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About a year ago I read an article from USA Today that stated: “8 out of every 10 Americans want to write a book; but less that ONE will actually do it.” Sound about right? Well, think about it: how many people (yourself included) have ever said, “I would love to write a book someday!” My guess is, a lot. And after being involved with the St. Louis Publishers…

Elevator speeches. 60 Second Commercials. 30 Second Commercials. Personal Introductions. Networking Introductions. Defining Statements. Positioning Statements. Ahhhhhhhhhh! Which one do you use? And when? And with whom? Tough question. Especially because since the early 90’s, tens of thousands of articles, books, manuals and guides have been written on the topic of networking. And all of them address various techniques on how to answer the question: “So, what do you…

This was my first time purchasing a copy of Cosmo Magazine. And I gotta say, it was kinda awkward. Especially because it was 10:30 PM and I was flipping through the pages in the middle of the store like a maniac, eagerly trying to locate the quiz. Luckily nobody else was in there. When I approached the desk I lugged 10 copies of the January issue onto the counter….

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later – I have officially jumped onto the Podcast Bandwagon! Thanks to some help from my friend, colleague and fellow podcaster Bob Baker, the first episode of “HELLO, my name is Podcast” is now available for download, streaming and XML subscription. For those of you who are new to this technology (like me), here’s how you can tune in: You can…

Every summer I lead a workshop for YPO’s Junior Leadership University in Leysin, Switzerland. This year I met a lot of awesome kids, some of whom are pictured above. One student, Cam Scheible (bottom row, first on the left), recently IM’ed me with some great news. Since the beginning of the school year, Cam has actually been wearing a nametag every day at school! What’s more, the school paper…

A few months ago I sat down with all of my highlighted books, notes, seminar handouts, favorite quotations, classic one-liners and all other priceless pieces of business advice that have accumulated over the past 5 years. Originally, it started out as a brainstorming exercise in which I wrote 100 pieces of business advice on 100 Post It Notes as a “Wall of Motivation.” I ended up liking it so…

The latest word of mouth marketing book, Grapevine, by Dave Balter & John Butman, has some awesome stuff. Check it out: “Everybody talks about products and services, and they talk about them all the time. Word of mouth is NOT about identifying a small subgroup of highly influential or well-connected people to talk up a product or service. It’s not about mavens or bees or celebrities or people with…

In late 2002 my website went live. My webmaster, Chad Kouse, asked me an important question: do you want to include a counter at the bottom of each page? And I thought, “Does anyone really care how many thousands of people have viewed my site?” Probably not. But then I thought about McDonald’s. You see, when I was a kid, every Sunday my Grampa would take my brother, cousins…

I’ve only had this nametag tattoo for a month. (Compliments of Joe Reinke from Iron Age Studio.) But I’ve been keeping record of the reactions from people. Interestingly enough, just like the reactions from wearing my regular nametag, the tattooed nametag elicits several types of responses: Laughter Most people just start cracking up. They tend to be friends of mine who’ve heard about the tattoo, known me for years,…

Every year I return to my alma matter, Green Trails Elementary School, to speak at their annual Book Fair. For an entire week they bring in local authors, athletes and educators to talk about the importance of reading and writing. It was a riot. First I gave all the kids nametags. Then I read one of my favorite children’s books, Yay, You. I also spent some time talking about…