Last summer during my dream holiday in Barbados I sat down with a book called the 4 Hour Work Week. Now for those of you who know me or have been reading my columns this is not news to you, I rave about this book, I love this book.

This book had a profound impact on my daily dealings with employees, clients, vendors and absolutely changed the way I worked through tasks on any given day.

The biggest change, with the largest impact, was I stopped coming into the office on Fridays. Tim Ferris, author, works 4 hours a week, I work 4 days (I'm not quite to the Ferris standard yet).

This change had two major effects – I got a break from the office hustle and bustle and could work on projects quietly at home (imagine that – having two hours with no interruption to actually complete something), but most importantly, my employees got a break from me!

Not that I'm a dictator or anything, but Fridays are relaxing anyway – and with me gone, I am sure they are now a little more relaxing – ANYWAY – I was reading an article about Utah, and guess what they have adopted – wait for it: A mandatory four-day work week for most state employees!

Gov. Jon Huntsman, says he's making the change to reduce the state's carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide workers more flexibility.

The change will apply to about 17,000 employees, roughly 80 percent of the state workforce, Huntsman says. Public universities, the state court system, prisons and other critical services will be exempt (Prison employees on a 4 day work week – yeah, that's not going to work). Residents still will have sufficient access to state offices, with many staying open from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m., and more than 800 state services are available online to increase accessibility.

Now, I'm not one to say I'm ahead of my time – but I started this gig a year ago, so he either stole the idea from me (I should patent it) or he read Ferris's book, or maybe he used common sense. Perhaps if I start publicizing my 2 hour nap after lunch on Thursdays we will get mandatory 'lie down' time in a couple of years.

The latest report from database marketing firm Merkle noted that 50 percent of respondents had bought something based on a permission email message, up 3 percentage points from the previous year. If you're not using email marketing, you probably should be. On the other hand, 32 percent of surveyed said they stopped doing business with at least one company because of its poor email practices. So, if you are doing email marketing, make sure you're effective.

Stephan Pollard, web marketing guru, wrote an excellent article on promoting email value. Here are a few highlights:

Promote email value throughout the relationship. Ideally, you want people to opt-in to receive your emails. For that to happen, you need to sell the value of signing up. A "Sign up for email updates" and a link on your home page doesn't begin to hint at what prospects will receive if they hand over their email address. "Join our site now and receive email-only discounts and advance sale notices" makes the value clear and begins to set subscriber expectations. Every page of your Web site should invite visitors to join you.

Enhance your registration page. Your registration page offers the best opportunity to explain the benefits of signing up for email, including the kinds of email you send, how often and what the content entails. All too often, though, companies who otherwise have an excellent email program give this short shrift. Instead of a dedicated page to explain the value of their email program, they slap up a checkbox and a one-sentence value statement focused on the subscription function.

Here's what you should include on your subscription page:

• Explanation of benefits (what's in it for them)
• Privacy policy (assurance that you'll treat their email address responsibly)
• Preference choices (increases message relevance)
• Links, images and transactions (subscribing, confirming, even unsubscribing) that work reliably each time
• Graphic design that models the email message template to help readers recognize it more quickly
• A thank-you page that appears immediately after subscribing that acknowledges the subscription, restates the subscription elements and the value of your email, provides instructions on how to confirm the request, asks subscribers to add your sender email address to address books or contact lists with directions for the major ISPs or email providers, links to key locations on your Web site and links to key areas including your privacy policy and unsubscribe form.

With all of this information, be careful not to come on too strong by asking for too many details up front. Get just what you need to start the relationship, and then go back in the next phase to flesh out a profile or preferences.