Cautionary Tales

It’s National Go Fishing Day which always reminds me of one of my favorite stories. Here it is, just as I first told it eight years ago: I spent a day fly fishing with my 20-year-old son in Colorado last year. Jacob caught 37 trout. I caught two. Yep, I said two, as in…”I’ll have TWO scoops…

A business owner plunks down $10,000 for a new website. He spends many months and dollars on product development. He writes reams of sales copy and spends more dollars on ads. And what happens? Not a single sale. Why not? There was no market for the product. No one out there who wanted it. A…

A quick story about Jim Thorpe who as born on this day in 1887: When Thorpe showed up in Stockholm for the 1912 Olympics, he was not considered a favorite to win the decathlon. Then someone stole his shoes. Ten events over two days, and, for the moment, he was shoeless. Thorpe scrounged around and…

Call me picky, but I don’t want to host blowhard, know-it-all jerks on my podcast. That’s why I didn’t didn’t invite “Tim” to be a guest. If you want to build a following of people who know, like, trust, respect, and hire you… …read on. Tim’s story is a cautionary tale about how NOT to…

Good morning, boys and girls. It’s time for another episode of “Lying Liars and the Spammy Lies They Tell (Cautionary Tales from the Marketing Trenches)” Today’s tale begins two weeks ago when a lying liar named Charles slithered into my spam folder with an email sent that said: “I came across your website and read…

Remember that old Neil Sedaka song…? 🎶…down dooby doo down down Comma comma, down dooby doo down down Comma comma, down dooby doo down down Breaking up is hard to do 🎶 Tell me about it! Last week, I tried to break up with a software company whose screen capture app I’d used since 2009. Ninety…

The Tornado Chronicles, Day 2. I have twisters on my mind… …since Friday when 13 of them touched down here in Missouri. Yesterday, I shared the tale of a community that rallied to support a gym owner whose business was blown away. Today: Another twister tale. It’s a story about tragedy narrowly averted, loaded with lessons to…

A cautionary tale about email marketing gone wrong… Waaaayyyy back when, I signed up for Andy’s email list after I met him at a networking event. He’s an accountant with some interesting insights on how to manage finances and keep the IRS at bay. Yesterday, I received an email from him with a useful tip.…

Later this evening, I’m hosting a small-group Roundtable called “Turn Content to Clients Daily.” Here’s a sad-but-true tale that sheds light on why I’m hosting this event (and why you might wish to attend)… A few months ago, I asked clients in my Content Transformation Academy if they had any unreleased work. And all of them said,…

A priest, rabbi, and guy in a bear suit walked into a bar… … …correction… …A guy in a bear suit broke into a car, and then he and his accomplices got charged with fraud. No joke. This happened. The story begins in January 2024 when a man claimed a bear broke into his Rolls…