Disqus - Latest Comments for Jacki Hollywood Brown

Re: Web-based Email and Credibility

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:55:41 -0000

Hi Cristina,
It doesn't bother me at all when I see free e-mail addresses with a professional flair such as mybusiness@yahoo.ca or My.Full.Name@gmail.com. Many people in the business start up mode just don't have the money to build their own domains right away. That is fine, I get it but at least they are thinking professionally.

What DOES bother me is that many people use e-mails like: groovygirl@hotmail.com or hotpants@yahoo.com. If you want to be professional then act professional! Get a free e-mail account with your name or business name. And also, be professional in your e-mail etiquette! I get e-mails that say, "lookin 4 info pls send 2 me" How can these people be taken seriously?

Spam, no spam, free accounts, paid accounts....what matters to me is the degree of professionalism.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Re: Why Do Some Headlines Fail?

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:38:42 -0000

Great book!
Thanks for the info. I am re-doing my website and this book helped me re-phrase my front page!

Re: Garbage Email Addresses Without Creating New Accounts

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:51:03 -0000

We have our own family domain because we move a lot and wanted to keep consistent e-mails for our family and friends (as well as a website to keep in touch with people).

We started to make our own addresses like "apple@mydomain.ca" when purchased our new computers.

I signed up for a contest and made the e-mail "contest@mydomain.ca" and one day go 450 spam sent to....you guessed it "contest@mydomain.ca"

I deleted the "contest" e-mail address and I'm not signing up for contests any more.

Re: 5 Words Or Less

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:47:07 -0000

Great points!

"Customized solutions to conquer chaos"

Re: Anti-Procrastination Month: Day 13

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:34:37 -0000

I was put on this Earth to accomplish a certain number of things and right now I am so far behind I will never die.

Re: Pick A Deadline

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:16:10 -0000

I play the someday game with my clients. When they say, "Oh I'll get rid of that someday", I get out my calendar and say, "Show me what day of the year is someday". Usually they laugh and toss the stuff right away. Sometimes they pick "next Christmas" or "one year from today".
It might be awhile away but at least it's a deadline!

Re: Anti-Procrastination Month: Day 26

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:00:39 -0000

My score was 11. It suggests that I am a very organized person and I very rarely procrastinate.
Right on target considering my profession.

Re: http://blog.cristinafavreau.com/2007/11/dont-give-yourself-away/

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:59:37 -0000

You are SO right!

Re: The Savvy Snippet: Give Advice and Let Go

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:28:22 -0000

Giving advice is like giving a gift. Once given, it is out of your control. It is up to the recipient to decide what to do with it.

Re: Fightin

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:30:13 -0000

Someone told me once when I said I had to cancel a client, "Well it's not like you have a real job."

I replied I DO have a real job and that is looking after my family so that my husband go off to work and be productive without having to worry about the children and their care. At which point my husband agreed and said he supported my business and was glad I had (finally) found something that made me happy and served others.

When you are self-employed you don't have ONE boss, EVERY client you have is your boss.

Re: Pet Peeve: Blog Snobs

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:55:29 -0000

What bothers me most even more than having the comments turned off is having Ads by Google (or other ads) all over the place, so much so that you can't tell whether it's a blog or a big commercial!

If people are advertising too much on their blogs I feel like we aren't having a conversation, they are just trying to make money by me being there.

Re: Pet Peeve: Blog Snobs

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:59:23 -0000

Hi Cristina,
I don't mind the ads on your blog because you can clearly see that the BLOG is what is important. I never get the feeling that you are trying to sell me stuff as some other blogs do. Also, the ads on your blog for the most part are related to your business and may be something else that I'm looking for.

Re: International Coaching Week 2008: Day 2

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:14:24 -0000

Great definitions...now I know I need a coach NOT a therapist (although I'm sure some people would disagree!!)

Re: Office Organization Venture: No More DVD Backups

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:16:43 -0000

(heaven forbid any of the following actually happen...)

Should someone break into your house, they would probably steal the external hard drive along with your computer. - no more back up

Should your house burn down, your external hard drive would also burn. - no more back up

There are several options:
You could to do a monthly/weekly back-up to an on-line server, a virtual hard drive. There are many versions available at various costs with various security levels.

You could continue to do DVD back-ups and store them in a safety deposit box, your Mother's basement or other secure area.

Personally, I like the on-line back-up. You can usually get a pretty decent monthly price (equivalent in price of 2 DVDs). You don't have the pile of DVDs lying around that you've got to take over to your Mother's house. You can download anything from your file vault quickly in case you screw up something that you were working on and you want to revert to a previous version.

All that being said, should you decide on an on-line file storage system, do some thinking before hand to come up with a consistent naming policy for all your files.

Good luck

Re: Industry-Speak: Are You Guilty?

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:19:46 -0000

My hubby is in the military. They have their own entire language. It isn't words though, just a series of letters strung together.
For example:
You can take your PMV on your HHT IAW QR&O and CFAO.

It took me almost 10 years to figure that one out. At least with office speak (annoying though it may be) most everyone understands it.

Re: On a personal note…

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:04:50 -0000

First of all you will look back on spending time with your kids with joy and that is nothing to apologize for.
I can completely relate. Hubby took an out of town job for awhile and I'm "manning" the fort. This leaves me all of 17 hours a week to run my business.
However, I DO get to race Mariokart, watch Hannah Montana and go swimming twice a week!

Re: Get More Conversions by Giving Fewer Choices

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:55:34 -0000

This totally explains why it takes my children 3 years to choose a chocolate bar at the candy counter give up, then go and have an ice cream cone.

I never had a problem when I was little; it was KitKat, Smarties, Caramilk or Hershey's.

Re: 2009/01/06/twitter-follow-fail/

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:49:37 -0000

This is a great summary of "Follow fails". This sort of goes along the line
of "blocked follows" like the guy who asked me if I had piercings in private
places. CREEPY!!! Did not return the follow and promptly BLOCKED!

Re: New Research and a Dirty Truth: Read This Before Chasing the Dollar

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:26:37 -0000

You stated, "Material goods give us a short-lived happiness sugar high"

We must remember that if one continues to enjoy the short-lived sugar highs, one will end up with DiaBETes.

If you re-arrange the letters a little you end up in debt (time debt, financial debt and relationship debt).

Re: Savant School: How to Memorize 10,000 Numbers and More

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:50:56 -0000

I'm actually too lazy to memorize a bunch of random stuff. It is easier to remember where to look up the information should I need it....wait, I guess that is a kind of memorization too...hmmm

Re: How to Survive a Physical Attack: Punches and Chokes

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:10:40 -0000

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE your two videos!!! I am preparing a seminar for our association (http://www.organizersincanada.com) in November on Personal Security Issues for Professional Organizers. I will be searching your blog for more great advice.
Thanks!

Re: How to Survive a Physical Attack: Tips from a Top UFC Trainer for Escaping and Attacking

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 17:25:17 -0000

I am learning SO much by watching these little videos. Could you show what happens when you are on the ground FACE DOWN with a big football player guy on you?
Many women are attacked from behind as they walk down the street (or dark alley on a dark and stormy night).
Thanks

Re: How to Survive a Physical Attack: Tips from a Top UFC Trainer for Escaping and Attacking

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:07:25 -0000

I tried both of these moves in the videos with my husband as the "attacker". (He is also in the military and has completed training as an unarmed combat instructor). While both videos have taught me new techniques, I am STILL not strong enough or fast enough to prevent my pants from being taken off by someone who was quite determined. Of course I didn't actually kick my husband in the face either. I also think that tickling is cheating...but what can you do when you're married???

Re: How Much Does Your Commute Really Cost You? Calculate It… Then Kill It?

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:15:50 -0000

About the commute...
We live in a big city and could have had a less expensive house in the suburbs. This would have meant buying a second car (car payments, insurance, maintenance) as well as making long days for both my husband and myself resulting in an unsatisfying family life for us and the two kids.
We opted to rent a much more expensive apartment about 100 yards from a subway stop and 2 miles from my husband's office. His commute is about 15 minutes by bike which he rides 8 months of the year. The children's school is just across the street. We hardly drive the car anymore (which is good seeing as gas is now $5/gallon).
Yes, we could have had the big house with the yard and garden but we never would have enjoyed it because we would have been commuting all the time!

Re: The Top 5 Reasons to Be a Jack of All Trades

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:38:58 -0000

Hello, I would like to introduce myself. I'm a professional organizer. My name is Jacki of All Trades.
I can hang a shelf, write a set of standard operating procedures, re-arrange your childrens' toys, build a peg board from scratch, manage your household hazardous waste and recycling and translate it all from English to French and back again.
I don't think ONE DARN THING I learned about this business came from sitting on my behind in a lecture theatre. The only thing that my M.Sc. taught me was that I was perfectly capable of learning what I wanted to learn and from whom to learn it. Which I am sure that I could have figured out without spending $$$$ and many, many months.

Re: The Top 5 Reasons to Be a Jack of All Trades

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:58:16 -0000

I agree that post-secondary education is NOT a waste of time. It is only a waste if that person believes that post-secondary education is the ONLY education worth getting.

I was exposed to SO much while at university that I would not have been exposed to otherwise (and for that, I will always be grateful). However, I certainly learned as much from staying sober on the weekends as I did from advanced calculus and I definitely REMEMBER my weekends which is more than I can say of advanced calculus :)

Re: How to Resurrect Your High School Spanish… or Any Language (Plus: Be on the CBS Early Show!)

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:10:37 -0000

Living in Canada I speak two languages most days. If I go back to visit my family for a week (speaking only one language) then I very quickly forget how to speak the other. I maintain 2 blogs, one in each language to at least keep my writing up to par. My kids speak one language at home and go to school in the other so I get to help with homework in the other language.
Mais, j'ai des jours quand je ne me souviens pas quelle langue je devrais parler!

Re: Don’t Like Meditation? Try Gratitude Training. (Plus: Follow-up to “Testing Friends” Firestorm)

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:54:31 -0000

This is what my Granny said about those mean people:

Hate is like an acid that does more damage to the vessel in which it is stored than to the object onto which it is poured.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Re: Ultimate Recycling: Buying Nothing New for One Year?

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:18:21 -0000

As a professional organizer I see first hand what "buying new" does to someone's home. It is very sad that the cost of repairing an item is often more that the cost of the item itself (which is why many people buy new).

Personally I only shop when I need something. I think in the past year I have only been to the mall about a dozen times and each time we went it was because one of my kids had worn out a pair (or pairs) of shoes. Unfortunately, just like it is impossible to find used nails, it is impossible to find used kids sneakers!

Re: How to Take Notes Like an Alpha-Geek (Plus: My $2,600 Date + Challenge)

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:33:30 -0000

What would my dream date LOOK like?

Beauty is as beauty does.

Re: The Worst Food in America (Plus: Sydney Launch Party)

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:00:39 -0000

In Canada, this is called Poutine (poo-teen) - cheese curds on greasy fries smothered with gravy.

There is also a delicacy called "Oreilles de Cris" (translated as Christ's ears) which is made from strips of fried pig skin, rolled in salt. (i.e. deep fat fried fat).

Some people also spread "cretons" on their toast. Creton is spiced and rendered pork fat turned into a spread.

You couldn't PAY me to eat that stuff.