My sister and her family came to visit from Ohio. They’re Catholics and very right wing. They live on a farm and have guns and shoot varmints.
They home-school their children and have a goat share where they sell shares of a goat in exchange for a certain amount of goat milk each month. They do this to get around a law prohibiting the sale of unpasturized milk.
My sister tells me with grim seriousness “Oh you don’t understand…Obama is a bad bad man…he’s not who you think he is. He’s not …

Jim Rohn talked about the difference between those who are successful and those who are not as being not great. A series of small steps in one direction or the other will set us on our course either to failure or success.
I’ve witnessed this truth many times among friends, family and myself.  We fail to do the right thing and our lives suffer. Failing to do the right thing doesn’t always mean doing glaringly wrong things like cheating on your spouse, committing fraud, or not paying your taxes.
Failing to do …

Information - can’t live with it, can’t live without it.
An interesting book came out a few years back by a guy named Andrew Keen called the Cult of the Amateur “How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture.” While I didn’t agree with everything in Keen’s biting critique of what he considered the “Cult of the Amateur,” I found the book thought provoking.
Ever read forums? I sometimes read marketing and copywriting related forums. Often I can see Keen’s ideas played out -  amateurs distributing information second or third hand without stopping …

Effective communications strategy…do you have one?
In my former life as creative director we would always start with the defining project document known as the “Creative Brief.”
This document also known as a “Design Brief” , “Project Brief” , or “Marketing Brief” is crucial. It is the bare minimum requirement for any creative project and will always come in handy.
Here’s why a creative brief is important. The brief outlines the communications strategy and should be used as a beacon to direct company wide communications doctrine and critical to your brand.
Some of you …

I don’t usually like adding exclamation points to my writing but…today I felt one necessary. Why? Because losing money (Or your means of survival is important).
Today’s post is a sad one but it didn’t have to be.
For those of you who don’t know me, much of my income (aside from my own internet marketing and products) comes from copywriting, designing, and consulting.
I have been involved with marketing for over 10 years and have worked my ranks from designer, to copywriter, to creative director, to business development specialist, and marketing manager …

I’ll admit, social media is one of my weak areas. That said, I’m not letting that hold me back. Instead, I am studying friends who are really good at social media. I have also invested a few dollars learning how to leverage my social media efforts for my business.
I have a good friend Dan. He isn’t into marketing at all. In fact he’s a carpenter. But…Dan is an incredible networker both online and off. I have been all over with Dan and remarkably on nearly every trip we’ve taken (as …

Personal development and business guru Jim Rohn died this past week on Thursday December the 5th. Throughout his lifetime Jim Rohn touched many peoples lives with his books, CDs, and Seminars including myself.
We all need people with good judgment, sound morals, discipline, and wisdom to guide us. Man cannot go far without the help of others who are better, more knowledgeable and wiser. We need others to raise us up to see what is possible.
Jim Rohn was one of those people with the gift of bringing out the best in …

Let me tell you a story. Shortly after I published my books and people caught wind of what I was doing something happened. Everyone I talked to who learned that I had published a couple of books started telling me that all their lives they wanted to write and publish a book too.
Most people never got beyond the talking stage. But…one of my colleagues James put something together.
I remember talking with him one day and him telling me he had a friend who did…ballsack tricks. Wait…I know. I thought to …

Here’s another video to help you get more familiar with using WordPress. This is the last in this series unless someone writes in and requests another one.
Sorry…I tried to keep this from being to boring but…It just isn’t that fun sitting at your computer watching some guy give you a tutorial.
I hope this tutorial encourages you to play around with WordPress because it can be a lot of fun. If you do decide to make changes to your themes just make sure you have a backup copy of the original …

I though you guys might like this Ted Nicholas video. Good stuff, so simple. A gem.

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I was someone who struggled with math growing-up. I liked math and wanted to do well  but had horrible test anxiety. My college math experience was so bad. One day I went to my instructor and plead with him to pass me through my final math class.
I had already taken the class and dropped it two or three times.  I was doing okay on the homework but I was bombing the tests. Much to my terror my pleading didn’t work. My instructor told me the worst thing possible. “Hmm…Well…let’s say …

If you are going to be an entrepreneur or solopreneur you’ve got to be a leader.  You are captain at the helm and unless you steer your ship nobody will steer it for you.
I see people buying course after course, waiting for one of those courses to have some magic formula that propels them toward instant success. It just doesn’t work that way, and the more I have thought about why people fail in their businesses or fail to make the most from courses they buy the more I think …

Remember dreaming about all the things you would do and be and have growing up? If your life is anything like mine then you know that the reality of adult life doesn’t necessarily play out like the dreams of childhood.

I have climbed more than a few mountains and yet the most difficult mountain to climb has been the mountain of entrepreneurial success. There is no set pathway or trail, the climb is long and steep, many times we are surrounded by people we need to carry or pull up the mountain, we are in charge of planning, logistics, mapping, charting, organizing the expedition, operational details and execution.

By David Ogilvy
Ogilvy & Mather has created over $1,480,000,000 worth of advertising. Here, with all the dogmatism of brevity are 38 of the things we have learned.
1.  The most important decision. We have learned that the effect of your advertising on your sales depends more on this decision than on any other: how should you position your product? Should you position Schweppes as a soft drink – or as a mixer?  Should you position Dove as a product for dry skin or as a product which gets hands …

I am definitely a broken record when it comes to learning by doing. You can read, and read, and read but unless you get out there and do something nothing is going to happen.
Of course we can’t act on all that we read but…I know people who read everything on self help and personal development but who have been in the same place in life for years. They certainly have the foundations to do something to improve their lives but  never act.
The online world can be another great place to …

Yes, you heard me right. You can get personalized one-on-one attention from former senior executives in nearly every field you can imagine for almost free.
I recently attended a workshop put on by the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE). I was blown away by the knowledge of the seminar presenters and high quality workshop materials. I have spent thousands attending  seminars that weren’t as good as the marketing workshop I attended for $49 bucks.
SCORE is a great resource for anyone in business in America (unfortunately SCORE is only in America). …

Nice little video of the late David Ogilvy founder of advertising giant Ogilvy and Mather discussing direct response advertising.

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The least memorable products or advertising campaigns or companies are those with  a wishy washy story. Their boundaries are ill defined and because of that they suffer. They try too hard to be all things to all people. They make few enemies and because of that they make few friends.
Get your story straight.  Your business or your product needs a story. Not just any story, a good story. Lets look at five qualities of a good story and relate them back to our businesses.

Interesting (and polarizing) characters. Yeah, that’s right, …

Last night a friend and I attended a raffle at a gym where I am a member. For months posters and other promotional material had been advertising the gym’s five year anniversary.
Up for grabs were trips to Vegas and Hawaii, massage and spa packages, a beach cruiser and a big screen TV. Raffle tickets were given to members based on the number of non members they brought to the event.
Even though I knew this was a blatant membership drive I still decided to go.  I figured we could sit and …