The Shoemaker's Kid

You know the story about the shoemaker's kid -- the one who doesn't have any shoes. That's because his mom, the shoemaker, is too busy with her clients to focus on her kid's feet. (I wrote about the shoemaker's kid a few weeks ago in regards to resume samples, too.)

Well, as a professional resume writer who wears a lot of hats, I obviously feel like the shoemaker a lot of the time. I'm out here telling you about stuff you should be doing ... and should probably follow my own advice more than I do. What reminded me of this was seeing Jessica Simpson on The View this morning. She was asked if she had bought lots of gifts for her sister, who is expecting a child in November. She said, "I've been telling everyone yes -- so I'd better get shopping!"

I kind of feel that way with my newsletter. For example, in the May/June issue, the sidebar on the front cover had to do with sending an e-mail to past clients about updating their resume. It's a fabulous idea -- and, depending on how extensive your list of past clients is -- it's guaranteed to drum up some repeat business.

The bad news is, you have to have a client database to properly implement the idea. I've got a client database ... but it's a Rolodex. I faithfully fill out a Rolodex card for each resume project when I finalize it. Since I've been writing resumes for 12 years now in my business, you'd think I would have taken the time somewhere along the way to put it on the computer. But no, while I'm constantly updating other databases (including my list of subscribers to Resume Writers' Digest), I hadn't gotten around to creating the database.

So, in the "better late than never" category of things, I started the database on Monday, and I'm up to 12 contacts. Well, only a couple hundred more to go now. But I went ahead and sent out the e-mail to the first 10 (the other 2 were new projects I finalized on Tuesday), and I'm going to set a goal of adding 10 new contacts every couple of days (I'd say every day, but that's just not gonna happen, and I might as well be realistic). I figure by next May I'll be good to go. *smile*

So take it from me, and don't be a shoemaker. Take five minutes and start a task that you should be doing to improve your resume writing business -- whether that's starting a database (like I just did), putting together that list of frequently-asked questions you've always been meaning to write out, or starting a blog.

There's no time like the present!