Archive of posts from December 2019

I like rules. They give order to the production of great work at scale. But my favorite rule? The Crazy Rule.

“Would it be crazy if we…” is often the start of a great idea that’s just a little bit bigger and braver than you are today. Look into that.

“I might be crazy but…” is often the start of radical honesty that leads to a vision for the future for your choice of market or for the cause you...

10 years is a long time. What’s changed?

These people were nobodies.** T**he Vaynerchuks, Cardones and Lopezes. The Aspreys, Lakhianis and Sineks. 10 years changed all that. Hard work and patience paid off.

Mobile apps had only just been born. No Uber, AirBnB, Netflix, WhatsApp or even Facebook app. 10 years changed all that. Hard work and patience paid off.

**Your cause or vision is still there to be pursued. **Still needing someone like you to step in and start...

Part of what makes great entrepreneurs or teams (or relationships, really) is the ability to make “all for good”:

Failed? It’s either a failure to wallow in, or a learning opportunity to become stronger. Failures produce the strength and resolve necessary for real, lasting success. One cannot know success without failure.

Fired? It’s either a blow to your finances and your ego, or a learning opportunity to become stronger. It’s not a one-time thing, something built up to this. Now...

When we’re thinking about buying something, these three questions happen in our minds:

How do I feel about this?

As prospective clients, we all start here. Do I like this? Do I want this?

What will others say?

Shortly after realizing our own feelings on the matter, as social creatures, our thoughts jump to those in our circle; will they like this? What will this think about me? Is that what I want them to think?

How will I respond?

A lesson in business optimization found from…moving.

Moving reminds us of how much stuff we have. Once you’re done moving, after unpacking most of what you have, you may find yourself looking at a lone box thinking, “What’s in that box?”

When you have everything unpacked and in place, then realize there’s a whole other box remaining to be opened, we have two choices:

1. We allow ourselves to re-attach to every item in there “because it’s ours”,
2. We allow...

If you’re pursuing meaningful work, lasting change, impact… you’re always in the past.

Writing notes to the future: I find sometimes I forget what I thought about things in the past. Or how I would have felt if I’d have known about my successes and failures.

What would he/she say? For me, he’d have told me to celebrate the many successes more than I do. He’d have told me to not beat myself up about the losses, asserting they were...

We all set goals. Did you set the right ones?

Designing a lovely new interface: is the goal a lovely new interface – something never seen before so you can impress yourself – or is the goal to support those who will use it toward their goals?

Pursuing a fatter wallet: is the goal to have more so you can give more to businesses that sell fancier toys – an unfulfilling cycle of ‘more’ – or is the goal to...

“Building trust” while marketing your important work need not be a mystery. Here’s why we don’t trust you:

Because we can tell that you’re reading a script. Whether it’s on a sales call or a video for Facebook, we can hear it in your voice. We can see your eyes dancing along the autocue. We know that thoughts aren’t with us in this moment, so we wonder why ours should be with you.

Because we’ve seen this all before. We...

One year ago, I wrote my first daily blogging milestone.

The points I made in it are no less true, yet I’ve more to add now I’ve doubled my discipline as of today, as I acknowledge the two year mark of daily posts:

You’re still never sure: Every new day begins with a clean slate for the blog; there are no idea lists or agendas. There is only the daily discipline of showing up for those trying to make...

I was asked a question today regarding my book, ‘Marketing Isn’t About You’, and I thought I’d share it with you here on the daily post:

“What are some ways someone can ‘love them first, ask questions later’?”

“It’s worth sharing because it’s a great question.

One worth asking daily. In business, in marketing, in relationships, in life.

It’s one that has no one answer. The question is the answer.

Want to wash cars but nobody’s asking? Go wash...

Do you keep hearing about how important authenticity is?

In the brand-building circles, authenticity all the rage.

“Just be yourself.”

If you’re doing work that matters, there’s more to this:

If you’re inconsistent, authenticity is likely going to cause frustration for those you serve. Unless the value they’ve bought into is the novelty of frenetic availability, there’s likely to be a desire for a consistently met expectation. You tune into certain channels more than others because you know what you’re...

Remember when the answer was, “Who’s there?” instead of, “Go away”?

We’re all experiencing inbox fatigue. It doesn’t have to be this way:

We over-subscribe and under-read because we’re afraid of missing out, or forgot to unsubscribe from the things we don’t actually read anymore. And so, we miss out on the important things.

We over-share and under-connect because people over-subscribe and under-read. There’s less room for quiet, thoughtful connection by email than their used to be. They’re hard to...

“It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.” – Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark

We all know we should plan.

As in, really plan things out – five year plans, maybe even ten year plans, we’ve heard it all before.

Here’s why you don’t do it, and why it doesn’t work:

• It’s a whole to-do of its own: You’ve enough to do as it is, so sitting and trying to tell the future doesn’t make the cut.
• It’s baseless:...

I like months. We gave them names, so each means something different to us.

January and July are very different months. As are August and December.

We have emotions attached to each different month. In December we often become more reflective about the year just passed. In January we often become excited about the year ahead.

What about W49?

Enabling “week numbers” on our devices gives names to every week of the year. Except we don’t have much attachment to...

Are you the best at what you do?

Ever notice how it’s usually not the best who help people the most?

I’m a huge advocate of having mastery over your craft. Without this, you can’t create the amount of transformation for those you wish to serve as is possible for you or them.

But it’s not mastery for mastery’s sake. It’s mastery because of the level of result you can produce for someone in the marketplace or in your chosen...

There are two types of people.

Those who set themselves up for success, and those who expect others to set them up for success.

In our businesses I’ve experienced both. I thought I’d share some takeaways from the experience:

#1 You probably have around you people who want to help you grow and succeed. If you don’t, there’s a lot of people out there – go find yours.

In our businesses there are teams designed to make you grow. Perhaps your...

A problem happened in your company today.

Did you say thank you?

The first thought tends to be one of frustration, anxiety, or disillusion. It could mean our day is derailed, a heavy financial blow, or worse. But these problems that crop up tend not to be as catastrophic as the first seem, most of the time. Moreover, the manifestation of a problem can teach us a lot about our work and how to make it better.

The first thought...