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I know I touched on this subject a few weeks back, but I feel a very strong urge to bring it up again and reiterate my point. My inbox is still overloaded!

I don’t think I can take it anymore! I just received YET ANOTHER weekly e-news letter from YET ANOTHER business.

I can’t stand it. I can’t unsubscribe fast enough. These small business owners think they are so “in” just because they do email marketing. The reality is that their weekly newsletters could easily be monthly updates, but no, they prefer harassing us on a weekly basis. The majority of newsletters that find their way into my inbox don’t ever see the light of day. They are immediately deleted. I can only handle so much email per day. It makes me grumpy.

The issue really is that nine out of ten people never ask if I would mind being added to their mailing list. Just because you meet someone at a networking event and have their information doesn’t give you carte blanche to spam them on a regular basis. The other annoying issue is when I receive regular business updates from people that I followed up with after an event who never bothered to personally return the gesture. This leads me to believe that they really don’t care about building relationships, just their database.

Does email marketing really work, especially if people like me are receiving dozens of newsletters a week and growing? The main people being marketed to are the small business owners who pay monthly fees for these services. I won’t name companies, we all know who they are and I’ve mentioned it before.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not a bad thing to do email marketing, but please treat fellow small business owners as you would like to be treated. Make the emails you send really count and ask people before automatically adding them to your list.

I’m stepping off my soap box for the day, but you haven’t heard the end of this!

I’ve never had much of an interest in fish. I can identify koi, goldfish, and find Nemo. That’s about the extent of my fish identification. After my ability to identify these three fish, I know even less about their care. I learned at a young age that you can’t overfeed goldfish, take their picture using a flash, or set them loose to live in a swimming pool.

Koi on the other hand have always caught my eye. There are some koi so large, it appears as though they have lived for a century longer than my pet goldfish. Other than admiring these majestic fish in ponds around the world, I have never bothered to learn more about these amazing creatures. In fact, I never would have imagined I’d be using koi and entrepreneur in the same sentence!

If these fish were human, they’d be true entrepreneurs. Here’s why:

ENERGETIC. The Japanese consider Koi to be the most energetic of all fish. They never stop moving and are in constant motion.

NON-CONFORMIST. Koi aren’t afraid to be independent. They don’t follow anyone else, instead choosing their own path throughout their lives.

STRENGTH AND FORCE. Koi must possess these characteristics in order to swim against the current and not be influenced by others. Koi are known to overcome whatever obstacles are in their way and come out ahead.

Do these characteristics sound familiar? I’m talking about you!

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Ah, the age old question: When is the appropriate time to show up for a business meeting? The answer: On time, with time to spare. How early is too early? This depends on many factors, but I’d rather drive around the block a few times or grab a cup of coffee than show up too early.

If I’m meeting someone at their office, I like to arrive about five to ten minutes early. If it’s a large office building where I know I’ll have to navigate, I like to lean more towards the ten minute mark. You can always kill extra minutes with a pit stop.

On the other hand, if the meeting is at someone’s home office, I never show up more than five minutes early. You never know if someone is rushing around to clean before you show up or if they have planned to use the last fifteen minutes to get out of their comfortable home-based Diva Mogul wear. Show up within minutes of your scheduled meeting time in order to avoid embarrassment on both sides.

Meeting someone in a café or public space is a completely different story. In this case, it doesn’t matter how early you show up. Sometimes I show up 30 or 60 minutes ahead of time to put in some quality work time before I have to meet with a client. The added bonus is that they get to find you! I have to admit there are people I have met at networking events and don’t remember their faces. It’s nerve-racking to imagine finding them in a sea of people. If you’re the one to show up early, it’s up to them to recognize you!

Did anyone see the Miss. Universe competition this past week?

Running for Miss. Universe is a full-time career and if you win, it’s a 24/7 job representing not only your country, but the pageant as a corporate entity.

While it was difficult to find a clear mission statement on the Miss. Universe website, they applaud the women who win the title as being “savvy, goal-oriented and aware.” Organizers claim Miss Universe is “experiencing a rebirth, playing a critical role in making the next 100 years ‘The Century of Women.’”

Women who make a career running for Miss. Universe have a few stringent guidelines they must follow. First of all, contestants must be between the ages of 18 and 26 during the time the contest takes place. In addition, the women “must not ever have been married, not had a marriage annulled nor give birth to a child.” To top it off, the titleholders are required to remain single throughout their reign.

Is this the critical role they are playing in making the next 100 years “The Century of Women?” While contestants are briefly interviewed, the main (and most popular) competitions are the evening and swimwear categories. While these women are required to have a certain level of oral elegance while conversing with judges… is the Miss. Universe pageant really promoting and producing intelligent Diva Moguls or gorgeous divas who look good in bikinis? Sweden dropped out of the running in 2007 on moral grounds calling the pageant “degrading to women.”

What is your take on the matter? These women have made a career out of beauty pageants, but are these women intelligent Diva Moguls with stellar careers or is the competition promoting beauty over brains?

Remember this video that was passed around like wild fire last year? Well, here it is again:

For more information on Miss. Universe, Miss. USA, or Miss. Teen USA please visit the official website.