Effectively Organized: Translating Your Personality and Values into an Online Presence - Part III

I have also made the following promise to myself. I think this point is a hard one for women to keep, but, in business, "Don't be afraid to say no" when:

• You don't have time
• You examine your priorities and find the opportunity doesn't match
• You need to manage expectations and cannot provide as quick a turn-around as is being expected
• Or, if you examine an opportunity in light of your personal values and you find they conflict with your value or belief system.

Think about what will be acceptable vs. what won't be acceptable to you. Use principles (which are flexible based on the situation) vs. rules (which are made to be broken anyway). For example: If you receive a custom order for an object you don't feel comfortable creating, it's helpful to understand that

• It's not necessary to convert everyone to your way of thinking
• It's not necessary to be defensive--often a simple explanation will suffice
• It is good social and business sense to show respect and kindness for the other person's point of view

There may be a potential future article on the art of saying no, but women (especially mothers) are often extremely accommodating. However, successful business is sometimes an art of saying no to the wrong opportunity or saying no to the right opportunity that presents itself at the wrong time. It is also about creating boundaries around what you will or will not convey in your online presence.

The main point I would like to convey, is to give at least some consideration to the forms and ways you participate online and how they reflect you and your values. Let your online presence be a genuine reflection of the pieces of you which you choose to convey in the online format. So, who are you in real life? How does that translate into your online presence?