Welcome back! Coffee's always on around here. Pull up your favorite chair and a grab a cup. Enjoy your visit today! And don't forget to stop back by again soon.

My posts over the past few months have been few and far between. I’m not going to rehash the why’s now (you can read my previous post for a glimpse at that) but again I’d like to apologize for leaving you hanging! And also thank you for sticking with me. I appreciate that you’re still here reading along.

So, every once in a while, I flip-flop around, wondering exactly what this blog is all about. What should I write here? Anything? Everything? Should it only be about personal things? Or business? Maybe both? Or even something else entirely?

And I always come back to the answer that it should include everything. It just feels right. Several years ago a well-meaning friend said I should separate the business from the personal and not have it all on one blog and while I appreciated her input, it just doesn’t work for me. Everything in my “real” life overlaps – why I should it not overlap here? For me, it’s part of being authentic.

Over the next few weeks you may see a some changes going on around here. I am planning to incorporate more business related things including current designs and projects I’m working on as well as some thoughts on more work-type topics. What exactly that entails at this point, I’m not entirely sure. We’ll see what happens as things go along.

And I say this because every time I try to make some sort of schedule or plan for what I want here, it always goes by the wayside at some point and I rarely stick to it. So I apologize for being so vague but I do hope you’ll enjoy what happens and I hope you come along for the ride!

Stay tuned! I’m going to talk about Thanksgiving next and also something I read on another blog this morning.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

In the arena,

I’ve been listening to Christmas music all weekend! The last few years I’ve been rather “blah” about this holiday but this year, I’m pushing all that muck aside and allowing the light to shine. Are you ready for the most special season of the year?

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Hey! I’m writing this to you from the Wordpress app on my mobile. It’s pretty cool so far and I’m hoping it will allow me to update things much more often.

I hope you had a great Veteran’s Day Wednesday if you’re here in the US. And if you are a Vet, please accept my deepest gratitude for your service to our nation. We are free because of you. Thank you!

Have a fabulous weekend, all!

~Annie Anderson

I like quiet evenings when the kids have gone to bed and my husband is not yet home from class. Same for quiet mornings. It allows me time to think, to reflect, dream, plan and organize. Sometimes I do nothing but just sit and listen to the radio or the sounds of the night – cars going by on the street outside, a train whistle in the distance, a barking dog.

And lately, I seem to have too few of these moments. I’m going to have to steal a few. I need that downtime to recharge and find that when I haven’t been diligent in allowing myself those moments, things just get out of whack. While I don’t necessarily get grumpy or anything, I just feel frazzled and jumbled and I don’t like that feeling.

So tonight I am sitting here in the quiet with the radio and listening to the cars coming up and down the hill. Off in the distance are the lights of the town and the cars on the freeway. I can see their headlights moving like small ants across the blackness.

Somehow, it’s calming . . .

In the arena,

Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation. ~ Michael Jackson

Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one. ~ John Lennon

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Music, TVand a Video

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you likely know that I love music. And you may also know that I don’t really like nor watch TV. But what I do really like – and don’t admit too readily in public – is the TV show “American Idol.”

I know – it’s kinda cheesey.

And Simon is the King of Twits but it’s inspiring to see young hopeful musicians and singers get a chance at living their dream. There are some truly talented young people out there. It’s one of the few shows our entire family will sit down to watch.

So last night was the beginning of the new season – Season 8 – and I must say, the new judge Kara DioGuardio (I’m not sure I spelled that correctly) seems like a good fit so far. Her tiff with the “bikini chick” was pretty funny. We’ll see how long Miss Bikini Bitch lasts. I don’t know. I think she has a decent voice and perhaps some talent . . . but her attitude is going to be her downfall.

I’ll tell you – the guy to keep your eye on is Mr. Oil Rig. Can’t remember his name but wow! He has a very powerful voice. I think he’s going to go quite far. There’s also a 16 year old girl that I think will do very well. I was surprised at how powerful her voice was because she’s so tiny. Not as small as Ramielle Malubay from last season, but close, I think.

And speaking of AI, my favorite American Idol of all time also released her newest single yesterday. I just listened to it about 4 times and even though the beginning sounds similar to “Since U Been Gone”, I think it’s going to be a great hit. If the rest of the album is as good as this, I think it could be her best album yet.

Kelly Clarkson – “My Life Would Suck Without You”

The song is catchy, has a nice, fast vibe to it and here it is. Have a listen! Enjoy! And I’ll be with you again in a few.

I think it’s pretty good for a pop song.

I don’t listen to much contemporary music but Kelly is one of the few I do enjoy. She has great control of her voice, great pitch and a wide enough range to not be the same ol’ same ol’ on every song. And she doesn’t sing cutesy crap either.

Because if it’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s cutesy pop music. Like that one song Barbie something or other. I have no idea what it’s called but it mentions Barbie about a million times and I hate that song.

I don’t hate Wednesdays, though.

You know why I like Wednesdays? It’s because it’s AWANA night. And that means not only do I get 4 hours of quiet time in the morning while everyone is at school, but I also get 3 hours of quiet time in the evening while the kids are at Church. Yay!

That’s very good indeed.

What’s not so good, however, is The Teenager isn’t going to be able to switch schools at semester like we’d hoped.

We had a meeting with the director last Friday after school and found out that the school she wants to transfer to is still full for this year. But the good news is she CAN switch for next year AND she is finally going to get the help she needs in math. It only took us half the year to get it straightened out.

The director had some great ideas on what we can do to get The Teenager’s math to a more manageable level and I think it’s going to work out fine. Hopefully she gets everything sorted out and the new placement done by next week when 2nd semester starts so The Teenager doesn’t have to change classes AFTER the new semester is already in session. Even if it’s only a few days, sometimes changing classes like that is a difficult move. I’d rather she be able to start off the new semester already in the right classes. I’m sure she would too.

I’m also sure this day is going by way too quickly, that morning came way too early today and that it’s way too cold in here for comfort. Why is it that some days 68 degrees seems perfectly comfortable and other days, it feels like an arctic blast?

Must mean it’s time for more coffee . . . Right?

In the arena,

New posts on customer service do’s and don’ts coming in the next few days so watch out for those. And I’ll have a Shrinking Jeans report sometime today as well.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

One of the things I’ve always been fairly passionate about is customer service. It’s one of those things, though, that I’ve never really thought about as much more than the back-end of my business, so to speak. Kind of a by-product of the main service of writing and design.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I believe customer service is the most important product of any business. And yes – it IS a product. It should be the foremost product in any business, no matter what industry. Even if you lack in other areas, when you’re customer service is stellar, people will be back.

I first learned about customer service from a business standpoint as a 11-12 year old when I started my first paper route. And my skills were honed in my 20’s by 2 different companies who believed as I do about it’s importance.

So, last night my husband and I were talking and brainstorming about stuff.

Well, not really. It was more of a shared rant about poor customer service we’d received by a VERY large company over the Holidays. (You probably know it – they drive big, brown trucks around delivering packages.)

And as we were ranting about the nonsense, we had an idea. There are a lot of companies out there with absolutely CRAPPY customer service. Businesses that could use some insight and support in getting superior customer service procedures put into place.

I think the tough economy is the perfect timing for this idea. Now more than ever, businesses are in need of ways to pull in customers and increase sales. I believe customer service is one of the key components to doing so.

As a result, I’m putting together some materials to help businesses understand these key concepts and put them into place quickly. In addition to that, I’m going to be discussing customer service here on the blog on a regular basis. And I’m going to incorporate some other things but I’ll discuss those another time.

The bottom line is that customer service is probably the most important aspect of a business. You can have a great product, a fancy store (whether that be brick & mortar or online) and all manner of other awesome things.

But if you’re customer service sucks, you’re only half as good as you could be. Or worse.

I hope your outline for 2009 is coming together as nicely as mine is. The concepts of customer service are going to be a huge part of my 2009 business model.

In the arena,

Shine like the star you are in 2009! Stick around for more on customer service and why it’s so important to you and your business.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Every year during the month of December, I take a break from many business related activities and concentrate almost solely on my purpose and plan for the next year. It’s a time I use to reflect on the past 12 months and to think about what I’d like to do for the next 12.

This usually means I make lists, go over everything I’ve done the past year, and adjust my long-term goals as needed. If I’m lucky, during this reflection, I find that I’ve met or exceeded the plan I created the previous December.

Since the kids and I have been taking turns getting sick since Thanksgiving, I haven’t really started my December reflections yet. Or well, at least I’m not to the point I normally am by now. But I’m finally getting going this week and so I wanted to share my process with you.

One of the first things I do is write down highlights from the year.

These are things that for one reason or another are significant to me or for some reason, stand out in my mind. Some are personal, some are business. Some are happy or fun and some are sad.

But I write these things down and then I pull out the list of goals I made last year. This allows me to see where I’ve gone and if I was on target for what I originally intended or if something else happened. Sometimes I find that I’ve not done much of what I wrote down and other times I hit nearly every mark.

Where I find the most growth – and oddly enough, the most contentment – is when I *have* missed the mark, when I haven’t reached many of those goals I thought I wanted.

In these times, I realize, it’s true the Universe knows better than I.

It doesn’t mean I’ve failed. It just means plans changed along the way.

And that’s ok. That’s what it’s all about. Learning, growing, sharing. I can reassess what I find important and define what doesn’t really matter to me.

Once I’ve done that, I decide what my top priorities should be for the next year. Sometimes things will carry over but quite often, nearly everything on the list is new or different than last time.

Often, I have multiple lists including:

• Personal
• Family
• Relationships
• Business
• Fun
• Education
• Health
• Spiritual

And sometimes others. It just depends on what is important to me at that time. I like to break it down this way because it forces me to really be in tune with every facet of my life and not neglect anything.

The next step is to set targets.

At this point, I take out the calendar and set some targets for myself. Having a specific date gives me a concrete reason for getting started on each goal. Otherwise, I procrastinate. This step also allows me to prioritize each item.

One thing I try to keep in mind is to spread out the “big” goals in between the “little” ones. By spreading them out, I ensure I don’t get overwhelmed. Too many big goals in a row is a good recipe for burnout. I try to avoid that as much as possible.

What do you do to get ready for the new year? Do you set goals for yourself? For your business or career? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you.

In the arena,

Want to work with an award-winning writer? Now is your chance! Hurry and book for the 2009 before the calendar is full. I still have some space available. Check out the Hire Me tab above for info on how to contact me and your reserve your spot now.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

And apparently, it’s supposed to snow this afternoon.

Just fyi, I hate snow.

It was only 12° outside this morning when the kids got on the bus. And at 9:15 (right now) it’s down to 10°!

It's 10 degrees in Seattle today!

Anybody got 6 tickets to Hawaii??

In the arena,

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.