I do alot of speaking, all over the country.  I speak to small groups, big groups, and every size in-between.  And one thing is always true no matter who I am speaking to:  I get nervous.  It’s true.  I have been a speaker for a very long time and talked to literally tens of thousands […]

Providing the Ideal Client Experience

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The other day I went to a local business that provides a service.  When I entered the lobby the individual behind the desk stood up and shook my hand, smiled, and greeted me.  They asked me if I wanted something to drink while I waited and asked me how my day was going.  From the […]

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Use Twitter Like A Boss

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It was July 2nd, 2007.  That was that day I joined Twitter and my life changed.  Well, perhaps I am over-exaggerating because it wasn’t that dramatic.  But looking back I can see now what a game-changer Twitter would be.  I still believe that Twitter is the best business-building tool ever created, if you are willing […]

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Social Media Relationship Thermometers

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If you are a marketer, you spend a great deal of time trying to figure out how to connect to your target demographic.  It’s critical to make sure that your efforts to reach a certain age, gender, economic social status, etc, are present in the places where those folks hang out and go each day. […]

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7 ideas for using Snapchat for business

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Have you snapped yet?  Snapchat, the darling social media tool for young people today, isn’t what it used to be.  You remember Snapchat, right?  That little app that kids use to send dirty little pictures to each other?  Yeah, that may be what it started out as, but it’s so much more now.  It’s grown […]

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10 Things You Never Knew About Instagram

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Instagram was purchased by Facebook in April 2012 for 1 billion dollars, and there was a good reason for that.  Facebook saw what was happening.  Instagram has become one of the most dominant forces in the world of social media, and for good reason.  It’s simple to use.  What it does, it does well.  And it […]

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Anchor Points

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A few weeks ago, I visited a place that I had known for a long time, albeit many years ago. In my mind, I was expecting to see the familiar. What I saw was very different. So many things had changed… buildings once familiar were no longer there. Roads had been widened. Shops and stores […]

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This is what your clients think of you

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I was listening to the radio the other day in the car driving to work and a song came on that I had not heard in over 30 years. It was one of those one-hit wonders that I knew all the words to, and I instantly smiled thinking back about where I was when I […]

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The secret to creating deep customer relationships

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I was frustrated. I had been communicating via email back and forth all day with a tech support rep at the company who makes the product that I wasn’t very happy with. It wouldn’t work and the tech support person was trying to give me possible solutions to remedy the problem. At the end of […]

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In over your head… social media overload

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I get it, it’s exciting.  The day you discovered that you could actually sign up for free social media accounts and find customers, you were all-in.  You signed up for everything… a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a YouTube account, a Pinterest page, and an Instagram account.  It went well at first because it was […]

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The Most Powerful Tool You Aren’t Using

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The other day I was in the checkout line at a local store and when I got to the cashier she began scanning my items and putting them into the bag. She never looked at me. She never said hello. She never smiled. In fact the only thing she ever said to me was “That […]

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Find Your Home

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I’ve been a professional speaker for a number of years.  That means numerous times a year I travel to wherever the work takes me, which is sometimes to some pretty cool places.  I’ve been to the four corners of the United States and countless places in between.  I even got hired to go speak in the […]

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Spend More Time Honking

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It was a simple note. It said “You are doing great! Keep it up!” And it was exactly what I needed. I certainly didn’t think it was going great. I didn’t feel great. I actually felt like I was spinning my wheels and not going anywhere. But that’s often how it goes when you are […]

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The Stars Burned Out Long Ago

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When you look up at the stars at night, some stars are brighter than others, depending on how far away from earth they are.  The closest star according to astronomers is about 4 light years away, which means that at the speed of light it takes 4 years for a beam of light to reach […]

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My most popular post of all-time

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I was interviewed a few weeks ago for an article by Marketwired.com about how a person can turn themselves into a ‘brand’. It’s quite an interesting subject and the young man who wrote the article did a good job on the topic. You can read it here in its entirety. A few days after the […]

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Learned Behavior: Recharging Your Batteries

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We’ve all been there. Worn out. Tired. Brain fried. Or my dad’s favorite… plumb tuckered out. I’ve been so mentally drained so many times over the past 6 months that sometimes I literally fall into bed at the end of the day and I’m out like a light in 5 minutes. You ever felt like […]

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Drinking From the Fire Hose

When I was a kid we would sometimes see the fire department come by and test the fire hydrants in our neighborhood.  They would turn on the hydrant for a little while to make sure that the water flowed like it was supposed to, and of course the neighborhood kids got the chance to play […]

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The Art of the Conversation

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I am thoroughly convinced that most people don’t know how to converse with others.  And that’s a shame because I am also convinced that the most successful people in the world are the ones who understand the art of the conversation. I don’t suppose I can place blame too much.  Advances in technology that make […]

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My 2014 New Year’s Resolution For You (and me)

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So my first article of 2014 is about something that is very personal to me.  I spent the majority of 2013 in a slump. I can’t sing ‘woe is me’ too loud because alot of people were much worse off than me in 2013.  But it was one of those times… maybe you know what […]

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New Beginnings

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Sometimes in life you come to the point where you need to start over.  Sometimes that means taking a step backwards and sometimes it means taking a step forwards.  At 45 years old, in the middle of my effective working life expectancy, I am taking a step forward and making a turn in my career […]

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