Taking the time to acknowledge someone and say thanks...

When I was young my Aunt Joyce would send me a birthday card each year and put a bit of money in it.  I so looked forward to those cards.  We were a large family and being noticed as an individual and special was rare so receiving these cards just made my day -- somebody was actually thinking of ME! 

It made quite an impact on me and now that I am an adult I have been sending birthday cards to my friends and family for years now, especially to the children in my life.  There is just something special about receiving a card in the mail.

Recently, someone contacted me through my blog to introduce me to an on-line card service.  No, it's not e-cards (I am not a fan of e-cards as one more e-mail cluttering up my Inbox is not a welcome thing), but these are actual hard copy cards that you can customize and send out with your own special message.  The cards are all made with recycled paper and you can even include a gift if you like and this company will send it off for you.  What a convenient way to send cards.

Recently I have been so busy at work that I just didn't have time to get to the card shop to buy my usual box of cards so I have been trying to catch up and send belated cards out.  When I tried this service, it was a great alternative for me.  I could still send the cards out in hardcopy, and since I could do it online it was convenient and reasonably priced.  The font is also in writing script (which you can also personalize to your own handwriting) so the personal message inside looks like it was handwritten.

The name of the service is SendOutCards and they have a variety of cards for just about every occasion and if they don't have what you want, you can customize your own card.  It is an American based company and I am in Canada, but the cards I sent were all received within a week.

What a neat idea for businesses too.  The art of saying thank you can sometimes get lost in our busyness, but here are some examples of times it would be nice to send a card from work:

• To thank presenters who speak at your workplace. 
• To thank an employee for showing initiative and going the extra mile.
• To thank your boss for being supportive during a trying time.
• To apologize and try to make things right.  Sometimes a card is a good icebreaker to start communication again.
• To send to clients of your company.  This could include sympathy cards, thank you cards, birthday cards, congratulations on a promotion, a card to reconnect with a client you haven't heard from in awhile, or many other reasons.

I recently sent an admin assistant friend a card to acknowledge all the hard work she does every day and included a gift of brownies.  She loved it!  I sent another assistant a comical card about being stressed out at work.  We work in a very busy office so it was a nice surprise for her to receive it and helped put the stress of the office in perspective.

I don't often promote any businesses from my blog, but I thought this one was worth talking about.

Patricia