Cameron Herold     Open Forum

There’s a new, fascinating trend going around. Young people are taking handwritten notes from loved ones and having them tattooed on their bodies as keepsakes. In many cases, these tattoos pay tribute to moms, dads, brothers or sisters who have passed away.

There’s no denying it, something about handwriting is extremely personal and memorable. Think about it, if you want to show somebody that you really care, you don’t send an e-mail—you write a note or a card.

Leave a Lasting Impression

With family, leaving a lasting impression is easy, and you probably don’t need handwritten notes to do it (though it never hurts). But in business, it’s much easier to get lost in the crowd. When you’re networking, at a conference or leaving a meeting, hundreds of cards can be passed around. Even if you’ve had the best conversation with someone, there’s a good chance the person will forget your name, lose your card, or simply neglect to get in touch after a busy day or trip.

So how do you stick out in a crowd? Grandparents are chock full of wisdom, so when you’re thinking about running your business, think about the simplicity of their rules and make sure they’re incorporated into the way you run your business—and the one thing grandparents do well is write meaningful, personalized notes and letters. It’s a lost art but a vital one.

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Jeff Haden     Inc.

Whenever you introduce yourself, the person you meet is not the most important audience.

You are the most important audience.

Here’s why.

I like to ride bicycles. I’m not super fit. And I’m not super fast. But I like riding, and in weak moments occasionally even think of myself as a “cyclist.”

So occasionally I ride in mass participation events like gran fondos. The average participant tends to be a serious cyclist: Many are triathletes, some are amateur racers, and occasionally even a few professionals show up. I live in a valley between two mountain ranges, so our events are not for the faint of fitness.

I was standing in the start area for a gran fondo that involved climbing four mountains when a man rolled over towards me. My guess is he picked me out since I was clearly one of the older riders in the field. (That was a delightful sentence to write.) As he stopped he struggled to unclip from his pedals and almost fell.

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