Blogs

With a personal slogan of “More Creativity, More Ideas, More Fun!” and a company logo that feature’s a blue monkey with a big, wide grin, it should come as no surprise that humor finds its way into my social media posts and blogs quite often. Humor is an important part of who I am and thus…

While I didn’t really have a “dog” in this show—my favorite team, the Oakland Raiders haven’t even got a whiff of the playoffs in a decade plus—being a west coaster, I was rooting for the Seattle Seahawks to be crowned champions again this year. One miracle catch had them poised to repeat, but a questionable…

I was reading an online article this week about scientists studying how chimpanzees communicate. For this particular study, researchers spent 750 hours observing chimps and analyzing their vocalizations. What they found is that chimps indeed do “talk” to one another using a “variety of vocalizations, but also facial expressions and gestures.” Unsurprisingly, most of their…

Inevitably, once the NFL playoffs hit, individuals, married couples, small business owners, and corporate financial types start hauling out the previous year’s receipts, bank statements, and other tax records. It’s a sure sign that tax season has arrived: W2s and 1099s and Mortgage Interest statements are crossing in the mail; numbers are getting crunched and…

It was “swearing-in time” in Washington DC this past week, as well as for state legislatures around the country. Newly-elected and returning senators and representatives smiled for the cameras, swore their oaths, and took their seats. It was a fairly drama-free exercise, especially since it was a mid-term election cycle, meaning there was no Presidential…

One of my long-time brand “heroes” let me down over the holidays. No, it wasn’t the fact that the item I ordered didn’t make it in time for Christmas, though that was the case. Nor was it the fact that this long-time ecommerce vendor failed to plan adequately for the inevitable holiday deluge of orders.…

The end of another year is upon us, and a new one is about to begin. How did 2014 treat you? How did you treat 2014? Were you a wallflower, or did you join-in? Sure, the world had its ups and downs, but for me, 2014 was fantastic: I got engaged, got married, welcomed baby…

I hope everyone is as excited for the holidays as this puppy!

They say time flies when you’re having fun. And for me, 2014 has been a blast. On the personal front, I got engaged, got married, and just a couple of weeks ago welcomed home baby Lee. Professionally, I’ve been hard at work with Barrel O’ Monkeyz, helping clients build their brand stories while I’ve been…

When a pro athlete takes the field—whether it’s Aaron Rogers staring down Darrelle Revis, Giancarlo Stanton facing off against Clayton Kershaw, or Serena Williams or Venus Williams going head to head with another tennis elite—each competitor has both the ability and the expectation of achieving success given the talents and track record he or she…

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…

Sometimes the most obvious solution is staring you right in the face. Take businesses thinking about or already in the process of branding or re-branding themselves. They struggle with what to say, how to say it, and to whom to address it. But why? If they’ve been in business for a while, they have a…