Oh Come All Ye Faithful Holiday Consumers
Holidays are big business, and none are bigger than the “Winter Holidays” of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and others, where in 2014 consumers in the USA (according to the National Retail Federation) spent more than $616 billion! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, then, that it seems many retailers have jumped…
Does Your Brand Story Have Lasting Power?
A successful brand is one that can evolve with changes in the marketplace in ways that don’t force you to re-create the wheel or re-establish who and what you are or what you represent to your target customers when new technologies, trends, and ways of doing business emerge. How does your brand story reflect you…
Keep Focus: September is Not Time for Complacency
September can be a “crossroads” type month. Summer’s just about over, autumn looms, and shortly after that it’s the holiday season (which seems to get bigger and longer and more drawn out every year) and then New Year’s. Some might feel tempted to coast the remaining 3-plus months of the year, figuring they’ll just run…
The Entrepreneurial Mind: There’s Always Another Way
I suspect we all have moments when we’re faced with a task or a challenge—big or small—that we need to address or overcome in order to move forward. It could relate to business, health, our relationships, finances, or all of the above. How we respond to these situations is a big part of who we…
Our Lives Are Ruled By Expectations
Our lives are ruled by expectations. This is not good or bad – it’s simply stating a fact based on the “World According to Paul.” Men and women are expected to fulfill specific roles. Kids are expected to exhibit certain behavior, etc . In the business world, leaders are expected to lead, the innovators are…
The Three “P”s of Teamwork: People, Processes, and Place
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” (Phil Jackson) In early 2009, Barrel O’ Monkeyz first reared its head in the digital jungle. Envisioned as a virtual agency, my dream was to use technology to bring together marketing, technical, web design, graphic design, and digital assets…
The Art of Storytelling
Everyone has a story, and everyone likes to hear a good story. It’s a unique quality of being human. Heck, even cave dwellers told stories. In fact, for millennia, before we had writing, oral storytelling was the only way history passed from one generation to another. Stories were also “told” through cave paintings, hieroglyphics, singing,…
Are You Tenacious?
Success doesn’t just happen. Contrary to popular culture (and the occasional suggestions of our elected leaders), success takes hard work, perseverance, a little bit of self-made luck, and tenacity—and it’s the same whether you’re looking for success in relationships, at school, in your career, or landing that new client. I define tenacity as “strength with…
