Blogs

The rites of late winter are upon us. The Superbowl is over. Major League Baseball pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training soon. The days are getting longer, and warmer temps are with us more consistently here in southern California. My Dodgers seemed primed for another stand-out year, especially with the recent addition…

It’s award season in the American entertainment industry. You can barely get through a news cycle without hearing about this actress, that producer, or some pop star talking about his or her craft and how simply being nominated for an award is an honor. NOTE: for those who have been sleeping under a rock for…

I’m a firm believer that every day when we wake, we intend to do and be the best for ourselves, our friends, our families, our communities, and for our businesses. I also believe that the start of a fresh year is a special time for reflection, renewal, and re-invigoration, both personally and professionally. What worked…

December is here, which means the holiday gift giving season is upon us. Retailers big and small have stocked their physical and virtual shelves with all sorts of goodies, gadgets, and other temptations for consumers, and all retail marketing is focused on one thing: bringing in the shoppers and their eager wallets and purses filled…

Time flies when you’re having fun, which means summer has come and gone and the holiday season has snuck up on us once again. Thanksgiving is next week, and then we’re on to Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and other winter holidays before we hit the homestretch toward New Year’s. For the Barrel O’Monkeyz family, we have…

When you read a review online do you really, really know for whence it came? Whether it’s a 5-star review or a negative Nancy (or Norm), can you rely on its veracity? After reading a recent Wall Street Journal article, I’m not so sure. In Have Online Reviews Lost All Value? author Rebecca Dolan wonders…

It’s been a while since this King Monkey has checked in with an update on all things monkeyz-related. How have you been?  I’ve been great, family’s been great, and business has been great. How lucky am I? First things first, just as Monkeyz Nation continues to grow, so too does the June family. In case…

I received a direct mail postcard (yes, they still make those!) in my inbox this week — not my virtual inbox, but my trusty old snail-mail box. This was a piece I could pick up and hold. It was a well-designed card, quality print job, and it had a few nice things to say about…

I’m back from a week-long vacation with family and friends to northern California. It was my first vacation of the “more-than-a-long-weekend” variety in over five years, and I have to admit time away from the business of business does a body and a mind and a spirit good. I won’t say I feel like a…

“The life which is unexamined is not worth living.” – Plato I want to tell you a story. It’s the story of my life. Well, not the whole story—I’ll spare you the typical biographical details of when I was born and how old I was when I first learned to ride a bike. Instead, I…

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,…

I am sometimes amazed by the contents of my email inbox, particularly tailor-made messages and offers designed just for me. Of course, as a marketer and entrepreneur in this digital age, I shouldn’t really be that surprised. I get it. Opt-in lists, segmentation, targeted offers from online shopping venues I frequent, and more allows email…