Honey Do List

When I was growing up, my mother kept a Honey Do list for my father. Paint the shutters, clean the gutters, plant the roses, you name it, Dad could do it. Over the years his honey do list included adding on a family room, screening in the patio, even sewing curtains and quilts. Whatever needed to be done, my father could always figure out how to do it. He had a logical, inquisitive mind and he liked the challenge of finding a solution. He would talk to himself, asking and answering his own questions, breaking things down step by step. Each step by itself was simple. When added up together he was able to accomplish the task, no matter how large or difficult.

I need to take the same approach with finding work. I need to break it down into little steps that I can accomplish, so I don't feel like I am failing all the time. I am creating my own Honey Do list for me to follow. Job Search/Income Creation being the highest priority, but also using this time to repair things that I haven't been paying attention to, like the green ribbon of mildew growing in the corner of my shower.

Today's Honey Do List

1) Set up my Linked-In page.

2) Update my profile.

3) Reach out to former business contacts.

4) Make recommendations in order to get recommendations.

5) Re-caulk my shower.

My sister turned me on to Linked-In, a social networking sight designed for business contacts. Setting up a profile is pretty easy. Mine was up in no time. You can add as much (or as little) of your resume as you want.

It is extremely easy to import your contacts from Gmail, AOL, Outlook and other email lists. You select which email list you want to add to your contacts. Click or unclick the suggested names in the list and connection emails are automatically sent to anyone you select asking to be linked in. Once they accept, you can see their contacts and if you want to meet someone in their contact list, you ask your contact to make the introduction. There is also a feature called recommendations. If you recommend someone, a little quote and picture of you appears on their web page. The way I look at it, this is a pretty good way to get your name out to people you don't even know. Plus by giving someone a good recommendation, it's easier to ask for one in return.

So today I am getting "out there" networking with friends and business contacts, all within the comfort of my home. And later today I will also tackle that moldy shower. I have the tools and the mildew resistant caulk. There is no point in putting it off any longer.

Keeping in Contact

One of the first things you should do when you are unemployed or underemployed is update your address book. Now depending on which generation you are from, your address book is either on your phone, your email program, Outlook, Access or some other sales or marketing database. For my mother and grandmother it was an actual address book with a torn cover and worn pages and everything written out in longhand. Once a year my Nana would go through the book and cross out the names of the people who had died. Yes, there were babies to be added, and husbands, and wives, and sometimes a brief story to accompany the name.

I realized that it was time to update my electronic address book and my Nana's telephone number was no longer needed, unless they have figured out how to do call forwarding to heaven. She's been gone for ten years but I hesitated a moment before pressing the delete key. I deleted almost all of my great aunts and uncles, and many of my friends. Along the way I found a few contacts who I hadn't spoken to in years, and decided to give them a call. I spent the day catching up with old friends and putting the word out.

When was the last time you updated your contacts? How often do you back them up? Do you even know how to backup your Outlook file? These are a few questions you can ask yourself while you cull your contacts for new leads.

Last year, when I bought my iPhone, I discovered Apple's MobileMe. At first, I was in love. MobileMe updates my contact files on all my devices automatically, so that if I add a number to my iPhone contacts or an appointment to my Calendar, it is automatically updated in Outlook on both my computers, and vice versa. It is a great time saver. The only downside is that MobileMe charges a yearly license fee of $99. Now that I am underemployed, I decided to explore if there are other options that can do the same thing for free.

It appears that Google, is developing a product called Google Sync, a free application in the beta test stage. It works with Google Apps to synchronize email and databases. I haven't figured out a way to make it work without Google Apps, which is definitely more program than I need at the moment.  If any of my readers have another solution that they can suggest, please let me know.

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