From 2024 to 2025: Year-End Checklists to Bring Success in the New Year
Year-end checklists are a great way to assess personal and professional progress and to plan for the coming year.
Decisions, Decisions: Timing Is Everything
There’s a common saying that timing is everything. I tend to agree. After all, who am I to argue with a sage pop philosopher like Alanis Morissette who wrote about the irony of bad timing in her iconic hit “Ironic” in 1995. In it, she sings that “an old man turned ninety-eight. He won the…
What’s Your Strategy?
I recently had a conversation with a good friend. He was feeling restless about his website, his social media presence, and his overall message. He said he was feeling the need for a change, but really could not say why. All things in both his personal and professional life are humming along smoothly. Business is…
Needs vs. Wants Helps Us Keep Priorities in Focus
It’s not easy to stay focused—not in a world that seems to be moving at a million miles per hour, not in a world in which we are bombarded with endless news cycles that feed us stories ranging from deadly snow and cold in the northeast to ISIS beheadings in the Middle East to romantic…
Look Before You Leap (otherwise, how do you know you’re solving the right problem?)
Do you LEAP before you LOOK? Chance are you don’t . . . and chances are you wouldn’t buy a new car or home or invest money without first doing your homework. Why then do many agencies start with “how” a thing is going to be done before first fully understanding what it is you…
Low Prices: Too Much of a Good Thing?
Prices seem to be on the rise again after a few years of holding steady following the economic collapse of 2008. From food prices, to entertainment, to fuel, to housing, to this and that, everything seems to be on the uptick. If you’re like me, you’re thinking, “How can a guy get a break?” Surely…
There’s No Marketing Silver Bullet
If there were such a thing as a marketing “silver bullet,” then I’d either need to find a different line of work—because everyone could do it—or I’d be super rich, because I’d be the keeper and dispenser of marketing’s secret sauce recipe. But marketing is not easy and automatic. It’s much more than a press…
Are You Prepared for Success?
Be prepared. It’s one surefire way to improve your chances for success. Parents prepare. Teachers prepare. Students prepare. Chefs and shoppers prepare. Businesses and leaders prepare. Doctors and athletes prepare. Heck, “Be prepared” is even the Boy Scouts long-time motto. Sure, some folks find success out of sheer luck, but I tend to believe even…
Marketers Shouldn’t Be Complacent . . . But if It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It!
As marketers, we’ve probably all faced one or more of these situations: We’re not converting Web traffic to sales No one’s subscribing to our email list Our free download just sits there with no suitors, like a wallflower at the high school dance We’re getting no takers on our offer of a free consult No…
Do Something
I’m a doer. I like to get things done. I suspect most of you are doers, too. That’s why you visit my blog. You want some insight on how to get things done. Theodore Roosevelt (26th President of the United States) once said, “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is…
It’s the Most “Planful” Time of the Year…
We’re about to turn the page on another year. Before we know it 2014 will be upon us. How did 2013 work out for you? Did you achieve all of your goals? Did you achieve any of your goals? Did you establish any goals? I have found that without some sort of plan, I tend…
Entrepreneurs WANTED! – Making Innovation Profitable
There’s a simple business axiom on which I think we all can agree: “If you can’t turn a profit, you really don’t have a business and you won’t stay around very long.” This doesn’t mean you have to turn a profit day one—few businesses do, and even the IRS assumes most businesses won’t turn a…
