The Two Things You Love Most Are Muddying Up Your Business
“Bwoke!” My two-year old son was sitting in the bath trying to find the missing piece to one of his bath toys. Of course, being two years old, “looking for” consisted of looking at me with a truly pitiful expression, and saying “Bwoke!” (his version of “broken”). The soap had clouded the water, so as […]
How to Be a Hero for Your Business in 2011
When I was an adolescent, World War II fascinated me. The combination of the ever-present memory of the Holocaust in my synagogue coupled with a boy’s fascination for blowing things up led me to read all kinds of exciting histories of the war in Europe and the Pacific. I returned to that recently in reading […]
BB Guns and Guidance
In 1993, when I was still a rookie paramedic, our ambulance responded to a rural location in Solano County, California, for an “unknown medical.” What we found were three adolescent boys who had been playing with a BB gun, and one of them had shot the second one. The third boy had finally, after more […]
The Difference Between Getting Attention and Having a Business
I think I’ve been spending far too much time in the social media-driven world of online marketing. I say that because my head is full of conversation that you may not be listening to at all. Yet, I’m going to share the conversation because I think you may have similar voices in your head. The […]
Why You Have To, Must, Need To Be Effective In Marketing
At 1:10 p.m. I’m standing in line at the post office. I know it’s 1:10 p.m. because my iPhone prayer app lets loose with a resounding call announcing the time for the midday prayer. The three other people in the post office avoid looking at me. Or maybe it doesn’t bother them. I carry the […]
Leaving Money on the Table
“You aren’t helping anyone by leaving money on the table. That means you’re missing getting your message out or that you aren’t making a fair value for your work.” That’s a quote from Lee Stranahan within a comment he left on the Productive Flourishing blog. As someone who grew up in punk rock culture, I […]
No Article Today–A Workbook, Audio and Interviews Instead
If you didn’t already know it, we Sufis are attached to paradox. You know, things like “neediness is the doorway to abundance” and “you have to be small to be big” and those kinds of things. We made those up ourselves, we’re not just copying the whole Buddhist Zen koan thing, I promise. Paradox must’ve […]
The Only Response That Ever Matters
If you’re in the process of creating your marketing message, chances are you’re either avoiding working on it, or you’re caught in the endless cycle of tweaking to get the words exactly right. Painful. Of course, there is one step beyond this, where you get up the courage to test it out on others. You […]
How to Avoid Chasing Down the “I’ll Think About Its”
It’s been a great conversation–twenty, thirty, oh my gosh, we’ve been on the phone for fifty minutes?! The heart-connection was strong, there seems to be a lot of simpatico between us, and as it’s winding down, they say: “What you’re offering sounds great. Let me think about it, and I’ll get back to you.” Yah, […]
What’s New: Friday, January 22, 2010
Opening Our Oasis Doors Wider Things are stirring around here in the Oasis, again. Beginning in February you’ll see two other members of our Heart of Business team supporting you here in the Tent besides Mark, myself, and Judy Murdoch. More to come …. You’ll also notice in the next several weeks that we’ll be […]