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One of the early lessons I learned about speaking (and business, in general) was from Lou Heckler. (Man, talk about a great last name for a humorist, huh?) Anyway, here’s what Lou told me in 2003. I’ll never forget it: There are three kinds of speakers in the world. First, there’s a GOOD speaker. After he’s done with his talk, audience members come up to him, shake his hand…

“Inspiration comes unannounced.” Powerful words. Something I figured out about a year ago. It means that writing, innovation (or any creative endeavor, for that matter) is a function of “plucking.” Pay attention, listen, watch, observe (through your personal filters); then capture those inspired ideas onto paper, expand on them, and ultimately share them with the world. Inspiration comes unannounced. Got it. But therein lies the paradox. See, (my hero)…

When I started my company in 2003, I knew the competition was fierce. I knew there were thousands of other authors, speakers and consultants out there. And I knew that most of them were twice my age, had three times my knowledge and four times my experience. Yikes. Then I heard fellow author/speaker Larry Winget say, “You have no right to write a book on a subject unless you’ve…

Gitomer’s back! His new book, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way hits the stores today! I’ve already read it, and it ROCKS. A few excerpts I liked: *Being a person of influence means that you have a reputation, character, credibility and stature enough that people will take your message seriously. *Practice with passion. If you don’t love what you do, practicing will be a chore. If you…

In 1999, Seth Godin wrote a book called Permission Marketing. In addition to selling the book on Amazon, Seth also offered it as a downloadable ebook … for free. The ENTIRE book. For nothing. A publishing first! Not only did millions of people download it… Not only did millions of people tell their friends about it… But millions of people also BOUGHT Seth’s book too. And it would later…

Great success comes from great thinking. Which means you must surround yourself with great thinkers. In person. On the phone. Through books Via the Internet. Your challenge is to expose yourself TO and constantly learn FROM as many great thinkers as possible. The following list takes you through many of my favorite thinkers and the various paradigm-changing ideas and thinking patterns I gleaned from them. Some are mentors. Some…

If you’re self-employed like me, wall motivation decorations can do you some good. To keep yourself on point. To keep yourself motivated. To keep yourself accountable. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been obsessed with wall decorations. From my house growing up to my college apartments to my present office, “no white space” has always been my motto. (I learned everything from my big brother Steve.) I even…

“So, Scott, what’s your marketing plan?” It was the first time anyone ever asked me that question. “Um…yeah. I have no idea,” I laughed. Maybe because I didn’t realize I needed one. Maybe because I wasn’t big on writing out long, detailed plans. Maybe because I just wanted to get my company started, rather then waste time planning. Either way, I was inspired to give that question some serious…

One of my favorite books on creative thinking is How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, by Michael Gelb. It suggests making a list of 100 questions. About business. About life. About anything! (According to Gelb, the best questions will come towards the end.) It sounded liked a neat exercise. So I tried it a few weeks ago. And I came up with a few good ones: #45: Do…

People rarely get mad at a speaker for going short. People rarely get mad at a writer for keeping it short. People rarely get mad at a businessperson who was too easy to reach. People rarely get mad at a businessperson who gave too much value first. People rarely get mad at a boss who listened too much. People rarely get mad at a blogger for giving away too…