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Finding Your Negotiating Point Of No Return – And Your Soul.
Sometimes in one of the networking groups I help lead, we have 15-20 minutes for an engaging topic of discussion relevant to entrepreneurs. This week, one raised an important question: “Is anybody else tired of haggling to death over pricing? If we’re small businesses and the lifeblood of our economy, why are we beating ourselves […]
Read More »Banging Your Head Through Your Own Four Walls
There was a time years ago when that saying about the “cobbler’s children have no shoes” was worn like a badge of honor for me. I was working so hard on other people’s stuff back then that I would neglect to make myself a client. That was common but dumb. I’ve also worked for agencies […]
Read More »Keeping Your Brand Warmer In A Polar Vortex
As temperatures in this part of the country reach epically historic lows and videos depicting Chicago as the ice planet Hoth from Star Wars go up, one of the more common things for a company to do is to keep their customers informed on social media of delivery status or whether or not they’re open […]
Read More »This Week’s Buzz: Do Google Hangouts Influence Search, Amazon Knows What You’re Thinking and the Future of Sears
This week, Erik Hultman and I talk about the influence of Google Hangout in search results, why you shouldn’t believe everything you read about the impending death of Facebook, how Amazon is trying to get even smarter in anticipating what you want and what the Sears closing of its flagship State Street store means for […]
Read More »Every Growing Agency Needs A Coach Thibs
Sometimes we place so much emphasis on the first year of a business as its most challenging, we don’t always consider that the real challenges to come happen in Year 3, 4 or 5 – when tough transitions need to happen. When they do, your people on the ground can’t necessarily see the grand vision […]
Read More »Fragile Marketing: Recognize The Symptoms
Today’s guest post is from Donnie Bryant of Donnie Bryant Direct Response Marketing. I’ve had many online conversations with Donnie and I always love interacting with him on multiple channels. In his view, marketing and copywriting isn’t a job but a calling. In addition to be quite talented, he’s just one of the most generous […]
Read More »Phil’s In The Wrong, But The Ducks Don’t Stop Here.
By now, we’ve heard and talked about Phil Robertson’s extremely controversial anti-gay comments in a media interview. Seriously, anyone who has followed this show as well as the programming heads at A&E had to know it was only a matter of time before Phil uttered the kind of hardcore statement that would upset a whole […]
Read More »Staying Closed On Thanksgiving Provides Brands An Opening
The following retailers were not open on Thanksgiving Day: Apple Burlington Coat Factory Barnes & Noble Cabela’s Costco Dillard’s Home Depot Lowe’s Marshalls Nordstrom Radio Shack REI Sam’s Club TJ Maxx Verizon To me, it’s just common sense. To these brands, it represents an opportunity to show that they actually care about the home life […]
Read More »OfficeMax Moves Into Full Solutions Center Concept
When I looked at the invitation from OfficeMax for a store opening, I had to admit wondering what was going to be so different about this occasion versus several hundreds that preceded it. But what I learned from the unveiling of the first OfficeMax Business Solutions Center in the Chicagoland area is that the office […]
Read More »What Doctors Can Learn From Designers: Tales From The Cusp
“If we as health care providers do not think like designers, we will fail in our mission to serve our patients.” -Dr. Joyce Lee In attending Chicago’s recent Cusp Conference, I came across a host of innovative guest speakers who are changing business models through better design. One of them I thoroughly enjoyed hearing […]
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