A. James Editing, Inc.

I live in Portland, OR and I ride my bike to business meetings.


While this is certainly a practical thing to do in a bike-friendly/frantic town like Portland, I’ve wondered how the inevitable results affect business interactions, if they do at all.


When I say “inevitable results”, I am, of course, referring to B.O. Despite what you might have heard, Portland does get hot on occasion and it’s entirely possible to sweat while engaging in physical exertion outdoors.


This happens to me.


It’s possible that I have over-active sweat glands (my dad’s a sweater and I wouldn’t be surprised if this kind of thing is genetic), but I’m positive that I’m not the only business professional who’s been concerned about their presentation in business meetings.


Two recent cases make me think that I am fully supported:

I met with a new client on Wednesday at Sweet Pea Bakery. I arrived exactly on-time, locked my bike to the rack outside, and walked into the bakery a minute or two late. My client was already in line and, to my great relief, had just arrived. After we sat down with our beverages (me coffee, he green tea), he noticed my pannier. He thought it was awesome that I was a cycling business professional and went on to talk about his ventures as a triathlete and mine as a collegiate sprinter. I got the gig. Great meeting.

The second affirmation came right after this one at my second meeting of the day, which I scheduled at the same place (why complicate things?).

I was meeting with this graphic designer after being introduced at a networking event. She asked me if I’d ridden my bike to the meeting and when I responded in the affirmative she said, “Ah, I should be on my bike today too. It’s so beautiful out.”

I think that’s two for two.


Neither seemed disturbed by the fact, nor put off by my delicate aroma. Which brings us to the next point: arriving to meetings early.


I consulted a fellow copywriter and cycling business professional about his experience riding his bike to meetings and events.


He said he usually arrives at the meeting place 10-15 minutes early to make sure he has time to cool down and get his helmet, pannier, and materials organized so he’s not doing it in front of the client.

Especially in the winter time when you’ve got to deal with your rain gear. Imagine peeling off all your gear in front of the client. ‘Oh, excuse me as I undress in front of you. I’ll just be a minute and then we can start the meeting.’

I’ll have to start doing that.


He also brought up the excellent point about how being a cyclist in Portland, especially as a business professional, is pretty much a badge of honor in this town. Not to mention the fact that it’s empowering for those who haven’t started cycling to work, but want to, to see that it can be done and in style.


I say “Huzzah!” to the cycling business professionals the globe over.

We’ve all done it.


Whether we meant to or not (most likely not), we’ve offended someone with our words.


This can be pretty awful in general, but when you write for a living, it can be even worse. So let me tell you what happened.


I’m on the email list of this organization in Portland that does a lot of good work around promoting businesses and jobseekers in the Portland Metro-SW Washington area.


They sponsor events, post jobs and are a general, all-around excellent resource. The organization has one employee and I’ve met her a few times. I’d say we have a casual, professional relationship…or so I thought.


After receiving the latest installment of their e-newsletter, I caught a few typos. It’s my job to notice these things and correct them, after all.


So I email this woman that I already have a good relationship with, and say something vague like, “After reading the newsletter, I see some places where I can make a contribution to your organization.”


Ok. Sounds non-threatening, right?


She responds with, “Interesting. How so?”


This says to me that she’s not interested in subtleties (did I mention that she’s a one-woman show?) and wants me to get right to the point. Great! Totally respect that. So I say,


“I found a few typos in the newsletter and I was wondering what kind of editing/proofreading support you have because I would love to volunteer my time to help with that.”


I think I sent that email on a Thursday. I didn’t hear back from her later that day…or Friday…or Monday…or Tuesday…and her organization was sponsoring an event on Wednesday.


At first I thought she was probably just busy organizing the event, but then I got to thinking that she may have taken offense to my email. Hmm…


After the event on Wednesday, I approached her, gave her a hug, and immediately apologized in case she was offended (which I had every faith she wouldn’t be).


She was.


She said my email sounded condescending and implied that she was incompetent.


Wow.


I tried to apologize again, but she interrupted me by thanking me for bringing it up (hinting at her lack of response to my email?) and that she would prefer to talk about it later because she wanted to go talk with other people.


Um…ok.


Upon arriving home, I sent her an apologetic email and said what a great big misunderstanding this has all been. I sent that email last Wednesday. Today is Monday and I have yet to receive a response.


There probably was a way to work with her and this organization, but it seems to me that she takes great pride in being the only person doing all the hundreds of things she has to do, and is not interested in unsolicited assistance.


That’s just how some people roll.


To be honest, I’m glad this little miscommunication occurred. If it hadn’t, I could have been working with someone who, just below the surface, was not someone I wanted to be working with.


No matter how well we craft our messages, no matter how much time it takes us to write something that we think all will enjoy and none will take the “wrong way,” someone will always get offended.


So what do you do?


Curl up in a ball and apologize over and over again to deaf ears?


Spend the rest of your professional career in agony of meeting that wronged person who acts as a mirror reminding you of all your inadequacies, snobberies and mistakes?


I suppose you could.


That’s not what I would do, but you could do that.


I blogged about it instead. And I learned from it.


I learned that some people prefer to take offense than a helping hand; that one person wants never to hear from you again while someone else, reading the exact same message, is grateful to you for sending it because it’s a breath of fresh air in their month. (A colleague on my email list actually said this to me.)


Prior to this event, I happened to find a typo on a very popular freelancer website and I mentioned it in an email to them as a postscript.


The result?


They thanked me for catching the mistake and changed it right away! And they offered to refer me work when compatible projects came up. This kind of thing doesn’t happen to people who live their lives curled up in a ball.


So what I can offer you today is this:


Learn from those who are offended, and focus on how to communicate better with those who are grateful. They’re the ones you’ll want to work with.

I’ve met quite a few freelance copywriters over the past few months, and the general trend I’ve discovered is that not many of us are attending networking events. This is at once wonderful and not so wonderful.


Why Wonderful?
Because it means I’m the only writer around and I have the run of the room!

Why Not So Wonderful?
Because the business owners and decision-makers I’m meeting have often never worked with a copywriter before, and have very little idea what our work is worth, thus, not budgeting for our professional involvement in their projects.

The more copywriters out there talking to people about what we do, and exposing them to the vast contributions we can make to their businesses and organizations, the more people who will understand our profession and what our work is worth. It’s about collaboration, not competition.

To encourage this mass ride of sorts, I would like to share all the networking events I know of around town. Below are the networking events coming up that I know about. As I learn about more, I’ll post them to my blog.


Here we go:


Thursday, May 12 (tomorrow/today depending on when you read this)
The University Club Grand Reception. It’s swanky so RSVP and gussy up. 3-7pm. Free to attend. Details.

Partners in Diversity Say Hey. Portland Business Alliance program. 6-8pm. Business casual. RSVP. Free to attend. Details. They also have a Facebook page.

Monday, May 16th
The Portland Business Alliance puts on one-a few events per week. Times and prices for attendance vary depending on the level of the event. I typically go to ShopTalk and Business Leads Exchange. As a member, I pay $5, non-members be prepared to pay $8. I would check their website here and add all their events to your calendar.

Wednesday, May 25th
Partners in Diversity Breakfast of Champions. 7:30-10am. Business casual. RSVP. Free to attend. Details. Looks like registration is closed, but it’s a quarterly event so keep your eyes open for it later.


That’s all I’ve got for you so far this month. Check back for updated info as the month goes on and as June rolls around. There were some events earlier this month that you’ve already missed. (I know this because I was the only writer there. Except that one event where I met fellow marketing writer, David Small.) I go to anywhere from four-eight networking events per month depending on my workload and the amount of sleep I get the night before (some of these events are early!).


What networking events do you know about around Portland that you’d like to share?

I was fortunate enough to be able to volunteer at both the and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) Tradeshow this year, both held in Portland, OR. Though both events revolved around authors and the written word (two of my very favorite things), it was obvious to me that I highly preferred one to the other.

The PNBA Tradeshow…

…took place in September and it was excellent. It was my first time volunteering for their annual event, though I had written the author/book blurbs for their program this year and the year before.

Unfortunately for book lovers, the event was not open to the public and was attended exclusively by authors, booksellers of the Pacific Northwest, publishers, and volunteers like myself. Volunteers had considerable access to the authors and I spend quite a bit of my time conversing with one of my favorite authors, Jennie Shortridge.

The volunteers were fed, pampered, and allowed to take complimentary copies of books and get them signed by the authors. It’s a great event for book lovers and aspiring authors. If you live in the Portland Metro Area and would like to volunteer with PNBA next year, I would strongly recommend you do so. You won’t regret it. I’ve linked to their Web site above.

The Wordstock Festival…

…took place earlier this month and was egregiously lacking in comparison. This was also the first time I had volunteered with Wordstock and it makes me a little sad to say that I don’t plan to do so in the future.

The staff members were absolutely fantastic, but there were way too many volunteers. That’s great that so many people wanted to be involved, but it was awful because there was truly nothing for me, and many others, to do. I spent my entire four-hour shift sitting in a chair, listening to authors (Jeff Mapes, Robert Spector, Michelle Huneven, Dan Chaon, Tom Malterre, Shannon Borg, Piper Davis, Ellen Jackson, and Julie Richardson) speak about their books. The authors were all worth listening to, but I’m more of a doer and would have preferred something more active or at least interactive.

There were some fabulous sponsors of the event like Powell’s City of Books and Columbia Sportswear. Powell’s had a mini bookstore set up in the middle of it all so attendees could purchase the books of the authors who were speaking. Columbia provided these amazing yellow shirts, made from a very soft, very comfortable material for the volunteers to wear.

I found the event to be very large and extremely impersonal. My job was to shuffle the authors from the stage to the signing area…as if they couldn’t read the sign hanging from the ceiling: “Author Signing”. There was little time and even less atmosphere to pursue a conversation with an author.

Resolution

I suppose I had been spoiled at the PNBA Tradeshow and my expectations were a little higher. The Tradeshow was held at a hotel so it was very comfortable, intimate, and the venue was pretty small when compared with the Oregon Convention Center where the Festival was housed (the purpose of the building being to host large events of various lengths, widths, and heights).

My disappointment at the Wordstock Festival was so great that I informed a relevant staff member that I wouldn’t be returning the next day to work my second shift. I knew there were plenty of people to take my place.

For non-volunteers, I definitely recommend the Wordstock Festival (only because you can’t get into the PNBA Tradeshow). For volunteers, the PNBA Tradeshow is second to none and before the event had ended I was already looking forward to next year.