Ahh, to be young. I remember the summer I was 10 years old. It was the summer of all summers. My family was living in the San Francisco bay area, in a house that was just a short distance from what (in Chicago) is known as a forest preserve. That 165 acre park was my…
When you started your business it was just you. It was so simple. You were in control and it was easy to start making money (or, easy enough). But then you wanted to go on vacation. And you wanted to take on more work (so you could make more money), and so you hired some…
Buying gifts for employees is often more difficult that figuring out what to buy your in-laws for birthdays or the holidays. So how do you figure out how to show employees your appreciation for their hard work? I’ve got a few employee appreciation ideas that’ll knock ’em out of the park. Let’s start counting down…
Conferences, whether they are industry-specific trade shows, inspirational/motivational events, or learning opportunities around a specific topic– bring up mixed emotions for me. On the one hand, I think about spending a lot of money to travel to another city, spend time away from my family, eat crappy conference food…etc., etc. These are all things that…
If you are active on LinkedIn, your chances of “getting found” increase. You will get more inbound contacts from prospects, job seekers, potential partners and (unfortunately) random connection requests from people you don’t know. While some of these requests can be kind of puzzling, (“Why would the CTO of the country of Bangladesh want to…
Cold is not usually a positive association. Cold coffee. Cold weather. Cold attitudes. Not many people will jump up and down with excitement when you’re describing something cold…unless it’s ice cream. The same goes for cold leads. They’re not the easiest to work with–and you need to find a way to warm them up while prospecting without…
When I talk to business owners, I tend to hear “business is great”–a lot. “We closed a bunch of new business! My employees are rockin’ it! Going to work feels like I’m on vacation!” But then, if I get the privilege of working with them, I hear a different story. “How do I start making…
When you finally decide it’s time to send your clients a price increase notice, there are a few best practices to follow to help ensure you and your customers are on the same page about what’s happening. The last thing you want to transpire when you’re making a request is to put them on the…
Did you start this year off with big goals? Did you set aggressive growth targets for your sales? Are you thinking about writing a book, working on some speaking topics, or taking a big trip with your family? Well? It’s February. How are you doing on those goals? Have you made significant progress? Enough so…
When was the last time you said, “Wow, I’m so glad I got that voicemail!”…? Tell me. Do you get a thrill when you see that the VM icon on your phone is lit up? Didn’t think so. Maybe it’s time we faced the fact that voicemail is a technology whose time has come —…