- July 24, 2018 -

He's been described as a curmudgeonly old-school conservative tight-ass who doesn't even do email.

He hates social media and doesn't trust the Internet.

He makes his clients communicate with him by fax machine, for God’s sake!

He wears gaudy suits with purple shirts.

He's blunt, harsh (sometimes bordering on brutal) and straight-forward...and has branded his direct-style as "No BS."

Guess you see now where I've gotten inspiration from...hopefully not in clothing style, though!

One business consulting session with him costs $18,000.

He's Dan Kennedy.

He's a legend and one hell of a marketer.

When I first set out on my own in the mortgage industry, [...]

- July 23, 2018 -

It started out as a little experiment.

This sending out daily emails "thing."

For 10 years we sent out one email a week and turned it into a blog post.

And it was just fine.

It didn't take a ton of my time. Didn't mess with my golf game.

And then Cheryl thought we should try a daily email and be more "personal."

"You know, like tell some of your stories and share more...like your feelings or your opinions."

But I like my privacy.

And I tend to swear...because that's how we talk in Pittsburgh.

I don't like to talk about my feelings.

I don't really [...]

- July 18, 2018 -

I know I'm going to draw heat from this...but since when have I shied away from a little controversy?

So here we go.

I'm not big on sending out Christmas cards myself, but my mom always did it.

And Cheryl's mom always included annual "Christmas letter" of sorts that she'd type (on an old manual typewriter) and give to Cheryl's dad to copy off for her.

Always interesting to read the other cards that had more than just a signature.

I remember one really creative family used to have the kids write a message in their own handwriting and include that [...]

- July 17, 2018 -

Who doesn't like the number "three"?

...the Three Stooges

...The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (c'mon, classic Clint Eastwood)

...three sheets to the wind

...3-piece suits (I wonder if they'll ever make a comeback)

...On your mark, get set, GO!

...rock, paper, scissors

...a great BLT

But for the business owner and Internet marketer, there are three threats that can cause your cash flow some serious damage:

#1 Competition. Most marketers only think about this one. You already know who your biggest competitors are so 'nuff said. Moving on.

#2 Commoditization. Yesterday's email was all about this - you can check it out here. It's [...]

- July 16, 2018 -

The Internet has become one big dumping ground for monkey see, monkey do marketers.

I remember years ago, we'd get calls asking if we could replicate Brendon Burchard's sales funnel...his landing pages, offer, etc.

The whole shebang...didn't matter what their vertical was. The request was to "just copy it."

Then the trend was to swipe Jeff Walker's infamous "sideways sales letter" funnel without actually spending the money to buy his Product Launch Formula course.

And now you've got coaches teaching coaches...using their method of course.

The conundrum was that we knew what the outcome would be...and no one wanted to be [...]

- June 26, 2018 -

Of all the responses to my daily emails that I get, this by far is the most common:

Along with two more related questions about the "unconventional advice" given in yesterday's email:

Geez, so I have to give up all my trade secrets?

Just kidding. I have no trade secrets...I'm pretty much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get sorta guy.

Just a lot of trial and error. And when I find something that works, I generally [...]

- June 25, 2018 -

Raise your hand if your least favorite class in high school was English.

Spending my time learning about words that dangle, split, and get misplaced was NOT my idea of fun.

Writing was even worse...thesis statements, supporting statements, citing references, blah blah blah.

I mean outside of my English teachers, who would ever want to read this stuff?

Turns out...no one!

If I were to write emails today that read like essays, would you honestly waste even a minute reading them?

+ Boring as hell..check.

+ No personality...check.

+ But perfect grammar...check, check!

Guess what the #1 skill business owners wish they were better at?

Because [...]

- June 14, 2018 -

You're an investor - and you invest in a lotta stuff:

...your family. 100% ROI.

...your business. Necessary but comes with great cost.

...your health. Kind of the kingpin.

...your hobbies. Hmm...we all plead the fifth on this one.

Traders invest in commodities. Hard assets like wheat, oil, gold, silver, electricity, even coffee.

I'm not a stock broker anymore, but the interest in following the hottest commodities is in my blood.

Still holding onto a big chunk of stock (oil and gas) that I bought years ago...

I think of it as a "futures" trade. Sometime in the far future, it'll pan out.

But as [...]

- June 6, 2018 -

Once again...you guys had my back. In yesterday's email, I misspelled "NBA Finals" and typed "NBS Finals" instead.

Thanks for ALL the replies! Lol

(Feel free to go back and read the email if you haven't already...a real blast from the past.)

If I was a sports writer for the Associated Press, the memo on my desk this morning would have been:

ART, YOU'RE FIRED!

And I would have deserved it.

I'd venture to say that a large percentage of business owners have been on the receiving end of those two sad words at least once.

Why? Because...

...we don't like to be put [...]

- June 4, 2018 -

Remember when "content was king"?

It still is for digital marketers who live and die by their content calendars.

But when I look around, here's what I see:

...fiddling with ClickFunnels no one visits

...writing blog posts no one reads

...shooting and uploading videos to YouTube that no one watches

...recording podcasts no one tunes in to

...paying for a branding redo no one notices

...kissing influencer a** but getting no referrals

...creating membership courses that no one logs into and completes

...Tweeting, Snapping, going Live, posting to Instagram

Spending an obscene amount of time creating stuff BUT not making a whole lot of money.

Yeah, value is [...]