Not far from where I live in Toronto there's a bookstore called This Ain't the Rosedale Library. (Rosedale, for those who aren't from here, is the city's most upscale neighborhood.) This Ain't the Rosedale Library is an alternative bookstore - some of its titles wouldn't sit comfortably in Rosedale ...

What's your favorite way of stimulating your creative juices? How do you inspire yourself? I don't usually get up at 2 a.m. and work, but when work's creative it's more like play, so why not? Here's two good posts to read and then I'll tell you why these two writers, Sean D'Souza and John Jantsch, a...

I'm immersing myself in a slew of Amazon Kindle books on decision-making that I recently downloaded: Sway: the Irresistable Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori and Rom Brafman How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely Apparently, it...

A common question I receive from people interested in my real estate, mortgage and insurance customer newsletters is whether they can send them using their own email software rather than the hosted service I offer. (With a hosted service, you upload your email list to a website, which looks after th...

Samantha Jackson purports to be an expert on wrinkle creams. Do wrinkle creams have anything to do with structured settlements? Samantha's "Why Most  Cream For  Wrinkles Doesn't Work" on "feelingwow.com" is one of the latest in a blitz of irrelevant Google Blog alerts that purport to be about stru...

You just finished writing an email newsletter issue that you’re proud to blast out to all of your subscribers. You’ve included a compelling interview with an industry expert, a how-to article to help readers increase their business, and a calendar of events this month that will blow thei...

One of the mysteries of the universe may be measuring the exact return on investment for your business blog. You can spend a lot of time writing, tweaking, doing outreach in the Blogosphere, and still wonder what it all means. Sure, you've got traffic stats. But what do they all mean? If you're not ...

This week I finally took the plunge and got very involved in two "Social Networking" groups - LinkedIn and Facebook. For my purposes, the term "Online Networking" seems more accurate as you are making connections, having conversations, exchanging ideas and resources, as well as promoting your servic...

As I lead my Fast Track Workshops around the country, work with my Marketing Coaches and interact with business owners in general, I pay a lot of attention to how well (or how poorly) people are following my Seven Principles of Marketing. The Seven Principles are: 1. Marketing Ball -......

Playing on clay courts means the ball doesn't always bounce predictably. What a great lesson for doing business! You can say/write/do the exact same thing with a different client and get completely different results. So in business, just like on clay courts, be prepared for the unexpected. Be nimble...