Because we are just past Thanksgiving in the U.S., and heading into peak holiday time globally, I want to do a flip on “Christmas cards in July” and talk about a July “incident” that I was made aware of this past June 27th–which is appropriate to talk about anytime during the year, including Christmas season. That’s why this ...

Three years ago, on Thanksgiving (it feels like 10 years after what we experienced in 2020 and 2021), I was sitting at my dining room table with over 20 relatives of all ages. Note: If you are outside the U.S., I promise some payoff with this post despite you not celebrating this very American ...

When I wrote “Email is a contact sport,” earlier this year, and just re-read it as I was preparing to teach the current “Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp” about “states of awareness” and “levels of sophistication,” I came up with three more examples of marketing, contributing and connecting as contact sports (in addition to email). Simply put, creating lifetime value ...

During the “go-go 1980’s” in direct marketing, everyone seemed to have the answer (i.e., the hot new technology or methodology), especially in the areas of database building, regression modeling and advanced list segmentation techniques through cooperative databases. Yes…people were into new stuff before the Internet too. And if any of the terms above do ...

Consider this post part two, as promised, of “Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t”—a continuing de-brief of the Titans Mastermind from September. You do not need to read part one to get the lessons learned from part two…but if you want to review, you can read part one here. All the speakers were amazing. If you read ...

The votes are in…I WILL be sharing additional valuable insights from the Titans Mastermind meeting from last month…after sharing many last week under the subject line (from the title of a book by Steven Pressfield, one of the speakers at the mastermind), Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t. Note: They still don’t want to read your ...

If there was one overriding theme of the most recent Titans Mastermind meeting last month (i.e., “the best one ever”), it was that “nice to have information” (or services) are just that—nice to have—and creating “need to have information” (or services) is the key to all marketing. And it doesn’t happen my edict…you need to transform your nice to have into need ...

I am coming off a high from my most recent Titans Mastermind meeting…and I can safely say that it was the best one ever…and that’s saying a lot. I’ve been doing them for over seven years/over 20 meetings and the members and guests during that period are a who’s who of direct marketing wisdom ...

For next week’s post I will send a summary of the Titans Mastermind meeting just completed…and why it was the best one ever since I held the first one seven years ago. And it was the best not because of the reasons you might think such as the caliber of the speakers and the attendees, the connections made, ...

While I am hosting my Titans Mastermind this week, I want to share one of my favorite posts that I believe is timeless. And in the P.S. I wanted to give you an update on how Overdeliver (and “overdelivery”) has gone global. How did we advertise in the “good old days” when there was no email, Internet, product ...

In the midst of the pandemic in 2020 I took this picture of my office: Yikes! And at that time, I made a promise that I would clean up my mess…especially because I was quarantined and had nothing better to do. It is now over two years later and nothing has changed in this ...

This past week I revisited a 10-minute speech that I gave in 2018…partially to reminisce what the world was like before the pandemic…and partially to reinforce what mastery really means (which was the theme of the speech). (Check out the P.S. for another example of mastery) The presentation was titled “6 Eternal Truths from 6 Dead ...

Dan Kennedy is recognized as one of the most iconic marketing gurus over the past half century…he’s still going strong…and with his latest book being released on September 6th, I had the privilege of interviewing him for both my Titans Xcelerator and Titans Mastermind members this past week. It was 45 minutes of brilliance, with important reminders and lessons regarding the rules of engagement for all ...

I wrote a blog post last year which was titled, “Careers, vocations and passions” …but in retrospect, I should have titled it, “Everything in your life is a glorified side hustle.” But there are no “shoulds” …only revisions and second chances that reveal themselves if you pay attention…and I got a second chance to retitle it ...

Four years ago, I took a life changing trip to Africa…under the direction of an amazing organization (Village Impact) run by two of the most heart-centered entrepreneurs on any continent, Amy and Stu McLaren. I’m reminded of the trip today for two reasons: It was around this time of year when I was there ...

While going through some videos in my archives, I came across one from a couple of years ago sent to me from a member of my online family. The video is a discussion starring baseball superstars Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds talking about the art and science of hitting a baseball. Just the fact that ...

Don’t be sad that it’s over; smile because it happened. -Dr. Suess, Gabriel García Márquez, Vin Scully (and I’m sure others) One of the most beloved and accomplished sportscasters, Vin Scully, passed away this week at the age of 94. I heard the quote above attributed to him—then Googled it and there were others ...

“Learning is rooted in repetition and convexity, meaning that the reading of a single text twice is more profitable than reading two different things once. – Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Lebanese-American essayist and scholar The first time I read this quote and saw the word “profitable” I knew I needed to share it with you, my marketing ...

If you were asked, “What is the top priority in your business,” how would you answer? You might say things like: Keeping my clients/customers/students happyGetting new business from new people (new customer acquisition)Creating new products or services (innovation)Commitment to positive cash flow and profit marginFulfilling on your mission I know you can think of many more. ...

The older we get, the losses and the wins add up…it’s just a function of living a full life. And as you know (if you read my post “Life is Long”), my philosophy is that everyone’s life is LONG…because it’s the only one we’ve got…and making the most of all of those losses and wins is ...