As the U.S. presidential elections draw closer, I’ve noticed that many businesses, whose products and services have absolutely nothing to do with politics, are either posting about or interacting with political content on social media. And I’m not talking about office politics here. I am referring to real-world—“Is Trump the reincarnation of Hitler?”—politics. I’ve been Read more about Why Your Business Should Not Engage in Politics[…]
“Keeping your clients happy is an art in itself, involving skills that you acquire with time and experience. It’s something essential to your business that will ensure satisfaction for your client and make your life easier.” It may seem impossible to reach a point where both you and your client(s) are equally happy with the terms Read more about How to Keep Your Clients Happy (Without Compromising Your Happiness!)[…]
Does friendship affect Journalism? Last month I noticed Dave Winer’s tweet about so-called access journalism: The Sullivan piece crosses access journalism by talking about it. This is forbidden by unwritten rules.1w1.r2.ly — Dave Winer ☮ (@davewiner) December 14, 2012 The emphasis there is mine. I care about journalism, was a journalist for years, have a grad degree Read more about Are Tech Conferences Distorting the Business News?[…]
Nice piece in Forbes from last week, called Your “Cool” Startup Sucks, by Brent Beshore. Great put-down for cool startups: Newsflash: your cool startup sucks. Cool doesn’t address a market need. Cool doesn’t solve a problem. Cool doesn’t generate revenue. Cool doesn’t allow you to see your deficiencies. Cool isn’t valuable. Cool is just, well, cool. Read more about Here’s Some Good Advice About Cool Startups[…]
Pictures, words, lots of ideas. If one picture equals 1,000 words, how many ideas does it generate? Is there a transitive property there? I had time over the weekend to pick up two unrelated pictures. Each covers something entirely different. Both are full of ideas. The first, a chart by Seth Godin: This is one Read more about 2 Pictures, 200 Words, Lots of Ideas.[…]
Some times the right road isn’t the easiest way to go. Let’s talk about what it takes to build social media connections. The vocabulary varies from Facebook to Twitter to Google+ to LinkedIn, but the idea is the same. In that great online conversation, the amplified word of mouth, as a business you engage because Read more about Beware of Bot or Bought Fake Social Media[…]
More than 40 years ago I spent a miserable summer trying to sell encyclopedias door to door. I hated it. I was terrible at it. And I hated the whole mystique of it: There were trainings on how to get through the door and how to trick people into buying what they didn’t need. And Read more about 10 Tips for Being Great at Sales Without Being Sleazy[…]
Whether you like it or not, silly or not, superficial or not, it’s sillier and more superficial to just ignore these obvious grammar goofs and think people who see them are just nitpicking. It’s about respecting your readers. That’s my opinion. Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger. This list and graphic Read more about 15 Grammar Goofs That Make You Look Bad[…]
The other shoe dropping: Business Insider posted This Company Will Expose All Your Most Embarrassing Online Moments a few days ago. It’s about a service company that helps employers by doing a social-media online background check on a potential employee. It was more than two years ago that I first saw a business plan for Read more about New Game: Social Media Snooping vs. Social Media Cleansing[…]
By guru business I mean the expert business, and particularly the one-person expert business. I mean consultant, coach, adviser, researcher, business hired gun, life coach, trainer, and so on. I mean a person who makes a living by selling (real or imagined) expertise, experience, and knowledge. I was a business planning consultant for most of Read more about 3 Tech Benefits and 1 Threat for Guru Businesses[…]