- February 21, 2019 -

Ever hear of a guy named Earl Nightingale?

Your parents or grandparents probably knew him during the early 1950's as the voice of Sky King, the hero of a radio adventure series.

Later, his motivational mantra "We become what we think about" became his calling card.

But as a business man (and a contrarian one at that) this quote in particular struck a chord:

...Ray Kroc looked at the McDonald brothers’ [...]

- February 15, 2019 -

Brad's Drink turned into Pepsi Cola in 1898.

Backrub became Google in 1997.

AuctionWEB morphed into eBay in 1997.

Datsun re-launched as Nissan in 1981.

Blue Ribbon Sports officially became Nike in 1964.

Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo re-branded as Sony in 1958.

Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation converted to IBM in 1924.

...all examples of companies who made the name brand switch successfully.

So when the rumors about Infusionsoft changing their name starting making their way into online (and offline) conversations, the insinuations were inevitable:

"Infusionsoft is going under. This is a last ditch effort to reinvent a failing company."

"They've been bought."

And then when the new name [...]

- January 30, 2019 -

The nutritional supplement industry is a lucrative space.

Tell a woman that a little black pill taken twice a day will erase wrinkles and make her look a decade younger.

Throw in a plethora (trying to expand my vocabulary beyond Pittsburghese 'Yinz goin' dahntahn?') of "Before and After" photos.

Add a re-targeting pixel on the online ad that caught her eye and have it follow her around the Internet.

...and I guarantee there's no talking her out of buying a case of the stuff.

And it won't be long before her mindset morphs to "Well, if ONE pill will turn the [...]

- January 15, 2019 -

...that I've won the Pennsylvania Powerball lottery.

...or that my investments have made me a billionaire.

...and that Cheryl and I have ditched Pittsburgh for Bora Bora.

But that wouldn't be entirely truthful.

(I'm still planning on hitting Bora Bora one of these days, but that's besides the point.)

The point is that our two businesses have blown up to the point where it's getting increasingly difficult to carve out the time for my rants and ramblings about life in general and business in particular.

I guess that's what happens when you eat your own dog food and drink your own Kool-Aid [...]

- January 7, 2019 -

You've seen them.

Companies who can't quite decide who they're going to be when they grow up.

Kind of like the younger brother who has an MBA and a law degree...but is currently part of an outreach program on a coffee farm in Costa Rica.

Know how you can spot 'em?

By their pricing "strategies."

They have a high end service or software platform or product.

...yet they're pricing them like they're a Bargain Basement or Surplus City.

Every day a different pricing plan is revealed.

Or another promo pops up.

Or new terms for existing customers are put into action instead of grandfathering them [...]

- January 3, 2019 -

Every January like clockwork.

The marketing-guru-psychologist-wanna-be's come out of the woodwork.

Their emails flood your inbox with fear mongering, guilt-laden subject lines like:

"The #1 Reason Your Business Will Tank in 2019" and...

"Do You Really Want to Stay Broke Yet Another Year?"

Inviting you to join their "exclusive" group and...

...manifest your greatness (remember the Secret and Law of Attraction?)

...up your game

...get in alignment

Of course with all that leveling up, you get to bond with the other groupies and hang glide in Kahului...run with the bulls in Pamplona...and motor cross in Moab.

All while taking selfies and posting them on Facebook with [...]

- January 2, 2019 -

Doesn't matter that the Steelers had a six-game mid-season winning streak.

Doesn't matter that they have the NFL's passing leader.

Doesn't matter that Le'Veon Bell was out for the season.

Doesn't matter that they might have been dangerous in the playoffs.

What matters is that they were a half-game shy of a fifth straight postseason.

They didn't do their job because of...

...turnovers, and not the good kind.

...a 16-point home lead down the toilet.

...off-the-field drama. Yeah, that would be Brown.

...erratic, penalty-ridden special teams.

In short, lost opportunities.

Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda...

First off, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Time with [...]

- December 18, 2018 -

Who didn't grow up with Kermit, Miss Piggy...and my personal favorites Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem.

Come on, you had to love Lips on trumpet and Animal on drums!

And you thought the Beatles and Rolling Stones had it goin' on!

The Electric Mayhem covered everything from classical to jazz to country.

In a world of Kardashian doppelgangers and movie reboots...take a cue from Jim Henson and make a break from the herd of monkey-see-monkey-do marketers.

Puppets have been around for 3,000 years but Henson broke the mold.

...he used foam and rubber instead of wood to craft his Muppets.

...he used [...]

- December 17, 2018 -

Häagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's?

My freezer is stocked with the ice cream from two Vermont hippies who had the chutzpah to take on the big bad giant in the grocery-store-pint market.

Here's why:

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield grew up on Long Island and met in Junior High running around the track in gym class. Ben says they were the two fattest, slowest kids in the class.

They each thought the other was funny (you remember how it was in junior high) and became fast friends.

"When we were seniors in high school, we used to drive around in our [...]

- December 12, 2018 -

I've been hinting at an offer...so without a bunch of b.s. here it is:

...a 1 hour (although they normally last about 1 hr 30 mins) deep dive discovery session about your business: where you currently are and what your end game is.

...with about four of our team (including our partner and 1-2 business coaches)

...a followup session where we lay out a full-out strategic plan of action to get you where you want to go.

...if you like the plan of action, we continue talking.

...if you don't like the plan of action, we'll go back to the drawing [...]