Archives for April 2012

29
Apr 2012

2012 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting

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This weekend I’ve been covering this year’s Annual Meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Boston. My specific assignment was to write news articles on endocrinology presentations there, but there was so much going on outside of the endocrine world!  

It’s been a busy couple of days, but I’ve just emerged from the tunnel! I didn’t get home until about 7pm and have just finished writing my final article, so it’s a good feeling to be able to sit down and relax for an hour or so before bed.

At least the weekend’s weather has been beautiful in Boston for the attendees. And for me, since I had to travel into the city to get to the Hynes Convention Center where the meeting was being held.

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Because I work in the city at MIT, yesterday I decided to park at work and take the train across the river to the convention center. That shouldn’t be too bad ordinarily – a 45 minute drive, followed by a 5-10 minute walk to the train station, and then change trains before arriving at the convention center.

But things started to go wrong when I arrived at the subway station and discovered that they were now operating a shuttle bus instead of a train, due to work on the lines.

The trip there went ok though, I was one of the first onto the bus, so I managed to get to the meeting without too much hassle.

But my return journey wasn’t so smooth! At the station where I had to change again to the shuttle bus, I emerged from the station to find at least 200 people in front of me, all awaiting the same bus! What a nightmare. Somehow it was only about 20 minutes before I managed to get onto a bus, but I was certainly glad that the weather was pleasant. And I was also glad that the Red Sox weren’t playing at Fenway Park – Boston would’ve been even more of a nightmare to cope with!

Today I knew I’d have to do something different, I really didn’t want to do battle trying to get on the shuttle bus home again. So I drove to a different subway station instead, and took a train on a different line. That all went a lot more smoothly, I’m pleased to report!

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The Meeting

The meeting was mayhem yesterday. Only about 10 minutes after I arrived and settled into the Press Room to get myself organized for the day, alarms began sounding, and there were overhead messages advising everyone to evacuate the building.

Soon this was followed by messages that nobody was to evacuate, there was no problem. But the real problem then was that they couldn’t get the alarms to stop! So they continued to peep in the background for about an hour, interspersed with messages that there was still no need to evacuate!

As annoying as it was, it didn’t really impact me, I was just drinking coffee, eating a cookie, and reading some abstracts. But I can’t imagine how disruptive this was to the speakers who were trying to get through their presentations!

But all in all it was an enjoyable meeting. I caught some great presentations and posters, met some extremely nice people, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people in one building before! This was a huge meeting – over 8,000 attendees.

It was my first time covering PAS, and I have to say, I think this may be the largest meeting I’ve ever attended!

 

Categories: Miscellaneous
28
Apr 2012

Warm Email Prospecting

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Strangely enough, after reposting my Marketing By Warm Email Prospecting – Part II after a “missing link” incident, I came across a Facebook update by Ed Gandia that same evening.

He is once again making his free training series available via his website, but only for a few days.

So don’t miss out on the opportunity – head over there now to hear his thoughts on How to Land Clients Faster, Easier and Cheaper. It’ll only cost you your email address!

 

Image credit sippakorn @FreeDigitalPhotos

Categories: Business Resources
27
Apr 2012

Cantaloupes and the Multi-State Outbreak of Listeriosis

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Another post that I’m resurrecting because its link disappeared as I transitioned to my self-hosted site!

 

Listeriosis

Last year we experienced the biggest food-borne outbreak of listeriosis in this country in over 20 years. At least 30 people across 12 states had died as a result of eating tainted cantaloupes that were linked to one Colorado farm. And at least 146 people in total suffered illness in this outbreak. 

The causative bacterial organism, Listeria monocytogenes, is a common cause of US food recalls in foods such as deli meats, hot dogs and soft cheeses made with unpasteurized milk. Its emergence as a contaminant in fresh foods like this, however, is a new and concerning event.

One problem associated with listeriosis is that it can take weeks, and up to two months in some cases, for symptoms to develop post-infection. This is very different to the quick onset of symptoms that occurs in cases of food-borne illness due to salmonella and E. coli infections.

Listeria is a very common organism in general, and it can also proliferate to high levels in low temperatures, rather than becoming dormant. This combination of facts means that it can potentially be introduced onto food at any point in the food chain – whether out in the field, in your home, or somewhere in between. Serious disease due to listeriosis is, however, uncommon. In order to cause serious illness the bacterium needs to get onto food and proliferate to levels high enough to cause disease – it’s been reported that people need to ingest over one million organisms to become sick.

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Symptoms?

Symptoms are generally non-specific. Flu-like complaints such as headache, muscle aches and fever, not too uncommon this time of year, can occur. Additionally, abdominal cramps and diarrhea commonly occur. Certainly the development of diarrhea and abdominal pain should prompt you to visit your doctor, especially if you have eaten cantaloupe in recent weeks. In particular, older people, newborns, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk of listeriosis.

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What To Do With Your Cantaloupe

The outbreak has only been linked to a single location, Jensen Farms, in Colorado. If you are unclear as to the origin of that cantaloupe in your kitchen, you are advised to throw it away. And don’t assume that if it’s been sitting in the fridge, that it’s ok – remember it tends to multiply in cold temperatures. So the longer a tainted cantaloupe is in the fridge, the higher your risk of developing listeriosis. Some people advise washing the cantaloupe to reduce the contamination risk, but inevitably this won’t sterilize the fruit, so the general advice from the CDC is: “If in doubt, throw it out”. 

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Some general guidelines offered by the CDC to help avoid listeriosis:

1) Rinse fruit and vegetables thoroughly before eating

2) Thoroughly cook raw meat and poultry

3) Cook hot dogs, deli meats, & cold cuts until steaming hot before serving

4) Avoid unpasteurized milk or cheeses containing unpasteurized milk

 5) Keep your fridge at or below 40F, and your freezer at or below 0F

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Image credit mconnors @morgueFile

Categories: Medical
25
Apr 2012

Marketing by Warm Email Prospecting: Part II

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This is a duplicate of a post that I shared a few months ago – for some reason, in the transition to my self-hosted site here, the link became dysfunctional! So I’m just reposting it for completion since it is a “Part II”. 

Recently I mentioned that I’ve been listening to some webinars by Ed Gandia on warm email prospecting. I shared some of his thoughts about why he feels it is a useful marketing tool.

I’ve now listened to the remaining one in which he discusses what warm email prospecting actually involves. So here goes with more of his thoughts…….

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In Order To Do It Right

  • Avoid the email blast
  • Don’t just talk about yourself
  • Don’t send the same message to everyone
  • Don’t use it to send out your newsletter to non-subscribers
  • Don’t use it to announce a new service to non-subscribers

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So What Does It Involve?

It involves sending out customized, personalized, and properly timed emails to a carefully picked list of prospects – emails with custom messages, not a mass email blast. It avoids the “all about me” approach. One example that Ed shared, goes something like this:

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Hi Randy,

I’ve been reading about your company in the Atlanta Business chronicle and the work you’ve done at Emory Hospital. based on the work I’ve done with ACME Medical, I may be able to help you get “X” accomplished faster and cheaper.

Here’s a short article on how I’ve helped ACME.

Would it make sense for us to chat briefly sometime in the next couple of weeks?

Regards,

John

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Ed’s Warm Email Prospecting Blueprint

  • First, figure out what is your ideal client profile: It is important to get the kind of clients that are best-suited to what you want to do in your business – this is a key to success and satisfaction in any business.
  • Create a targeted list: Identify the organization, and even specific individuals within it, that you are looking for. Then do your research to find their email addresses.
  • Establish a meaningful connection for each prospect: You need a good reason for why the prospect should respond, and you need to introduce this early in the email. Maybe you both have a mutual business contact, or you heard of them via a conference. Or it could be something like a business accomplishment, award or recognition of yours that would be useful for your prospect to know about. Some “connection” with the prospect is always good.
  • Make a relevant and quick pitch: This is where it all comes together, but where many make mistakes. Need to keep it short – 120 words or less!
  • Prepare for conversation: You’ve done the hard work – now be prepared to field and respond to any emails or calls that you might receive. Have a set of talking points and questions ready in case you get a call. And also some stock email text to use as the basis for a response to anyone who replies looking for more information.
  • Do smart follow-up: Success with email prospecting requires a long term commitment, but tends to return a higher success rate than other methods when done correctly. No matter how well you do, however, most prospects will not respond, so you have to be prepared for that – it’s true with any method. Ed recommends sending a 2nd email two weeks later to non-responders – but do this correctly too. Don’t come across as if you’re reprimanding – he suggests re-sending your original email with an additional link, maybe to an article you wrote that they might find useful as an addendum, or with some additional information about your work that they might find useful.
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Powerful Email Subject Lines

Ed discusses how getting the subject line right in your email is crucial to it being opened. Firstly, keep it short – he advises less than 50 total characters. And secondly, it’s also important to lead with your connection in the subject line:

  • Congratulations on the new publication
  • I wrote ACME’s white paper for their new product
  • Dr John Smith referred me to you

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I really enjoyed listening to what Ed has to say about warm email prospecting. He’s a great speaker anyway, and is very easy to listen to, and he raised some very valid points about how you should go about your email prospecting for optimum results – and although they seem intuitive on some level, it’s always good to have someone fortify them for you, and provide some solid examples of what to do, and what not to do!

Since I’m not a fan of cold-calling, I certainly use email as my number one marketing tool. It’s been useful having some clear pointers from someone who uses it successfully.

How about you – are you a fan of email marketing?

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Categories: Business Resources
23
Apr 2012

The Taxman

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Well it’s a good feeling to have Tax Week behind us. I’ve always dealt with my own taxes, they’ve never been particularly difficult to cope with. But this year I decided to get the help of a CPA. It’s something I’ve always thought about doing, but have just never been organized enough to do. Usually the new year begins, I think about Tax Day on the horizon, then after all my procrastination it’s suddenly the end of March.

I finally got my backside in gear and did it this year because my freelance work is massively increasing, and has now progressed from just a hobby to a business venture. So it made sense to get some expert financial help. Although I’ve always coped doing my taxes without any problem, I knew that I was likely missing out on a lot of tax breaks, just from not knowing about them. Additionally, since my business expenditure and income is getting more complex, I wanted to make sure I was getting my quarterly payments right.

I actually managed to find a great CPA very close to where I live (highly recommended to me by another CPA who I’d called, but was too booked-up to fit me in) and spent an hour discussing things with him. I’d taken everything from my “financial file” to the appointment, including the list of things I usually plug into my tax software for tax breaks, and yet I still came out with a list of things to email him information about. Things that I was unaware I could add to that list, like:

  • Annual car mileage
  • Utilities
  • Home insurance costs

As well as feeling good about the fact that I’d be able to sleep easy, knowing my CPA would be able to get my quarterlies right, it’s great to know that he’ll get me all the tax breaks possible. Plus, my taxes only took me about an hour and a half! Basically just the time of an appointment with my CPA & a little research to find some additional information for him when I got home. It was very freeing just to hand over my documents and let an expert do all the work.

I’m still waiting to hear the final, final word from him, but my quarterly estimated payment for April was mailed out last week, and he tells me that it’s looking like I’ll get somewhere in the region of $1500 as a refund – I certainly wouldn’t have received that on my own! In recent years, I’ve really just drawn even by doing my own taxes.

So if you’re just setting up in your business venture, or if you’re like me and have often pondered on the value of using the services of a tax professional, but have just never done it – I can definitely give a thumbs-up to an appointment with a CPA next year. I chose not to use one of the H&R Block types – I didn’t simply want someone to plug in my numbers, I wanted someone to give me some financial advice for my business, so I chose this particular office on that basis.  

And just as an aside, I actually just found this article about my CPA – what a success story, and so heartwarming!

All in all, I wish I’d done it sooner!

Hope your taxes weren’t too traumatizing.

 

 

Image credit Grant Cochrane @FreeDigitalPhotos

Categories: Business Resources
20
Apr 2012

Why is Type 1 Diabetes on the Rise?

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We seem to see new headlines about the diabetes epidemic every week. Typically we tend to think of increasing diabetes in terms of the type 2 form of the disease, because of the increased incidence of obesity and poor lifestyle choices.

However, there is also plenty of evidence that type 1 diabetes is also on the rise.

The type 1 form of the condition is an immune-mediated disease that tends to begin in childhood, and has therefore come to be known as “Juvenile Diabetes”. Its incidence has been steadily rising at a rate of up to 5% each year, and scientists are still struggling to explain the reason for this. 

Although both types of diabetes are very different, it is thought that both may be connected to lifestyle choices that cause excess weight gain.

If you’re interested in reading more about this alarming rise, including some of the possible reasons behind it, feel free to read the article that I recently wrote for a new diabetes website called Be Sure To Test.

 

 

 

Image credit cohdra @morgueFile

Categories: Medical