Carolyn Bradfield

Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to look at hundreds, and maybe thousands, of resumes. In general, I find that the majority are an absolute mess. They are generally too long, too wordy, and not specific. In order to get a job in this economy, you need to really step up your resume game and pay attention to both form and substance.

Give yourself a proper introduction
Since most resumes are sent via email, make sure to use an email address that is business appropriate. Resumes from email addresses such as billythebanger@aol.com or hot4u@hotmail.com are going to get sent to the trash. I suggest you get a gmail account and use your first name, middle initial and last name as your email address. Keep it professional.

Send an introductory email that is specific to the job you are seeking. Don’t start it with “Dear Sir.” (A lot of us that read these are not “sirs”) Just open the email with a powerful first paragraph – no more than 2 sentences. Here’s a sample:

“Attached is my resume in response to your posting for an Office Manager on Craig’s List. My experience in customer service and office administration gives me the perfect blend of background and skill set to make me an ideal candidate for this position.”

Use Good Form
Make sure to deliver your resume as a Word document. Everyone will be able to open your file. Formatting is critical. Don’t go cute on the font – use something standard like Arial or Times New Roman. Pay attention to the margins, spacing, and bolding of categories, company names, etc. Center your name and contact information up top and make sure to include your email and cell phone.

All resumes should have the following 3 categories in this order: Summary or Objective/ Experience/ Education. Most of us generally do not care that you love to hike or like to read. We all know that you will provide us references. When you list your experience, give us the company name, job title, dates. Include a one-line description to let us know what this company does. Don’t assume we know that. No more than 2 pages, even if you have worked for years. We don’t really care to know lots of details about a job you had 20 years ago.

Objective
It’s important to summarize what type of job you are looking for and why you are qualified to hold that position. Many people have varied experience in their background that may make it hard for the reader to figure out what you really want to do. Remember, this is the first thing someone will read, so make it well thought out and powerful. And here’s a little hint — your objective can change depending on who you send the resume to.

Results, Not Activity
Most of us don’t care what tasks and activities you did, but we do care about the tangible results. For example, it is weak to say that “Responsible for securing new business.” We want to know some examples and the resulting revenue.

Avoid phrases such as “responsible for”, “participated in”, “worked with a group to…” Use active verbs such as: developed, delivered, produced, secured, sold, created.

Use bullet points to call out activities that are important. If you did 10 things in an organization, don’t list them all, just the ones that are significant and that you can quantify. Remember that the more detail you give about a specific job, the more we will weight how important that job was to you. Don’t give me 7 bullet points about your first job and 2 about the 4th job you had.

Pick an Editor
Find someone who is in a position to hire and have him or her edit your resume. Do not get your feelings hurt when you get direct feedback. Your resume is often the only document that a hiring company will see before they decide whether to engage with you or not. Don’t hire a resume writer. You put down the details and then have someone edit what you did. There are plenty of people who can do this.

Whether you are looking for a job or not, compile your resume and get it in shape. You never know when an opportunity will come along or when your company will downsize. Form counts. Substance counts.

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a provider of easy-to-use audio conferencing and web conferencing communication tools.  You can try Copper’s affordable web and audio conferencing services — and get a discount for using our nationwide Local Dial-In network. Just sign up now.

Carolyn Bradfield

Last week, I flew to Denver then to Houston and then to Atlanta.  Because I run a conferencing company, I know the value of using audio and web conferencing to minimize the need for these types of trips.  But sometimes, you have to go pay a personal visit.  During the summertime, you pay a high financial as well as a personal price to get on an airplane.

Maybe it’s just because I’m older and my kids are older.  I just get terribly annoyed with the way families travel these days.   They clog up the airports with their strollers, their stuff and their kids.  They slow things way down at the ticket counter, through the security line and getting onto the airplane.  Now I know everyone deserves a vacation, a family trip or time to see the relatives.  But I beg you to please respect those of us who need to travel to make a living.

If you are not a frequent traveler, then here are some hints for those of you lugging your kids off to Disney World or to see grandma:

Pack lighter
You see families lugging toys, stuffed animals, pillows and giant sized diaper bags through the airport and wonder how they will manage this load of stuff.  Leave some of this stuff at home.  If you really need it at your destination, visit Goodwill or Wal-Mart, buy the extra stuff and donate it before you go home.  Better yet, send money ahead and have the grandparents do some pre-visit shopping.

Dress for the airport
You are going to have to strip down to go through security and so are your children.  When they have tennis shoes with complicated laces, it slows up the process.  Consider a cheap pair of flip-flops to get through the airport.  Stuff those jackets, jewelry and belts in your carry-on bag before you get to security.

Set your kids expectations in advance
If they are old enough, tell your kids the process they will go through in the airport.  Let them know what they are responsible to carry, how they will have to stand in line and what is expected of them as they go through security.  Let them know what type of behavior is acceptable in the airport and how to behave in their seat on the airplane.

Be prepared
Invest in a travel folder and put your documents and identification where they are in one place and easy to get to.  Long before you get to the security officer, have this folder in hand and ready to give to them.  If you think your kids will be bored, have plenty of things to do and snacks packed in advance.

Remember, they are not as cute as you think they are.
I’m sure you have the cutest kids in America.  However, business people don’t really want to engage with them.  If they kick our seat or if they turn around to wave at us, we’ll be polite, but we really just want to be left alone.  It’s not cute when they horse around with each other in line either.  I know that you think they are cute, but don’t look to us frequent travelers to validate that.

The business traveler often grinds it out in the air week to week and we are just looking for a peaceful ride to wherever we are going.  We have kids of our own and are not just mean and grumpy people.  Respect our space, learn the rules of the road, be prepared, manage your kids and we can all fly the friendly skies together in peace.

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a provider of easy-to-use audio conferencing and web conferencing communication tools. You can try Copper’s affordable web and audio conferencing services — and get a discount for using our nationwide Local Dial-In network. Just sign up now.

Carolyn Bradfield

Airplane travel has a lot of drawbacks.  I’m winging my way to Houston on Southwest Airlines, one of the best and most efficient carriers in the industry, reading a USA Today article on hidden airline fees.   The article states that the Government Accountability Office reported that the extra fees airlines charge are not fully disclosed to passengers making it difficult to compare the total cost of the flight.

On their morning news program, CNN also reported that in the last two years since it became a trend to charge these extra fees, the airline industry has collected a staggering $8 billion from baggage fees, preferred seat fees, and likely the hidden fees referred to in the USA article.  This has become such a lucrative practice that it has been reported that some carriers are considering fees for using the overhead luggage compartments.

The GAO is pressuring airlines to be clearer and thorough in their disclosure of these fees so passengers can understand the true cost of a flight.  I think I’m going to write the GAO and request that they engage in the same analysis of the conference calling industry.

Larger competitors try to wow companies with very low per minute rates, touting their ability to save tremendous amounts of money.  In fact, many of these rates seem to be approaching what it cost a company to make a minute of conferencing.  However, when you add back the fees, then take the total cost divided by the number of conferencing minutes, you find that the effective rate per minute to be quite high.

The effective rate per minute of a minute of conferencing begins to rise when the following conditions are in place:
•    There are minimum call charges
•    Usage patterns are such that there are some shorter calls that don’t reach the minimum call charge.
•    Participants call in and initiate a call only to have it cancelled and rescheduled for another time.
•    The average monthly usage is low and invoice fees, surcharges and minimums account for a larger portion of the bill.

Go back to the airline analogy.  Think about a family of four flying from Atlanta to Orlando.  Each person checks a bag both ways.  That adds $200 to the cost of the trip.  Then there are other fees and surcharges that tack on another 20%.  What looked to be $150 a passenger round trip ended up being $230 by the time all the fees were tacked on.

I’m not a huge fan of government oversight, but GAO bring it on in my industry.  Copper Conferencing charges one fee – the Universal Services Fee required by the Federal government.  To the rest of my peers, it’s time for full disclosure so that business customers can compare an apple to an apple.    Maybe it’s better to drop your fees and raise your rates.  It’s OK to make a reasonable profit if you are reasonable about being up front about it.

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a provider of easy-to-use audio conferencing and web conferencing communication tools. Copper also provides wrap-around services including online account, invoice and recording management. You can try Copper’s great web and audio conferencing services — no obligation. Just sign up now.

Copper Conferencing’s long committment to supporting organizations in our local communities continues.  “We look for ways to support our local communities while giving our employees a chance to participate in those activities,” said Alycia Maier-Turner, Director of Marketing.

Golfing during Monday’s event will be CEO and Chairman Carolyn Bradfield, Customer Retention Specialist Jay Spivey and Marketing Specialist Jon Burnham.  Joining the Copper golfers is Bruce Ahern, CMO at Entra Health Systems.   Also attending the event will be Director of Sales and Customer Care Kathleen Thompson, Sr. Marketing Manager Susan Purifoy and two of our sales team members, Ross Bradfield and Brent Palmer.

Golfers at the event can see Ross, Brent, Susan and Kathleen at the tee box on hole #10.  All Copper employees will be attending the dinner and silent auction following the golfing event.

Carolyn Bradfield

You all have people in your lives that are always in a hurry, are “slammed,” and can’t seem to find the time to fit you in.  They love to talk about just how busy they are, how overwhelmed they are and how their schedules are completely full.   This can be particularly true in business.  But are very busy people really producing something of value for their business?

At Copper Conferencing, we have a practice of holding monthly strategy sessions with our employees.  This gives us a short-term time horizon to set goals and review our progress on the prior month’s achievements.  A year or so ago, I took responsibility for an employee that scurried around the office constantly stressed out over having too much to do.   We would mutually agree on 4-5 goals for the month that were measurable and achievable.

At our strategy sessions, none of the goals would be achieved.  We reduced the number of goals until we finally got down to 1 per month, but the result was always the same – she seemed super busy, always stressed out, and had no time to get things done.  A number of people freaked out when she resigned thinking that world would fall apart when she was gone.  The truth was that we didn’t even need to replace her.  There was a flurry of activity and no results.

Sometimes our young sales people can be notorious for measuring themselves by the activity they generate.  They dutifully log tasks into salesforce.com and we spend countless hours looking at their opportunities and tasks.   At the end of the month, when there are few new accounts and no revenue growth, we all have to ask ourselves what the point was for all that activity?

Everyone should understand the concept of “valuable final product”.  The VFP is the result that you are looking for from all that activity.  It’s not enough to spend hours writing down plans and processes if you never produce the manual for your employees.  All the research in the world is meaningless unless you can translate that into a paper that you will submit to the professor.  All the tasks in salesforce.com are irrelevant unless they translate into closed business.

Some of the most successful people I know are not necessarily the busiest.  They know how to set priorities, get things done in the fewest steps possible, and that the result, not the activity is what really counts.  Before you get busy, ask yourself what is the valuable final product that you are trying to produce.  Then figure out how to get to the VFP in the fewest steps possible.

From now on, talk to me about how productive, not how busy you are.  That will get my attention and respect.

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a provider of easy-to-use audio conferencing and web conferencing communication tools. Copper also provides wrap-around services including online account, invoice and recording management. You can try Copper’s great web and audio conferencing services — no obligation. Just sign up now.

Carolyn Bradfield

The study of history has always been a fascination. The History Channel and PBS rank pretty high on my TV list, especially during the summer when all my other mindless TV shows are on hiatus. One of my interests has been with the creation, the rise and the fall of empires throughout the ages.

Empires such as Rome, Great Britain, Germany seem to have some characteristics in common that make them look powerful and mighty to the outside world, but make them flawed from within, ultimately leading to their downfall. Here are some common themes that I see in the study of the history of empires.

It’s never enough.
Empires always capture territory, conquer lands and dominate the population. They extend their borders across continents and oceans in their quest to be the dominant power in the world. After the glory of their victory has worn off, Empires have to manage, administer and control what they’ve conquered. The larger they get, the more unwieldy the Empire becomes.

It’s my way or the highway.
Empires usually feel the need to rule by fear and intimidation. The conquering empire views the people in their territories as those to be controlled, subjugated and used. After all, conquest was expensive and an empire takes money to run. It’s always up to the minions in the empire to work hard, produce for the empire and expect little for themselves. Suppressed people become unhappy people creating disorder and dysfunction within the empire.

You must be like me.
When Great Britain used its mighty navy to sail around the world and conquer foreign lands such as India and the Far East, they encountered different cultures, religions and languages. Rather than learn from these differences, they were motivated to remove as many of the culture differences as possible leaving the people to wear English coats and top hats, have afternoon tea and worship in the Anglican Church. So much effort was expended in changing what was unique and culturally ingrained that little benefit was derived from the conquest.

History shows us that most empires become unwieldy, difficult to manage, expensive to maintain, hard to control and most of them crumble. Just look at Russia, Rome, Great Britain, Nazi Germany, Alexandria…..on and on. In fact, what empire do you know that has grown by conquest is still in existence?

The study of historical empires has relevance in the corporate world as we look at the big guys who seek to dominate their markets and snap up smaller companies suppressing what was unique and special about them. Corporations can become too large, too unwieldy and too inefficient to manage. Take Bank of America or General Motors as great examples. These billion dollar organizations can breed a culture of dysfunction, treat their employees like minions expecting them to give it all to the corporation and expect little in return. They can treat the customer of the conquered company as a second-class citizen.

The conferencing industry is a great example of where empire building has created bigger companies, not necessarily better companies. At over $1 billion in revenue, InterCall has grown primarily through acquisition, yet it has created a company that has a hard time absorbing its acquisitions, managing its technology, servicing its customers and keeping itself relevant to those customers and employees that may have been much happier in a different cultural environment.

Companies (and empires) rise when they seek to expand beyond their ability to grow organically and they fall when they function like the empires of history. Suppression and intimidation are never sustainable ways to rule an empire. And don’t think for a minute that those who don’t belong to the empire quake in fear when we see you marching through the marketplace, trying to intimidate or conquer. For every Goliath, there is a David. For every Redcoat, there is a Patriot. For every Storm Trooper, there is an Ewok. For every Colonel Quaritch, there is an Avatar.

For customers who are trying to decide if bigger is really better, think about how the company got big. If they did so through conquests (acquisitions), then you have to ask yourself if they are functioning like a company or like an empire. And you have to question if you are valued as a customer or treated like a minion. Or are you better off with someone who is smaller, more flexible, more efficient and more appreciative of your business? After all, empires can rise, but most of them also fall.

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a provider of easy-to-use audio conferencing and web conferencing communication tools. Copper also provides wrap-around services including online account, invoice and recording management. You can try Copper’s great web and audio conferencing services — no obligation. Just sign up now.

What is your favorite thing about working at Copper?
My favorite thing is working closely with our clients – I am a people person.

Where are you from?
I was born in Florida, and lived in Boston…Now, I live in Georgia; I’m also half Ecuadorian.

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up and why?
I wanted to be famous (cheesy, I know). I am still hoping to be famous one day, for photography. I’ve always loved taking pictures of people…anything, really.

When not at work, where can you be found?
I can be found at parks – either running or taking pictures for newly engaged couples.

Name 3 of your all-time favorite songs.
Baby got back – sir mix a lot (it gets everyone dancing…I love to dance)
Any song by Radiohead

What was your favorite childhood toy?
Gymnastics Barbie…and legos.

What was the first concert you went to without your parents?
NSYNC! BYE BYE BYE…

Dogs or cats?
Dogs…all the way.

What is the last book you read?
Don Quijote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes.

What is your favorite beverage?
I’ll have red wine, please.

Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter?
In Georgia, definitely NOT the summer time. I love spring and fall here, especially Fall: I’ll do anything for fire toasted marshmallows and s’mores.

Brownies with nuts or without nuts?
NO nuts in my baked goods.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Australia and Iceland.

Give one piece of advice for conferencing users.
Make sure to let your participants know the conference ID and dial in number more than 5 minutes before the start of your conference.

If you could be a superhero, what would your name be and what would be your superpower?
My name would be Super B and I would be able to fly…

Carolyn Bradfield

Even though intellectually I know better, sometimes I get sucked in to a TV commercial that advertises that their product is absolutely free.  If you add up the commercials, emails, advertisements, etc that tout free stuff, we could live quite well and not have to pay a dime for anything.

However, the reality is that free products advertised on TV have a catch.  It’s something call shipping and handling fees.   We’re so sure that you will love our product; we’re willing to give it to you absolutely free!  Just pay the shipping and handling fee.  You take what is a $10 product and pay another $30 in shipping and handling then you get the idea of how that company makes its money.

And what about those companies that let you try a product or service free for 30 days?  Or the companies that give you free interest on things like furniture for a year?  They are counting on the fact that you will not read the fine print.  If you don’t proactively cancel that magazine subscription or service, then you will be locked into spending the next year locked into a commitment.  If you don’t pay off the furniture before the “free interest” expires, then the rate becomes 25% and they make up their margins in outrageous finance charges.

Now that you get the picture, let’s talk about the world of free conferencing.
Knowing that nothing in life is really “free” as you’ve just seen, let me share with you that conferencing is never free either.  We are all in the business to make a profit; otherwise, we wouldn’t exist.  If someone offers you a “free service,” then pay close attention to the fine print.

Likely, you will not be given a toll-free number to connect to the call.  That means that each and every participant will pay long distance charges to come into the call. Then pay attention to the invoice.  Expect to see fees, minimums and surcharges that add to the cost of the call.

Also think about the service that you are getting.  Free conferencing companies stick their bridges (the computers that process the call) in rural phone companies with one way to transport calls in and one way out.  If that transport fails, then there is no way to get the conference call back online.  If you want to hit *0 and get an operator, forget about doing that as well.  Free conferencing services don’t staff operations centers.

The cost of conferencing has dropped dramatically over the time I have been in the industry.  There is no need to scrimp on this vital way to communicate. If your call is disrupted; if you can’t get an operator; if you have to pay long distance, fees and minimums, you might as well go out and sign up for one of those free products on TV.  You also might as well try something free for 30 days and hope you remember to cancel before the commitment kicks in.  And also while you’re at it, send some money to a Nigerian bank to help the poor person who emailed you send money to his mother in America.

Nothing is free.  Not TV products, not subscriptions, not conferencing.  Your common sense should tell you that.

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a provider of easy-to-use audio conferencing and web conferencing communication tools. Copper also provides wrap-around services including online account, invoice and recording management. You can try Copper’s great web and audio conferencing services — no obligation. Just sign up now.

Carolyn Bradfield

Americans generally pay very little attention to soccer (internationally known as football).  The world’s most dominant sport and international obsession seems to have missed the attention of the American public….that is, until this year.  Every four years, hundreds of millions of people worldwide tune into the World Cup to watch their country challenge the rest of the world for soccer dominance.  This year, America seems to have caught the fever.

We tend to be a nation of fair-weather fans.  If our team does well, we’ll pay attention.  If not, we don’t really care to participate.  This year, the American team was well regarded on the international stage and despite two very controversial goals that were disallowed, we managed to win our group of four teams for the first time in 80 years progressing to the “Sweet 16” and the quarter finals.  Although we lost a heartbreaker to Ghana (the second World Cup in a row), Americans still are watching and seem to have caught the fever.

The finals of the World Cup are fast approaching and to help those who are not yet soccer fans, I thought I would put together a little primer on what you need to know to be a soccer fan.

There are no do-overs.
Soccer is a game that has accepted the fact that the referee who runs up and down the field and calls the game will not always get it right.  There are no instant replays and if a mistake is made there are no opportunities for a protest and a do-over.  In soccer, it is what it is and no amount of protesting and whining changes that fact.

You have to play hurt.
If you are hurt, there is very little empathy from the referee and very little time out to recover.  The injured player is generally taken the sidelines and the game resumes.  If he can’t come back in, then he’s out of the game forever.  Most players choose to walk it off and go back to the field.

Perception is reality.
Players must take a drama class as a prerequisite to playing soccer.  If they collide with a player on the other team, it is always helpful to express distress, injury, emotion or outrage in order to draw the attention of the referee so he will penalize the other time.  The contact may have been incidental and unintentional, but perception is always reality in soccer.

There is always constant motion.
Don’t think about leaving your seat and going to the kitchen for a snack.  Each half is 45 minutes of non-stop action.  Unlike American football, there are no timeouts, no commercials and no time to set up the next play.  The action never stops and you never know when the movement down the field will result in a score.  The ball is always in play and there is always an opportunity for a game-changing goal.

You have to outwit, outlast and outplay.
The coach seems to have little to do with the play of the game once it has started.  This is never more evident than in South Africa where there is the constant drone of the horns blowing from the stadium.  Even if he wanted to call in plays or strategy, the players couldn’t hear him.  Players have to think on their feet constantly, demonstrate leadership, run strategic plays every few minutes, and hope to outwit the other team, getting past their defenses for that elusive scoring opportunity.  And when their legs are heavy with fatigue and after almost an hour and a half of play, they need to be ready to sprint down the field at a moment’s notice.

Once you understand the game, then perhaps you will see why it is an international obsession.  Anyone can play it.  You don’t have to be the biggest guy out there to be really good.  A kid from a 3rd world country can work hard, practice juggling the ball day and night, run hard down the field and be an international superstar.  Both small and large countries can compete equally on the same playing field.  There’s constant movement and the winning goal is always just around the corner.  There are no commercial time outs to slow down the game.

We should take a lesson from the world of soccer when we take the playing field in business.  You fail to make your point with a prospect or upset a customer, you almost never get a chance for a do-over.  The action never stops and if we’re not thinking constantly about outwitting and outplaying the competition, we surely won’t outlast them.  In today’s world, you’d better learn to play hurt and to stay on the field even when it’s uncomfortable to do so.

Soccer brings the world together with a sport that anyone can succeed in.  It’s time America embraced its place in this worldwide community.  Play on World Cup teams.  We’ll see you four years from now!

Carolyn Bradfield is the CEO of Copper Conferencing, a provider of easy-to-use audio conferencing and web conferencing communication tools. Copper also provides wrap-around services including online account, invoice and recording management. You can try Copper’s great web and audio conferencing services — no obligation. Just sign up now.

What is Bad Carma?
Bad carma is when you have some sort of horrible automotive disaster happens either through no fault of your own or as a direct result of your neglect, inexperience or downright irresponsibility.

Today, a friend of mine was telling me about a particularly nasty string of automotive disasters that had happened to a close relative.  It got me to thinking about my own automotive foibles and the various outcomes.

Here’s what has NOT happened to my cars:

• Killing an engine by not putting oil in it
• Walking out to find my car missing
• Finding something dead in my car
• Having ants or other pests take up residence in my car

If it’s not on the list above, it’s probably happened to my cars.

Before I go on, I’ll answer the questions that must be swirling around in your head about those four little “bad carma” descriptions.  Yes, I know people whose car karma is bad enough to have had these things happen.

Killing an engine by not putting oil in it
I would like to be able to tell you that I only knew one person who has killed an engine due to severe oil neglect, but in fact I personally know three — yes 3 people who “forgot” or “didn’t know” that engines require oil much in the same way that plants require water to survive.  How could this happen I wonder?  How is it possible that you would not know that a car engine requires some sort of maintenance to keep it running?

Of course, there’s always the possibility that it never really occurred to these people that they were required to do anything more than put gas in the car and go.  I know that in at least one instance, the father of the girl who managed to oil starve an engine was so flabbergasted that his daughter didn’t know about car maintenance that he took it upon himself to correct the situation immediately.  (He was under the impression that his casual conversations with her about car maintenance would be enough.)

Walking out to find my car missing
Really, there’s not much to say about this except thankfully I’ve never been the personal recipient of a car with wanderlust.  For a period of time, I lived in beautiful San Diego which also happens to be conveniently located next to the U.S.-Mexico border.  Good for quick trips to Mexico and for car thieves.  My friend drove a Toyota truck at the time and only after his car “left” did he find out that his particular model of Toyota truck was listed in Consumer Reports as one of the easiest to steal cars ever made.

Finding something dead in my car or having pests invade
So, finding something dead in my car would be a shock.  I’ve found things that have come alive (a really, really smelly taco that somehow got wedged under the front seat), but never something larger than a beetle dead in my car.  Although, bugs, mice and other pesky creatures do sometimes take up residence in vehicles.  My friend had to bug bomb his car to get rid of ants that had taken over and another friend actually gave up a car because he was unable to get rid of the mice that made his car their home.  He was hoping for several dead mice but could not manage to get all of them to vacate.  One might argue that eating in a car predisposes it to the likelihood of pest invasion except that millions of Americans and other people around the world eat in their cars without ever having any issues.  These poor souls are statistical anomalies.

Do I have bad carma?
Here’s what’s really interesting — I don’t.  I have a long and fabulous relationship with cars including trying to convince my father that, at 14, I absolutely and without equivocation needed a driver’s license so I could help my poor over-burdened parents ferry my younger sisters around.  I further argued that because we lived in a rural state, there were lots of people my age who had the legal ability to drive.  You might imagine my 14 year-old disappointment when my father refuted these well-thought out arguments by pointing out that although we lived in a state with just over 1 million people, we neither lived on a farm or ranch nor were my parents unduly burdened being neither handicapped in any fashion or without options to provide transport for said children.

Oh sure, I’ve had to call the insurance company after a hail storm with golf ball sized hail gave my car what I fondly described as teenage acne.  I know just what it takes to get a Suburban airborne.  I have fond memories of cars that met with an untimely demise. I had to leave “Pokey” in west Texas — permanently.   I’ve driven cars that are exceptionally fabulous and cars that were downright dangerous like the one with the steering column that required a lot of forethought to handle.  I’ve been in the middle of Kansas in November when the car caught fire.  The list goes on but none of this adds up to bad carma — at least not for me.

Good carma
I love to drive, which probably comes from the fact that a car provides freedom to a certain extent.  And most recently, I have been given legislative permission to not use a cell phone in my car — but that is another story of freedom for another day.  Having good car karma is mostly a matter of attitude, part good luck and part willingness to view every car adventure as something new and exciting.

So, share your car karma stories.  But do so carefully so as not to give away too much of the fun that goes with having good or bad carma.

Alycia Maier-Turner is the Director of Marketing for Copper Conferencing a provider of easy-to-use and affordable audio and web conferencing. Copper offers outstanding customer service and user-friendly wrap-around services including online account, invoice and recording management. You can try Copper’s great web and audio conferencing services — FREE. Just sign up now.