A year ago, I had nothing– no health, no money, and a career that looked more like a homeless man’s exploits than what might pass as a functional business. I explain what that life feels like here. Ever chase money and feel like a hamster on a wheel? I was chasing the idea of success, as […]
You wouldn’t believe this was me a year ago Read More »
I was looking at alternate flight options to get to Boston tomorrow. On Delta’s website, they tell me I have to cancel my original reservation if I want a different flight. So do I hit “cancel” or hit “okay”?
To cancel or not to cancel, that is the question Read More »
We pretend everything’s just fine to our fellow business owners and friends. But the truth is, we all struggle – we’re calm on the surface but paddling like mad below the water. Each week, payroll’s a gamble because you’re not always sure where the funds are coming from to pay your people. And you have
Admit It – You’re Struggling as a Small Business Read More »
I’m at 38,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean on my way to Norway, having just finished “Onward” by Howard Schultz. It’s the story of Starbucks’ turnaround from early 2008 to late 2010—the founding CEO coming back to take the reins and revive what the brand is about. You should read it. FIVEBUCKS That’s what I
Why Starbucks = Community Read More »
This is a guest post by Ali Mostofian of Orange Marketing, who kindly wrote this post after talking on Facebook about his personal experiences relating to the original article, Why you should not help friends After I saw the blog post by Dennis Yu “Why you should not help friends”, we started a nice conversation on
Why Orange Marketing CEO Ali Mostofian does not help friends Read More »
Southwest is my airline of choice in the United States because it rewards those who game the system. Every seat is first class, so they’ll tell you, but really there is only one per plane located next to the over-wing exits. The row ahead has no seat ahead of you. If you hit Companion Pass,
Southwest Airlines- A Rapid Rewards Junkie Confesses Read More »
Great salespeople aren’t just about pushing the current set of product features with hard-sell tactics. Rather, they align with a client’s problems first, of which later it’s clear that our social media dashboards help solve the problem. Great salespeople need empathy and imagination imagine if you didn’t have to create weekly reports anymore– that one
How to be a great salesperson Read More »
VCs and various strategy-minded folks ask me all the time what competitive advantage Content Factory has versus a slew of other social analytics vendors. Hey, what if Facebook decides to build a real analytics tool? How about the other players that pop up every day? Your competitive advantage is the quality of your people. Period.
Your competitive advantage is not what you think Read More »
I was chatting with a friend who has amazing online marketing skills and serves local clients. He wanted to grow his practice to include Fortune 500 brands. Here is my advice. Don’t assume growing is automatically a good thing. Once you get beyond a dozen or so clients, you’ll have to bring on other staff—freelancers
So, you want to start your own online marketing agency? Read More »
Congratulations! You’ve been promoted to manage your very first project. You’ve demonstrated that you’re a good worker bee— you can make campaigns, prepare reports, and do whatever else you’ve been assigned. But managing a project is a completely different matter. Now, instead of dutifully doing what you’re told, you have to figure out what the
How to get stuff done. Read More »