Author Archive
How Twitter is Destroying Your Mind
It’s called parsing. It means that you cannot think of anyone or anything over 140 characters long. Each letter, number, punctuation point and space counts as a character. Twitter rules as well as destroys.
As you probably have heard around the coffee shop, Twitter is now being [...]
Broadcast Your Message with Self Promotional Products
Who needs self promotional products? Anyone that is selling or promoting anything.
What most self-promoters need is a way to keep their name and contact info in front of their prospects or “suspects”; in short they need a message that keeps on messaging.
We all have received promotions in [...]
Website Marketing Fundamentals and Your Look and Feel Upgrade
If you are in business or are a professional, you probably have a website or are thinking about creating one. A website can be a powerful marketing tool if used correctly.
Your first consideration is to have your website fit in and be a part of you marketing strategy. You and [...]
Spontaneous Idea Generation is the Key to Creativity and Innovation
No one really knows how an idea is generated. From out of a mass of white and gray matter called the brain, an idea all of the sudden appears “out of the blue.”
Spontaneous idea generation is the mother of creativity. From the spontaneous idea arise concept, meaning, abstraction and innovation. [...]
Technical Troubleshooting at ATT Yahoo for Fun, Profit and Sheer Adventure
It’s not that AT&T is a small company. Neither is Yahoo. My webhosting says AT&T Yahoo, so that should make matters simple.
My monthly billings are exquisitely accurate as any charge possible anywhere throughout the AT&T Yahoo mega system finds its way to my invoice.
Be that as it may the [...]
How a Promotional Interview Can Benefit Your Business and Career
A promotional interview is a written interview conducted over a short period of time. The clear advantage of this type of interview is questions can be customized and careful reflection and consideration given prior to answering each question.
This means the interviewee is not under immediate pressure and has time to carefully [...]
Did Obama’s Arrogance Trump His Intelligence?
It was a masterful campaign right through to Texas. Just before Texas Obama admitted they had let up for a few days and could have perhaps won or closed the gap with a stronger finish.
This was to my recollection the first time Obama admitted his campaign had made a mistake. [...]
Is Traditional Politics Dead?
We Americans are a selfish bunch often becoming “patriotic” only when it helps our pocketbook.
Our vote has become a self interest vote which is part of democracy’s strength and also part of its weakness. The poor vote one way and the rich another; the poor vote hoping to get a free [...]
Is Traditional Politics Dead?
We Americans are a selfish bunch often becoming “patriotic” only when it helps our pocketbook.
Our vote has become a self interest vote which is part of democracy’s strength and also part of its weakness. The poor vote one way and the rich another; the poor vote hoping to get a free [...]
Is Traditional Politics Dead?
We Americans are a selfish bunch often becoming “patriotic” only when it helps our pocketbook.
Our vote has become a self interest vote which is part of democracy’s strength and also part of its weakness. The poor vote one way and the rich another; the poor vote hoping to get a free [...]
Is Traditional Politics Dead?
We Americans are a selfish bunch often becoming “patriotic” only when it helps our pocketbook.
Our vote has become a self interest vote which is part of democracy’s strength and also part of its weakness. The poor vote one way and the rich another; the poor vote hoping to get a free [...]
Is Your Own Personal “Comfort Zone” Holding You Back?
Recently a start-up social marketing Silicon Valley executive was quoted as saying “If you are comfortable when you launch your site you waited too late.”
In other words, if one felt comfortable then this secure, comfortable feeling was an indication that one had fallen behind the innovation curve, a detriment to success. [...]
How Internal Corruption Prevents the Economic Development of Indigenous Peoples
Visualize being in the indigenous Third World.
Imagine an indigenous populist political candidate from a populist political party running for mayor. This candidate campaigns throughout the countryside blaming the current local political administration of being corrupt, leaving the municipality in debt and not doing anything for “the people”.
As a [...]
New York Times Fooled by Mexican Populist Demagogue
In 2006 Mexico averted what would have been a disaster for Mexico, the United States and Latin America. Felipe Calderon of the PAN party narrowly defeated Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador or AMLO of the PRD party in one of the closest and most amazing national elections ever held in the Western Hemisphere.
In [...]
California Real Estate No Longer California Dreaming
“Locally the median price has dropped about $100,000 in 2007 and is expected to drop another $100,000 in 2008,” said the central coast California realtor, “but we are in better shape than many areas.”
Not too many years back realtors were knocking on doors trying to find listings because property values were shooting up. [...]
Why Search Engine Algorithms are Emphasizing Quality Content
If you hang around search engine marketers long enough you will hear them whisper about Google, Yahoo or MSN’s algorithms. Algorithms are a fancy way of saying “criteria”. A search engine’s algorithms are the criteria with which it picks, rates and displays search engine results.
Those that work daily on [...]
A Very Brief Recent History of Business Technology Applications
In the late 1990’s technology soared. It was the era of the dot.com boom and subsequent bust. Many new software and hardware advances were adopted by large companies that began to integrate new technologies into their business processes.
Some of these technologies were on the ‘bleeding edge’ with buggy software, crashes, [...]
The Worst Time to Sell Your Business is When Your Profits are Down
Julie and Michael owned their music business for over 25 years. Like all businesses they have had their ups and downs but in general business was pretty good. They had no formal exit strategy but eventually planned to sell their business and retire.
Over the years their business had grown [...]
Should Your Company Go Paperless?
What no paper? You have got to be kidding.
No, not really. Paperless started in a place called Silicon Valley where a few tech companies decided that paper was a relic just like the tape cassette and Corvair. Paper? We don’t need any stinkin’ paper…
And then there are those of us [...]
Changing Oil and Changing Times: The Independent Auto Repair Service Dilemma
If you see fewer auto repair shops in your area then you are witnessing a trend that is spreading throughout the auto repair industry. The small independent auto repair shop is getting squeezed by both the dealers and the ‘backyarders’ creating shrinking margins and putting many auto repair independents out of business. [...]
What is the Difference Between Sales and Marketing?
In traditional business, marketing is what brings your prospect to your door, gets them to call, send an email or in some cases actually buy. Sales is everything that happens after the prospect has contacted you.
Traditional business is still with us though it has clearly been evolving very rapidly in recent [...]
What are the Consequences of a Weak or Incomplete Search Engine Marketing Plan?
Sarah and her husband Sam run a construction supply company. They have put their life savings into their store and have stocked it with a deep and wide inventory of tools and supplies. Great care and planning went into their layout and merchandising and it is an impressive store. [...]
Free Tibet by Boycotting Chinese Goods, Olympic Advertisers and the Olympics
The timing could not have been worse or better depending on one’s perspective despite the efforts of the Chinese Communist Party to pull out all the stops to make sure the upcoming Summer Olympics is a great show. Too bad.
It’s certainly hard to penalize the athletes that have worked so [...]
Lessons in Life, Love and Culture from Popeye, Brutus, Olive Oyl and Wimpy
Who says America has no culture?
The plot wasn’t exactly Agatha Christie but then again Popeye was a kiddie cartoon. The central theme was Popeye and Brutus fighting over lovely Olive Oyl’s affections or love makes the world go around.
Even back then we had to wonder what was so attractive [...]
How to Leverage Your ‘Touch Points’ When Building Web-Based Marketing Strategies
‘Touch points’ can be defined as those customer contacts that are critical to your sales process and sales cycle. An easy way to determine these touch points is to map out, flow chart or whiteboard your sales process from first customer contact through completed sale to ongoing follow up.
Some [...]
Reactive vs. Strategic or Who Really Cares if Your Company is a Dinosaur?
It happens in business, it happens in politics, it happens in life. There are those that wait for things to happen and there are those that make things happen.
There are those that are in control and those that are controlled.
There are those that have concluded it is [...]
Eulogy for Elma or All That Matters is What We Do Between Birth and Death
Elma died last Friday and today we went to the funeral. There were a good number of people in the church but most of them in their eighties. Elma had a lot of friends. There were some tears and some sniffling but mostly there were smiles and warm greetings. Elma [...]
We All Learn by Falling Down or Negative Reinforcement is a Great Teacher
My editor and I were sitting on a bench on the edge of a park discussing my awkward syntax when we noticed a young boy walking with his father. At the edge of the swings and slide area was a wooden border about one foot high.
The little boy was balancing on this wooden mini-fence [...]
Marketing and Sales: An Evolutionary Process
In business, not much happens until a transaction is agreed upon. The strategy of how to make these transactions occur is called marketing. The techniques and procedures for closing the sale is called sales.
Without sales, there is no business.
The successful business is always looking at ways to improve the strategy and process. [...]
A Riviera Maya Caribbean Beach Camping Trip or Which Way is Bacalar?
In the very dim early morning light I hear a large truck pull up just down the beach from us. I look out the tent window and see men with guns getting out of the back. Either these are bandidos, the Zapatistas invading Quintana Roo or the Mexican Army. Fortunately for us, it’s the [...]
Breakthrough Employees or How Does Our Company Get To Where We Want To Go?
There are employees and then there are breakthrough employees. Once in a blue moon the average company hires someone that can make a dramatic difference. This is usually done by chance in the routine hiring process…someone retires, quits or is fired and someone else is hired to take their place.
The sheer number of hires [...]
Business Intelligence and Business Espionage or Why Don’t We Just Call It Spying?
The nasty word ’spying’ conjures up images of hidden cameras, microphones and James Bond. “Hey, watcha doin’, spying on me”? For some reason one is supposed to feel very much intimidated by being spied upon. A big social issue in the United States is how much surveillance should be “allowed” by government [...]
Business Writing: What You Write is a Direct Reflection on You and Your Company
One of the true laments from management today is that employees cannot express themselves with the written word. Owners and stockholders have the same complaints about management. Today in the age of the paperless office the importance of the written word is increasing especially as direct live voice contact becomes more and [...]
Do You Have the Right Compensation, Incentive and Bonus Plan or It’s All About Me, Me, Me
Like the rat in the cage we are driven by rewards. It’s only human and also perhaps rat nature. Suffice it to say it’s nature.
So when compensation, the reward, becomes stagnant so does productivity. If like rats we are paid by the time we spend in the cage, then [...]
The Quality Line or If Your Customer Doesn’t Perceive It, Does It Matter?
You get what you pay for is the consumer’s mantra. Common sense knows that if it costs less it is more likely of inferior quality.
Unfortunately quality is relative and subjective and even unwieldy. For that reason and common sense the value the customer puts on quality is where the [...]
The Knowledge and Ideas Paradox or If It’s Contrarian It Might Actually Work
I recently met a colleague I had not seen for some years. His life work has been in a somewhat esoteric branch of the financial industry.
We had a pleasant chat which eventually turned to the discussion of each other’s work. He freely brought me up to date on what he [...]
How Data Mining and Internal Marketing Can Boost Your Sales
Data mining is a niche marketing method that allows you to link data to your customer and prospect profile. This data allows you to market directly to those that are most likely to need, want and be able purchase your goods and services.
Conceptually this dramatically increases your probability for a sale. [...]
Begone Doom and Gloomers: Why You Should Stay on the Sunnyside of Life
That’s it. No more sad stories. No more long faces. We just can’t take it anymore. We, the moral supporters, staff and affiliates are on strike.
We are on strike against doom and gloomers. We are on strike against those that continue insisting the sky is falling.
There is no joy in Mudville. Nor in Cupertino or [...]
Corporate Culture: A Tale of Two Contrasting Companies
Corporate culture is loosely defined as the attitudes, behaviors and personalities that make up a company. In other words, it is how we view our work, ourselves, and how that qualifies and determines our look and feel. Culture is us.
If we accept this general definition, the next thought is: how does it apply? [...]
Workplace Humor or When Was the Last Time You Had Fun at Work?
Business is serious stuff.
Costs must not exceed revenues. Employees must be hired, fired, reviewed, evaluated, compensated and motivated. Managers must walk the tightrope of viewing employees both as resources and costs. The competition is brutal.
What does it say about a business when we walk in and find stressed, grumpy, resentful employees? [...]
