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I heard an interview with a successful comedian whose advice to young performers was, hit the ceiling where you are. Don’t become a local hero. Once you get hot, leave. Otherwise you’ll grow in complacency instead of growing in competency.  I spent the first ten years of my career working in a medium sized city. Which was perfect for that stage of my career, but eventually, I had reached…

Ideas are free, execution is priceless. That’s been my mantra since day one of starting my business. It’s also the title of a book I wrote a few years back. You can download it for free here. But here’s the problem. I’m an idea junkie. Everything I look at in the world breaks down into a collection of ideas. I have about fifty new ones every day, and sadly, I…

A colleague of mine loves to ask the following strategic question at the start of every year.  How could I spend no money this year?  It’s a fascinating small business strategy, as it forces the owner to cut, cut, cut, cut down to the bone, removing everything extraneous from the enterprise, running as lean of an operation as they possibly can.  I envy people who think this way. Frugality…

Success never comes unassisted.  We’re never unpartnered, no matter how fiercely independent we might feel. There are always invisible hands that have our back.  And so, when somebody gives you advice or insight or encouragement, they don’t want you to take notes, they want you to take action. They want you to go out in the world and make a difference. In return, all they ask is that you…

Mediocrity rises to the top.  It’s not just rewarded, it’s demanded. And every time I encounter another example of it, I feel like putting my fist through the wall.  Because I think to myself, wow, I’m working way too hard. I’ve had integrity every day of my life and it hasn’t made me a dime. What gives?  Like when yet another businesses treats content as the filler material that…

I was emailing a friend of mine recently, and his inbox sent me a fascinating autoresponder.  As many of you may know, it said, I have thirty thousand unread messages attached to this account. But in a move to get better organized and rid myself of unwanted spam, I am starting over with a new email address. Please resend accordingly. Freeeeeedom!  I could almost feel the liberation oozing through…

I have a friend who runs a relocation company.  Mergenthaler specializes in commercial moving, from local to national to international. Of course, there are seven thousand other moving companies in the country. Relocation is a twelve billion dollar industry. And so, the question is, why do customers choose them over the competitors?  Listen to this. Every time a team of movers shows up at the business they’re scheduled to…

Reacher once said that life was built out of freak chances, however much people would like to pretend otherwise. And so, we shouldn’t waste our time fantasizing how things might have been different, burning our energy away with useless speculation.  It’s a helpful mantra for dealing with the unsettling uncertainties of life. Specifically, when it comes to our work. Because we can pore over the metrics on sales and readers and…

People are tired, busy, hungry and horny. They know everything, they need nothing, and they’re not changing their mind about anything. They’re going do what they’re going to do, and there’s not much we can do about it.  And so, before we even attempt to educate, inspire, persuade, influence, motivate and fix people, job number one is to entertain them. To distract them. To hold their attention pleasantly. To…

All creativity begins with the moment of conception. That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here. Based on my books in The Prolific Series, I’m going…