Reading Time: 2 minAs a partner in a digital marketing firm, I can appreciate the value of various digital marketing tactics. Search engine optimization, email marketing, digital ads, social media, and many other techniques can do amazing things to help get the word out about your company. Ultimately, though, the best marketing for most consumers is one that […]
Business
Transparency isn’t the same as honesty
Reading Time: < 1 minIt’s always felt to me that being transparent was a big part of being honest. It can be, but they aren’t the same thing. In his book “Lost and Founder“, author Rand Fishkin explains it this way: Transparency isn’t the same as honesty. Honesty is saying only things that are true. Many founders and startup […]
People play differently when they’re keeping score
Reading Time: 2 min“Keeping score” can make a big difference. Growing up, if my friends and were shooting hoops it’d generally be casual and fun, just tossing the ball around and chatting. However, as soon as it became a game of any kind, everything changed. It was still fun, whether it was 2-on-2 or “HORSE” or anything else, […]
The whirlwind is a thief
Reading Time: 2 minIn reading the book “The 4 Disciplines of Execution“, they talked a lot about “the whirlwind” — all of that junk you have to do every day just to keep moving forward. This largely includes email, but also many meetings, phone calls, and other distractions. These are things that are semi-important, but they often prevent […]
Misaligned incentives
Reading Time: 2 minAs a small business owner, I’m often looking for ways to better incentivize our staff to work hard and for our clients to stick with us. For our clients it’s not about “incentives”, but rather providing the right products, data and outcomes to satisfy their needs, so it’s not all that different from what an […]
Don’t freak out about AI just yet
Reading Time: 3 minI’ve shared a few times on here some concerns I have with AI. There are good things coming, but probably some bad things too. You’d be wise to spend time with AI tools and start learning how they work, but it’s not time to freak out over it yet. Napster Back in 1999, the record […]
Using ninety.io with Traction
Reading Time: 2 minI’ve mentioned a few times in the past how we use the EOS / Traction model at GreenMellen. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a way to organize and manage your business (with “EOS” standing for “Entrepreneural Operating System”) and the book “Traction” is a great place to start. Funny enough, my main post […]
Who you know really does matter more than what you know
Reading Time: 2 minWe’ve all heard the idea of “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” and that’s very likely true. I’ve never liked that statement, as it can lead to unskilled or unscrupulous people doing work simply because of a relationship, but that’s how things often go. As I said yesterday, relationships will reign and […]
As automation speeds up, relationships will reign
Reading Time: 2 minI recently shared a glimpse into the “bad side of AI“, where I’m starting to get some automated comments on social media and it’s likely to get much worse. The side I fear a bit more is the coming glut of AI-personalized email spam, at huge scale. Microsoft has unveiled Viva Sales and Salesforce announced […]
The people in this room aren’t all the same
Reading Time: 2 minEarlier this year I was at a business event, and the main speaker was a local congressman. As this man generally does, he made plenty of cracks about people “the other party” during his talk, assuming everyone in the room was on the same page as him. They were not. Granted, probably 2/3 of the […]