In early June, a close friend and successful big-business consultant reached out for a mid-afternoon pep talk in advance of new product launch for his largest client. After nearly a year of work to get the product to the starting line, he sensed something was...
In the digital age, your personal brand is defined by your reputation (online and offline), your online profile and the content you share. By making it a habit to create and/or share best-in-class content and showing empathy by helping others do better at their jobs...
Since the summer of 2020, there has been renewed interest in helping Black-owned businesses. And while a lot of attention has been given to ensuring that they have access to the needed capital to start and grow businesses, my experience shows that just as much...
The key to a successful podcast is the host, not the guests. Amazing podcast hosts are facile interviewers able to pull the most pertinent information from subjects, even those who are interviewed frequently. If you want to become one of the best podcast hosts, focus...
Industry averages are important benchmarks used to help your small business make comparisons of key metrics to other businesses in your vertical. If you don’t understand industry averages for your business, it’s time to get educated on the numbers. An understanding of the topic can...
To get at the truth of how customers view your products or services, learn to ask the next question. As a newspaper reporter with no formal training, the most challenging part of my job initially was accosting people for interviews. Within a few weeks, however,...
Part of earning and keeping the attention of your audience is having them trust that you won’t waste their time with verbosity. If you’re looking to write tighter, allowing your brand to keep the attention of your audience, spend less time laboring over what to...
Most small business owners focus on building a better product. They’d see better results by creating a differentiated product. Different is better when it comes to products and services in competitive verticals. It’s why one of my first tasks when working with small business owners...
Many small business owners don’t think branding is essential to their success. They think of branding as something big companies do. They assume that their customers know who they are based on what they sell or the services they provide. That is, until a prospect,...
The story of how I learned that going viral is overrated is as painful as it is vivid in mind years after the incident. It begins with a Midwestern friend and fellow angler who was enjoying a comfortable retirement until I chose to fish with...