Happy Administrative Professionals Day!

Giving great service all year long!

I hear this too often in my seminars: I’m just an Administrative Assistant. I want to steal the word “just” from that person’s vocabulary. Imagine if every admin in this country stopped working?

April 22 is Administrative Professionals Day. To celebrate and honor the admins who help run offices all around the world, I have a gift and a an announcement.

First, a gift for everyone: Enjoy 30 minutes of “chillaxation.” Here’s the free playback number: (218) 844-8799. And here’s the access code: 1092282#. There will be a pause, and then it begins.

Next is the announcement. I am creating two products especially for Administrative Assistants: an e-book on goal setting and a video series for stress relief. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

Curious to know more about Administrative Professionals Day? Here’s more info.

You make a difference every day.

Chillax! Free Stress Relief Teleseminar on 4/15/09

Hi blog peeps,

 

Do you sometimes feel over burdened and under pampered? Chillax!

 

What: 30 minute stress relief session
 
Date: Wednesday April 15, 2009
 
Time: 6:00-6:30PM Pacific time
 
Location: Your favorite telephone

 
In this valuable session I will take you through a simple relaxing process that will have you feeling good quickly. I will also share tips with you that you can start using immediately to release stress and increase satisfaction in your daily life. There will be several free gifts offered on the call, so don’t miss it. It will be a friendly phone experience where you can listen and learn in the privacy of wherever you choose to be.

 

No RSVP necessary, just join in and chillax.

Call-in Number (218) 844-8230, Access Code: 1092282#

Stress Relief Tip: Dial in early and take your time entering the access code. You’ll hear music until the call begins.

Feel free to forward this to your stressed-out friends, family members and co-workers.

I look forward to enjoying this special time with you.

 

 

April’s “One Minute Note”

What can you do this week that scares you?

To keep your life feeling vital and your self esteem high, consider a commitment that will stretch but not break you. You could have that critical conversation that you’ve been putting off or take a class doing something you’re interested in but not particularly good at. For one of my friends, it would be to put up an internet dating profile.

Mine? I’m going to send invitations for my first ever teleseminar. It’s on stress management, and you can expect my invite in your inbox soon. How does it make me feel? Totally out of my comfort zone; that’s the whole point!

Care to share your scary commitment? I’d love to support and be inspired by you.

Jean I’m-All-Ears Franzblau

Last Moments Down Under

“How are you going?” I said to the ticket agent as I prepared to get on the plane back to LA. I’ve become good at greeting people the Aussie way instead of “How are you doing?”

“I’ll miss saying that” I told her as a misty, sad feeling came over me.

Sitting at a coveted window seat, my seat mate and I got to talking. It turns out he is a deep sea welder. He goes where the sharks are such a hazard that a special anti-shark weapon is necessary. Apparently the sharks start off “getting friendly.” They’ll get close and then eventually rub up against you. The next step would be to “take a taste” and this is where said weapon comes into play.

The deep sea diving Aussie hasn’t much more to say for the duration of the flight. I think I was being one of those chatty people on a flight that you hear about. I took the hint, watched my movie and caught an impressed glimpse of some burn scars on his arms and neck. A real live deep sea welder, right there in the seat next to me!

A Day Trip to the Blue Mountains

I had an extra day in Sydney before flying back to LA. I gave myself the gift of a day tour to the Blue Mountains. Want to know why they’re blue? A blue mist is created by the eucalyptus (gum) trees. The trees exhale eucalyptus fumes that refract light in the color blue. At least this is what they tell the tourists.

Croc!

 

 

On the day tour, I saw a zoo crocodile, pet a koala very gently on its back, saw the Three Sisters rock formation which is sacred for the Aboriginal people, walked to a water fall, and met new American friends who live in Reno and Sacramento. 

Three Sisters.

 

 

We had among the group, a woman who was laid off her job in the U.S. (who decided to enjoy her severance for some well needed time to reflect) and her engineer brother (who believes a layoff may be imminent for him.) We had an emergency room physician having “a mid-life crisis” and her good natured parents who came along for the trip at the 11^th hour. We went out for German food and sat on a bench with some very drunk Sydney art students.

Customer Service, Aussie Style – Part 2

I have learned that if one is sleeping for a long time on a flight, one’s meal may be brought to one and then taken away if not eaten. This has the affect of making one very cranky when one is looking forward to a meal.

Now one – I have a plan.

Prior to my post take-off nap, I shall take the white bag in the front seat pocket and write a note to put over my meal…

“I plan to eat this after my nap, please leave it here.”

I feel pretty clever about this.

I woke and there was my meal. As I lifted my note, I noticed something terribly wrong. The dish was there, but the meal, the hot part, was gone. I asked my seat mate who must have felt I had an accusing tone about it. “I was sleeping too,” she told me. And so I accepted my fate – no hot breakfast for me. Yet I was curious.

I found Chris, the lead flight attendant. Yes, he saw my note. Yes, he took my meal. “It would have been scary to eat a meal so cold,” he explained.

“True,” I agreed with a slight whine, “but it was fooood.”

Once he was done teasing me, he explained that he took my hot meal so he could keep it hot until I was ready for it. “Really?” I said with wonder.

And so he brought me my hot meal of poached eggs, spinach and a roasted tomato (pronounced to-mah-toe.)

And it was good.

I heart Qantas.

Customer Service, Aussie Style

I was concerned about my solo drive to Bunbury. I had been spoiled for two weeks with a driver taking me to and from the airports. Now I had to put on my thinking cap and make it on my own.

I allowed myself a slower paced dinner and didn’t mind when the taxi service took a long time to pick me up. I would drive to Bunbury at my leisure. Or so I thought. I realized that the rental car place was closed as the taxi driver zipped away.  Thus began my slightly panicked next few minutes as I came to grips with the change in plans. I took another taxi all the way to the airport to a different Thrifty location. There was one GPS left and I got it.

I put a call to the hotel in Bunbury to warn them of my late arrival. I asked for back-up directions and realized it wasn’t all that easy to get there. Little did I know, the caring proprietor on the other end of the phone was concerned. She told me the next day that she reasoned to herself that I sounded “competent over the phone.” And yet she stayed awake as a mom would do until the American woman rolled into her parking spot at 11pm.

After seminar socializing with clients from Summit Homes, Bunbury.