Blog

Imagine you’re waiting in line at the airport. A really LONG line. BAD NEWS: you’ve missed your connecting flight. There’s no way you’ll make it to your meeting on time. After about twenty-five frustrating minutes, you finally approach the counter. You throw down your luggage, put your hands on your hips and exclaim, “You know, I’ve been waiting here for nearly half an hour!” And the first words out…

(To read part 1 of this series, click here!) Cha-Ching In 1882, John Patterson’s retail store was losing money. Unfortunately he couldn’t handle all the transactions himself. There was no way to stop money from leaking. He was headed for bankruptcy. Then he heard about a strange device being used in Dayton Ohio. It actually enforced the correct recording of daily sales! After incorporating one of these crude machines…

This is a continuation of last week’s popular post, Sticky Note Your Way to Success, Part 1. To quickly summarize, the following motivational, thought provoking questions are to be written with a big fat Sharpie on a sticky note and posted in your office, car or bathroom. WARNING: this exercise may lead to incredible success. 5. What did you write today? Every time a new friend or client comes…

For the second year in a row, Colchester, CT is celebrating Annual Nametag Day! Jason Cohen and I (mainly Jay) started this holiday back in 2006. This year we actually got a decent amount of local press, thanks to all the hype around my new friend Joe Porcelli from Neighbors for Neighbors who (unrelated, believe it or not) wore a nametag every day for the past year. Way to…

There’s no such thing as a motivational speaker. Not even Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Norman Vincent Peale or Napoleon Hill were motivational speakers. Sure, those were five highly motivated dudes. And sure, those guys definitely spoke about the topic of motivation. BUT REMEMBER THIS: the only person in the world who can motivate you is YOU. As an author, speaker an entrepreneur myself, I’ve become skilled at…

So I just came across a book from 1959 called Ideas That Became Big Business, by Clinton Woods. It was a buck. How could I not buy it? I finally finished it today. And it might be the most fascinating book on creativity I’ve ever read. Ever. Among Woods’ 100+ examples, nine stories stood out in my mind. Each had several valuable lessons within. This will be the first…

A is for ATTITUDE B is for BREAK PATTERNS C is for CONSISTENCY D is for DISCIPLINE E is for EVOLUTION F is for FRIENDLINESS G is for GOOD WITH NAMES H is for HAPPINESS I is for IDEAS J is for JOY K is for KNOWLEDGE L is for LAUGHTER M is for MUNDANE N is for NAMETAGS O is for OFF BUTTON P is for PAINT YOURSELF…

The other day I overheard a lady talking about her company website. “That’s why I don’t list my ‘real’ email on the contact page,” she said, “I don’t want to deal with all that spam.” Here’s why that comment irked me… See, I get about 50-100 SPAM emails a day. What happens is, spam comes in. Gmail nicely organizes them into my spam folder. And the end of the…

People communicate in three different ways. (Well, actually, people probably communicate in a thousand different ways, but…) It’s usually visually, auditory or kinesthetic. And although most people have some combination of all three, one in particular is usually dominant. As a result, match your own words and speed to appeal to their communication style: 1. If you meet someone who is a visual person, they will use pictures, images…

Over the years I’ve had so many lunches with so many people, I can’t even keep them straight. My guess is, it’s probably somewhere around the 300’s. Many of these invitations come via email or phone; often from people who: (a) sat in one of my audiences, (b) bought one of my books, (c) stumbled across my website or (d) read about me somewhere. I’m always honored to receive…