HOLIDAY MESSAGES & OUT OF OFFICE

Hi Janie here again with another guest blog - thanks SIO for letting me revisit you. Business advice from someone who knows; 35 years of helping and running businesses means I've seen most mistakes and learnt so much.

Out of office messages are often overused or ill thought through giving out negative messages about your business. Are you an emergency Doctor or offer instant response? not many are, so why tell your clients every time you slip out of the office?

Do you value your customers? If you do then why do so many auto holiday out of offices messages say otherwise? How many times do I see messages that say I am away having a lovely time! So this says to me firstly customer service is shut, second reinforces the message that I am not on holiday having a nice time like my supplier. So in one sentence you have possibly annoyed and depressed your customers; not the best idea.

Of course you need to have a holiday or leave the office to visit clients or suppliers but think before you turn on the out of office. Think is it necessary? is the content helpful to the reader? Am I honestly managing customer expectations? On top ask yourself does it sync with my other messages such as answer phone or web based statements? Don't just rely on the standard, personalise it, especially the subject line.

Also be honest, will you check email while away anyway?  If so what need for any message or perhaps something less dramatic such as 'due to a busy meeting schedule over the next two weeks email replies may take a little longer than normal, up to 36 hours. All you should do is think it through and put yourself in your clients shoes.

Lastly if you work from home and this is well known or obvious from your web site then be careful about advertising the fact that you are away. Criminals can read too!

Common sense is all it takes, when did you last look at your business through your clients eyes, it might be worth doing. 

SEEK IT OUT: Changing the world a stitch at a time

Colour Inspiration

Ever brought a piece of clothing or an accent piece for the home which simply is impossible to match or contrast to? Well you are not alone.

So often colours grab our attention only to cause us matching headaches down the line.  

Nature is the place to find answers to that; our gardens are now a riot of colour, the crazy mix of colours together, colours you would never put together but they work. 

A great way to get inspiration is to take pictures of your garden, local park, or favourite outdoor place.  Take pictures through the year so you have a running commentary on all seasons and therefore many colour ways to consider. You do not have to be a good photographer as long as the pictures reflect the colours correctly. That is enough as it is only for your private design scrap book.

When faced with a colour issue; refer to your book. What would nature put together? Important to note that in nature it is texture and colour, not just colour alone that makes a fabulous combination really work. 

Light is also important, the same paint can look three different shades in the same room due to the light. So, experiment with swatches, tester paint pots, wallpaper cuttings and items you already own to ensure you have just the right shades to make that sensational look.

Nature has it right, it is brave and wild in its choices, so it could be the best place to start when trying to match the impossible.  

Collect your pictures all year as you may well want summer or autumn colours to look back on even in the dead of winter. 

Bonus is if your pictures are ok, well why not frame one or two and create your own art for your home.

Rosie

Creative Director  - Seek It Out

SIO Tips no. 47: Stale Bread

Instead of throwing away crusts use them to make bread crumbs. Keep for later use in coating fish or making old fashioned style treacle tart; store them in the freezer in a sealed bag or box. Much nicer than the bright orange crumbs you buy.

SIO Tips no. 46: Easy draw scents

When you have nice soap, keep the wrapper and pop in your undies draw to leave a lovely smell. Ensure you shake out any loose bits of soap before doing this.

Olives; at home

My South African family's tradition:

Preserving Olives at home is an enjoyable and therapeutic process; provided that you have access to fresh olives from a fruiting tree. We've been bottling olives from my sister-in-law's tree for three years now and we've enjoyed varying our recipe and now have a winning combination.

I wanted to show you how we do it - so you know what goes into the bottles you find on the shelves of the supermarket, albeit on a much larger scale.

Start with fresh olives; find yourself a nice spot in the sunshine, with a glass of wine in one hand, make a slit in each olive using a sharp knife. Relax, this takes a while so it's nice to have a friend to keep you company and make the time fly.  

Drop them into a reseal-able container as you go and cover with cold water; drain, rinse and re-cover with clean water every day, or two, for two weeks.   

Once you've done the rinse and repeat cycle for two weeks your olives should have released all the bitter oils they store and will now feel a little less hard. Don't squish them too much; it's nicer to have firm fleshy olives when you're eating them than bruised ones.

Prepare to bottle by peeling and chopping a clove of Garlic or two per bottle and ripping Lemon/Lime leaves into quarters. You will want half a leaf per jar.

Set yourself up in a nice work area with olive oil (sunflower or seed oils work fine too), White vinegar (not spirit vinegar, it's too harsh on the final flavour), 1 tsp Mixed Herbs per jar, Sea salt, Garlic, Lemon/Lime leaves, hot water in a jug and your clean recycled jars.

Make yourself a brine using the hot water and sea salt - a fresh egg should float in the solution. I make a big batch of brine which I store in a large jar ready for the next batch.

Now you can start bottling. I tend to half fill each jar then add the garlic, lemon leaves and 1 tsp herbs in each jar then top up with more olives. When the jar is full add 1/4 cup of vinegar and 1/4 cup of oil to each jar (for a roughly 300ml jar) then fill to cover the olives with your brine.

The olives are ready to eat after about 3 months. I try to give the olives a gentle shake every now and then to make sure the flavours are all mixed nicely.

They make a great gift to take along to dinner parties. But be warned, they disappear quickly when opened.

Spice them up with fresh or dried chillies or get creative with other flavours.

ENJOY!

From wintery Cape Town

SIO Tips no. 45: Juicing Oranges, Lemons and Limes

To get the most juice out of fresh lemons, orange, or limes, ensure you let them get to room temperature before you roll them with your palm on a chopping board or worktop. This way you get all the juice as it is released more easily by the juicer, hand held or electric.

Home-made Pasta, Easy as you like!

Seek It Out have kindly invited me to share more of my favourite recipes with you all so here I am again, writing from the Western Cape of South Africa with my latest craze: Home-made pasta.

My other half kindly bought me a pasta machine for Christmas last year, something I've wanted to try out for the longest time.

I spent some time looking up recipes and how to make but was totally put off by the time and difficulty in making the dough by hand. It wasn't until a good friend suggested that I use a food processor to mix the dough, that I really saw the potential fun in making my own because, lets face it... spending ages kneading dough wears down your enthusiasm a bit!

So here's my quick fix pasta dough recipe: (Makes enough for 2 but very easy to double up)

1 Cup Plain Flour
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Salt
Black pepper
A dash of Olive Oil
and don't forget your apron!!

Put everything into your food processor and whizz up until it's thoroughly combined.











Turn out onto a floured board and knead until you have a smooth dough, this shouldn't take long. The dough should be soft and pliable but not sticky. Just flour your hands and keep kneading until the texture is good.

Then you can run the dough int a few batches through your pasta machine if you have one, or alternatively roll out by hand. Either way is fine but do make sure you make nice thin sheets because the pasta does puff up on cooking.

I like to use a cookie cutter to make rounds which I fill with whatever happens to be in the fridge. You can really get creative here - I like to use leftover roasted sweet potato and butternut which I blend or mash and season. If you don't have a pasta machine, it is difficult and time consuming to make spaghetti  but this ravioli is really special and is really quite easy.


You can also freeze any spare ravioli on a tray then once they are solid you can turn them out into a tupperware ready to pop into boiling water for five minutes next time you need a quick meal.
I recommend making a smallish batch the first time you try so you're not daunted by making masses of pasta.





Try it out for yourself before making for a whole dinner party!
Enjoy playing with this wonderfully creative meal - top with pesto, avocado, olives, home-made sauce or whatever you can dream up!

SIO Tips no. 44: Sewing Machine Tips 3.

Needles, it is vital that you get the correct needle size for the job. Fine needles used on denim will snap; often inside the machine, so you risk damaging your machine or hurting yourself as you try to extract the broken needle from the work or machine. Needles specific to your machine and your work are very important and will mean you get great results from a sewing machine that will last you years.


SEEKITOUT: Changing the world a stitch at a time.

SIO Tips no. 43: Sewing Machine Tips 2.

Cheap cotton is just that, cheap! and so those lumps and bumps, however fine, have to work their way through your machine and can damage the machine over time. The cotton often snaps during work. Buy good quality thread and treat your machine with the respect it deserves. Use the right thread for the job, ask your haberdasher which is right for the fabric if unsure.

 SEEKITOUT: Changing the world a stitch at a time.

SIO Tips no. 42: Sewing Machine Tips 1.

When using a sewing machine ensure you follow the instructions to the letter on how to thread. A badly threaded machine, if it works, will strain the workings and damage the machine long term plus probably stitch your work with poor tension.


SEEKITOUT: Changing the world a stitch at a time.

Tricks for later

Seasons pass so fast and often we want to create something for a special occasion but we have nothing to go on. So why not start a seasons photo library. 
Every couple of weeks simply take a snap or two of things like a newly opened flower or snowy view, things that are special to that time of year. 
Download the photo's on to the computer give each a meaningful name starting with the date so you can sort should you wish. Then when in the snowy depths of winter you decide you want to make something to give later in the year, you can seasonalise it by referring to your photo record. 

You could even make your own wonderful cards from your pictures.

Easy to do, takes very little time and will hold 1000 memories.

SIO Tips no. 41

To get crayon off the wall, use standard toothpaste on a toothbrush and brush it. Check your wall surface is fast before trying this.                              
A damp lint free cloth, dipped in baking soda. Rub to get off. Like always check your surface for fastness first. Try in a hidden spot.

SEEKITOUT: Changing the world a stitch at a time.

Best In Show - Part Two

Hi Janie here again with another guest blog - thanks SIO for letting me revisit you. Business advice from someone who knows. 35 years of helping and running businesses means I've seen most mistakes and learnt so much.

Tips 6-10

They say first impressions count and they do, but also the last memory can be the one that sticks.

How many times have you been served in a shop or at a fair by someone who made you feel you were a burden to them, waited an internity while being ignored or listening to staffs idle gossip, or left feeling as though they were rushing you out?

Simple rules go a long way when serving a customer, be it business to business or business to consumer.


6. Unless a vital emergency never chat to a colleague while leaving a customer waiting.

7. If you use a queue system ensure it is plain and the ticket machine is placed in the most logical situation. Understand that sometime folks will not get the system, encourage them to get in line but do not make them feel embarrassed.

8. What view does your client get when coming into your shop? is it welcoming? is the entrance obvious? the direction they should take and where do they queue? A few polite notices go a very long way to making consumers feel happy.

9. When out in your normal daily life evaluate buying situations which make you feel uncomfortable, unwanted or under valued. What was it that made you feel that way, capture the thought and keep it, ensure your business does not replicate that issue.

10. Always ensure you say thank you and good bye even if you're already on to the next customer, the last impression is as important as the first.

Common sense is all it takes, when did you last look at your business through your clients eyes, it might be worth doing. 

SEEK IT OUT: Changing the world a stitch at a time
© babimu - Fotolia.com

SIO Tips no. 40

To prevent egg shells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water before hard-boiling!




SEEKITOUT: Changing the world a stitch at a time.

Best in Show - Part One

Hi Janie here again with another guest blog - thanks SIO for letting me revisit you. Business advice from someone who knows.  35 years of helping and running businesses means I've seen most mistakes and learnt so much.

Tips 1 -  5

They say first impressions count and they do, but also the last memory can be the one that sticks.

How many times have you been served in a shop or at a fair by someone who made you feel you were a burden to them,  waited an eternity while being ignored or listening to staffs idle gossip, or left feeling as though they were rushing you out?

Simple rules go a long way when serving a customer, be it business to business or business to consumer.


1. If busy make eye contact with the waiting client within 30 seconds or less. Note the order of the waiting clients to ensure you serve in turn.

2. Listen to what your are being asked, do not assume.

3. Manage expectations, if you do not know when something is back in stock be honest, offer to take a phone number and call them on arrival of the stock or suggest a realistic alternative. Never suggest something totally different, it insults the person.

4. Smile, it is free and makes people feel welcome and valued.

5. Manners, try saying please and thank you!

Common sense is all it takes, when did you last look at your business through your clients eyes, it might be worth doing. 

SEEK IT OUT: Changing the world a stitch at a time
© babimu - Fotolia.com