I was in Florida this past week where I met with a real estate agent who restored my faith (and reminded me) that there are many effective ways to sell in a commoditized marketplace.  Whether you’re looking for a supplement with an ingredient you can only find in one place on earth, a mastermind ...

Money is a very important asset.  I understand the importance of money in our society in spite of my ramblings about “The five ways we get paid and the fifth is cash” and “It’s not always about the money.”  And my business is not a non-profit which may surprise you.  With that as preamble, I want to share an ...

“Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals” -David Ogilvy I spent the beginning of my career in marketing minimizing the value of research while maximizing the value of gut instinct.  And the gut instinct I’m talking about wasn’t even mine–what did I know in my ...

“Do you know a good copywriter?  ”That’s a question I get multiple times a week.  Of course, the answer is “yes” …however, the answer is not simply knowing them and then throwing names at the people who ask me.  I’m proud to say that I’ve had the privilege to work with some of the ...

Labeling myself a “Copywriter Wannabe” over the years has been both painful and a blessing.  Painful because some readers inside my online family called me out, telling me that it was all a ploy to sell them more of what I was selling (which wasn’t very much) …by playing the “I don’t know what ...

At our most recent Titans Mastermind meeting in early September, one of our speakers, Melinda Cohan, said something that resonated with everyone in the room. I believe it resonated even more with the Titans because they are all marketers of a different breed…marketers that think impact and relationship over money and profits…and that’s without anyone ...

In his book The Road Less Stupid, Keith Cunningham (entrepreneur, speaker, author and business guru) suggests that these three questions should be asked prior to making any major business decision: 1. What is the upside?2. What is the downside?3. Can I live with the downside?   And I would add a fourth:   4. Can you ...

I was sitting at my desk earlier this week when my In Box started behaving like a stock market ticker.  I was in the middle of responding to a detailed email…but I couldn’t help noticing that I was receiving a series of book orders, rapidly, one after another, for Breakthrough Advertising (the classic text written by ...

I received this in my daily email today: According to a new fact sheet from the SBA’s Office of Advocacy, “[a] substantial amount of family wealth is in business ownership.  On average, the self-employed are wealthier than the non-self-employed.  This implies the value or potential value of business ownership in economic mobility [and] that business equity ...

With my Titans Mastermind coming up this week and a vacation coming up the following week, I went into my archives to find two previous posts that got more engagement than most over the past few years…and I’ve updated them for your reading pleasure for this week and next. Today’s post includes a story that inspired ...

Today’s post is an attempt to bring two concepts together: 1) Sometimes there’s something to do with marketing connections and data. AND 2) Sometimes there’s nothing to do with marketing connections and data. When there’s something to do with marketing data This past week I was handed some data regarding a copywriting site that ...

My good friend Joe Polish often warns entrepreneurs, coaches, and all “marketing advice givers”:  Beware when someone asks to pick your brain because more times than not, they are picking your pocket You may think Joe is being a bit cynical when he says this…and the irony is that Joe is one of the ...

The idea of “eating your own dog food” is a literal reminder to be kind to your most valued family member (outside of your kids) whether you serve low-grade kibble or the most nutritious high-quality natural, organic food to your puppy. I guess with your kids that would be macaroni and cheese vs. fresh ...

Those of you who are regular readers of my blog know about my love of cinema…and that includes films across all eras…from the 1940’s (see the P.S.) …through all of the decades since…and into the present.  My favorite contemporary filmmaker/screenwriter is Quentin Tarantino…not only because his films are compelling and thought provoking…but also because ...

While I am not endorsing gun violence with this subject line, my recent “surgical adventure” got me thinking about this phrase…since after my recent surgery, my abdomen looks like I got into a knife fight…and lost. However, under any metric–the process leading up to surgery, the surgery itself, the recovery period so far, and ...

The subject line above–originally from a post I wrote in 2017 which had nothing to do with my health–still seemed apropos for today. And it still has nothing to do with my health. 🙂  If you have been reading my blog posts over the past couple of weeks, I alerted you about a health scare in “A ...

I don’t know about you, but whenever people talk about the “alphabet soup of generations” (X, Y, Z…with Boomers and Silent right behind them), I get confused…and I also get annoyed with all the stereotypes associated with each one. And then this appeared in my In Box last week: Gen Z: The New Entrepreneurs ...

While I don’t want to make these weekly blogs a chronicle of my health history, I have to say that for a healthy 63-year-old guy, I’ve had my share of serious health scares…three to be exact…and since I’m currently going through the third right now, I wanted to share the latest with you (in ...

Whatever career you choose for your life…or whatever career chooses you…it is never your career that defines you. It’s also not a “vocation” that defines you…although that gets a little closer to the roots of who you are, who you want to be, and what you want to share with the world. But that ...

Three years ago I attended an Ed Sheeran concert. If you don’t know who he is, and you are over 50 years old, you are not alone (as I found out before, during and after the concert). I was 60 years old at the time and I was clearly in the top 1% of ...