Hard Work or Talent?
I believe there is a direct relationship between hard work and success. Those who work harder achieve more. And that applies equally to individuals, families, ethnic groups, and nations. Yes, talent helps. But talent is not something we can choose. It is given to us, as are so many other…
READ MOREWho’s Your Marlon Brando?
Recently on Turner Classic Movies, I watched a documentary simply titled “Brando.” There was a moment in it that sliced through my heart. It didn’t come from the legendary movie actor himself, though.
READ MOREThe Self-Confidence Question
I have an entrepreneur friend who is an engaging speaker. He always gets high marks on audience evaluations. On stage, he comes off as quite confident. Watching him, you’d think he was loaded with self-esteem. In fact, the opposite is true. And at a recent presentation, he let his audience…
READ MORE5 Ways to Make Your Meetings More Productive
1. Start on time. 2. If there’s someone with a reputation for tardiness without whom the meeting can’t take place, schedule a briefing with him 15 minutes beforehand. If he gets there on time, use that 15 minutes to discuss the big issues. If he’s 15 minutes late, he won’t…
READ MORESummarizing Is Death
In all forms of expression, summarizing is lethal. But that’s what many copywriters do. At the end of a sales letter, they methodically recount all the important points they just made. What happens is that the energy of the copy is dissipated, the blood drained off. A much better approach…
READ MOREWhat Is the Tipping Point for Online Success?
KJ, like many of my subscribers these days, wants to get into Internet marketing. But she feels frustrated and unable to move forward. “Where should I begin?” KJ asked in her e-mail. “What was your tipping point to online success?” My answer: “The tipping point in Internet marketing success is…
READ MOREA Word To Use Next Time You Get a Chance
I learned a lovely word today: MacGuffin. A MacGuffin is an irrelevant interest grabber — a story whose purpose is to draw attention to itself and away from something else. It comes from a plot device invented by Alfred Hitchcock. He borrowed it from a shaggy-dog story that goes something…
READ MOREMy Heart Went Out to Her… and Then Came Back!
Profiled in The Wall Street Journal the other day: A single mother, hit hard by the recession. She can barely keep a roof over her family’s head. Her salary was cut by 60 percent. And buying even the basics is a struggle. A story we’ve heard again and again. “How…
READ MOREMake a Strong Impression by Being Last
When you are going to be interviewed for a job, try to be the last one they see. Studies show, and my experience confirms, that the people who do best in multiple interviews are those who are first or last. And that’s regardless of how good they actually are.
READ MOREI Blinded Them With Science
Our sales were hurting. Every one of our distributors was selling three to five times more of our competitor’s cheaper, inferior air ionizers than ours. It seemed that consumers decided at the shelf that all ionizers are pretty much the same. So why should they spend 67 percent more on…
READ MOREMarketing Tip: The “Eureka” Moment
When writing or reviewing long marketing copy, you’ve got to get to the point where you find yourself thinking, “Yes! This is good! This is really, really good!” I call it the Eureka Moment.
READ MOREWhat’s More Important in Marketing?
Products — the most successful products — meet urgent needs and solve important problems. But what solves today’s problem won’t necessarily solve tomorrow’s. We must constantly refine and reinvent to make our products “new.”
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