Tom Ruwitch
Ripped from the headlines: Thirteen years ago, Mary Strand accidentally dropped her diamond ring down the toilet and thought it was lost forever. Mary’s husband, David, had given her the ring on their 33rd wedding anniversary. Fast forward to March 2023 when workers at the Rogers, Minnesota water treatment plant found the ring in a…
Read MoreMy high school buddies and I spent last weekend in Kentucky, touring bourbon distilleries. Fun fact: Distilleries must use “virgin,” white oak barrels to age their whiskey. Otherwise they can’t call it “bourbon.” After they age the whiskey for two to 23 years and empty the barrels, distilleries can’t use them for bourbon again. What…
Read MoreRecommended EventWriting an AI-Powered Book? My friend Michael DeLon (“The Paperback Expert”) will host a live webinar tomorrow: “Can ChatGPT Help You Write Your Book? Beyond the Hype: AIās Potential and Pitfalls” Here’s what he said about it in an email last week: “This will not be a webinar about how AI is ‘the greatest…
Read MoreHere’s a funny story for a Friday morning… Last weekend, police in Springfield, Colorado pulled over a drunk guy for driving 52 mph in a 30 mph zone. As an officer walked toward his car, the driver switched places with his passenger… …which might have worked… …if the officer hadn’t seen the whole thingĀ … …and…
Read MoreI’ve got Yogi on my mind. Yogi Berra, that is. He’s the baseball hall-of-famer who grew up three miles, due south, from where I currently sit in St. Louis, MO. Yogi’s in the news because of a new documentary about him that opened this week. It’s called “It Ain’t Over…” …as in, “It ain’t over…
Read MoreI sent you an email yesterday about Brian Wilson and his perfection problem. The big takeaway: It’s better to be prolific than perfect. That’s an idea I’ve shared before. I once wrote an email about Leonardo DaVinci who, like Brian Wilson, got stuck chasing perfection. Same point, different story. I tell that DaVinci story in The…
Read MoreWhen the Beach Boysā Brian Wilson heard The Beatlesā āRubber Soulā in December 1965, he was blown awayā¦ ā¦and he was inspired. Legend has it he told his wife, Marilyn, he was going to produce āthe greatest rock album ever made.ā (Holy Ambition, Batman!) Six months later, on this day (May 16) in 1966, The…
Read MoreLast ChanceThe Authentic Marketing Summit Still time to register for the Authentic Marketing Summit… …An entire event devoted to marketing and selling authentically without pitching and prodding. It’s happening today, and it’s free to register and attend. Registration ends when the program begins at 11 a.m. ET, 10 a.m. CT. I’ll be one of the…
Read MoreWhen Stacey Randall Brown launched her first consulting business, she tried a hodgepodge of “old school business development techniques.” She tried “incessant networking,” free speaking gigs, direct mail, even cold emailing. She generated some business this way, but these techniques did not work consistently well. “I ultimately worked too hard for each client,” Stacey writes. …
Read MoreGood morning, Tom I bumped into a guy named Alex in an online forum yesterday. He had this to say about content marketing: The most frustrating part of the content creation process for me is when I get stuck on what to write next. I’ll have an idea in my head of what I want…
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