- January 13, 2018 -

Gary Halbert was one of the most revered direct response copywriters of all time.

He used to ask students in his seminars…

“If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who could sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you most like to have on your side to help you win?"

Some of the students said “superior meat.” Others “sesame seed buns.” Others “good location.” Still others “the lowest price.”

When they finished, Gary would say, "O.K., I'll give you every single advantage you have asked for. I only want one [...]

- January 12, 2018 -

When I'm back visiting family in Philly, I'm an Eagles fan.

But since I live in Pittsburgh, to not root for the Steelers would be sacrilege. Potentially even life-threatening...haha.

So it goes without saying, I gotta back my man Ben.

Even (especially) when he said, "Maybe I don't have it anymore" after a lousy and frustrating game three months ago where he threw five interceptions in a 30-9 humiliating loss to Jacksonville.

I think we've all thought that at one time or another. We're human.

We don't really mean it, but at that moment we kinda loose our swagger. Our shoulders [...]

- January 11, 2018 -

"If your stomach can't stand seeing something cut in half in value in a very short time, then you shouldn't be in Bitcoin." - Jeff Walker

Nerves of steel. Courage under fire.

Some are calling Bitcoin the biggest bubble in modern history.

I see it more like the Cabbage Patch Kids and Beanie Babies collecting frenzies.

Having a background in the investment arena, investing and trading has always held a fascination for me...and for months I quietly sat back and studied crypto coins.

Everyone was saying it was all a bunch of b.s.

So being the contrarian that I am...

For fun, I [...]

- January 10, 2018 -

Fresh out of college, I had just landed my first job as an investment broker.

I had no money and was driving my grandfather's Delta 88. It was a big old green monster lol

To avoid embarrassment, I parked the car three blocks away and walked to the firm every day.

And I determined then and there that my goal was to make enough to buy a BMW asap. I still drive one today, probably just to remind me of how hard I worked in those early days to pay cash for it.

One day, my boss walked up to [...]

- January 9, 2018 -

I have to admit...I'm not a touchy feely guy. If you've been on our list for any length of time, you know I don't mince words, move fast and hate b.s.

So when Cheryl said on New Years Day that she had an exercise we should do, I kind of had an idea where this was headed LOL

I was supposed to imagine what I wanted my ideal life to look like.

Note...she had already thoughtfully answered all the exercise questions so the easy thing would have been to say, "Exactly what you wrote down" and I'm done!

But nope...it doesn't [...]

When you're busy running the day-to-day activities of your business, finding time to proactively plan for tomorrow (let alone for the next quarter) sometimes seems like just another chore to add to your insanely long To-Do list.

Keep in mind...I'm not a fan of a five-year plan. (For more on my contrarian thoughts on that, here you go.)

But we're talking goals here, not a full-out business plan.

So where do you even start?

We've used the Gazelles One-Page Strategic Plan (credits to Jim Collins and Jerry Porras) - and it's excellent. EMyth has some very helpful tools as well. But both felt like a lot [...]

As a young investment broker, there were three pieces of advice given to me that I've never forgotten.

Well, the beard is long gone. But the mustache is non-negotiable.

This soldier has always had to work at knowing when to stop.

And if you're like me, that line between "living to work" and "working to live" is often blurred for us typical business owners.

You may disagree with me, but I actually don't think "balance" is achievable for entrepreneurs like ourselves.

Our normal is [...]

They’ve been the subject of movies, tourists’ photos, stares, fascination, and ridicule.

They are the Amish. America's "Plain People."

Living in rural Pennsylvania, it’s not uncommon to see Amish buggies sharing the road with cars. In the spring, fields are dotted with men behind teams of plow horses.

What has never ceased to amaze me is how a community who ends their children’s formal education at grade eight…

Wears plain clothing, frowns on adornments like buttons (other than on shirts) and forbids the use of zippers…

And shuns modern technology - they don’t own cars, computers, radios, televisions or tap into public electricity...

Still [...]

More is not always better.

In our quest to get our message in front of our perfect customer, we talk too much. We can’t help adding more and more content to our website.

And then we wonder why when eyes start to glaze over and a polite “Sorry, I need to run” is mumbled. We can’t figure out why visitors leave our website without buying anything.

Here’s a clip from the movie Jerry Maguire that I love.

In reality, our Holy Grail of marketing is to hear our audience say, “You know, I’m interested in your product…tell me more.”

Then and only then do we [...]

Just when this 50-something technology-challenged male finally figured out what LMAO means, I started to see YOLO and FOMO all over Facebook.

Talk about feeling like the gramps of the Internet! 🙂

So while my nephew's friends are posting “I didn’t have time to study for the test because I stayed out late partying #YOLO”...

And while emails are pressuring me to “register early to avoid FOMO”...

I’ve come up with my own buzzword: FOFB (or fear-of-falling-behind)

I’m going out on a limb here and assume your business has a web presence. And chances are you currently want to make at least a few tweaks to [...]