Category: Business

Money talks; and sometimes it shouts

Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘Money talks’? It’s meant to indicate that money creates power and influence. And I suppose that’s true in some cases, be it right or wrong, but I’ve noticed something in the online entrepreneurial world lately that goes beyond money talking. Online, money is downright shouty. People left and right are openly talking about how much money they… »

Stop crowdsourcing your design feedback

If you’re not familiar, crowdsourcing is the process of obtaining services, ideas or feedback by soliciting large groups of people, particularly online communities. Before we dive in, I’m not saying that all crowdsourcing is bad. However, in order for it to be done well, and provide you with valuable feedback that’s actually usable, it needs to be done right. More importantly, it needs… »

Defining your brand begins with identifying your values

What do you think makes a business great, or a brand memorable? And how do you bring more YOU into your business? It’s more than just a killer logo or a fancy website. That stuff is just external fluff, like icing on a cake. And without the cake, the icing isn’t worth the sugar its made from. What helps make that logo… »

Take what you need, give what you can

In January of 2016 I attended the What If Conference. If you’ve clicked over and are looking at what that is now, it’s pretty nondescript, with lots of typical conference jargon. Not much to give you a clear picture of what it really offers or is about. My initial interest was peaked a couple years ago after I witnessed some… »

Has your package gone rogue? A lesson in brand consistency.

I say it often, but I think it bears repeating—your brand is more than just your logo or your website. Your brand is a culmination of those things, that together, create an experience for and an impression on your customers. And with that, it’s critically important that the impression you make is the same (or at least similar) in all places. In… »

The Link Between Day Labor and Referrals

If you’ve never been to Southern California, a Home Depot, a lumberyard, or any similar type of construction supply store, you might not be familiar with the term “day laborer.” According to Merriam-Webster, a day laborer is defined simply as: one who works for daily wages especially as an unskilled laborer Where I live, many of these day laborers are… »

The Measurement of Success

How do you define success and what’s the currency by which you measure it? This is something that often plagues me and something I’m still working out my feelings around. A question you’ll hear frequently among entrepreneurs and the self-employed is how they define success. Much like, “What’s your passion?” or “What do you value?”, I always cringed at this question and candidly, wanted to… »

Old Tips for a New Year

Well, another new year is upon us. 2016. I am hopeful and excited about the new year and ready to put my head down and do some focused work. While I wish there was a magic pill or formula that could do #allthethings for me, life just doesn’t work that way. Life doesn’t wait for you to get started. The beginning of the year is… »