The Ink Slinger, a newsletter from Social Squids

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You are receiving this monthly newsletter because of a relationship with Holli Friedland and/or Social Squids. I hope you enjoy it and find some value in what you read here. Feel free to pass The Ink Slinger along to anyone you think might enjoy it. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To succeed with your social media accounts, be consistent and post often. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Handy app of the month PayPal Here If you use PayPal, adding PayPal Here is a helpful addition. The regular PayPal app only allows you to accept payments from people who have a PayPal account. With PayPal Here, you can order a free card swiper that allows you to accept payments on the spot from anyone with a credit or debit card. There is no monthly charge, just PayPal’s normal fees for accepting a payment.  ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Why blog? Blogging… do I have to? I hear this often from business owners. Blogging is a critical tool to market your business. One goal of every business owner is to have a website ranked highly by Google and other search engines. An inactive page, even if it is highly ranked today, will fall if it is not updated regularly. By having a blog on your website, you are adding content and making the search engines take notice. Keyword saturation used to be the end all of SEO (search engine optimization). It is a little less important to the ranking process now, but using keywords or key phrases in your blog and web pages, will certainly help your website gain popularity. In the beginning, pick topics that are easy for you. These topics are critical to your business and you already know them inside and out, making the writing easier. Here are some other blog ideas: Successes and how you achieved them Failures and how you dealt with them Common problems in your field and how you overcame them Tips, tricks and shortcuts (everyone loves these!) Find well-know people in your field for guest blogging Something fantastic you discovered and would like to share Your blog can serve you in multiple ways. After a blog is written, the major points can be used for social media posts. Larger chunks of blogs can be used in newsletters. Some businesses will even take blogs or newsletters and put them together for a book to give away or sell. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Social Squids offers writing for newsletters, web content, blogs, graphics for print or online, social media, website design and updating. We have far-reaching tentacles! Holli Friedland, Owner Social Squids socialsquids@comcast.net 410-580-0250 www.socialsquids.com Share Tweet Forward +1 Share

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What would you do?

Last week I found myself in an awkward situation. Maybe you have been there a time or two yourself. Here is my story...

This morning I am sitting in Starbucks for the second time waiting for someone who has not shown up. It is my second attempt on an appointment with this person and getting together was his idea. He seemed rather embarrassed when I talked to him after he missed the first appointment and here I am again. I really thought he would show up this time.

How many appointments do you make with someone and how long do you wait before you bail? This is someone I’ve known for over a year, but we will not be working together at this point. And, I feel like I can't refer people to someone who doesn't feel I am important enough to keep an appointment.

To make matters worse, one guy is talking loudly on his cell phone and a couple is having a conversation with someone on speaker phone. The loud guy is  talking to his appointment who did not show up either. I clearly heard him say, "That's okay. Whenever you can get here is fine."

I have resorted to my headphones, which I don’t like to do because I’m liable to start singing without realizing it. That will not be good in any way.

What is the protocol for being on time? 

In my opinion, you should always be 5-10 minutes early. Then you are never late. I get into panic attacks if I am stuck in traffic and I think I’m going to be late for anything, even if it’s just dinner with good friends and there is no time constraint. Maybe that’s just me.

In the age of cell phones that have alerts to let you know an appointment is coming up or reminders that can let you know you need to do something, there is really no excuse. 

When I first contacted the guy after missing the first appointment, he doubted me, checked his phone’s calendar and admitted I was right. Ouch. Doubting me? That hurt right off the bat. I should have just said forget it, but I was hoping that we could at least share referrals.

If I’m going to be late, I text or call the person to let them know. I had an appointment last week and the guy was 30 minutes late. He messaged me three times letting me know there was an accident on the beltway and that he was trying to get to the appointment. However, this time I have been disrespected – and for the second time.

Last night I considered sending a reminder email, especially because he missed the first appointment, but I figured we're all adults here and should be able to keep an appointment. Seems like I got that wrong.

I will admit, I missed a doctor’s appointment once. I spent the day with that nagging feeling that I was forgetting something, but couldn’t remember what it was. Two hours after the appointment, it hit me. I was embarrassed and felt terrible especially since I would probably be charged for it. Granted, that was years before Siri was around to remind me. I made absolutely sure I did not miss the second appointment!

Should I be insulted? I am. Should my feelings be hurt? They are. Should I just chalk it up to experience and enjoy my Starbucks latte? I should, but I can’t.

OMG. The guy I’m supposed to be meeting just walked in the door and sat down with someone else six feet away from me. Now I’m really mad and in a completely awkward situation. I have no idea what to do. I feel like a complete idiot. I am embarrassed, although I should not be. This is crazy. I should not have started writing this and instead left when I had a chance for a clean break.

Life sure does throw me curve balls. Did he see me sitting here with my headphones and typing away at my keyboard or was he focused on his OTHER appointment with the loud guy I heard talking on the phone earlier. Apparently, he forgot that appointment too. I am seething…

This has become too angry to be a blog. It has become a rant.

The guy didn’t even go up and get coffee, offering me an escape route. I am trapped like a wounded animal. Being generally non-confrontational, I am at a loss. I just want to escape with what little dignity I have. At least his back is to me as I contemplate my predicament.

What would you do if you found yourself in this situation?