatically enrolled after 30 days of employment. They can stop, restart or transfer plan participation at any time if they change employers.

CalSavers Retirement Savings Program is designed to simplify employer participation with no employer fees, no fiduciary responsibility, and minimal ongoing responsibilities. Employers that fail to offer participation in the plan as required are subject to fines.

In May 2021, a federal appeals court in San Francisco dismissed a legal challenge to the CalSavers plan.

Illinois Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program

Illinois launched its Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program in 2018. It is a state-facilitated retirement program that is open to employees who work for an eligible employer as well as other employees who want to enroll independent of their employer. Approximately 32,000 Illinois employees saved $8.5 million in the first year of the Illinois Secure Choice program, according to state reports.

The Illinois Secure Choice account is a Roth IRA for the employee. The default savings rate is 5% of gross pay. Employees are automatically enrolled through payroll contributions after 30 days of employment. An employee can opt out at any time. Plan participants are charged a fee of 0.75% of assets per year ($0.75 for every $100 saved), which pays for program administration and operating expenses.

The Illinois Secure Choice had 5,544 registered employers as of May 2020. There are no fees for employers to facilitate the program and employers cannot make contributions to their employee accounts. Employers serve a limited role as a facilitator. As of November, 2019, employers with 25 or more employees that have been in business for two years or more are required to participate in the program. Employers that already offer an employer-sponsored retirement plan are exempt from this legislation.

New Jersey Secure Choice Savings

The “New Jersey Secure Choice Savings Act,” was signed into law in March 2019, with a two-year time frame scheduled to take effect in March 2021.

The Act requires employers that have been in business for two years and have 25 or more employees to participate in a retirement savings program administered through automatic payroll deductions. Private sector employees of businesses of any size are able to participate in the retirement savings program. Smaller or newer employers could join voluntarily. Failure to comply will result in fines to the employer.

Employees will be automatically enrolled at the leve of a 3% paycheck contribution. The annual contribution maximum is $6,000 for those under 50 years old, and $7,000 for those 50 or older.

Connecticut Secure Choice Savings Plan

Connecticut employers with five or more employees must offer a retirement plan to employees, and private employers with four or fewer employees may choose to do so. Employees are auto-enrolled within 120 days of employment, and employees must be notified of their rights within 30 days. Employers are not permitted to make contributions to the program.

The Connecticut Retirement Security Authority, a quasi-public agency, was formed in 2016 to oversee the program. The state estimates that as many as 600,000 employees may benefit from the plan.

Tales from the Online Marketing Crypt #18

Why being mindful of clients’ perspectives can keep them supporting your business

We all have them.

Days when everything pisses us off.

In fact, I doubt there’s a human being on this planet who hasn’t been in a bad mood every now and then.

I know I sure have my fair share of them!

And for a variety of reasons too.

But there’s one thing we business owners have an unwritten rule about (well probably it’s written somewhere by someone) is that no matter what, we don’t bring our bad mood with us when communicating with clients.

Would you agree with that fundamental principle?

But how many times have you, as a client or customer, been on the receiving end of someone’s bad mood?

It happened to me recently and that single instance literally destroyed a 30 year working relationship.

I had a hair appointment with the same gal that I’ve been seeing for decades. She works out of her home and lives about 25 minutes away from me.

I know exactly how long it takes for me to get to her place and am typically on time, every time.

Except the last two appointments.

The time previous to this last visit, I had an emergency come up just before heading out the door. It was something I had to take care of or faced dire consequences (as in having a very angry client on my hands!)

It meant I was going to be about 5 minutes late for my appointment. I texted her when I was leaving stating I was hurrying over and will be a few minutes late.

She didn’t reply and never said anything when I got there. We had our usual girl talk that I very much looked forward to.

This recent time I needed to do a quick errand before my appointment. I completely misjudged how much time it would take me to get from that other location to my stylist’s place. Plus… I got lost finding my way there since I was coming from a different direction.

I didn’t want to risk taking any time to stop and text her and honestly thought I was just a minute away… except it was more like 15 minutes before I finally got there.

I’ve never been 15 minutes late for anything and I felt terrible. I apologized profusely but unfortunately, she wouldn’t hear any of it.

She was pissed.

So angry in fact, she first lectured me on “always” being late, citing my text from the previous appointment, and that she was sick and tired of constantly hearing, “sorry I’m late” as if I’m the only one that says that every time I walk into her room.

Disclaimer: I’m a Canadian. We apologize for everything, even if we’re 1 minute late!

Stunned at how mad she was, especially knowing I was the last appointment of the day, I apologized again and tried to explain why I was late and even offered to leave with my hair wet to make up for the lateness so we would still end in time.

I didn’t know what else to do to rectify my error.

She was so angry, she gave me the silent treatment and only grunted her “hold your head here” and “move to the sink” commands throughout the entire time there.

I did leave with wet hair, 15 minutes earlier than what our appointment time would have ended at had I been on time, vowing to never return again.

I fully realize I was the catalyst that set off her anger, and I also realize she had to have been having one helluva a bad day before I arrived, and I got the brunt of her wrath.

I get it.

But as a customer, a loyal one for 30 years at that, there’s no excuse whatsoever to be treated like that.

Never.

When I have bad days like what she must have experienced, I set aside whatever is going on and treat anyone who I speak with that day, whether it’s one of our team members, a client, a lead or even chatting on social media, with the utmost respect and kindness.

Even if they are the reason for my having a bad day.

It serves no purpose whatsoever to make the other person feel worse than what I am feeling.

I found this experience to be so distressing, I posted about it on Facebook.

I received a variety of responses, ranging from my owing her an apology (which I did) to justifying why she blew up, right over to demanding I fire her on the spot (which I ended up doing).

These kinds of responses go to show how we are all human and all look at experiences from our own lens and past history.

For me, I was taken straight back to elementary school when I was the victim of bullying quite a bit. A feeling I never want to experience again!

For others, they empathized with her where time is very important to them and get angry themselves when someone disrespects it. (I’m actually the same way – being punctual is a huge deal for me.)

One thing I have done as a result of this experience is to find the lesson behind it all. For one, I will definitely plan my time better and ensure I give myself enough time to do what needs to be done in time!

I also learned just how fragile our relationships can be.

She lost a client of 30 years – and I lost any further opportunities to visit with someone I’ve known a long time to get some of the much valued girl time I look forward to with each visit.

It doesn’t take much to destroy a 30 year working relationship.

Yes I realize I could reach out and try to mend the fences but I am choosing not to. At least not right now.

At the end of the day, this lesson goes to show how important it is for us all to keep our anger in check. To realize our anger is being received by the other person, and be aware of how they are receiving it with their own personal response. They won’t always understand where you are coming from because they’re looking at things from a different perspective.

So what do we do when we’re having a bad day and business must go on?

If you ever find yourself feeling angry, whether justified or not, here’s eight tips on what you can do to avoid creating irreparable situations with your clients:

Exercise. Go for a walk, head to the gym, box with a punching bag. Whatever works for you to do some venting.
Meditate. Or just sit quietly and practice deep breathing.
Yoga. Nothing is better at centering our emotions and getting back in touch with our bodies than practicing yoga.
Watch a funny show or listen to a positive podcast. It’s amazing how quickly your anger can turn around when you’re laughing or receiving positive energy from someone else!
Use the anger as motivation. If you can control the scenario that’s causing your anger, then you can do something about it!
Focus on something more positive. A great thing to do here is think of something you are grateful for and focus on why you’re so grateful about it. Putting yourself in a state of gratefulness will trigger those happy endorphins and will get you out of that pissy mood fast.
Get productive. Feeling on purpose can be quite energizing. If you have something that’s calling your name, get busy and shift your attention to that.
Write in a journal. A great way to release that negative vibe from your body is to write it out. Keep writing until you’ve vented everything that comes to mind. Even if it’s not the same thing that got you angry in the first place – just let it all out!

I’m curious if you have ever experienced someone either getting angry with you in a business relationship or did you lose your cool and get angry with a client or service provider? How did it turn out? What lesson did you learn? And do you have any other tips on how to let go of anger to share?

To your business success,

Susan

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

READ: Learn effective communication principles from an expert. This book from communications specialist Yvonne Douma is a must-read. It will be available on June 8th but you can get yourself on her notification list and grab some great bonuses if you purchase on launch day: REFRAME: How to Change Your Conversations to Resolve Those Messy Conflicts.
WATCH: Have you ever been frustrated by the lack of customer service from another company and vowed to never do business with them again? And most certainly never told anyone else about them? This is why customer service is so vital to business success as I explain in this eTip episode on why it’s the primary reason we have such a high referral rate: How Great Customer Service Gets You Business Referrals (on our website)
READ: I guess all of us have been on the receiving end of a situation where we are not satisfied with customer service. But how do you respond? Read this great piece from Kindi Gill who shares excellent insights on managing difficult client situations: Five Tips for Managing Customer Complaints (on our website)

Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web development and digital marketing firm eVision Media, is a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and Social Media Advisor. She works with entrepreneurs who struggle with having the lack of knowledge, skill and support needed to create their online business presence.

As a result of working with Susan and her team, clients feel confident and relieved knowing their online marketing is in trustworthy and caring hands so they can focus on building their business with peace of mind at having a perfect support system in place to guide them every step of the way.