The eNotes Blog Students Become an eNotes TA, Redeem Your eNotes Points for GiftCards!

Students Become an TA, Redeem Your Points for GiftCards! Were excited to announce that students are now able to redeem their points for real life rewards! Become an TA to turn your points into gift cards to your favorite shops. We have just posted a number of gift cards to various shops, including Starbucks, Amazon, Target, and more, on our all new TA Rewards page  here. To redeem your points for one of these rewards, you must first earn a TA badge by answering questions in Homework Help and making it onto the TA Leaderboard. In addition to being able to redeem their points for real life prizes, TAs are also entered into a monthly giveaway to win a $500 student grant. You can find a complete FAQ on the TA program at this page.   Once you have a TA badge, click on the reward you would like to receive and click OK to confirm. The gift card will then be sent to the email address attached to your account and the points automatically deducted from your profile.  The card values on our Rewards page range from $5 to $150 so you can splurge on a smaller gift card now or save your points for something big later. Check out all the available gift cards here  and reward yourself for becoming an TA! And if youd like to earn more points to collect a higher reward, check out  the many ways to earn points on here. Have questions? Feel free to ask them in a comment. Thanks!

Beyond Business Why Socializing is Not Just for the Holidays

Beyond Business Why Socializing is Not Just for the Holidays The holiday season is upon us. There seems to be a celebratory business networking event to attend every night of the week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the second week of December my party of choice was the Dane Buy Local holiday social, a gathering of local business owners in Madison, WI. For many of us at that event, the operating word was â€Å"social.† It struck me that most of the people I spoke to, though originally met as business contacts, have become friends. For most of the evening, I felt like I was gabbing with my girlfriends, just like I would at a birthday or Halloween party at one of their homes (which I have attended). We talked about relationships, personal growth, families, health †¦ and, well, even a smattering of business (but not much). This sort of socializing was not what I ever would have predicted when I first became a â€Å"businesswoman.† When I first started my business, I thought I needed to keep my communications to business. But it wasn’t long before I learned that revealing my personality and just the right amount of my personal life in my communications created relationships that drew people into my sphere. Here’s what Joan Stewart, media consultant and author of the online newsletter, â€Å"The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,† says about the subject: On sites like Facebook and Twitter, the social networking conversation should include your personal and business lives. Sharing information about things like your pets, hobbies and special interests will endear you to those who are following you. When the time comes to use these sites to discuss a new product, your followers will be more receptive because they’ll feel they already know something about you. Revealing personal information endears people in person too. More and more, in my networking meetings and coffee dates, I share about my personal life: my quirky beliefs in astrology, my uncharacteristic interest in reality TV, my dietary choices, and my relationships. I have yet to have anyone respond with anything but delight that we were able to share on a deeper level than they expected. The same goes with clients. My biggest fans and repeat clients are people I’ve talked to about personal topics, not just their writing projects. It’s human nature to trust and want to interact with people who know us for all aspects of our personalities and lives. I’m not planning to post a profile photo of me and my Chihuahua any time soon (even if I do acquire one, which is very unlikely). But I will likely keep talking about kale, The Bachelorette, and maybe even conversations with my mother, for the foreseeable future. Woody Allen quotes and pictures of my family will show up on my Facebook page. And while I’ll talk business at networking events, business will most definitely not be all I talk about. Life is so much more fun and engaging this way! And at this time of year- and really all year ‘round- that’s what it’s all about. 🙂 I love this picture. We have such a warm, inviting group in DBL. I could have stayed all night talking with you guys. Happy Holidays! Log in to Reply Jan Mead says: December 27, 2014 at 10:30 pm Well said, Brenda. In my experience, I see an important part of relationship building as getting to know people, somewhat personally as well as primarily professionally. Thank you for writing such an informative blog. Log in to Reply