Good Examples

Melissa walked past my desk last week, looked over my shoulder, and saw this: “You have seven thousand and forty-eight emails in your inbox?” she asked.  “Yep,” I said. “But zero are marked ‘unread.’” (Which, by the way, is not the same as saying, “I’ve READ all 7,048 emails!”) Welcome to my world of digital…

Today is “Get to Know Your Customers Day.” My reaction: Bah! Humbug! Don’t get me wrong. I think getting to know your customers is a GREAT idea — if you want to assemble captivating client-attracting content with greater ease. But this is a dumb holiday. Here’s why: **Getting to know your customers (and prospects) should…

Want to hear a mind-blowing stat about social media? The average engagement rate for an Instagram account is 0.6%. That means six people out of 1,000 engage with the content in some way. And what about those “influencers” who have cracked the code, built giant followings, and mastered this medium? Their average engagement rate is…

I read a story yesterday about Bill Clinton and how he outplayed George Bush in a 1992 debate. During the debate, a woman asked the candidates how they would handle the economic crisis and how it affected lives. Bush answered with logic and opinions. Clinton answered with emotion… …which in this case meshed perfectly with…

Melissa and I traveled to the mountains of northwestern Connecticut last weekend to attend a family wedding. My cousin Ali married her sweetheart Ricky. The weather was perfect. The ceremony was a tear-jerker. The food was delicious. The band rocked the house. But the one thing I’ll remember most is the personalized note that I…

They’re here. The cicadas, that is. For the past 13 years, billions of cicada nymphs have lived underground in the central USA, sipping sap from tree roots… …waiting… …and waiting… …and waiting… …until they emerge from the ground… …climb onto a tree trunk, branch, or leaf… …and transform into a winged adult. Then they find…

Half way through the six-course tasting menu, our server, Shekeba, arrived at our table with a surprise gift. “It’s carrot bisque with lobster claw,” she said. “A ‘thank you’ for being so patient.” Shekeba is the wife of Chef Andy Hyde, and on Saturday they scrambled to deliver a 5-star dining experience at their restaurant,…

Attentive email reader Jason emailed yesterday to say: “What’s up with the flowers? (I like them)” He was talking about the photos I’ve put at the top of my Monday “RecomMONDAYtions” emails. Here’s the one I included yesterday… Here’s what I told Jason: Every day, I walk around the neighborhood and try to notice something…

I’ve crawled from my cave at Story Power HQ in St. Louis and ventured north to Chicago where I’m attending Perry Marshall’s Definitive AI Seminar this week. I wanted my GPT-powered robot, “B-9?” to join me as my note-taker and valet, but he’s afraid to fly… …so “B-9?” will stay behind. Before I left, I asked “B-9?”…

My first colonoscopy mistake came on Monday when I munched half a bag of popcorn while watching the eclipse. I’d forgotten: No popcorn allowed within seven days before the procedure. Popcorn munching was Monday. The procedure was three says later — on Thursday. (Oops!)  I called the doctor to confess, and his nurse said, “No…