If you had a one day business trip that included a four hour delay on the way there (for an hour and half flight) and a 6 hour delay coming home (including a re-route and an extra stopover due to a cancelled flight), I’m sure you would ask, “was that really worth it?” That’s ...
My recent trip to Africa gave new meaning to what it means to be grateful—and I also learned that “mentorship” is a global phenomenon. I was moved to tears on more than one occasion watching the kids at the Sanimarco School care for each other in such profound ways—no “Mean Girls” or petty fighting ...
Many of you have been encouraging me to do more video for these weekly blog posts–and you have also stressed to me that there is nothing to fear even if we can all be somewhat “camera shy” on occasion. And while video blogs are so much easier to create than writing something new every ...
In honor of France winning the World Cup in soccer, I wanted to share three (3) short videos with you that I recorded with my friend, “The French Marketer,” Sebastien Night. Sebastien has hosted some of the largest marketing events in France (ever) and he is recognized as one of the leading online marketers in ...
What if I told you I had a video for you today of Socrates, Alexander The Great and Gene Schwartz on stage presenting live? I bet you would watch it, right? Sadly, those three guys are no longer with us (although I really tried to get them for you). Instead, I got three “stand-ins” who ...
The first thing I do when I take on a new client (or on board someone into one of my mastermind groups) is to have a conversation with them that begins with: “Where were you…where are you now…and where would you like to go?” Since the people I like working with the most are ...
“Seek feedback from disagreeable people. Find a few people who are critical and skeptical by nature, and ask them to tear your idea apart. The tough love will be valuable.” – Adam Grant I’m not sure why I ask for the bad news first whenever someone says they have good news and bad ...
If David Ogilvy can practice humility, we all can. Of course Ogilvy saying he’s a “lousy copywriter” might be a little too much self-deprecation…but it illustrates a point…and it is a good reminder that it’s OK to brag about our accomplishments but we also need to stay humble while doing so. I’ve told a ...
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar” -David Ogilvy The subject line of this email was the best eighty cents I ever spent…and those of you who have been ...
So it’s another “Hallmark Holiday” in the U.S. today–this one is just to get some equal time for Dads when Mother’s Day is the one that really matters…down deep us Dads know that’s true. But I want to celebrate (whether you are a Dad or not) and I have two free gifts for you…however I need ...
Our industry lost two greats last week, Audri and Jim Lanford. I met Audri and Jim in January of 2000 when they hosted (with Jay Abraham), the “Billion Dollar Internet Strategy Setting Summit and Custom Marketing Makeover Process” . How’s that for an outrageous promise? It was one of those events like “The Bencivenga 100” or “The Titans of ...
Whether you want to admit it or not, you are an expert in something. And sharing your expertise with the world is not only a good thing to do on a regular basis, I will maintain that it is actually “irresponsible” for you to keep your best stuff to yourself. On the other side of ...
Whether you think you are a “visual person” or not, you are…we all are. And making sure anyone and everyone can understand you instantly (and they can also remember more of what you say or write) should always be your highest priority. Using images which your “listener” or “reader” can de-code for themselves into ...
…which believe it or not, does not make me sad. I admit that thinking about all of the greats of direct marketing who we have lost makes me reflective and sometimes a little melancholy…but I wouldn’t trade the experience of having the best mentors in the world over the last 40 years (despite outliving ...
I grew up in a family of teachers…my dad, grandfather, sister and many aunts and uncles all chose teaching as their profession (and my Dad eventually became an elementary school Principal to boot).I guess that is why teaching is in my blood despite not making it my ultimate career choice. But maybe I did ...
I just returned from a week in Cleveland and before you say, “why would you do a thing like that?,” I will simply say to you that Cleveland gets a bad rap. It’s a beautiful city. And having a Titans Master Class mastermind meeting there with special guest Dan Kennedy certainly made the city more brilliant ...
Please don’t take the subject line above or the short video below too literally…and I hope you will watch it since the concept is so important. Simply put, the words we use matter. I promised myself and all of you a long time ago that I would never use this blog to rant (and ...
As I approach my 60th birthday next month, I’ve been thinking a lot about the life journey we are all on, one that seems to go in three stages: Youth Middle age “You look good!” (I read that in an article shared by a friend in our online family after my post last week and ...
Or better yet, “when death comes knocking, be busy.” I heard this quote this past week and it resonated with me on a number of levels. I have to admit that when I heard it, I couldn’t help but think about the last scene in Woody Allen’s Love and Death, when Boris (the lead character Woody plays) ...
In the early 1980s, baseball writer Thomas Boswell wrote a book called How Life Imitates the World Series. As a lifelong, diehard baseball fan, I loved this title and I will tell you why in a moment. And if you don’t like baseball or if you are unaware baseball is even a sport, I promise ...
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