Like many small business owners I often find myself burning the candle at both ends dividing my time between working “in” my business and “on” my business. Such was the case at four o’clock in the morning one Saturday when I had the bright idea of testing different auto insertion methods for mass emailing.

I made sure to shut down my email program to ensure no emails would be sent out because I was using a real email account and my main contact database for the testing. I created an email that went like this:

Dear, (client name)

Blah, blah, blah (client company name)

The testing went well and the auto insertion seemed to work perfectly. I then decided to take a quick break before cleaning up the created messages waiting in the outbox.

During my break I remembered that I needed to check on an order placed the day before. As soon as I got back to my computer I open my email program and checked the order. Everything was good with the order, it was shipped out on ….. Oh no! I see 109 emails in the outbox and the number is dropping fast! I quickly take the computer offline and hold my breath as I check the sent folder.

Too many to count. It looks like I just sent everyone in that database multiple personalized emails with a message of blah,blah,blah. After spending the next thirty minutes in shock that I had done something so stupid I did the only thing I could do. I laughed.

I hope those who received the now infamous blah,blah,blah email were also able to see the humor in it. I have received a few creative responses such as the following:

Dear Mr. On Call,

I have received your proposal and found it to be in line with current congressional standards. However, I will have to decline your Blah plan. Perhaps you should revise it and add more BS.

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