Making Your Heroic Choice
One of my favorite writers on the internet (and elsewhere), Maya Frost, did an interview on her blog with author Susan Sarah [Ed: I goofed on the first name…] Susanka, who wrote The Not So Big House and The Not So Big Life. Something struck me in the interview, the likes of which I have read […]
Community Connections
There’s a big discussion happening in our online community, The Business Oasis (Note: the Oasis ended in November 2010.) about the ever-popular business topic: “Get out and sell yourself.” Many of the things I teach in business have to do with organic means of growing your business and building momentum (which I’ll be talking about […]
Repeat After Me: "I have only one business"
Imagine you’re ten years old, and there are huge stacks of cardboard boxes towering over you. It’s a maze. It’s a fortress. And you’re allowed to climb all over them. Inside every single one of those boxes is a dozen bottles. Fine wines, liquor, you name it. It may sound like a caterer’s dream, but […]
Learning on Someone Else's Dime
Ilise Benum has a discussion going on over at The Marketing Mix on how to say “No” to work that isn’t right. But, what interested me was a comment from one of her readers, David Bresler, VP of The Breakfast Network who wrote: I would add this: An offer of a lucrative project that is […]
Why Your Business Needs Two Types of Accountability
The tide’s coming in, fast. Your kayak is there on the sand, starting to get gently nudged. Meanwhile you’re flat out on a beach towel. Hot sun. Cool breeze. Iced tea. Are you going to get up in time to save your kayak from floating out to sea? Your business may be calling, all kinds […]
An Apology with Humor
It happens all the time- we goof up in our businesses. I’m late getting copy to someone for a promotion, you’re late getting your newsletter out, a client languishes because you haven’t returned a phone call. There’s no need to fall on your sword in abject humiliation, begging forgiveness. Sometimes, you can just have fun […]
The Danger in Creating a Product
You’ve been scooping nickels into a bucket for hours. Sweat’s running down your back. Scooping and scooping. Clink clatter clink! You stop, wipe your brow, and look in the bucket. The nickels are barely covering the bottom- where’d they all go? Then you notice the hole… and the stream of nickels rolling away down the […]
How to Keep Mistakes with Clients from Turning Cancerous
Don’t you hate it when a client emails you: “You know, I feel really ignored. Why haven’t you responded to my last email?” Or how about: “This class isn’t working for me. I’m in a completely different place with my situation from the other participants, and you aren’t following me at all.” And of course: […]
How to Chop Days and Hours Off Your Article Writing
Ready to write an article? You even made the big step of scheduling time to do it. So here it is, and you’re sitting at your desk, staring blankly at the screen. Just like you’ve been doing for the last two weeks. And still no article. Despite the fact it was supposed to go out […]
Why You Keep Missing Those Darn Business Goals
You have goals in your business, I’m sure. Whether it’s about getting more clients, raising your income, or completing a product, you’re trying to get something done, usually by a deadline. (When’s the mortgage due?) And yet, in going for a goal, you might sometimes begin to feel… twisted, or off–balance. Out of alignment with […]