Redbox Biz Blog

Email has not been around for long. I’ve only been using it for the past decade or so. And that’s why I am not surprised to see that many people still make mistakes while emailing. In my business, I get a lot of email. From curious people who want to pick my brains for free, from prospects, from clients, from friends.

Some people are born with a higher consciousness and heightened self-awareness which means they are mindful and considerate of what others think and feel. As a result, they check their actions and words.

Others are born without this self-awareness, tending to bulldoze their way through everything and wonder why people dislike them intensely. Not because they intend to be rude as they’re usually harmless - it’s just that they don’t know when they’ve offended people. These people are the ones who will need email etiquette 101 the most.
Here’s a list of what this group should be aware of:

1. Realise that if you are emailing huge files, please call the recipient first and alert him that you will be doing so. Do not bomb people’s Inbox with a file that is 10 Mb in size. It’s rude, yes, downright rude because that huge attachment itself will take a long time to download, particularly if the recipient uses an email client programme like MS Outlook Express. (By the way, there is a difference between MS Outlook and MS Outlook Express!)

2. It is also rude not to put a salutation on the email. You may think it’s okay, after all the email is intended for the recipient but a “Dear (recipient’s name)” or “Hi (recipient’s name)” won’t take more than 2 seconds to type.

3. Do not put words you speak directly into your email. Especially if you tend to speak in short sentences. You will come across as curt and abrupt in your email. Read aloud your email and see if the words are jarring. If it is, it’s time to re-write!

4. Do not ’scream’ in your email. No capitals all the way (IT IS VERY HARD TO READ WORDS IN ALL CAPS YOU KNOW), no exclamation marks in succession (like this !!!!!), no crazy typefaces in hot pink and hot green unless you are emailing a friend of yours whom I presume knows you well.

5. When you are emailing an attachment, please tell the recipient how big the attachment is and what it is, unless it is some surprise. Don’t know how to find out the attachment’s size? Just right-click on the file you’re sending and scroll down to “Properties”. Click that and you will see how big your file is.

6. If you are emailing a number of people and they don’t know each other, please put them under BCC (which stands for Blind Carbon Copy). It means they will not see each other’s email addresses when they open your email. This also applies when you are forwarding a joke to friends. Erase the rest of the other people’s email addresses and just forward the crux of the email which is the joke itself. Your recipients don’t need to see the long list of email addresses. Just a note: unethical companies mine these email addresses for spamming when everyone’s email address is exposed in forwarded emails.

7. When you are posting a reply to a mailing list group such as YahooGroups, please erase the rest of the old message if you don’t want to annoy others who have read these messages before. Just get to the point.

8. When you are emailing a photograph, ensure you have re-sized the photo. Do not automatically attach the photo with your email as the photo is usually large. When it is opened by the recipient, it would take up the whole screen and more. Don’t know how to re-size photo? Check the software which comes with your digital camera. It usually has some photo re-sizing software included.

9. If you receive an email which needs a long answer, why not shoot off a quick reply which says “Hi there, I got your email. Will reply later this week.” This lets the other party know that the email is safe and sound with you and not lost in transition. You also prevent the other party from worrying whether he or she should email you again.

A lot of what I listed above is plain commonsense but then again, commonsense is not as common as you might believe.

If you have been driven crazy by other people’s emails and want to share your tips, please let me know. We can probably share notes!;-)

I once heard that self-help books are like instant cake mix. Just add water, throw it in the oven and you’ve got a cake. Like instant cake mix, self help books are supposed to help people change or become better instantly.

Apparently the person who said this showed a particular dislike for self-help books. He won’t go anywhere near them, scoffing that they’re like drugs (yes, another analogy). People just get duped into buying them, he says, because he knows nothing will ever change.

Give these people another 2 weeks and they’ll forget about what they read in the self-help books and they’ll be back to their old habits. And thus the cycle repeats itself. Another bestseller self-help will come along and these same people will rush out to buy it, only to read and forget. No wonder this friend of mine is eternally swearing NOT to get into that lemming mode.

I think that happens with seminars too. How many people have attended seminars on motivation and setting goals, only to attend them again the next year? The moment the attendees get out of the seminar hall, their eyes are shining with hope, they feel different and perhaps walk different too - a little bit more sure of themselves, of knowing that they will make that change in their lives.

But (and here’s where I tend to be skeptical and rightly too) after a week or so, they’ll lapse into their usual habits. Nothing has changed. They believe that perhaps they have not had the right kind of seminar or books. They wait for a better seminar to come along, or the latest bestselling self-help book. Or worse, they forget what they were taught.

The problem is not that the seminar or book was not right. The problem is that there is a lack of commitment. That’s why in order to follow through successfully with a programme, be it weight loss or whatever, one needs serious commitment. Commitment is not just saying, “Yes, I will try it and see if it works.” Commitment means “Yes, I can do it and I will run one mile a day, five days a week in order to lose this excess weight.”

It’s the same with business. Business commitment needs a lot more than “yes, I can do it”. You need to be constantly reminded to be committed. And one way to do that is to surround yourself with good books, great role models and positive support system.

One of the best ways to be committed is to be reminded through articles and quotes about empowerment and motivation. I get my dose of feel-good articles and quotes which push me to do better every single day from this particular website called MP3Motivators.

I had learnt about this website many years ago and it still helps me stay focused and committed. It offers free weekly mp3s which you can download and listen as you commute or drive to work.

While I don’t discount the use of seminars and self help books (unlike my very disbelieving friend), I believe we can all use some form of positive motivation to remind ourselves of our commitment. The MP3Motivators newsletter will give you just the thing to start the week right.

PS: If you want to read an e-book that will change how you view life, prosperity and such, you may want to download this e-book from this website. A fantastic read! Worth a re-read every year.