Old Ongapotchket Site

After many months and many meetings and many decisions, the new janepollak.com is alive and well and hopefully worth your valuable time and attention. It feels as though my last website went up only weeks ago, but it’s been six years. It was time for something new, fresh and more adaptable to today’s social media opportunities.

My mother used a lot of Yiddish words when we were growing up. The one that popped into my mind every time I pulled up my old site was ongepotchket (uhng-guh-potch-kit), which can mean too fancy or ornate, fussy, overdressed, overdone. What I had it mean in my head was “too much going on.” After four years of plain and simple, I had my assistant add the logos from the media outlets that had once featured me. Then, when the revised edition of Soul Proprietor came out in May 2010, we threw the new cover up there with links to amazon.com.

The site got cluttered and messy looking–ongepotchket–so every time I clicked on my home page I had to squint so as not to notice the clutter.

And then, you just know, it’s time to re-group and re-launch. I hired a wonderful marketing/branding company to work with me, and I’m thrilled with my new look. It’s congruent with the cover of my book. There’s no more ‘egg’ symbolism. And we’ve added a lot of video and social media connections to stay abreast of the times.

I hope you’ll spend some time checking it out, send your friends, sign up for a free webinar and/or hang out with my remarkable clients sharing their experiences on the youtube clips.

Welcome to my new site!

My son got mad at me a few years ago when my newsletter column listed 100 things I was grateful for, and the UPS guy was ranked above my kids. Let me say at the outset of this post that I am grateful, first and foremost, for my family members. (Happy, Rob?)

Recently, though, I’ve had an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the ease that technology has brought to me and my business particularly. (It was likely Steve Jobs’ untimely death that brought that to the forefront of my mind.)

After giving my free webinar a few weeks ago, I gave my first official webinar on Thursday evening, and I felt like I’d found a new home. I had over 20 participants listening from their phones or computers in locations as far away as California and Texas and as close as New Hampshire and Stamford, CT. Those who missed the live event were sent links to a recording that matched the audio and visual components. No more need to worry about scheduling. Everything is available to participants whenever they have time to access it. This is HUGE!

Using Easy Seminar, a website designed to handle all the pieces of webinar communication, I was able to see who was calling from where, what time they signed on, if they had their hand up and were muted or unmuted. While I’ve attended calls where similar technology was used, I had never looked ‘behind the curtain’ to figure out how to do it myself. It’s really cool!

In addition to having a national audience, I’m able to create slides using PowerPoint and upload them to this site. We’ve created a private Facebook community where webinar participants can share their thoughts, encouragement and questions with each other. I was able to lift their photos from that social network to use for this slide which I showed the group when describing my ideal clients.

I first had to use PowerPoint in the late 90′s when I was still a computer novice. I went to an ‘expert’ to create my visuals for a program I was giving in Buenos Aires. I was beginning to learn the basics, but definitely needed his help uploading photos, creating transitions, etc. I had zero idea of what I was doing. I remember asking him if it would be possible to make ALL of the backgrounds of the slides black. I was such an amateur. I posed the question with such gravitas, as if I were asking for the password to Fort Knox. The ‘expert’ definitely played his part to the hilt. Rather than truthfully telling me, “Yeah, I just need to press duplicate slide 20 times,” he kind of grunted and groaned as if there were great effort required to make yet another slide background black. Knowing what I know now, I’m blushing at how little I knew.

That’s part of the gratitude. I’ve taken multiple classes over the years to get up to speed on technology. Now, I love going to google and writing in the slot, “how do you do a screen shot on the mac” and having the answer pop right up.

Is there a piece of technology you’ve mastered recently or are particularly grateful for this year? I’d love to know.

I’ve been a fan of Susan Keane Baker since we first met at an NSA-NY Chapter meeting in NYC at least 15 years ago. Class acts have a way of being class acts from the get-go. Susan’s brand experience is excellence, depth and connection and she’s delivered that consistently in our friendship and professional relationship since day one.

It was from Susan that I learned how important the personal touch is. She’s been sending out a print newsletter for over a decade. She mails several thousand at a time and hand writes a message to each recipient. Who does that anymore?!

Every newsletter I receive from Susan is packed with valuable content on her subject: improving the patient/health care practitioner relationship. Of course, substitute the word “client” for patient and “service provider” for health care practitioner and her advice resonates loud and clear.

Each time I open one of Susan’s mailings, and they come quarterly, I think to myself, will there be a message in this one? Is it really possible for her to do this repeatedly?

I was not surprised then, but ever delighted, when I opened up her most recently mailed newsletter and found not “Happy Fall!” or “Hope to see you soon!” but a truly personal, hand-written note acknowledging my new webinar launch. That’s the Susan experience.

What’s your brand experience, and when was the last time your client/patient/customer had a taste of it?

I use mailchimp.com for my online marketing campaigns. I used to use Constant Contact, but on the advice of my virtual assistant, mailchimp has more capabilities, so I switched. I was looking around on it today at some recent activity and saw this message along with a list of people who had unsubscribed:

Nuts, you had a few people jump ship. Ah, who needs them anyway?

They’re encouraging when new people sign up for my information:

Nice! Guess people like what you’re saying.

I know it’s an inanimate object, but positive reinforcement helps, whatever the source.

I rely heavily on Scarlett De Bease of Scarlett New York for advice on my wardrobe. She’s created a look-book for me, which means that every time I need to go out in public and look presentable, I have a photographic album of outfits Scarlett has assembled for me to choose from. My bodily flaws are camouflaged by the shapes and accessories she helps me purchase and coordinate.

Naturally, any magazine would want to feature Scarlett’s expertise, not to mention her great good looks. In fact, she was recently contacted by O Magazine (Oprah’s rag for those of you who may not recognize it by name), to be in a makeover shoot for an upcoming issue. Scarlett had emailed me that she had a noteworthy interaction that might be of interest to the women I serve. Here’s the email invitation she received inviting her to be photographed for a spread on fashion makeovers:

Our team of fashion experts are here to help! Tell us about your “problem area” (not limited to the ones listed above [sic arms belly, neck, bust] and we’ll teach you how to dress in a way that will make you (and everyone else) forget all about it!

To which Scarlett replied (thank you, Scarlett, for letting me share your response verbatim for interested readers):

Thank you so much for contacting me, and I am so sorry to say that as much as I REALLY want to be in the magazine, I cannot participate in this feature as it is my specialty to show my clients how to solve the very same issue your feature is all about and it would discredit my work if I were a model for this particular story.

I know you are working hard tonight and I am truly sorry I cannot be a part of tomorrow’s casting. I do hope you will continue to keep me in your files for future features as, naturally, I would be delighted to be included.

Scarlett was relieved and pleased to receive an acknowledgment (often producers do not respond at all) saying “I totally understand” with a winking emoticon after the sentence.

I always love to hear, see or read what goes on behind the curtain. Thanks to Scarlett for sharing this story with all of us.

Getting specific around numbers is an awareness that continues to grow within me.

I still remember my 10th grade math teacher, Miss Stone, who always referred to things that happened “a hundred years ago.” Invariably, it meant something from two decades prior–or before us high-schoolers’ brief lives even existed. Now, hundreds of years later, I find myself using that phrase every ten seconds.  Since the rise of the Internet and all it has brought with it, anything 20th Century does feel like eons ago.

It’s got me thinking about how and why we over-estimate numerical values. I rarely say I have 38 emails in my inbox. It’s “I’ve got a thousand emails.” Or, I won’t get specific and say I have to return 6 phone calls. No, it’s “I have to make a ton of calls.”

I was thinking of this today as time becomes more and more precious. I’ve gotten hundreds of new clients since the second or third week of September. Four, to be exact.

What is the correlation–for you–between what you say out loud and the truth?

Is it to make us feel more important? To pump up the numbers to foster our sense of significance? How much more trustworthy is the person who names the actual amount without exaggeration? There’s a ring of truth when it’s spoken, and that’s what I want to hear, no matter how low it goes.

Do you ever inflate your numbers, and if so, for what reason?

‘Under-promise and over-deliver’ has been a mantra for me both as a giver and receiver in the business marketplace. So, when I read and article in the current More magazine that perfectly demonstrated a truly dazzling presentation, I wanted to share it with you.

Barbara Bigford had invented a product that she wanted to get into the Savannah Walmart.  She promised the buyer to keep her pitch to under five minutes and held up a stopwatch to prove it. Already an irresistible offer, right? I’m going to quote verbatim what she said (according to the article) and add my editorial comments alongside.

• I’m the owner of Seabreeze Products, [~ names her position and the company]
• a newly approved Walmart vendor [~specified her credentials within the organization]
• with a fabulous item that I just know you’re going to love– [~confidence and optimism for that person's buy-in]
• –a beach umbrella that does not, I repeat, does not blow away! [~names the product and the problem that it solves, twice for emphasis]
• She held one up. [~props are critical to the success of a presentation]
• This is the only umbrella that comes with a weightless anchor. [~paints a picture of a concept that raises a question in the buyer's mine]
• You just fill these pockets with sand to weigh down the umbrella, then empty them when you leave the beach. [~answers succinctly and thoroughly the question she raised in the previous sentence]
• Isn’t it amazing? [~gives prospect/buyer time to take in the genius of her invention]
• No more chasing wind-blown umbrellas down the beach! [~reiterates the problem she’s solving with a powerful visual image}

This had to have taken weeks to write, edit, memorize and rehearse, but the payoff was worth it–sales to Walmart and 400% growth for her company in the two years before licensing her invention. Here’s an image of the product and a link if you’re sold too.

I had the privilege of speaking for the Litchfield County Women’s Network last Wednesday night, one of those pouring rainy nights we seem to have had so many of lately. I was a tad grumpy coming in after a long drive, but the mood of the room and the warmth of the members soon parted the clouds in my brain.

Although her business is graphic design, President Chana Monahan is a Toastmasters-trained powerhouse, leading her network through dinner and the best self-introductory ice-breaker I’ve seen. As part of each woman’s 60-second ‘hello,’ we were asked to identify a significant historic moment from our childhood in addition to announcing who we were and what we did in our businesses. I heard everything from the arrival of the Beatles to Kennedy’s assassination to the invention and acquisition of Cabbage Patch Kids. The mood was light, congenial and more revealing than any sound bites on self-proclaimed business acumen. My recalling the world-changing invention of Ford’s Model T got some interesting looks. (I used to be the youngest in the room–What happened?)

After dinner I gave my talk on having A Million Dollar Presence on a Zero Dollar Budget, which I subtitle, How I Got on the Today Show. It was followed by a lively Q+A and discussion. During my book signing I met many of the women, packed up and drove home in more rain.

Not two days later I received a personal, handwritten note from Chana thanking me for my contribution to her group. My talk was pro bono – I do one per quarter – so Chana was expressing her deep appreciation for my time. Enclosed was a $100 Shell gas gift card. What a brilliant gift! In this day and age, if you drive a car, the escalating cost of fueling it has become a major consideration. This was the perfect gesture and will be gratefully used, with Chana and LCBW in mind, when I fill my tank (at least once!).

Three years later, I love the sport and absolutely see the ‘why’ in showing up three times a week to give voice to what’s important in my corner of the world.

I’ve approached life in a new and different way, thinking as a journalist rather than Plain Jane. Everything I come into contact with–each new relationship, opportunity or incident–becomes fodder for the mill. Miriam Salpeter brilliantly likened the Royal Wedding to Job Search in a recent posting. Like Miriam, I love taking what’s happening around the world and in my local community and pulling out the wisdom for entrepreneurs, specifically women business owners. Whether it’s swooning over Tina Fey’s Bossypants, or touting the inspiring successes of my clients and colleagues, I feel more alive and connected than I ever have.

I’ve gotten to bond with you in unexpected new ways, and that’s the greater reward. I rarely go anywhere these days where someone doesn’t mention something I shared in a posting. “Loved you in the red coat!.” “Boy, that parking lot attendant sure taught you.” “How was Costa Rica?” It’s surprising, humbling, scary (How’d you know that? Oh, I wrote about it, and you read it! Oops.) I feel more  seen and understood than ever before. I’ve discovered what’s really important to me (sharing what I know with other women business owners), what prejudices I harbor (why are there 95% men represented in the iStockphoto.com images?), and how brilliant, courageous and inspiring women are (read any of my posts over the last three years).

Like I heard about entering the speaking and coaching industries, people said, “It’s an easy business to get into, but a hard business to stay in.” I feel the same way about blogs. A lot of people start blogs then abandon them.There can be excitement and enthusiasm at the outset, posting, then watching your numbers grow or not. But it’s the disciplined dailiness of any venture that creates success. I have gotten better at it over time, and simply showing up religiously has its own merits. Brian Tracy says that what makes people extraordinary is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

This is my 448th post. There have been 1948 comments. I shall continue this journey and welcome your staying with me for the ride.