Story Power Blog
Escape The Hourly Billing Trap
My favorite story in Susan Trivers’ STOP Leaving Money on the Table unfolds in the opening pages. A VP at an aerospace firm looks at Susan and asks the question she has never liked answering: “What do you charge?” For years, Susan has answered that the way she always has… with an hourly rate. Not…
Starts Today: Jason’s LinkedIn Training
I’ll keep this one short because the clock is ticking… Jason Osborn’s live LinkedIn training starts TODAY. 2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. CT (7 p.m. UK). If you haven’t saved your seat yet, do it now: Register here In this session, Jason will reveal how to turn LinkedIn from a fruitless time-suck into your best…
The Fix For: “You Posted. You Waited. Then Nothing.”
Maybe you know the feeling. You open LinkedIn. You post something you spent 15 minutes on. You wait. A few likes trickle in. That guy who comments on everything gives a thumbs up and writes, “great post.” Then… nothing. So you post again tomorrow and the day after. Because somebody told you that if you…
The Cure for LinkedIn Lunacy
In December 2022, “John F” registered for an event I was hosting, accepted my LinkedIn connection request, and then started to pitch me. The first LinkedIn direct message landed two days after we connected: “I hope you are doing well. We specialise in generating Qualified Mortgage Refinance Leads, Investment Leads and First Home buyer leads…
The Story I Recall on The Hard Days
I had a rough day yesterday. One of those days when everything feels hard. When I’m up against it like that, I think about my great-great-grandfather, Joseph Ruwitch. It usually makes me feel better. Stronger. Ready to face whatever’s in front of me. Here’s his story. Joseph was born in 1852, in a place we’d…
The “Higher Art” to Sell Without Selling
Yesterday, I shared the one question I open every discovery call with… …and the Jay Abraham furniture-store story that inspired it. Let’s stay with Jay one more day. Because underneath that opening question sits a deeper skill. And once you’ve got it, the selling almost disappears. The backstory: A while back, Jay Abraham and Dan…
The Question I Ask 10 Seconds Into Every Discovery Call
When I begin a discovery call with a prospect, I always open with a question like this: “{First Name}, tell me what’s going on with you and your business that made this hour feel worth it.” Then I shut up and listen. Part of the inspiration and strategy for this comes from Jay Abraham and…
Social Under Siege. Are You Ready for The Fallout?
Ripped from the headlines: Last week, courts cleared the way for a wave of lawsuits against Meta, Google, and TikTok. The most popular social platforms are under siege. The ground is shifting. Will your go-to platform be here in two years? Work the same? Cost the same? Nobody knows. And that’s the problem. Because you…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.08.10
Recommended Read How to Land More Speaking Gigs In a recent email newsletter, Ann Handley had some great advice for experts who want more speaking gigs. Her core point: skip the hunt for agents and bureaus and focus on becoming referable. Start with the audience you want to reach and the one problem you uniquely…
The 3-line Ad That Grew a Company From $10M to $252M
Legend has it Ernest Hemingway was having lunch in the 1920s with a few of his literary pals when he boasted he could write a complete, emotionally powerful story with just six words. His lunch mates bet he couldn’t, and they each put $10 on the table to back the wager. Hemingway grabbed a cocktail…
Reply if You Want to Go From Ignored to Adored (And Hired)
On Tuesday, I hosted a small-group roundtable where I introduced my AI Noggin and demonstrated its awesomeness. I’ll send you the replay if you reply to this email with “awesomeness.” Then you’ll see how easy it can be to consistently create content that gets you hired. Most AI churns out content that’s polished, authoritative-sounding, and…
Who Holds the Leash? You or Your Biz?
Today is National Work Like a Dog Day. I don’t get it. First of all, most of the dogs I know don’t work. They lie around and relax, like my crazy-doodle, Moose, who’s lying at my feet as I write this. I suppose this holiday means something if you’re a shepherd, DEA agent, or Iditarod…
How AI and Michael Scott are Ruining Your Business
I love that show “The Office” (the U.S. version starring Steve Carell). Steve Carell’s character, Michael Scott, is the village idiot. He dispenses business wisdom, life advice, and workplace direction with enthusiasm and confidence. And most of the time, he’s spectacularly wrong. The thing that makes Michael Scott so funny is that gap between how…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.08.03
Recommended Workshop Meet my “AI Noggin” and Get One for Yourself Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT), I’m going to unveil AI Noggin, the marketing robot that can extract your best bits of content, organize them, and store them. And then you can use AI to extract and deliver great “new” content 100x…
Behold: The Oldest Baby in The World
An Ohio boy who was conceived 30 years ago celebrated his 1st birthday this week. (You read that right.) Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born on July 26, 2025 from an embryo frozen in 1994. That’s 30+ years in cryogenic storage. His biological sister from the same batch is now a 30-year-old mom. And his adoptive…
This Might be The Stupidest Trick of All…
Here’s a stupid marketing trick you’ll want to avoid… Send a bulk email with the subject line: “I saw you in the Epstein Files.” Then open the email with: “Hey {First Name}, only kidding. Just figured I’d get your attention, and if you’re reading this, I guess it worked.” Then pitch your product or service.…
If You Build It, They WON’T Come… Unless…
Remember “Field of Dreams?” That’s the one where Kevin Costner plays an Iowa farmer who plows under his corn because a ghostly voice keeps whispering: “If you build it, they will come.” Great movie line. Lousy business advice — especially for authors who want to turn their book into clients. If you build it… …if…
How Savvy Authors Turn Readers Into Revenue
Last year, I met a business coach who wrote an excellent book… …but was struggling to profit from it. He sells the book ($20, plus shipping) on the front page of his website. “How many books have you sold from your site?” I asked. “Not too many,” he said. “Most of my sales come from…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.07.27
Why Forcing Yourself To Work… Never Works Daniel Pink’s book Drive is one of my favorite books on productivity and motivation. It spent 159 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, sold millions of copies, and got named one of the best leadership books of all time. And yet most of us still ignore…
Amelia Earhart’s Fame-to-fortune Flight Plan
I’m an Amelia Earhart fanboy. So today, her 129th birthday, I’m going to put on my favorite party hat, raise a glass, and toast “A.E.” And I’m going to tell you a story about her that you may not know… In 1933, one year after A.E. became the first woman to fly solo across the…
[You’re Invited] Bestselling author discusses “The Second Act Advantage”
My favorite story from The Second Act Advantage by Jay Samit unfolds in Chapter 5. Ken Frantz has just retired from a long career in construction and development in Virginia. One morning he’s sitting in a car dealership waiting room, killing time while they change his oil. He picks up a National Geographic and lands…
Do You Feel Finlay’s Pain?
Ripped from the Headlines in Edinburgh, Scotland: Last year, Finlay Crawshaw walked into a corner shop on Gorgie Road with a kitchen knife and a get-rich-quick scheme. He pointed the knife at the two clerks behind the counter and demanded money. They laughed at him. (It’s all caught on surveillance video.) Finlay (shouting): You laughing…
Am I Dr. Evil?
Yesterday afternoon, after I invited everyone on my list to meet my new AI robot, “Raymond” replied with this nasty-gram: “No thanks! I still believe in real humans and the human race!” Holy identity crisis, Batman! One minute I’m trying to help my fellow humans market their businesses better. The next minute some Justice League…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.07.20
Recommended Event Meet Tom’s Robot – Trained on Story Power Marketing Methods At 6:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. PT) this evening, I’m unveiling the marketing robot I’ve been building in my AI Laboratory. You’re invited to join me, and if you want, you can put my robot to work for you — for free. I’ve…
I Built a Better Robot. Wanna Meet Him?
On Monday, I’m going to unveil the marketing robot I’ve been building in my AI Laboratory. You’ve invited to join me, and, if you wish, you can have my robot work for you — for free. I’ve trained him to be a top-level copywriter and coach who uses my proven Story Power methods to help…
Em-dashes Are Not The Problem
Last week, one of Implementum’s experienced copywriters drafted an email for a client who hired us to create content for her. The client liked the email except for one thing… “It has an em-dash,” she said. We didn’t have to ask her why that concerned her. The em-dash — seen here — is common fare…
Why This Marketing Legend Downgraded His AI
Jon Benson told me something about AI yesterday that blew my mind. In case you don’t know, Jon is a marketing legend. He’s the guy who invented the “VSL” (the video sales letter). And he built BNSN, an AI platform trained only on VSLs and other content that generated millions in sales. I interviewed Jon…
A Cure for Strategic Overload
After the BookThinkers LIVE conference in Boston last weekend, I boarded Southwest flight 754 to return to St. Louis, opened my notebook, and began to read. Soon after, my head began to spin. Pages and pages and pages of notes. Advice for authors, podcasters, and other creators — delivered by 37 speakers and 25 vendors.…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.07.13
Increase Your Brain Power with Jim Kwik I spent the weekend at a conference for authors and publishers. Jim Kwik was the keynote speaker. He blew everyone away. Now I’m binging his YouTube channel. Here’s one of the videos I watched last night. If you want to learn faster, remember more, and generally have a…
Joey Chestnut, Michael Jordan, and You?
Greetings from the wild blue yonder, 35,000 feet above flyover country, en route from St. Louis to Boston. I’m sitting in seat 2C pondering these riddles: Is hotdog-eating a sport? Is Joey Chestnut an athlete? In case you missed the headlines this weekend, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut won another July 4th hotdog eating contest on Coney…
Why Scammers Purposely Write Terrible Emails
A few years back, an email landed in my inbox from a “friend.” “Hope you are doing well? It takes me great pain to write this email to you and I feel so devastated. My family and I had a trip visiting Manila,(Philippines) unannounced some days back for a short vacation, unfortunately we were robbed…
Avoid This Personalization Mistake
I got an email this morning from a guy pitching website development that opened like this: “Hi [First Name]” Not “Hi Tom.” Not “Hi.” The email actually said “Hi [First Name]” That, boys and girls, is personalization gone wrong. It’s a total turn-off. Here’s a simple fix to keep your emails from turning off prospects:…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.07.06
Recommended Reading “Operator Error” by Seth Godin If people keep making the same “dumb” mistake with your product, that’s not on them. It’s on you. This post will change how you see every support ticket, complaint, and “user error” your business gets. Seth Godin breaks down three ways products set people up to fail: letting…
Independence Day
My daughter, Maddie, lives in Philadelphia, walking distance from Independence Hall. That’s the place where Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock and other members of The Second Continental Congress gathered to debate, adopt, and eventually sign The Declaration of Independence. They gathered there 250 years ago. You can still visit the room where…
More Clients. Less Lifting.
Yesterday, I shared a couple of stories about marketing experts who use social media to build their lists and emails to drive sales. I promised I would share ways to implement this strategy without working your tail off. Here’s one way: Get someone to implement the strategy for you. What if you had a trusted…
Facebook Fainted & She Still Cashed In. How?
Remember that time when Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp all went down for six hours on the same day? It was October 4, 2021. And the world — at least many of the 3.5 billion account holders who lost their precious social media access — went bananas. But not Amy Porterfield. Soon after that dark…
A Strange Thing About Mark Zuckerberg
Check out the trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s new movie, “The Social Reckoning” (watch it here). My takeaway after watching it: Mark Zuckerberg has a very stiff neck. “Stiff” as in immobile. Stiff as in Tin Man (get that guy an oil can!) We see the guy throughout the 2:29 trailer, and he doesn’t twist his…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.06.29
Recommended Video Inside the Mind of a Procrastinator Why do you cram? Why do you scroll? Why is the most important project on your list also the one you can’t seem to start? Tim Urban answers all of it in this TED talk — with three characters living in your head: The Rational Decision-Maker (the…
I Think You’ll Enjoy This…
In honor of National Take Your Dog to Work Day, I thought you’d like this email I wrote a while back about my crazy-doodle, Moose. It’s the story of how Moose’s hopeless squirrel-hunting strategy is the same strategy killing many businesses’ marketing… …and what wolves figured out 10,000 years ago that you can do today…
This Works Better Than Typical Testimonials
“Testimonials Stink.” Ian Garlic said that… …in his book “Video Testimonials That Land The Big Fish.” They’re hurting your business, he says. And he’s right. There’s an important difference between typical, boring, “look-at-me” testimonials and client-attracting, captivating “Video Case Stories.” In typical testimonials, clients proclaim how great YOU are. If you plop such testimonials on…
[In <10 Hours] Your Book Can be a Goldmine. I’ll Show You How.
In the summer of 2024, several months before I published my book Story Power Marketing, I added more than 300 people to my email list by offering a sneak peek of the book before it hit Amazon. Three of those “early birds” have become clients. The revenue I’ve earned — just from those three clients…
[INVITATION] The Secret to Turn Your Book Into Clients
Here’s the number one mistake business leaders make after they write a book: They assume, “If I build it, they will come.” (“They,” as in clients.) Your business is not a Field of Dreams where books magically generate clients. Too many authors wait and wait and wait and wait for clients who never come Sure,…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.06.22
Recommended Video The 5 Most Important Ogilvy Ads for Meta Advertisers The great ad-man David Ogilvy was born on June 23, 1911 — 115 years ago tomorrow. He died in 1999, before social media. But his principles and methods shape how we advertise today — on all platforms, online and offline. This video from Dara…
The Sh*t we Put Ourselves Through (and How to Escape)
A stinky story ripped from the headlines: Pop Goddess Olivia Rodrigo says some of her most devoted fans wear diapers to her general admission shows (festivals and such)… …so they can secure and hold front-row seats without pesky bathroom breaks. How does she know? “That’s been an experience as a performer that I have smelled,”…
Does Your Business Need a “Fishing” Guide?
Yesterday was National Go Fishing Day… …which got me thinking about… well… fishing… …which got me thinking about all the life lessons one gets from fishing (if you’re a fisherman, you know)… …which reminded me of the life and business lesson I got when my son caught 37 trout one day on a Colorado stream…
Stand Tall Like Lady Liberty
Fun fact about Lady Liberty… After she sailed across the ocean from France to America, she lived for several months in a dark warehouse, collecting dust because she didn’t have a foundation to stand on. This was the day (June 17) in 1885 when the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor — all…
His Big Win Was No Accident
My friend and client Bill landed a big client for his legal practice last week. The client came from a referral. Bill said the referral came “out of the blue.” Turns out the guy who made the referral met Bill seven years ago and has been on Bill’s email list ever since. Bill sends weekly…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.06.15
Recommended Video Bond Halbert Discusses His Dad, Gary Halbert Last Friday, June 12, legendary copywriter Gary Halbert would have turned 88. He’s no longer with us, but his writings are, including his book The Boron Letters. The book is a collection of letters Halbert wrote from prison (that’s a long story) to his son, Bond.…
Vermeer’s Secret, Your Opportunity
David Hockney, my favorite modern artist, died yesterday at his home in France. He was 88. I love his paintings, especially the ones from his days in California — bright, sun-splashed, colorful (VERY colorful) canvases, like this one: Mulholland Drive by David Hockney But my favorite Hockney story isn’t about a painting he made. It’s…
All Gain, No Pain. Here’s How…
Yesterday, I vented about some dirty-trick marketers who signed me up for their webinars (without my consent) and added the events to my online calendar with “thanks for registering” notes attached. (Artist’s rendering of me: 😤) One of the things that got me really steamed about that: They gave one of my favorite marketing tactics…
Another Stupid Marketing Trick (Don’t Do This)
I’m steamed. Now I’m gonna vent… …all about the latest stupid marketing trick. It works like this: Step 1: Set up an online event (webinar, workshop, whatever) on Zoom. Step 2: Set Zoom to automatically send registrants a “thanks for registering” email and an invitation that lands in their calendar software as a scheduled booking.…
Way Better Than Fingernails on a Chalkboard
Here’s how a struggling business owner reacted when I suggested he send more emails to his list so he can get more clients. “I’d like to get more clients. But the idea of writing more emails seems worse than fingernails on a chalkboard!” (Ouch!) I asked, “What if we wrote the emails for you?” His…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.06.08
Recommended Video A Plan is Not a Strategy Most people think confidence comes first and action follows. Kat Cole says it’s the other way around. In this short TED Talk, the CEO of AG1 shares a simple practice she calls the “Hot Shot Rule.” Imagine someone you admire stepping into your role tomorrow. What’s the…
The Secret Behind a $1 Million Email
Quick story. Kim Krause Schwalm once added more than a million dollars in revenue to a sales page without changing a single word on the page. How? She wrote one email. Not a fancy one. A single page. But it was built on an angle she’d dug up doing the kind of deep research most…
Kim’s Crazy-good Offer Before She Retires
On Monday I promised you a story and a link. Here’s both. My friend Kim Krause Schwalm has been threatening to retire for years. I’d believe it for a week. Then she’d land another control, launch another training, or mentor another copywriter to a breakout year. The retirement talk would quietly disappear. This time it’s…
I got slimed in Orlando
Remember that scene in Ghostbusters when a “focused, non-terminal, repeating phantasm” (a.k.a. “a class-five full-roaming vapor”) slimes Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray)? That’s how I felt — like Peter Venkman — when I stepped outside of the well air-conditioned Orlando International Airport yesterday evening. The heat (90 degrees) and humidity (85%) slimed me (SPLAT!) I…
Thomas Edison’s Loss… Your Gain
The first thing Thomas Edison patented was a total flop. It was an “electric vote-recorder,” designed to speed up vote-counting in legislative halls. It worked like this: Each legislator had a switch at their desk to cast a “yes” or “no” vote. The votes were transmitted to a central device that recorded results immediately and…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.06.01
Breaking News Legendary Copywriter Plans to Open Her Vault My friend Kim Schwalm is one of the best direct-response copywriters alive. She has beaten the legends. She has written controls that ran for a decade. She has quietly helped generate close to a billion dollars for the companies smart enough to hire her. And after…
“A Lot of People Who Don’t Say ‘Ain’t’ Ain’t Eatin'”
Last night, Melissa and I heard novelist Virginia Hume talk about her new book Liberty Island (which I highly recommend). She said something every business owner needs to hear. The novel is set in 1910 America when contractions weren’t were not common. If she wanted to be historically accurate, Virginia would have written dialog with…
The Recipe for Less Churn and More Profits
Here’s the big idea in Joey Coleman’s book Never Lose a Customer Again: “The typical business does a great job of getting the attention of the customer and persuading them to buy, but then does very little to create a meaningful or remarkable experience for them after the sale. “There are many reasons why customers leave,…
Delighted, Repeat Customers Begin With This…
I had the displeasure of traveling to and fro on a US airline this week. The thing that struck me most: How miserable all the employees seemed. From the check-in clerk to the flight attendants, not one seemed happy to serve us. Their rotten morale didn’t make my journeys worse. But those grumpy employees didn’t…
The 5% Tweak That Doubles Profits
Here’s a stat that got my attention: A 5 percent improvement in customer retention rates will yield a 25 to 100 percent increase in profits. So says Joey Coleman in his book Never Lose a Customer Again. Most business owners understand the idea. But very few have systems designed to delight and retain customers. That’s…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.05.25
The Meaning of This Holiday Memorial Day: Honoring the Fallen This short video from The Wounded Warriors Project describes what Memorial Day is all about. Recommended Event The No BS Ai Summit If you haven’t done it already, you can still register for the No BS AI Summit. They just announced the fourth speaker: Alicia…
Surrounded by Rattlesnakes. What Now?!
Greetings from the Methow Valley. North-Central Washington on the eastern slope of the North Cascades mountain range. My office chair this morning is a comfy Adirondack on the back porch, facing south, overlooking the valley. Hillsides covered with sagebrush and dotted with ponderosa pines fall below, infinite shades of green and gold lit up by…
Steve Martin’s Success Secret
I was 11 the first time I saw Steve Martin, and I thought he was like a wild and crazy comet who came out of nowhere to light up Saturday Night Live’s stage. Most of America — including me — had never seen this guy before. He went from unknown on Friday to a sensation…
Social Platforms are Cracking Down. What Now?
The word on the street: LinkedIn and other social platforms are cracking down on AI-generated content. They won’t tell you when they bury your robotic junk. You may not even notice… …until you realize no one is responding to your posts, and your social media mountain-climb has done nothing to elevate your business. (Holy Sisyphus,…
Cringey AI or Clever AI? You Choose…
Speaking of cringey ways to use AI, get this… In China, some of the broken-hearted are creating AI-powered “digital replicas” of their exes so they can continue to chat like a happy couple, long after the break-up. To make your very own AI-Ex, take some chat transcripts, old emails, social media posts, and photos. Mix…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.05.18
Recommended Podcast Combining Strategy, Tech, and Team to Scale Your Coaching Business! I love Marc Mawhinney’s “Natural Born Coaches” podcast. So it’s always an honor and pleasure to be his guest. We unpacked the framework I use to help coaches scale without drowning in software, half-finished funnels, or AI slop that sounds like everyone else.…
Paul Cézanne, Dan Kennedy, and You: A Cure for Commoditization
Paris, France. 1863. The most powerful art institution in Europe, Salon de Paris, has rejected more than two-thirds of that year’s submissions… …because they don’t fit the mold. So, on this day (May 15) that year, a bunch of rebel artists open their own exhibition and call it Salon des Refusés (The Exhibition of Rejects).…
🤩 A Rare Chance to Hang Out With Dan Kennedy… For Free
Dan Kennedy doesn’t do email… …or free events. For 30+ years, if you wanted to reach the most influential direct response marketer alive, you sent him a fax. He’d fax you back. Or mail you a typed letter. He’s the guy who trained Russell Brunson, Frank Kern, and most every name you’d recognize in direct…
I Bought John’s Book (5X). Here’s Why…
A few days ago, my friend John Bejakovic sent an email to his list that was so good I immediately replied to him and asked if I could share it with my online family. John said “yes,” and here it is… Subject Line: Prediction about the world by the end of 2027 Last night, as…
Lemme Know if You Like This Limerick…
It’s National Limerick Day. 🥳 To celebrate, I’m giving away a free video e-course called “7 Secrets to Write Emails That Sell.” 7 videos, loaded with business-building tips, delivered to your inbox over 7 days. Poetic details below… If your emails fall flat as the floor, And your readers just snore and ignore, There’s a fix…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.05.11
Recommended Video 30 Days Content in 30 Minutes | Social Media Strategy for Business Owners Aaron Witnish is a master at helping business leaders create client-attracting social content at scale without all the headache and hassle. Here’s a presentation he delivered last year that shows you how to do it. Another Recommended Video Yours Truly…
Should They Sue AI For Malpractice?
Here’s the story of a Swedish researcher who punked AI… Her name is Almira Osmanovic Thunström, and she invented a completely fake eye condition called “Bixonimania.” She wrote a bunch of bogus research studies and posted them online with obvious clues that screamed, “THIS IS FAKE.” Within weeks, the most popular AI tools were telling…
Does This Picture Remind You of You?
Here’s a picture I made yesterday (with help from Google Gemini). Reminds me of lots of business owners I know, especially ones who have a book, podcast, or other “marketing asset” they wish to turn into clients. I’ll show and discuss that picture during this evening’s free training: “Turn Your Book Into More Clients, 3X…
Me Stupid, Not Tricky. Here’s The Story…
Since AI became a thing, I’ve heard more than a few would-be goo-roos say you should litter your AI-generated content with typos and misspellings… …so readers (and AI detectors) think a human wrote it. That’s a stupid marketing trick. Don’t do it. First, typos don’t fool AI detectors. I know humans who have tested it.…
Is Your Book a Client Magnet or a Paperweight?
Short one today… If you’ve written a book (or plan to), this is for you. Your book can be a client magnet — if you know how to use it. Most authors don’t… so they keep chasing leads the hard way while their book just sits there, doing nothing. This Thursday (May 7) at 6:30…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.05.04
Recommended Reading The daily email model is on its way out When John Bejakovic’s emails hit my inbox, I stop what I’m doing and I read them. They’re that good. On Saturday, I received one I had to share. A big-time marketer told John “daily email is dead.” John argues otherwise and offers proof. This…
How Columbus Closed The Sale
In fourteen-hundred-and-ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue… …more than six years after he first pitched the idea to Spain’s Queen Isabella. It was this day (May 1) in 1486 when Columbus made the pitch: “Gimme some boats, sailors, and supplies, and I’ll find a western ocean route to Asia.” It was a great pitch: Spain…
A Gift For You — Inspired by a Rock Star
I’d like to share a gift with you… …inspired by David Byrne. Here’s the backstory… Yesterday, I told you about attending Byrne’s concert on Tuesday and being blown away. After writing that email yesterday morning, I decided to buy tickets and see him again last night. Same set of songs. Same visuals. Same show. Still,…
David Byrne and The Art of Being Extraordinary
In a world where everyone looks and sounds the same, how do you stand out as unique and better so others notice and choose you? Every business owner I know ponders that riddle. As does every artist. So when I see someone who consistently finds a way to stand out, be unique, and create something…
Paralyzed By a Weather Map (A Cautionary Tale)
Yesterday was a lost day. I spent most of it staring at the TV, watching the KSDK “5 on Your Side” Weather Team point at maps and tell me when and where the tornadoes would hit. For those of you who missed the news last year, an EF3 (160+ mph) tornado direct-hit my house in…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.04.27
Tech Tip Make Sure Your Emails Are Configured Properly I recently installed an extension in my Chrome browser called Email Detective that can check any email in my inbox and tell me whether the technical stuff is right. You don’t need to know what “SPF,” “DKIM” and “DMARC” are. But you need to make sure…
Don’t Be a Trojan
According to ancient historians, today — April 24 — is the day the Greeks used a giant wooden horse to conquer the Trojans. Here’s the story, as told by Greek and Roman historians… April 24, 1184 B.C. The Greeks had been camped outside Troy for 10 years. It was a stalemate. Their best warrior, Achilles,…
“The Most Important Ingredient in Selling…”
My favorite sentence in The Most Powerful Sentence of All Time is the very last one: The most important ingredient in selling is not your prospect’s belief in your offer but your own.” I can’t wait to discuss that later today with the author, Neil Gordon. Today, at 2:30 p.m. ET, Neil will be our…
The Cure For Your Yawn-inducing Pitch
“Contrast creates clarity.” That’s one of “The Four Concepts of the Silver Bullet” in Neil Gordon’s book The Most Powerful Sentence of All Time. It’s a simple idea. And most business leaders ignore it completely. Here’s what I mean. A financial advisor says, “We help you build wealth and plan for retirement.” OK. So does…
From Lyft Driver to Bestselling Author
Ten years before he published his book The Most Powerful Sentence of All Time, Neil Gordon barely scraped by as a rideshare driver. Neil’s consulting business wasn’t paying the bills so he moonlighted with Lyft. Today, he’s a bestselling author with a thriving consulting business. His book is a fable. And like most great business…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.04.20
Tech Tip Control of Your Domain to Avoid Digital Nightmares You probably have registered one or more domains for your website. But if you needed to make changes to where those domains point, do you have access to do that? Too many business owners hand over the keys to their kingdom and lose control so…
Why Batman Inspires Great Storytellers
Today is National Bat Appreciation Day… …which got me thinking about how much I appreciate BATman. He’s my favorite superhero. It’s no contest really. Why BATman? Because he’s merely a man. He didn’t rocket in from Krypton with the power to leap tall buildings in a single bound. He wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider.…
Why “The Right Strategy” Is Not Enough
Earlier this week, I asked a 6-figure business owner, “What’s holding you back?” His response: “Mainly just figuring out the best use of my time. There are so many options for promoting myself, all of which sound exciting and useful. I struggle with finding the ‘order of operations.’” Sound familiar? When it comes to business-building…
An AI Story vs. YOUR Story — Why One Always Wins…
A shout-out to my friend Bill Mueller — a storytelling standout who wrote a great email yesterday about showing up as human. In recent emails, Bill has shared ways to “tell a story in an email without telling a story.” Yesterday, he wrote about why that matters: “(These tips) all exist to make your reader…
Another AI-Easy-Button Backfire
Here’s a cautionary tale about AI gone haywire… I host a podcast called The Story Power Marketing Show, and I get mountains of emails pitching prospective guests. Over the last few months, more and more of those pitches have been AI-generated. They’re simple to spot. They always open with some generic praise about the podcast…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.04.13
Recommended Resource Craft: More than a Notetaker, Less Complex Than Notion If you’re looking for an application for note-taking, document management, task tracking, white-boarding, journaling, and more — but you don’t want an overly complex app like Notion — Craft may be the solution. Available on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, and the Web, Craft is…
Farm-living Ain’t The Place for You
“Ever got to the stage with marketing when you just want to quit it all and live on a farm?” So asked “Jason” on Reddit last week. And the crowd went wild. There are a lot of frustrated marketers out there, ready to trade in their laptops and online real estate for hoes and green…
Farts in Space
If you’ve been following the news from outer space, you know NASA spent $30 million and 10+ years building the world’s most sophisticated space toilet — only to have it break on day one of the Artemis mission. Turns out scientists spend a lot of time and money thinking about how to handle poo, pee,…
Another Stupid Marketing Trick… Has This Happened to You?
I have a new entry on my ever-growing list of “Stupid Marketing Tricks That Give Marketers a Bad Name” — Calendar Spam. It works like this… Tricky Marketer gets your email address. Maybe you opted in to Tricky’s list. Maybe not. Tricky schedules a public event — a workshop, webinar, whatever. Tricky puts that event…
To Em-dash or Not to Em-dash?
A client told me he has stopped using em dashes in his content — like this — because they’re a “dead giveaway that AI wrote it.” That inspired me to launch an informal, 100%-unscientific poll: 1) Do you use AI to help you draft marketing content? 2) If yes, do you remove the em-dashes? 3)…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.04.06
Recommended Resource The Unofficial LinkedIn Algorithm Guide for Marketers I recently downloaded the The Unofficial LinkedIn Algorithm Guide for Marketers from Trust Insights and found it very useful. It cuts through the guru noise and explains how LinkedIn’s AI-driven system actually evaluates your content. Updated through March 2026, it includes three practical checklists — for…
“Email” Wasn’t The Problem; His Strategy Was…
“The phone’s not ringing.” That’s what my client told me when he said his email campaign wasn’t working. He’s a commercial real estate broker. He sent property notices to prospects. Each email linked to a flier and prospectus. It wasn’t generating warm prospects and sales. So, for him, it meant “email marketing doesn’t work.” Before…
How Miles Davis Went From “Best Kept Secret” to Legend in His Field
Here’s a story about how a little-known musician broke through and became a star — and how you can do it, too. A few nights ago, Melissa and I heard an all-star jazz band perform in honor of Miles Davis who was born 100 years ago — May 26, 1926. Miles grew up in East…