First Word

When I open my presentations, I ask two questions: “How many of you throw away books in the trashcan?” I follow up that question with the next one, “How many of you throw away brochures in the nearest garbage can?” The second question provides the audience’s a-ha moment. Most people feel value when they buy or are given a book. A book has weight. It has pages. It has merit. It conveys the perception of knowledge and expertise and time and money to publish. A feeling of guilt or at least a sense of environmental responsibility overcomes the desire to toss all that time, money, expertise, and most importantly “paper” into the garbage can. On the other hand, how many flyers, tri-fold brochures or one-sheets create such a moral or ethical dilemma that you actually feel guilty to throw it away? I’ll be honest. I’ve thrown away countless brochures. I even curse when someone shoves a flyer under my car windshield wiper because now I have to find a garbage can so I’m not a litterb...

This is a rough draft of the Introduction from my forthcoming nonfiction book Nothing Sells Your Business Better than a Book.   Introduction When I open my presentations, I ask two questions: “How many of you throw away books in the trashcan?” I follow this question with the next one, “How many of you throw away brochures in the nearest garbage can?” The second question provides the audience’s a-ha moment. Most people feel value when they buy or are given a book. A book has weight. It has pages. It has merit. It conveys the perception of knowledge and expertise and time and money to publish. A feeling of guilt or at least a sense of environmental responsibility overcomes the desire to toss all that time, money, expertise, and most importantly “paper” into the garbage can. On the other hand, how many flyers, tri-fold brochures or one-sheets create such a moral or ethical dilemma that you actually feel guilty to throw it away? I’ll be honest. I’ve thr...

In my not-thinking-ahead way I got myself into a situation. A local promoter asked me for my speaker's sheet. I haven't been on the speaker's track in two years, and speaking can breathe new life into sales and present new opportunities. Seizing the day, I quickly put together my speaker's sheet and to my surprise I was booked at numerous organizations. Knowing full well that the best way to leverage speaking is to have a product or service to sell, I realized I was now in a bind without anything to back up my talks. Being a quick thinker and a professional writer and author, I took the concept from my presentation and quickly developed a book concept. Problem somewhat solved, right? No. I now have to write that book as quickly as possible to leverage the upcoming opportunities. So here is my announcement. My new book Nothing Sells Your Business Better than a Book is being written to be released in the next month. Yes, I'm crazy and yes, I'm a publisher so th...

The business environment regardless of the economy is constantly changing. As a business leader you have to be prepared to reinvent and change. If you're not growing you're shrinking and that's just a flat fact. No business stays stagnant or level or unchanging. The rule is (let me repeat) if you're not growing you're shrinking. So the idea is to keep your eye on business growth and be prepared to look at it over the long term. Has business been growing for a month or shrinking for a month? If you review your long-term growth pattern and it's overall shrinking then it's time to ask why? As you ask "why" and devise answers then your next step is to "solve" not worry. As a consummate worrier I have to push myself into the solution-oriented mindset. In the solution mode, get creative and think outside of the box. Try different ideas on for size. In my brainstorming session, I realized I had some opportunities on the horizon with a series o...