The Sounding Board

I’m one of those people who always loves to ‘tinker.’ I like exploring new things & trying out nifty gadgets and gizmos. As such, I decided to try out a new feature in MS Word 2007 that lets you post to your blog directly from Word. This will be my very first Word-based post. We’ll see how it looks when I get done. If this works, I’ll post what I’ve learned for everyone else so you can test out this nifty little feature too!

As many of us already know, there are tremendous fires raging through Southern California. Some of my dear colleagues from the VACOC have been affected. One such colleague, Cheryl Harless of CH Enterprises, has been evacuated from her home & office. Many others have been affected also, but Cheryl, even in the midst of what must be a frightening ordeal, still managed to post a message to the VACOC forum in the wee hours this morning. Her message passed on a bit of wisdom from another professional affected by the fires. It was one of strength, hope, and enduring passion for continued personal and professional growth. I was floored by the words she shared. It reminded me how life’s adversities give us opportunities to choose how we respond and the opportunity to rejoice in the growth those adversities can encourage if we choose to be strong and always seek out the good in everything. Thank you, Cheryl, for sharing that message this morning. I hope everyone will join me in praying for your continued safety and strength. I know you will find the good in whatever challenges you are faced with and continue to grow and attract those qualities in the clients you serve. My prayers are with you, girl!

And if you need to get away from it all for awhile…I have a couple of four-legged buddies who’d LOVE to have you take a ride with us! Smokey & the Bandit haven’t been on a good trial run in several weeks…I know they’d just love to have you come out & help ‘em with a good work out - or just hang out in the barn over a bucket full of alfalfa treats!

This morning I finally heard back from my other content thief, Ms. Nicole Brown of Full Service Virtual Assisting. Her email was simple. No excuses. No lies or half-baked truths. Just a simple sentence or two.

“Ms. Johnson,
 
The rates page has been removed and I apologize for the delayed response.”

I have to appreciate her response for what it is. A correction to a mistake she chose to make & an apology. What she did was wrong, but at least she didn’t try to lie about it. And she did take the offending page down, so I have to give her credit for that as well.

Thank you, Ms. Brown, for handling your mistake with a little dignity and professionalism. Maybe there’s hope for you yet in this industry.