Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

May Pop Culture Roundup

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129149_459331_40I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed sharing my pop culture obsessions of the moment with you guys last month. So I think we’ll keep it up. It’s season finale time, which means bad summer reality TV and more time on the patio with a good beer and a good book. I can’t wait! Here’s what’s going on in my pop culture world right now, make sure to share yours in the comments!

Reading

As you may have heard, May 4th was Free Comic Book Day. And yes, I did get up early, drove to my comic book shop in Kirkland and landed a BUNCH of free comics. It was AWESOME. You get a bunch of free comics to check out and learn about some stuff you might enjoy! Here’s what I liked: Ultimate Spider-man, Mouse Guard (and it had a cool secret Fraggle Rock Comic!), Jonathan Kellerman- “The Web” (I now REALLY want to read this book!), The Walking Dead (okay, was kind of disappointed that they just took 3 back stories and put them together, BUT I love TWD), and my biggest surprise was The Steam Engines of Oz. I can’t wait for what’s in store next year! I also discovered a great Sesame Street Comic that teaches kids HOW to read comics. I bought a couple copies (it wasn’t free) for 2 kids in my life who need to learn comics from someone, I decided it’ll be me.

I just finished Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore. It was GREAT. It got me excited for my trip to Paris this summer and re-ignited my love of art! Double Whammy Score!

Now it’s time to figure out the next book to read, I have a bookshelf full of suggestions, but I really just want to read Dad is Fat so may pick that up this weekend. Or I’ll finally read Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother.

Listening

Nothing new has jumped out at me lately. I need to listen to more Justin Timberlake since I’m heading to the stadium concert in BC this summer! I’ve also been listening to a lot of Eric Hutchinson and James Morrison, it’s probably the rain. Any new albums you’re loving lately?

Watching

It’s season finale time, and I have to say, while The Office has been so bad since Steve Carrell’s last season, these past 3 episodes have been pretty great, I’m excited for the series finale and wedding episode (I know, didn’t watch it last night, already caught a few spoilers, grrr!)

I loved New Girl’s Finale, I need to stop watching The Mindy Project (it’s just not funny, or very good), I can’t wait for Nashville’s finale either! And Parks & Recreation did a great job of setting up Season 6. Every year they’ve been so scared of getting canceled they make the season finale able to serve as a series finale. I was excited they didn’t do that this year.

For the next month I’ll be plugging through Game of Thrones & Mad Men still. I can’t get enough. Plus, bear fights are awesome! And I can’t wait for the final season of Dexter.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the up fronts this week and it sounds like some pretty great shows will be coming out this fall. I’m most excited for the Michael J Fox show and Andy Samberg’s new show.

And, I finally watched Pitch Perfect this weekend. I need to apologize for taking so long to finally watch this movie. It was AWESOME. If you like music and general pop culture geekiness, you should see this. Don’t let the competitive acapella world distract you, It’s great!

This weekend is all about Star Trek, and I may finally see Iron Man 3 next week. As I get older I seem to become more of a junior high boy in my tastes it seems like…

What are you reading, watching, listening to lately that you love? Share in the comments!

Are You Ready for the Intro?

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IMG_3486I met someone last week through an introduction of a mutual friend. It was a great meeting, this guy is getting his company started and looking for a couple of test cases to get started, which is great, my clients can occasionally be fantastic guinea pigs!
As we met, a few people came to mind for him to connect with. He had very prompt follow up (in my inbox by the next morning!) and when I replied I sent him links to the people I think would be good for him to meet. Instead of saying I’d do the intro automatically, I said “let me know when you’re ready for the intro,” and he asked to wait. Which is GREAT!
Right now there are 2 people in my CRM that I was introduced to by a mutual connection and said they wanted to connect, but we have yet to schedule a time.
It’s OK if you’re busy or aren’t ready to talk yet, just say so. When someone sends me an introduction I try to follow up with a quick thank you to them, and maybe more if it turns into a client. I always send a thank you email right after the intro email, but I appreciate the follow through of “that was a great connection thanks.” If you aren’t ready for the intro, it’s OK, just say so!

3 Things Getting on my Nerves This Week

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I’ll try not to make this a recurring blog series, but you never know. Here’s a couple of easy mistakes you may be making in your business that are unknowingly driving your clients or colleagues (or friends, family, etc.) crazy!

1. a lot– it’s 2 words. You know this. Your English teacher taught you this. Spell check may NOT be teaching you this, so pay attention.

2. Not Using BCC. When sending an email to a group of people more than 4 or 5, use the BCC line. If you’re sending out a document or piece of information to a group and it requires a direct response to you, use BCC. There’s nothing more annoying that having your inbox filled with responses you didn’t need to see because the sender isn’t sure how to use email. Here’s a great article from my friend Arden Clise at Clise Etiquette on Email Etiquette. Bookmark this post.

3. Texting– I am not a big fan. If you have a quick piece of information for me, an FYI, “call me when you have 5 minutes”, running late, sending me a Glympse, great. Asking me to review a website or asking me a question you need a lot of info and a thoughtful response on, pick up the phone and call me, or better yet, send me an email. If it’s not time sensitive, it shouldn’t be texted. Sure everyone else is on board with this, last week a friend said she called someone who’s voicemail said “texting is a better way to communicate with me.” That’s just fine, but it’s good to know HOW the people in your life like to be communicated with. I am not the fan of texting people seem to think I am.