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February 21, 2010 marked my five year anniversary of employment at Paramore|Redd Online Marketing and I thought I would recap some of the most important lessons that I have learned over the last 1,825 days spent as an online marketer.

1. Don’t interrupt people.

They hate it.  It seems like common sense, but that was a tough one for me. I like to think of myself as intuitive – so when I start sensing where a conversation is going with my clients, boss, etc., I would often try to beat them to the punch with an answer or clarification that I sensed they needed.  But usually people just want to be heard.  I thought I was being proactive; however, it was being perceived as arrogance.

2. In my four annual reviews, several things have been consistent.

One is the praise I have received for my mistakes.  Yes, my mistakes.  I wasn’t too far into my professional career before I sent my first email to my boss that identified the client as the source of a specific problem.  This email was for my boss’s eyes only; however, I didn’t realize I accidentally copied the client as well.

The first thing I did in this case (and in another instance where the client’s name was spelled wrong in a $1,500 HTML email) was notify anyone and everyone of the mistake - claiming it as my own and instantly going into damage control. 

What I learned is employers and most clients expect mistakes to happen, as long as they’re infrequent.  It is how you handle those mistakes and how you learn from them that affects the perception of that mistake and not the mistake itself.

3. February of 2006 was a bad month, February of 2007 – also bad, August of 2008- not good at all.

What I learned is that if one month of work a year is “tough,” then you’ve got it pretty freakin’ good. And, it’s natural – and it will pass.  You’re not going to LOVE your job every second of every forty-hour week, but knowing that the bad day or bad month will pass, will allow you to get through that tough time period.

4. As I mentioned earlier, in the four annual reviews, several things have been consistent.
One is the desired improvement of my writing skills. There is no doubt that there will be at least three people who will read this blog post before it is published. 

A true child of the 90’s, I’ve grown up on my cell phone, instant messenger and America Online chat rooms.  The result? I type as fast as I think, and what I think most often does not translate into excellent prose.

I had to learn to slow down, proof myself, and realize that it didn’t matter how fast the client got my response.  They were usually unimpressed with the speed at which the response was provided and more exhausted with the manner in which the response was given - grammatical errors and all.

5. Oh email – can’t live with it, can’t live without it.

How many of us have received an email that we knew was a cop-out for a real conversation.  How many of us have SENT one?  I have. Especially being at an online marketing agency, we are prone to communicate via an instant message or an email rather than a face-to-face conversation.  God forbid we have to walk the 15 feet to the other side of the office.  But there are some conversations that must be had in person first.  Followed up by an email?  Probably.  But these conversations must start face-to-face. 

Furthermore, don’t send that email, as I did, about a controversial subject after five o’clock as you’re walking out the door, or on Friday as you’re walking out for the weekend.  It’s selfish.  Resolve the issue and make sure you are available to follow-up and answer any questions or provide clarification.

So that’s my top five.  Lesson learned.  What are some lessons you’ve learned from your place of employment?  And to Paramore|Redd – Cheers to the next 5 years – Love all ya’ll.

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