I have been a huge fan and supporter of Evernote since long before I met and was a co presenter with Evernote’s founder and former CEO, Phil Libin in Silicon Valley. Since then I’ve recommended to friends family and many others I interact with since I felt it was the [...]
What makes a good salesperson? Charisma? Charm? An aptitude for reading other people? What about the ability to crunch data? Culturally, we’ve romanticized the idea of the gifted salesperson as a smooth talker who could charm just about anyone into buying just about [...]
We’ve all heard the horror stories from Comcast cancellations: customers spending hours on the phone with sales-conscious reps giving them the runaround and refusing to accept cancellation. The system was so bad that a cottage industry sprang up around paying other people to [...]
Recently I was speaking with a friend who owns a small professional services business. We were discussing how he has a great workforce with employees who produce a lot more than one might expect. Right now he has a team of about a dozen people. He remarked to me, “Once you [...]
I used to work with someone who sucked at phone conversations. Sure, personal calls to her family were one thing. But she could get enraged on the line with customer service reps or government employees, and when she would cold call leads, the calls went nowhere. [...]
This past weekend, I was attending a conference and got to know one of the other attendees well. This man—we’ll call him Barak—had planned to share a room with another attendee—we’ll call him Chris—for the conference. When they set the plans, the two of them agreed to split [...]
When is the last time you bought a lottery ticket? The majority of people I know purchase them extremely rarely, usually never. They look at a lottery ticket and see a bad ROI. (My high school math teacher called the lottery a tax on people who are bad at math). [...]
I hear it over and over again from business owners: “We need a redesign.” Design is not the problem. If sales are lagging, business owners jump to the conclusion that the answer must be customers getting turned off by a less-than-sleek or confusing-to-use [...]
Pricing your product is one of, if not the most important things you’ll decide in your business. As I like to say, great businesses are built on great margins. So, price too low, and your margins will be too slim. But, price too high and you won’t be able to make enough [...]
I know 200 people that would love to make a quick buck, but only about 2 that are willing to put in the extra time and effort it takes to make a sustainable buck. Take selling on Amazon: I see lots of people turning to FBA selling as a little side hustle to make […]
Package delivery startup Doorman just announced that they’re shutting down. The company’s feature service was allowing customers to have packages shipped to Doorman, who would then deliver the package at a time you chose. (No more long delivery windows or stolen packages). [...]
I once had a friend contact me, frustrated with his lack of success with an email campaign. 85 people received it, 50% opened, 35% clicked through, and he had $0 in sales. I had a look at his site. The problem? It was completely impersonal. The product [...]
Every day I have the privilege of interacting with entrepreneurs with companies and impacts of all sizes, from a few thousand in revenue a year to many millions in profits each year. I generally notice entrepreneurs falling into two types. Pilot entrepreneurs are the big [...]
I see piles of content every day. 80% of what I read leaves me thinking, “What was the point of that?” Most people seem to write and post content with no purpose whatsoever beyond the internet equivalent of enjoying the sound of their own voices, or trying to fill some b.s. [...]
I’ve written before on the big mindset shift that I believe needs to happen before anyone can truly begin outsourcing effectively. Even after undergoing that mindset shift, some people still have trouble figuring out exactly what tasks they can outsource or have a bad [...]
This past weekend I had the privilege of presenting in Las Vegas at the eCommerce owners group called Rhodium Weekend. The Presentation was called: How to Take 40 Weeks of Vacation: How I Turned my Business Passive and How You Can Too. One of the questions which was asked [...]
