McKenzie Bookworks

The Apostrophe Continues to Baffle

2010-04-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

Now I wouldn’t have thought it to be so difficult, but clearly many people don’t know where to put an apostrophe. Oh sure, I make mistakes myself when I'm flying through some of my own writing, but that's why you hire an editor.

But still, with all the eyes that must have looked at these items, the mistakes abound.

No Drink’s Allowed (sheesh)

The Most Versatile Crossover In It’s Class (ouch)

A rattlesnakes’ bite is poisonous.(Hmmm, how about a rattlesnake's bite? You know, singular, since you said it was A rattlesnake and not a BUNCH of rattlesnakes.)

So where DOES this pesky mark go? There are some pretty simple rules for apostrophe usage:

1. To show a contraction: The cat’s out of the bag.
2. To show possession: The cat’s feet are out of the bag.
3. To avoid confusion when talking about the plural of lower case letters such as there are two s’s in Mississippi.

You use an apostrophe after the plural s as shown by the Chicago Manual of Style below:

• a consumers’ group
• taxpayers’ associations
• children’s rights
• the women’s team
• a boys’ club

And Chicago Manual of Style dispenses with the apostrophe only in proper names:

• Publishers Weekly
• Diners Club
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• a housewares sale

Hope that clears it up a bit.

Greetings from the Crocker Art Museum

2010-01-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe one year could have so many changes in it. I decided to pursue my love of museums and retail management and voila! I'm now at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California. What a gorgeous and important museum. (Click the title to follow the link, and check it out for yourself!)

A huge expansion is nearing its final phase. The Museum will move into a new wing which will triple the exhibition space and more than double the size of the Museum Store. It's all very exciting. (Need I mention the amount of work that goes into opening a new store?)

Also exciting is the opportunity to affect change in a retail environment again. I love working in the nonprofit sector and doing something that contributes the the Museum's ability to move forward is rewarding work. So in this blog I hope to talk more about retail and what's happening in the retail world that will impact all of us retail folks.

I look forward to hearing from you as I build this store.

Over 1 Billion Internet Users!

2009-01-27T12:42:00.000-08:00

Yikes! Check out this article from -Small Business Labs. There are now over 1 billion internet users.

So how much is one billion? I am a visual person and can NOT visualize a billion of anything. So when I came across the following stats from our local newspaper editor, I just had to share:

• A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
• A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
• A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
• A billion days ago nobody walked the Earth on two feet.

A Louisiana senator is hoping the president's package includes $250 billion to rebuild New Orleans. Which amounts to $516,000 for every man, woman and child in New Orleans, or $2 million for every family of four. Wow. Does that help put one billion into perspective.

Social Networking and Guy Kawasaki's Blog

2009-01-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big blogger. YET. But social networking is growing so fast, that all of us who are growing our businesses need to be doing it. Have a Facebook page? Are you Tweeting? Of COURSE you're LinkedIn. Right?

Check out the article and let me know if it changes how you use social networking.
(Click on the header to link to the article.)

A super networking short video from Bob Bly

2009-01-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know how to take advantage of their networking opportunities. Thanks Bob!

Cut Back on That Customer Service?

2009-01-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

Only if it still pays! Don't try this without researching your customer base.

This fascinating article on customer service offers research on how much service may or may not have a return on investment. It seems there is a 'delight point' that just might not be worth the extra money to provide, but it does depend on the type of business.

"Consider service levels, specifically average time-to-answer, which is one of the most common metrics used in call centers. Service levels—often based on regulation or historical precedent—are set by call-center managers and then used to calculate staffing requirements. But service levels are challenging to maintain and costly to improve: raising them by 10 percent requires much more than a 10 percent increase in staff."

Much of this study is based on wait times, such as in call centers. Take the link to read more. Perhaps not all customer service is critical to business. Certainly there's a fine line. How long should YOUR customers wait? Are you willing to add staff to improve service, or do you think it's so close the added staff/$$$ won't make a difference?

Which Wolf Will You Feed?

2008-11-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, 'My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.'

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'

The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one you feed.'

Why did I add that here today? Because today, as we read more about the election results, and the economy and the war in Iraq we are going to be torn about where to put our attention.

Let's keep our attention where it will do the most good. "Attend" to your work, family, friends and home. Make those areas grow with your attention. Feed the wolf you want to keep in your life.

Economic Bailout and Wooden Arrows?

2008-11-11T17:33:00.000-08:00

With some reserves I support the bailout. No, actually, with MUCH reserve. So, I'm more than a bit horrified to find that the bailout offers an exemption to manufacturers of wooden arrows for children:

1. Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children. (Page 263)

Current law places an excise tax of 39 cents on the first sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of any shaft of a type used to produce certain types of arrows. This proposal would exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more. The proposal is effective for shafts first sold after the date of enactment. The estimated cost of the proposal is $2 million over ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Nice to know our money is so well spent!

2008-09-22T11:17:00.001-07:00

OK, this was sent from another copywriter and I just love it. Enjoy! Copywriters rule!

Search Engine Optimization or Are You Kidding Me?

2008-08-28T17:41:00.001-07:00

I suppose with a title like that you'll expect that I must be a web wizard. Nope. I'm writing about this because I discovered (with the last Web site I created) that search engines couldn't find me. What the heck?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important aspect of growing most businesses. Now, I can't say that my business as an editor and a writer is dependent on people finding me through web searches, but there's just something about building a site and having it unsearchable that just kinda rankled me. The site that was completely in Flash. That means that all the 'parts' moved (that was annoying too, once I got beyond how good-looking it was).

One problem with Flash is that it loads v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y for people on dial-up. But the huge problem is that the search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, AOL and the others, can't read the words embedded in Flash. It just reads as an image. No words. Rats.

The company offered to sell me search engine optimization, but I didn't want to pay for something can do myself. Now I have another NEW Web site. And I am working on the SEO so that all the people who will never even WANT my services can find McKenzie Bookworks.

There are some great resources out there for search engine optimization, including books and Web sites. One sterling find was the Search Engine Optimization Journal.

Wordtracker is another super tool, but you'll have to pay for its use. I think it's well worth it.

I'd love to hear from you about your Web frustrations. Feel free to email me at mmckenzie@wildblue.net.

What the heck?

2008-08-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd blog; it seemed like such a waste of time. But now I find that it might allow me to create some useful content and stories for people I work with. OK, and for others who just happen to find me.

So, now I find myself creating a blog page when I should be working on my taxes. Yes, taxes. Did you know you can extend your filing season for months? I have. And after losing about four hours of work because my computer died, and had to be rest to factory settings, I am once again inputting tax data into an Excel spreadsheet.

I promise I won't be using this as a diary. Nope. Not that. This will be a place of information sharing. I do hope to get your comments as I go, but I also hope you'll be gentle in the beginning.