When I was invited to be a guest on a webinar with two of my marketing heroes, Perry Marshall and John Carlton, which Perry titled, “How to Galvanize Your Audience with a Pulse-Pounding RANT,” I asked “why would you want me for such an event?” After all, I am the nicest guy in direct marketing and the idea ...

I love the story about one of the most intimidating athletes of all time “feeling like a sissy”–and the lessons we can learn from it. Wilt Chamberlain, arguably one of the best basketball players of all time, a gifted and skilled player who also happened to be over 7 feet tall (affectionately called “Wilt ...

I prepared a short video for you this week on some less talked about “leadership principles”–in terms of management and marketing–which I believe need to be talked about a lot more.  . The video is only around 7 minutes and I hope you will watch it and send any thoughts or feedback. It’s a topic that has resonated with ...

The response to last week’s post, “Your smart phone will not reverse aging” got more in-depth response than almost any post I have sent in the last four years. And while most of the responses supported the premise that marketing to an “older demographic” is nothing to be ashamed of (and that it might be a ...

I have spent most of my marketing career targeting a “mature” demographic (55+ would be on the young side, 65+ more the norm, and 75+ not out of the ordinary). And hardly a week has gone by without someone lecturing me about the dangers of having an audience that is “too old.” Some even ...

…well, almost. In last week’s post, “Tuesday with Dan,” I shared some universal marketing concepts that I previously didn’t know, or had somehow forgotten — and in a couple of instances, I just needed a kick in the pants from Dan Kennedy to keep them top of mind. I made those concepts sound like they are ...

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 ...

“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 ...