Jiggy Wit It…

I bet your not thinking about your taxes yet?  Well I was…  I have been going to Dino (at Marnell Financial Services Inc.) for about 15 years now. Every quarter we have a standing appointment to review where we are as far as personal and business taxes are concerned.  The first time I met him he reviewed my past taxes and found a HUGE AMOUNT of business deductions that my last accountant missed.  Since then, he’s made sure that we come as close (as possible) to owing the IRS $0 or maybe get a small refund.

Dino likes to call me ‘Jiggy’ because when he asks me how I am doing I say “Jiggy Wit It!”.   I am always all that since I come in prepared with my IPhone, and laptop ready to rock n roll!  Dino loves our appointments because it’s one of the most productive meetings of his day!  He comes around to my side of the desk and I open my laptop with Quickbooks on it.  He barks out commands like “Let’s do this journal entry”, or “Create this account”.  Then we look at the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss statements and verify the accounts info and balances are correct.  Once we’re done, I convert it all to PDFs and email it to him on the spot!  It’s tax accounting on the fly and saves him time… and me money!

I have  tried to convince Dino for years that he needed a new and better website.  Last year he had his IT guy make one for him.  Only two problems…  It would only work on internet Explorer (35% of all users) and it looked (and sounded) like it was written by an accountant and an IT person.  He finally came to his senses and gave me a call!  He requested a site that better represented all facets of his business, and he wanted a professional writer this time.

Shirley You’re Write…

Last Monday I was asked to give a presentation to the Fox Valley Computing Professionals on “Marketing Yourself” (See last weeks blog).  My co-speaker (along with Eric and Walter) was Shirley Mott.  She owns Write Word and is part of several networking groups that I belong to.  Shirley also is prolific at writing content for websites, eMail and has a strong working knowledge of Twitter and Facebook.  During her speech, she gave some very good tips on making your content better.

I am a firm believer that you do what you do best and then embellish that with people that can make you look better.  If you are an avid reader of this blog, then you know that writing is not exactly my strong suit.  That’s why over the years I have hired or worked with people like 121 Marketing Resources or other freelancers like Shirley to improve a sites content.

Here are a few tips from Shirley on making your content more compelling for your audience…

Obviously, the goal of any writing is to be read – and in business, to be remembered. That means you research who your audience is and speak directly to them. For instance:

1. Keep your copy short, the words simple.
2. Be conversational; try to engage the reader and work to build a relationship with them.
3. Tell them a story! It is a great hook and can paint a visual picture for your audience.
4. Talk about benefits to the reader; don’t bombard them with a bunch of sales hype.
5. Read everything you write out loud. If you’re stumbling over it as you say it, your reader will likely stumble, too!

The Harley and Sushi Update…

The good news is that there is nothing new to report.  Harley is doing fine, other than being a drama king…  waiting for us to stand behind him when he comes up the deck stairs (he walks up fine with no help).  Sushi is no worse for the wear and is waiting for his next Great Escape!

Bonus Video of the Week

In honor of giving presentations, it not that easy to stand up in front of a crowd and be entertaining and informative!  I miss W…  Whether you liked him or not…   he was by far one of our most entertaining presidents… Enjoy!