Stepping out onto that glass ledge
Did you hear about the glass floor, 1,353 feet up at the Willis Tower in Chicago, that cracked this week? When you’re standing in a transparent box, with nothing between you and the sidewalk except air, the last thing you want to hear is breaking glass. Now, it wasn’t actually the glass that shattered, it…
Angry birds and copycats
My house is under attack from a pair of angry robins! It’s breeding season – and the birds are getting territorial. And every now and again, they think they see another robin in my windows. So they attack! Of course, it’s just a reflection… this is a battle these robins will never win. Many real…
Reasons why people leave us
Let me open the kimono a little about my business. As you know, we offer a free trial of our newsletters. You get access to everything for 30 days before we charge you. Of the people who join, about 70% go on to become paying clients. Some of the ones who leave do it because…
Give me plain over pretty
I watched the movie Capote this weekend. (Actually, to tell the truth, I fell asleep halfway through. I always do. Never seen the end of a movie.) Anyway… Playing Truman Capote was the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. It’s a terrific performance. One of the things I liked most about Hoffman is that he was…
Circle around or drive and walk?
There are few things in life more frustrating than a full parking lot. It’s like a game of hide-and-seek – with the added risk of a ding from a reversing vehicle. I think there are two strategies to win in this situation. 1. Keep circling around until someone happens to be leaving, then grab their…
Your ‘dog-whistle’ newsletter
If you listen to the political pundits on TV (I don’t recommend it), you might have come across the term “dog-whistle” issues. These are the topics that are of special interest to dye-hard conservatives or liberals, but which don’t have much resonance with the other side. Dog-whistle issues are used to rouse interest in the…
From flame wars to brighter lives
Oh, you’ve gotta love a Facebook flame war. You know, where the comments section gets completely out of hand.I just read one, and because it was about website content, I thought I would share it with you. Basically, one person said that no one reads the content of websites. Then another person said that statement…
Maple syrup and a big box of toys
We took our three and five-year-old nephews to the pancake barn this weekend. It’s a fun place. They tap the maple trees in the woodlot behind the building and the sap is piped to the room next to the restaurant where it is boiled down into syrup at the end of every winter. Good pancakes…
A secret vice, the sidebar of shame, and marketing they’ll actually look forward to
It’s confession time today. One of my secret vices is reading The Daily Mail’s website. Have you seen it yet? The editors of that British newspaper website are pretty smart – they’ve created something that is horribly addictive. All human life is there. And, frankly, a lot of it ain’t that pretty – especially the…
You and Ellen and Oprah
It’s a funny world we live in. For example, when Oprah or Ellen DeGeneres or a Kardashian say something, people listen – even though more often than not these stars have nothing particularly valuable to say on the subject. That’s the power of celebrity. Now, even though you’re not as famous as they are, you…
Small town, big relationships
I live in a small town. Very small.You can’t walk down the street without running into someone you know. You can’t use the crosswalk without a friendly honk from a neighbor. And you can’t line up at the grocery store without catching up on the day’s news. Although there’s a little of the Truman Show…
Use them just like coffee flour
When coffee beans are extracted from their shells prior to roasting, a by-product called coffee cherry is left over. Until now, there was nothing much that could be done with this reddish pulp, so lots of coffee cherry went to waste (and was a big source of water pollution at coffee mills). Then came along…
You’re the perfect brew for some
Last night the radio station interviewed a craft brewer who is setting up in the county. Craft beers, as you probably know, are big right now. This guy has eight beers coming out – and they’re all different. An IPA, a lager, a dark ale… you get the picture. A beer for every taste. Even…
Motivation makes Mondays easier
I was reading How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton M. Christensen this weekend. Great book. I highly recommend it. Early on in the book, Christensen talks about career choices. He makes the point that there are two things that keep you happy at work: the “hygiene” factors and the “motivation” factors. The hygiene…
Unplugged, free and creative
We had a power outage up here yesterday. Five hours of computer-free bliss. The café upstairs provided free cupcakes to people on main street because the icing was about to go bad. People sat around and chatted. This kind of unplugged time is healthy. I’ve heard it said that your best work is done when…
Pink flowers, rainbow chairs and happy shoppers
I noticed two signs of spring this week in the part of the world I inhabit. First were the little pink flowers that are poking up through the leaf litter in the woods. Everything else seems dead – but here were some tiny shoots of hope. And second was the rainbow of differently coloured Adirondack…
It all starts with just one tooth
Just floss one of your teeth. That was the advice I heard from a dentist once. It hardly sounds like good oral hygiene, does it? But it reality, it was sound advice. For anyone who has fallen out of the flossing habit, climbing back into the routine can be tough. When you’re told that you…
You never know what, you never know when
Here’s a funny thing you will discover when you start sending newsletters: Certain articles at certain times will trigger response from a client. It will surprise you when something in your newsletter speaks so directly to someone. When you write on a variety of topics, some of those topics will resonate with certain clients or…
Success with dead tree marketing
I had a guy come round my house with a chainsaw this weekend. I’ve got too many maples and birches, and they’re threatening to take over. I can’t see the woods for the trees. So now, after a lot of noisy gnawing, I’ve got a bunch of dead trees on the ground. “Dead tree marketing”…
Too busy to market, too poor to market
Life is great when business is doing well. Yes, you’re busy, but the money is coming in. All is right with the world. Until, of course, it isn’t. When business slows, sunny days turn to rain. It’s a relief that you have time to breathe, but you’re not making money either. Many business owners suffer…