The Importance of Professionalism

Professionalism: it is something of importance, but it is a dying breed.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Professionalism as “the skills, good judgment, and polite behavior expected from people in a business.”  In most establishments I visit these days, I see mostly people who have a desire to be unprofessional.  I have also seen this in most places I have worked as well.   I am not sure what the cause of people wanting to be unprofessional is, but I urge everyone to please be professional.  Never turn customers away, do whatever you can to stay professional and take your work seriously, always be aware of how you might seem to others, and learn to be honest and able to have an open mind to learn more about your craft as often as possible.

            First off, never turn customers away or ignore them no matter the circumstances.  This is a way to lose your customer.  Even if you are on your breaks, you should help the customer out if you can, or at the least find someone who is able to help them.  According to Halton (2013), a man walked into a bank but was turned away because the worker at the desk was about to start their lunch.  The man went to another bank instead, and even though the worker was about to start lunch, they helped the man out.  It made a big impact for the bank.  You should also never tell a customer “I don’t know.”  This is just a turnoff to customers.  According to Green (2013), you need to do more than what is in your job description.  Go above and beyond!  If you truly do not know the answer for the customer, then find someone who does and take the customer to that person.

            Secondly, you should also do whatever you can to stay professional and always take your work seriously.  Even while you are not at work or if you just work from home, you should always be professional.  According to Kendrick (2014), if you have to take your kids somewhere at a certain time, do not tell the person on the other end of the line that.  Just tell them you have a meeting to attend.  Kendrick also said to be sure to have the mute button on your phone turned on so that no unnecessary noises are heard.  Keep your home life at home.  Your business partners do not need to hear all that.  Another way I have discovered to stay professional is to take your work seriously.  Even if you are not a professional just yet, be a serious person when it comes to your work and how you present yourself.  I am not a professional quite yet myself, however how I present myself and how I try to be, I may as well be.  Always presenting yourself in a professional manner will also help boost your self-esteem and confidence.

            You should also always be sure you are aware of how you might appear to a customer.  Just because pants full of holes and body art seems to be a popular trend now, it is not very attractive in a business unless you are working for a novelty shop.  How many people do you feel really find that as a way of being professional?   If you are going to have tattoos or piercings please cover them up or take them out.  There are a lot of customers who feel this is just a distraction or offensive.  Some people will not even hire you if you even have them.  You should also refrain from doing certain activities while interacting with customers or where they can see or hear you.  How do you think chewing gum, spitting tobacco into your portable spittoon, or swearing appears?  It is not great behavior and it also turns people away.  According to brainyquote.com (2016), an Australian hair stylist by the name of Tabatha Coffey once said “Being successful is about being professional, and chewing gum is not professional.  It is also a huge pet peeve of mine.”  Swearing should also be left where it belongs: nowhere.

            Last, but certainly not least, you should learn to be an honest person and have integrity, and also be willing to learn more. According to Professionalism (2014), people who are honest keep their promise, and you can trust them because of this fact.  This will keep customers coming back to your business.  You should also be able to have an open mind to learn more about your craft as often as possible, if not every day.  I told a friend the other night that I do not agree with the word “Expert.”  There is no such thing.  A person may know a lot about their field, and therefore have a lot of knowledge, however things are changing every day.  If things change every day, there’s always something new to learn, so to be an expert is actually impossible. Colin Carbno on “Why I.T. professionalism is important” (2012), states “Professionals never stop learning in order to be better at what we are doing.”  He is correct with this statement.  If you want to stay in business, you need to learn anything new going on in your industry.  That is the only way to remain current, and relevant, and then able to attract customers.

            First impressions mean a lot to people.  It is very important that you handle yourself in a professional way.  Your outward appearance: your attitude, how you dress, and how you represent yourself will make all the big difference on if your customer will come back to your

establishment or not.  Being honest, and able to learn more about your field also makes a big difference.  So yes, professionalism is a very big deal.  If you have no desire to be professional, then you should just hang it up and stay home because only true professionalism equals true success.

References

BrainyQuote. (2016). ​Professionalism Quotes. ​Retrieved from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/professionalism.html

Green, A. (2013, July 22). What does it mean to be professional at work? [Web log posting]. US News and World Report. Retrieved from http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/07/22/what-does-it-mean-to-be-professional-at-work

Halton, B. (2013, September). Exceptional service [Editorial]. Fire Engineering, 166(9), 6. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Kendrick, J. (2014, March/April). Four steps to home office survival. Quill, 102(2), 23. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Professionalism. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/professionalism

Professionalism: Developing this vital characteristic. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2014 from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/professionalism.htm

Why I.T. professionalism is important [Reader contributions]. (2012). Retrieved from the Canadian Association of IT Professionals (CIPS) website, http://www.cips.ca/Why-IT-Professionalism-is-Important

My Speeches On Video

I took speech this semester, and all semester long I was planning on getting on video me giving the speeches I had to present this semester.  A couple weeks ago I was snowed in, so I finally filmed them and uploaded them to Youtube.  There are 3 of them.  The 4th one I ended up not finishing because we got snowed in, however I hope to soon finish it and film it as well and post it on youtube whenever I have it ready.  I also plan on re-shooting these.  The quality on these videos is a bit poor in my opinion. Enjoy!

I’M A CREATIVE INDIVIDUAL

 

HOW TO CHANGE A FLAT TIRE

 

THREE GOOD QUALITIES OF BEING LOYAL

Changing A Flat Tire

Have you ever been driving along, and all of a sudden you start hearing that sound from your tires that doesn’t sound quite right?  Sometimes that sound can get even louder.  It’s a sound I can’t describe, and it makes you panicky wondering what’s going on, Folks, I had this experience recently.  Twice, as a matter of fact.  Obviously, I had a tire that went flat.  You can be on a crowded busy street somewhere, and you know you shouldn’t be driving on this tire, so what do you do, Right?

A couple months ago I had a flat while I was driving down the road and I started to panic wondering what I should do, and more recently I had a flat again but luckily I wasn’t driving down the road the last time.

Today, I’m going to demonstrate to you the best I can what you need to do to change a flat tire, that way when you do have one you don’t have to be like me a couple months ago and get panicky wondering what to do.

First off, don’t panic and find a safe flat area to pull over at.  Panicking will probably just leave you frustrated, and you don’t want to be frustrated while being on a busy road looking for a spot to pullover at.  Find a spot as quickly as possible, and then make your turn into that spot.

When you find a spot, make sure it’s flat enough so that when your car is jacked up it doesn’t end up rolling over.  Pull over and be sure to turn your hazard lights on, so that people passing by you can drive by with caution.

                        Second, you should grab all the tools that you will need from wherever they are stored in your vehicle.  There should be 3 things in your car that you will need to change your flat:  a jack, a lugnut wrench, and your spare tire.  I personally wasn’t going to bring in the spare tire, because I didn’t want anyone in the school wondering why someone was walking around in the school with a tire.

Your next step is to take the flat tire off.  First, Loosen the lugnuts most of the way using your lugnut wrench, but make sure not to loosen them completely.  Since the lugnuts are usually on pretty tight, my suggestion is to use your foot on the lugnut wrench to start loosening them since your foot is probably much stronger than your hands are. – and be sure to remember that famous phrase: righty tighty, lefty loosy.

Next, find a sturdy spot under your car near where the flat tire is to place your jack, and then start jacking your car up.  Jack it up just high enough so the tire is off the ground.  Then take the lugnuts off the rest of the way, either with the lugnut wrench or your fingers, and then remove the old tire.

Now we’re ready to put our spare on.  Take the spare tire and place it on the axle, matching the bolts on the axle with the holes on the rim of your spare, and be sure the tire is flush with your axle, this helps make sure it’s on straight and won’t damage your car.

put your lugnuts back on, and hand tighten them.  Make sure the tire stays flush with your axle.  When you tighten the lugnuts, be sure to tighten them in a cris-cross fashion so that the tire stays straight.  In other words, tighten this one, and then tighten this one, and then this one, and so forth.

Now lower your jack, and then use your lugnut wrench to tighten the lugnuts the rest of the way, again making sure that you tighten them in a cris-cross fashion.  Be sure to use your foot on your lugnut wrench when tightening them as well to make it even more tighter so that you don’t risk your spare tire falling off.

After you put all your tools away, and stowed away the old tire, you are now ready to be back on your way.  Turn off your hazard lights, and then make your way back into traffic safely.

Today I demonstrated to you what you need to do to change a flat tire, safely and effectively if you ever needed to change one.  If you get a flat, you probably shouldn’t just keep driving, you will risk a blow-out, endangering others.  Just pull off to the side of the road and just change the tire.  Just 10 minutes can save your car and lives.  Thank you.

James 3:1-12

Today’s lesson in Sunday school class is one all of us probably struggle with.  We need to learn to control your tongues and watch your words.  The words you end up saying might end up being hurtful, sometimes it is probably best to just stay quiet. 

Dear friends, today’s Christian life lesson is found in the book of James, Chapter 3, Verses 1 - 12; and let me tell you - I sat down and read the complete book of James this past week - There is some great stuff in there!  I also advise you all to read all the books the Apostle Paul wrote as well: Romans, Acts, Philippians, Ephesians, etc.  Such great things to learn can be found in those books as well!  Remember Philippians 4:13 “I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH STRENGTHENS ME!”

 

JAMES 3:1-12:

“Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.  Indeed, we all make many mistakes.  For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth, and a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong.  In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. 
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.  And the tongue is a flame of fire.  It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body.  It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue.  It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.  Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.  And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth.  Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!  Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?  Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs?  No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.”

10 Steps To The Perfect Portfolio Website | Smashing Magazine

My "Professional Image Building" teacher shared us this article.  Very interesting!  I thought I would reshare it.

10 Steps To The Perfect Portfolio Website | Smashing Magazine: "You may have a personal portfolio website for a number of reasons."   If you’re a freelancer, then you’d need one to showcase your work and allow people to contact you. If you’re a student (or unemployed), then you’d need one to show prospective employers how good you are and what you can do, so that they might hire you. If you’re part of a studio, then you might use one to blog about your design life, show people what you’re doing and build your online presence.

'via Blog this'

Speaker Polarity

I’m not a very smart person (don’t know if I ever will be), and I don’t know very much, but I decided that there are a few things I do know about and created a new category for helpful tips and advice. 

This one is on speaker polarity.  I was setting up my home theater speakers for the first time in a while, and I always get lost on the polarity.  I want the speakers to sound like they should so I want to get the + wire right and the - wire right.  some wires have it written which is which, but they don’t always and I have always thought the ones with the white stripe was the - wire.  I did some research online, and what I have found is this:

one wire is marked, the other’s not marked.  It doesn’t matter which wire you use.  Just make your own decision on what wire will be + and which will be -.  When you make that decision, stick by it for all the speakers.  However, if the wire is marked + or -, that my friends, is pretty obvious.  lol.