First Word

Have you ever given anything away for free? Have you ever been surprised when something you're giving away suddenly completely loses its value to the point that you can't give free away at all? Yes, people will turn away from free things, which is hard to believe. You want to know why? Because if value is perceived as worthless than the question gets instilled in their heads, "Well, if you don't want it why should I?" Either free things will get perceived as junk (which is why they're free) or the subconscious mind will think, "What's wrong with it?" or "There's a catch." As a sales person it will surprise you to know that giving stuff away for free can be just as much work as selling it. So in that respect you might as well sell it. Here's the real insight: people respond well to DEALS and SALES. While you might not be able to give away anything without weird reactions and "no thank yous" switch your tactic to a s...

My associate Laura Sevigny, our new director of operations, marketing and sales, said this: "The biggest lessons I've learned were from when I failed not succeeded." I thought about that statement, and I agree. Then I considered my own biggest lessons from failure, and I wanted to share with my audience here on First Word . I must be the "master of my domain" (a funny line from Seinfeld which has nothing to do with business) . But it's true. As the CEO I should not be doing every job, but I should know how to do every job. After another "expensive education" (another Laura-ism), I decided it was time to pull back the curtain and figure it ALL out. Even though it's taken temporarily from my core work, I decided to devote a month or better to perform every task in my business down to shipping. In doing these tasks, I will now be able to answer every question firmly and without reservation. I can also gauge and understand what amount of time ...