People & Relationships

How a Bad Review Can Be Good for Your Business

Bad reviews! Ugh. The Internet. That’s how most business owners respond when a bad review lights up their computer screen. I deal with bad reviews from both sides. As a business and marketing consultant, I help my clients build their reputation and grow their social proof online (and that usually includes reviews). One of the…
writing gratitude thankful relationships

A Simple Way to Be Happier and Improve Relationships

As this first week of the new year progresses, I’ve launched a new experiment. Neuroscience research from one of my favorite writers, Eric Barker, that says that there’s a simple way to increase your happiness and productivity while also improving your relationships. And it only takes 2 minutes. Seriously? What is this simple happiness booster?…
child pose

Strike a Pose

Need a confidence boost? Check out this video on Power Posing. After watching this, I’ll admit I do the Victory pose whenever I need a pick-me-up. It’s amazing how little things can not only improve your business initiatives and relationships, but also upgrade your attitude.    

Trusting the Expert

I heard a piece of wisdom today from a client—and I wanted to share it. We were discussing the branding we’re developing for this new research center, and I was asking about her specific preferences. She gave me some basic guidance and then said, “I’ve worked with a lot talented people over the years. I…
The future of work

The Future of Work

From the first time we heard Matt Mullenweg (the WordPress founder) speak about his company’s philosophy of getting the best talent around the world without having to be in a central location, we were intrigued. In fact, I would love to write a book about it. Matt has selected a global team that mostly works…

How Social Tools Enable Great Customer Service

When I see a company doing something right, I always want to write about it. Of course, it’s pretty fun to write about those who get it wrong too! But I’ll save that for another post 🙂 My Experience I recently experienced excellent customer service from Brabantia, who makes our cool and beautiful Touch Bin.…

Thoughts on RFPs

I participated in a request for proposal (RFP) presentation yesterday. We rarely participate in RFPs because most of our work comes from referrals… but in this instance, it was my contact that had sent the RFP to me and requested our participation, and I wanted to learn more about the organization. What we learned The…

Spec Work Debate Update

UPDATE: Interesting… An RFP for the National Endowment for the Arts recently required spec work, so the leading graphic designer’s association responded in a well-written letter. The irony is quite strong here… that an arts organization would be requiring free work (and damaging an industry they are supposed to protect)!

What Would You Do Differently If You Were In Charge?

A few years ago, I read an article in John Maxwell’s leadership newsletter where he shared a tip for staying positive when you are not in charge at work. He said that when he was in a subordinate position, he started keeping a list of “Things I’ll Do Differently When I’m In Charge.” He said…

Keys to Success: Building Confidence and Destroying Fear

I just read a great post on building confidence and destroying fear at GetRichSlowly.org. I love this because I find that so many people let fear dominate all their decision-making. I have known many people who have stayed in a dead-end job, abusive relationship, or missed out on a great opportunity because they were too…

Oops… Where’s My Attention to Detail?

Today I accidentally deleted all the “real” comments off this site when I deleted all the spam comments. How did I do this act of stupidity? Not paying attention to detail. I could blame this website’s interface, but in reality, I just wasn’t paying attention. It’s funny how all these years, I thought I was…