Cautionary Tales

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Cautionary Tale From Dude who Burned Eyebrows Off

By Tom Ruwitch

A few years ago, I ran across an article about a dude in Michigan who smelled gas coming from his newly installed water heater. He checked for the leak by lighting a match. He shoulda died, but he got off easy… …with singed eyebrows. Mixing fire and a gas leak — that wasn’t his first…

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Crazy, Stupid Thanksgiving Tales

By Tom Ruwitch

Thanksgiving Eve. To prepare for tomorrow’s holiday, I’m scanning the inter-webs for crazy, stupid Thanksgiving stories so… …if any crazy, stupid stuff happens at MY holiday party, I can think, “At least we’re not the family where…”  Mom and auntie ate way decided Thanksgiving would be a great time to try edibles. They each gobbled…

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How to Get Rid of Looky-loos and Price-shoppers

By Tom Ruwitch

I woke just after sunrise this morning and took a long hike along the beach in Marco Island, FL. Nice way to kick off National Take a Hike Day (Nov. 17). After I finish this email and press send, I’ll join my biz buddies/peers for Day 2 of our quarterly mastermind meeting. Day 1, yesterday,…

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The Unfortunate Tale of a Leader Who Flew Alone

By Tom Ruwitch

I’ll be launching a new small-group, do-it-with-you mastermind after the holidays to help you attract more leads, engage them with captivating content, and persuade them to hire you. If you’d like to hear the details, reply to this email with “tell me more.” But first… …read on for a cautionary tale about… …the power of…

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Charmless Bartender Suppresses Beer Sales (A Cautionary Tale)

By Tom Ruwitch

A few nights ago, I visited a brew pub with Melissa and two out-of-town guests to grab a bite and some beer. Along with our meal, we got a lesson in customer service — or lack thereof. I saddled up to the bar first. The bartender spotted me. But she didn’t greet me. She was…

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Clueless Human Relies on Brainless Robot (A Cautionary Tale)

By Tom Ruwitch

I bumped into a bummed out marketer this week who hollered for help in an online forum. His AI-powered marketing failed to generate sales for his software… …which uses AI to write marketing messages. So he asked the humans on Reddit for help. He told us humans he sent a mountain of AI-generated, cold emails…

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Holy Missed Opportunity, Batman (A Cautionary Tale) 😫

By Tom Ruwitch

A cautionary tale about missed opportunities… I recently met a fitness trainer who wrote a bestselling book. On his website, he offers a .pdf copy of the book for free (good). I filled out the form to get the book and jumped to a confirmation page with this message: 🥱 🥱 🥱 That’s missed opportunity…

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ford cars

Let’s Learn from Henry Ford’s Epic Biz Failure

By Tom Ruwitch

Happy Birthday to the Model T. The first one came off the assembly line on this day (Sept. 27) in 1908. Time to trot out the tired tales about Henry Ford’s genius… …or not. Tired tale: Henry Ford invented — or at least perfected — the assembly line. The truth, as stated by his colleague…

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They Fired their AI Copywriting Robot. Here’s Why…

By Tom Ruwitch

A cautionary tale about enlisting AI as your ghost writer… My friends Greg and Danielle are residential real estate brokers in Alaska. A few months ago, they began to use ChatGPT to write their listings. They figured the AI copywriting robot would save time and might generate better listings. Here’s what they found instead… Their…

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Before You Tell Your Story, Consider This…

By Tom Ruwitch

Alfred Hitchcock couldn’t have dreamt up this one… …another ripped-from-the-headlines cautionary tale about how NOT to get away with murder: A rapper was arrested in Las Vegas last month after police said he “confessed to the murder in his (song) lyrics.”  Kenjuan McDaniel was already a suspect in the shooting death of Randall Wallace in…

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