Communication Articles

Should advertisers know their place?

February 28, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

So far this year, we have discussed several aspects of the importance of communication in every day life. Where most people only think of communication as speech-making, we discussed that the most important communication is in our relationships. Well, so far, we have only discussed this in general terms. Starting this month, I’m going to begin our discussions on specific areas of life. This is a discussion so I encourage you to share your thoughts and feelings on the issues I’ll post the rest of this year.

This month is Business Communication Month here at Communication FUNdamentals, as is this month’s AoE Seminar Panel with Jill Hart from CWAHM.com (Christian Work at Home Moms) and her readers.

So to start off the month I’m going go in depth on an article I wrote a while back called, “12 Deadly Communication Sins of Advertising.” I’ll post on each of these marketing techniques during this month so that we can dissect it and discuss it in depth.

Since today isn’t March yet, I’d like to take this opportunity to post the beginning of the article to get you started:

12 Deadly Communication Sins of Advertising by JoJo Tabares

You don’t have to be a marketing genius to be able to spot a bad ad. Every consumer can pick them out; they are the ones that annoy us. They interrupt our day and waste our time. So why should we even have a discussion about bad ads? Because identifying a bad ad is what our customers do. We on the other hand are often oblivious to the miscommunication a bad ad can send to our customers!

As small business owners, we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out what a good ad is. Finding the best possible combination of words, concepts and persuasion for each audience/venue is a daunting task and I don’t even pretend to be a marketing expert. However, as a communication expert, I know well the consequences of annoying a customer with salesy hype at the most inopportune time. By following some simple rules you can avoid making some of the most common business communication errors.

Error #1. Being an Uninvited Guest
Generally an ad, sales pitch or sales call is an unwelcome interruption for our customers. Even if they sign up for a double opt in eNewsletter, they are interrupted by their daily email to find our communication awaiting their immediate attention. We small business owners need to be sensitive to that. If we are to persuade this potential customer to take a look at our wares, we must communicate that what we have to offer is worth the interruption. Our first mistake is merely assuming that all of our customers are eager to see or hear what we have to say. When we understand that we are merely an unwelcome interruption to their day, we can begin to tailor our message accordingly. First we need to capture their attention in the headline. This headline must be tailored to the specific group of potential customers to whom you are speaking. Make sure that it addresses their needs! In an effort to sell more widgets, we small business owners tend to want to appeal to a wide range of customers. Think about how you like to be addressed. Do you like to be spoken to as if you are one of the masses? Or do you appreciate it when someone takes the time to find out what you need? We will discuss the body of the ad later on.

Another common error of being uninvited is to post an ad on an email group like Yahoo inappropriately. Many groups do not allow ads at all. Some groups allow ads only on specific days. To post an ad on a non ad day is almost an unforgivable sin. Spam is a big issue for people these days. It is vital to get to know your groups before you begin posting in order to avoid making a very bad first impression. Most of these ads don’t get read at all. These ads are quickly deleted and sometimes members will email the moderators asking that *justice be done*. 😀 Be careful not to leave a bad taste in your customer’s mouth or you will not eat of the fruit of success. Bad press travels ten times faster than good news and about a hundred times as often!

Along these same lines is the dreaded sales follow-up phone call during the dinner hour. If you call your customer on the phone, always make sure to call at a convenient hour. Don’t call during dinner! Yes, you will be sure to catch her in, but an old sales proverb goes like this: Hungry customer with dinner waiting is not in the market for whatever it is you sell!

Have you ever encountered a sales message that didn’t understand that presumed too much? One that didn’t understand that it was an unwelcome interruption and demanded you drop everything to attend to it? Perhaps it was a phone call? What happened and how did it make you feel about their offer/product? Please share!

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: advertisers, business, Business communication, know their place, marketing

When to be “Specifically General”

February 23, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

On Monday, I talked about the need to be specific, even oddly specific. Today, I’d like to talk about when it’s necessary to be “specifically general.” While being specific can help you avoid confusion and frustration, being general has the advantage of not ruffling feathers and allowing you not to discuss personal issues if you don’t want to.

1. Say you get a phone call from a distant relative asking you to fill her in on all the details of a personal family matter. She is not directly involved and is just being nosy. You don’t want to give her any details, but you feel trapped as she has you on the phone. What do you do? There is no law that says you have to answer every question you are asked! You could simply tell her you don’t want to discuss it. You could ignore her question and move on to a more neutral topic. OR…you could be specifically general. You could tell her that it’s going as well as can be expected. You can, then, feel free to change the subject or tell her you were in the middle of something (whatever it was you were doing before she called) and you don’t have much time to talk.

2. Facebook may not be the place to discuss personal issues so when someone posts on your wall and asks you something rather personal, what do you do? Again, just because someone asks you something doesn’t mean you have to answer. You could delete the post if you think it might open up a can of worms you don’t want to deal with in a rather public forum like Facebook. You could reply to the question on the phone or in a direct message to the person who asked. Or you could post a reply that is specifically general. If Sally comments that she loves your new sweater and asks how your business did last year, you can reply only to the first part of her comment. “Thanks! My dd got it for me for Christmas.” and you could add, “We did well, thanks!”

3. Aunt Martha doesn’t believe in homeschooling. She asks how your son did this week with math. Normally, he does well, but last week he had a big problem understanding fractions. Instead of opening up a can of worms giving her the details of little Johnny’s frustrating week with halves and eighths, you could just tell her, “He just finished studying fractions this week.”

4. When leading a meeting or teaching a homeschool child there can sometimes come an obscure question that takes your conversation off track. Just because someone asks a question that might be a good topic of discussion, doesn’t mean now is the time to digress. It’s not rude to say, “That’s a great question, but we really don’t have time to go into that right now. Let’s discuss it tomorrow.”

As you can see, being specifically general has its advantages as does being oddly specific. Each according to its purpose for the communication at hand. Got any stories about being oddly specific or specifically general you’d like to share?

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: communication, conversation, Facebook, general, homeschooling, meeting, questions, specific

When to be “Oddly Specific”

February 21, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

Welcome back to “Other than Speech Month” here at Communication FUNdamentals. All this month, I’ve been talking about how important communication is for things other than speech making. So far this month, I’ve talked about spam, how babies actually cry with an accent, overactive exclamatory punctuation and leadership. This week, I’d like to talk about when it’s important to be “oddly specific” and “specifically general.” I’ll talk about the latter on Wednesday, but today, let’s get specific.

Most of the time, being specific helps avoid confusion.

1. Telling someone you’ll meet them in the morning leaves them unsure if they should be at Starbucks at 7am or 11am. Further, it causes them to have to reconnect with you prior to the meeting for confirmation. This leads to frustration if the two of you end up playing phone tag or email follow the leader.

2. Not being specific enough, your handyman can cause unreasonable expectations in his customer. If you don’t know that the job will take two weeks, you may become annoyed when your expectation of a three day job has passed and that was three days ago!

3. Without communicating specific issues likely to affect your work, your customer can have an unnecessarily frustrating experience working with you. I remember a particularly frustrating website situation where I was asked to provide pictures for my website. My web designer never thought to tell me the quality of the pictures needed nor that the pictures I sent her were going to appear blurry. She just put them up assuming I was aware of the quality issue and would accept the site as it was. Had she told me the quality needed up front or when she received the pictures, I would have found better pictures, would not have had a bad experience and would not have begun to look for a new web designer.

What doesn’t your typical customer know? What should they be made aware of? Do so BEFORE it becomes a problem.

3. Directions Disasters can cause confusion and can even be potentially dangerous. If my directions say to turn right on Maple, I’m going to turn right on the first Maple I find. If you forget to tell me to pass Maple Drive (which leads to a rough part of town) and I take Maple Avenue instead, I’m going to be a bit more than frustrated, especially if I have to interrupt Bubba’s Welcome Home from Jail Party to ask for clarification.

Sometimes things are obvious to us only because we are so familiar with them. We don’t always realize that they are not at all obvious to someone else. Though it may seem oddly specific to include a tidbit of information we don’t think twice about, we should always look at the information we give others from THEIR point of view. What would they expect? What would they probably need to know? What should we be more specific about when we communicate to them?

Being specific, even oddly specific, can help avoid frustrating and confusing, even dangerous communication. On Wednesday, I’ll share how there are also times when we need to be specifically general.

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: communication, communication fun, directions, general communication, hadnyman, Oddly Specific, specific, web designer, work

Overactive Exclamatory Punctuation!!!!!!

February 7, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

Every day we use the internet to connect and communicate with folks all over the world. How we type our messages can make a huge difference in how they are perceived. On February 24th, I’m going to be sharing more about everyday communication with a panel of guests over on TalkShoe. There are several things we do every day that hinder our ability to say what we mean. Today, I’d like to bring the exclamation point to your attention.

The use, or overuse, of the exclamation point can create a vastly different meaning to your email and social networking communication. It can alter your message or it can just as easily give you less credibility. Let’s look at the different ways the overuse of the exclamation point can impact your message:

1. Using too many exclamation marks can strip all the emotion out of your message.

This reduces your sentences so that they all have the same weight. “We have a new dog! His name is Bark because he barks all the time! I’m going to have to teach him to be quiet!”

2. Even the use of one exclamation point can make you sound like you’re angry.

“I thought you did your own programming!” This makes it sound like an accusation that the person should be familiar with the material when, in fact, it was simply surprise.

3. Too many exclamation points can make you appear childish.

“I just loved it!!! It was so much fun!!!! I had a great time!!! That was the best strategy!!!!” Using too many exclamation points with short choppy sentences can make you come across as childish or naive.

So what do we do if we are afflicted with Overactive Exclamatory Punctuation? Well, you’re in luck, because I have developed a Four Step Program.

The Over Exclamatory Four Step Program:

1. Make a conscious effort to use exclamation points sparingly. Less is more.

2. Institute a “wait time” before punctuating your post.

3. Back away from the button…

4. Take the exclamation key off your keyboard!

Don’t you feel better now? You’ll find that, by using fewer exclamation points, you will begin to feel calmer and more peaceful. You’ll notice a lower rate of misunderstandings and offense and you’ll lose 5 pounds! Okay, I was kidding about that last part.

For more creative and fun ways to improve your ability to say what YOU mean, visit http://www.ArtofEloquence.com

Do it NOW!!!!!! [insert maniacal giggle here]

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: communication, exclamation points, Overuse of Exclamation Points, Subscribe Here!, Talk Shoe

Do your posts “L@@K” like spam?

January 31, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

I had an experience on Facebook last week that got me thinking about how important it is to be careful that our communication doesn’t resemble something that people could take the wrong way. It isn’t enough to be genuine, we have to communicate that we are. If you use the language of scammers and spammers, people will wonder if you are. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, people will naturally conclude that it’s a duck. Here’s what I mean and what we can all learn from Pst Spence.

Last week, I received a friend request from someone with an odd sounding name: Pst Spence. We had several mutual friends, his page looked normal and he was in ministry so I accepted. I never heard from him until he sent me a personal message on Facebook with a gloriously formal sounding introduction, “Calvary Greetings to you…” It was a rather long message where he asked me for prayer and to donate toward a relief effort for those in Australia who were affected by the flood. I don’t make it a habit to send donations to people I just met so I sent a reply saying that I’ve been praying for them.

The next day he sent a reply stating that prayer was good, but that they needed MONEY! I was taken aback! A minister who doesn’t think that much of prayer? I was busy that day with a sick son and many other projects so I decided not to answer him. The next morning I received a message from him asking if I’d received his reply and stating that he was “still expecting my donation.” Still…EXPECTING!? In this reply he asked me to send my donation Western Union and NOT by Money Gram. I went back to his first message and noticed that he had put in quite an elaborate address and instructions for the donation.

Next I went to his page because I felt this was a scam. He had unfriended me and put a note on his page saying he had reached his limit of Facebook friends. He asked everyone to “like” his fan page. Curious because he didn’t seem to have ANY friends anymore, I went to his fan page and found no real information on it and only 13 fans. A few days ago, this man’s Facebook page seemed normal, yet only a few days later, he had no friends and nothing to speak of on his wall. I reported this to Facebook because the manner in which he was speaking, the words he used and the nature of his Facebook page and fan page, all SCREAMED scam.

To my utter amazement, he had the audacity to send me another message the very next day. It simply said, “Still waiting for a response.” I thought to myself, “and you’ll be waiting quite a long time, too!”

At the risk of creating a blueprint for spammers, I’d like to share some of the things in his messages that caused me to believe he wasn’t genuine. Then I’m going to take some of these same things and show how well-meaning, yet untrained communicators can mistakenly appear the same way.

Spam and Scam Red Flags

1. Unusually formal or flowery greeting

2. Poor grammar or incorrect word usage

3. Sender is someone you just met or don’t know well

4. Asking for money, especially in a more demanding way (Expecting your donation)

5. Most of the detail is in the directions for acquiring the donation rather than the cause

6. Asking for the money to be sent in an usual way or by an unusual method

7. Persistence

8. Language becoming increasingly hostile

Now I know many of you wouldn’t be this blatant, but let’s look at a few of these and see how you might (perhaps) sound like a spammer. Sometimes, perfectly genuine people fall into the habit of doing things that just feel like spam. This causes folks to become uncomfortable and/or unlikely to continue the online relationship. Here’s a list of things that “feel” like spam. I call them Pink Flags.

Spam and Scam Pink Flags:

1. Sending private messages asking for donations or announcing sales to people you don’t know well.

2. Posting mostly or only when you are selling something

3. Poor grammar or word choice, especially to people with whom you are not close.

4. Not being careful to be respectful when asking for donations, especially if sent to people having financial difficulties of their own.

5. Sending more than one message through in a short period of time. (Once a day or several times a day)

6. Posting several times in an hour about things you have for sale.

7. Posting ONLY things you have for sale on your personal Facebook page or Yahoo group while never responding to or posting things of a more personal nature.

8. Posting MOSTLY things you have for sale.

9. Creating events several times a week/month, inviting all your Facebook friends and then sending constant updates about them.

I’ve known several people, good people, who are in business. They have good businesses and they try hard to be honest and trustworthy. However, they have some practices that make it appear, like this scammer, such that they could get in trouble even though they are not scamming. Here are a few scenarios that illustrate what I mean. Perhaps you’ve seen them?

Persistent Paula:

Paula sells handmade jewelry. She’s on Facebook where she also has a fan page. She’s very excited about her creations and so she posts pictures and sales items about six times a day both on her fan page and her personal Facebook wall. She also sends out messages to all her personal friends on Facebook each hour with updates about how well her business is doing. Finally, she tags about 20 or 30 different friends each time she posts a particular type of product picture on her personal wall.

Paula is a sweet girl and everyone is polite, but secretly, several have almost unfriended her due to the sheer volume of emails this generates for them. In fact, sometimes Paula has posted pictures of her products directly on her friend’s walls or on THEIR fan pages.

Connie Cause:

Connie is the sweetest little thing you’ d ever come across. She’s a stay at home mom whose kids are all grown and she’s got a passion for getting involved. She’s the kind of person who is always donating and doing for others, but she is completely unaware of how to communicate her passion effectively.

Connie sends blanket emails to each of her Yahoo groups every day, sharing with them about all the causes she supports. She addresses her emails to reflect her faith-filled love for people using terms like “Blessed Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus.” She asks for donations and, because she has a lot of groups she belongs to, she gives all the information to donate up front so that people can have all the information ready to donate. Unfortunately, Connie doesn’t realize that some of the groups she belongs to don’t allow ads. She doesn’t have much time for interaction on these groups because of all the wonderful causes she supports. In fact, most of her posts have numerous typos and other mistakes because Connie is in a hurry each day to get these messages out giving her the ability to help even more of God’s children.

Most people on Connie’s groups feel like she is only there to get their money. Many question whether all her causes are legitimate because of the typos and the fact that only two lines tell about the cause while six lines share how to pay.

We must be careful to say what we mean in a way that allows the listener/reader to hear what we say the way we meant it. Otherwise, we risk appearing like a spammer, losing friends and having our Yahoo groups or Facebook privileges revoked.

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JoJo Tabares holds a degree in Speech Communication. Her Christian and humorous approach to communication skills has made her a sought after speaker. JoJo’s articles have appeared in various homeschool magazines and websites such as Dr. Laura.com. Her Say What You Mean curricula is endorsed by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and her eBook, Say What You Mean When You’re in Business, has been used by direct sales leaders and small business owners alike. For more information, please visit http://www.ArtofEloquence.com

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: donations, Facebook, greeting, persistence, scammer, spam, spammer, Yahoo groups

Public Speaking Tips for Overcoming Fear

January 19, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

Since this month is speech month here at Communication FUNdamentals, I thought I’d re-post an article I wrote a while back. So many of you have emailed in to say how intimidating public speaking is. Here is JoJo’s Rules for Overcoming Public Speaking Fear:

Public Speaking Tips for Overcoming Fear
By JoJo Tabares

Public speaking is the number one fear in America-even ahead of DEATH. People make all kinds of excuses for not taking an opportunity to show others what they have to offer whether it be in a large, formal setting, an intimate gathering or just speaking up for what they believe in.

Studies show that those who like making speeches are more successful and make more money. Here are a few tips that can make all the difference in overcoming fear before a presentation:

Know your topic well! Do your research. Get your facts straight. The more you are familiar with what you are going to say, the more comfortable you will feel and the easier it will be to get up in front of others and deliver your message.
Practice until you are comfortable. The more familiar you are with the flow and content of your presentation, the more comfortable you will feel. The less you have to worry about when you make a speech, the more comfortable you will be. Make sure to practice your presentation fully by including your props or videos in your practice sessions. If you don’t, you may be flustered when a prop isn’t as easily handled during the presentation as you thought it would be.
Know your audience. Try to get some information about your audience so that you know how to tailor your message. Are you speaking to all women? Do they have young children? How does that impact your message? This can avoid the blank
stares you may receive if you talk over their heads or address an issue they don’t deal with. It can also avoid the proverbial “sticking your foot in your mouth”.
Try to go to the room where you will be speaking ahead of time and get a feel for it. Based on the size of the room and whether or not you will have a microphone, think about how loud you will need to be in order to be heard. Look for any electrical outlets and make sure they are where you will need them. Will there be enough room for everything you are bringing with you? Look to see if you will have a podium or place to put down your notes or props.
Remember that an audience is usually pulling for a speaker to do well mostly because they too have a fear of public speaking and they are just glad it isn’t them up there! They want you to present well. More than likely they are very eager to hear what you have to say!
If you make a mistake- just move on. Everyone makes mistakes so expect mistakes to happen, but it is your reaction that makes the difference. Your audience doesn’t expect you to be slick or perfect. They only ask that you be genuine. If you give the wrong statistic, if the video machine doesn’t work, if you trip…just move on. Making a big deal out of it only magnifies the mistake and communicates that you are inexperienced. You can even make a joke out of it. “I guess I didn’t put enough glue on my fingers this morning!”
Remember that God gave you something unique to say…let others hear it!

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JoJo Tabares holds a degree in Speech Communication, but it is her humorous approach to communication skills which has made her a highly sought-after Christian speaker and writer. Her articles appear in homeschool publications, such as Homeschool Enrichment Magazine and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, which also endorses her Say What You Mean curricula. You can also find JoJo on web sites such as Crosswalk.com and Dr.Laura.com. For more information on communication FUNdamentals and Christian-based communication skills for the whole family, please visit http://www.ArtofEloquence.com

For more articles on communication skills and public speaking, visit our JoJo’s Articles page!

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: fear, overcoming fear, Public speaking, tips

Pssst! Wanna get married?

January 14, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

This week, I’m talking about Facebook Faux Pas. Communication on Facebook is often seen as somehow different from communication elsewhere so things are regularly done (said) over Facebook that would NEVER be tolerated in person. On Wednesday, I told you about the issue of adding people to Facebook groups without asking their permission or gaining their consent. Today is about dating.

Over the weekend, I received another in a series of Facebook messages about dating. (No, this picture is not him, though I sincerely doubt the picture he has posted on his Facebook wall is him either.) Shockingly, this guy didn’t just ask me if I liked Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. After telling me a bit about himself, he asked if I would consider marrying a guy like him. I’m waiting for Facebook to add a feature whereby he could add me as his wife without my consent! lol

Clearly, this man never read my bio in which I state, among other things, that I am already married. Additionally, I would never consider marrying a man who can’t put two grammatically correct sentences together! But I digress…

I found it deliciously comical that, upon visiting his wall to see what kind of man writes women he doesn’t know and asks them to marry him, I found that Mr. Smith (yes that is the name he posted!) “only shares some profile information with everyone.” In fact, he shared NONE of his personal information. I guess when you go around asking women you don’t know to marry you, you have to be careful not to reveal too much. Perhaps he shares his political affiliation and favorite books only AFTER the wedding???

Can you imagine a man walking up to a woman at a party, calling her “Pretty” instead of her name, telling her about his job and kid and asking if she’d consider marrying him? Is this a joke? Or does this guy really believe he can find a Facebook wife this way? Either way, I would be disinclined.

What say you?

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: dating, Facebook, Facebook wife, marry, wife

Vote: Your favorite article of 2010

December 29, 2010 by Art of Eloquence

Over the last year, I’ve written tons of articles for the blog. Here is a very short list. I’d love to hear which ones are your favorites and why. You never know if these articles will be expanded to a full eBook in the future! ;D

1. The Case for Wrinkles

2. Ten Terrific Tips for a Less Trying Tongue

3. What Kind of Communication is Most Confusing to You?

4. You Might be a Skimmer…

5. Nitpicker’s Anonymous

6. Weasel Words

7. How to Win Facebook Friends and Influence Tweeple

We’d love your feedback! Won’t you cut in on the blog spammers and give us your thoughts? LOL

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: anonymous, Communicaiton, frustrating communication, tips, tongue, tweeple. nitpickers, Weasel, words, wrinkles

The Case for Wrinkles

November 29, 2010 by Art of Eloquence

At the end of a long, joyous, productive, meaningful life, what will people see when they look into your face? WRINKLES! And they won’t be thinking, “That face shows a joyous, productive, meaningful life” either. They’ll be thinking, “Boy is that woman OLD!” Well, I’d like to change all that and I’m asking for your help.

It’s important to use your communication skills to change the world around you for the better. Why start with wrinkles? Well, I’ve written articles about grace in politics and faith before, but it struck me that I never did start at the beginning. In order to start a movement for world grace, I think it needs to begin with something more universal and easier to discuss. If you think of it in colloquial movie terms, this article is a prequel.

Every one of us, if we are blessed, will live to see the day when our face has an abundance of creases and lines. There will come a day when even the fresh-faced, four-year-old will be weathered. I’d like to start at the beginning with something we can probably all agree on and feel confident enough to pass along. I say wrinkles are desirable (dare I say fashionable) and I’m going to prove it.

The Case for Wrinkles

1. Wrinkles are better than the alternative!

Yes, given the alternative to growing old, wrinkles come in on top! Death is a very distant second! Once you realize how much worse you could have it, wrinkles don’t seem so bad.

2. Wrinkles are soft.

Yes, the more wrinkled your face is, the softer it gets. My 11 y/o son loves to touch my 48 year old face and always comments, “It’s so soft!”

3. Wrinkles are knowledge.

The more wrinkles you have, the more knowledge you MUST have accumulated, even if by sheer luck! You just know things younger people don’t. You’ve lived through stuff.

4. Wrinkles are earned.

Wrinkles are not some honorary badge. They are earned! Not just anyone can have these babies! Laugh lines mean you must have laughed. A joyous life, even if fraught with struggles, is a prize, indeed. Wrinkles mean you’ve endured, you’ve persevered. Wrinkles mean you have really lived.

5. Wrinkles show you have character.

Wrinkles are character lines and mean you aren’t just any old body, you’re a character! Wrinkles make you cute, cuddly, adorable, wise, and worthy of honor!

6. Wrinkles are wisdom!

If you have acquired wrinkles, you MUST have also acquired some amount of wisdom. At the very least you remember history like it was yesterday. You remember what life was like before iPods and can regale the younger generation with quaint stories of what kids did before Playstation 3. If you’ve really been paying attention or have garnered an education, you can teach people stuff-stuff they might really need to know!

7. Wrinkles give you license to be silly again.

Let’s face it. When you see a 4 year old being silly, you think, “How cute!” When you see a 40 year old being silly, you think, “What an idiot.” When you see a wrinkled old guy being silly, you think, “How cute!”

8. Wrinkles are your ticket to free help.

If a 29 y/o woman is having a hard time with her lawn mower, you’d rather not take a minute to help her get it started because, hey, you’re busy and her husband will get around to helping her…eventually. If you see an 80 year old woman struggling to get her Christmas lights up, you’ll take three hours of your day to string them for her!

9. Wrinkles mean you don’t get any more pimples!

One of the great perks of getting wrinkles is that your face no longer breaks out! You don’t need to worry about those embarrassing blemishes due to oily skin when your face has dried up and turned raisin!

10. Wrinkles allow you more time to have fun.

Once you realize you’re no Farrah Fawcett (I know I’m dating myself) anymore, you can stop worrying about your looks and focus on the fun of life. Not having to worry about your makeup, the latest hair styles, and your Jordache Jeans (now I’m REALLY dating myself) means you can wear what’s comfortable and have more time to enjoy life unimpeded by the bonds of high fashion!

You and I may not agree on politics, religion or even what to watch on TV, but I’ll bet we can forge one bond today and agree to declare to the rest of the world that wrinkles are desirable. If you agree, forward this blog link to everyone you know, wrinkled and non-wrinkled. You don’t need to send it to 25 friends in the next five minutes, but if you do, you will have contributed 25 new giggles to the world! You will also have contributed to the beginning of the Wrinkle Movement. Together we CAN rid the world of the stigma of wrinkles so that our children will grow up in a wrinkle friendly environment! Who’s with me?

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: articles, faith, grace, grace-filled, gracious, joy, politics, purpose, religion, tv, wrinkles

What are you thankful for?

November 24, 2010 by Art of Eloquence

This video is from Christian comics, The Skit Guys. What are you thankful for?

In addition, I have an article I wrote on The Power of Thank You to read through on this Thanksgiving Week! Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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Filed Under: Ask JoJo, Communication Articles Tagged With: Christian, comics, thanksgiving, the skit guys, Video, what are you thankful for?

Should advertisers know their place?

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