Mindset – Inner Game

Blow the horn and tap the tambourine.   It’s International Customer Support Day. You can thank Microsoft for adding this occasion to our list of pseudo holidays. Back in 2019, MS held an internal celebration to recognize the efforts and challenges faced by its support teams. According to my handy-dandy strange holidays website, “Due to its success…

Quick note before the story: In case you missed it yesterday, for a limited time, you can join Club Storyville for free (7-day trial) here. Give it a try. It won’t cost you a penny. Details and sign-up here. (Now back to our regularly scheduled program…) I once met a marketing “guru” who advised me to…

I’m on Marco Island, Florida this week for some sun bathing , beach walking , and masterminding . I can’t share most names and details from the mastermind sessions because… …you know… …what happens in mastermind stays in mastermind. But I can share this scene from yesterday’s session (because it contains a valuable business lesson for all of…

I’m in Florida (Marco Island) for a two-day meeting with Dave Dee and his Elite Mastermind group. And when in Florida… …I eat pie… …key lime pie. Every chance I get. So after rolling in from the airport, I hit the hotel bar for lunch, enjoyed a blackened grouper sandwich, and asked the waitress, “Do…

This conversation happened yesterday as I discussed with an executive coach how to grow her business. “I hate marketing,” she said. “Why?” I asked. “It seems like dirty business,” she said. “I just want to connect with people who need me, serve them well, and get paid for my effort.” “If you market the right…

A self-proclaimed “email marketer” posted a diatribe on Reddit recently, accusing a biscuit company of “assaulting his inbox.” He ordered some biscuits online, and then the biscuit company sent him, on average, five emails per week. “Sending five emails per week is not the way to stay top-of-mind,” he declared. He suggested sending “fortnightly” emails…

Mommie Dearest My dear, beloved mother FOOD-SHAMED ME.  It happened yesterday, after I sent an email with this opening line: “While sipping my morning coffee and eating my Cocoa Puffs this morning, I asked my GPT-powered robot…” Mom’s an avid reader of my emails, and she sent a reply with this opening line: “Gee, I’m not…

A puzzled marketer posted a common question for help on an online forum last week: How can businesses improve open rates in their email campaigns? I hear this question all the time (you may be wondering the same thing)… …so I dove into the forum where I found… …lots of lousy advice! The lousiest was…

In case you missed it over the weekend, a news update: OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, fired its CEO Sam Altman on Friday.  I’ll share my serious take in a moment, but first… …this calls for some jokes! I summoned by GPT-powered copywriting robot, “B-9?” and said, “Tell me some jokes about Sam Altman being fired…

Greetings from Denver, Colorado, where I’m grabbing a quick breakfast before delivering a TED-style talk called How to Generate Client Attracting Content — Without Writer’s Block. The big idea in my talk: Anyone can assemble great content if they can master a simple framework. Content creation is more craft than magic art… But that doesn’t mean…