I don’t have any facts or research on the topic of email signatures but in this blog I hope to shed some light on the basics of managing email signatures among ALL the different email applications and devices you can interact with each day.

Let me first off state the things I DO NOT like or think are necessary in email signatures:

1) Graphic Attachments: Like many I take emails with attachments very serious and when you decide to put an ultra low res version of your logo or favorite image then my whole attachment system goes out of whack. Plus different email programs reads attachments differently so your hopes to visually remind people of the company you work for is often defeated.

2) Email Addresses: Someone will not wonder what your email address is when they are reading it in an email from your email address.

3) Inconsistency: With all the different email programs and devices that you can send emails from be sure that the message at the bottom of your emails are the same (even if they are different based on the device…keep reading).

4) Crazy Fonts: I know that some people like to take every opportunity to express themselves but in the world of emails you have to remember that things don’t always translate. So if Jokerman is your favorite font then get ready to be disappointed when the viewer of your emails see Courier. those crazy fonts just don’t work. If you are going to expand outside of Times New Roman then look to Helvetica, Georgia, Tahoma, Arial. These are all fonts that will most likely translate accurately. Continue Reading…

How often do you find yourself finally getting to your desk or computer at 3:00pm and feeling like your “work day” is just beginning?

This comes from reactionary work flow – the state of just reacting to what falls on our laps. Actionable items are communicated to us daily in the form of emails, text, voicemail, standing meetings, memos, more meetings, Twitter, Facebook and on and on. We have to maintain a proactive approach to handling our assignments in our jobs and our lives.

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” – Stephen R Covey

Continue Reading…

With the “freeze” coming to Houston, Texas there is a lot of chatter of what homeowners should do in preparation. And like many others this is my first time to even think about what to do with a house during any type of cold temperature. So in the middle of this water cooler topic at church someone asked what I was doing about my underground sprinkler system. I thought for a moment and realized I had no plan.

So as many people do I thought to call the company that did the install 3 years ago. With my iPhone I googled their name and city so that I would get an accurate listing of their phone number. There it was, I clicked it, called and before I found out who I was talking to I spilled the whole story and asked, “What should I do?”

And in that moment after I asked the question, the after hour answering service lady on the other side of the phone told me she had no clue, but that I should “just Google it”.

Wow, as one of the “media” guys at The Ark Church I say that line ALL THE TIME. And every time I share those words of wisdom with a staff member I think to myself, “don’t they know?”, and here I am being told that from some lady over the phone in some other state.

So next time you have a question, just Google it!

For those that do want to know what to do about your sprinkler system in the cold. Here is what I found on Google: http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/winter.htm