Take a Good Hard Look Behind You
I discovered long ago that if I wanted to continually improve my company and my own performance I need to leverage my past experience for all it’s worth. Stated more simply – to make 2009 the best it can be, you need to analyze what took place in 2008.
READ MOREAre You Risking Cancer With This Fat?
You know by now that there are “good” fats and “bad” fats. And you’ve probably heard that small amounts of omega-6 fatty acids from seeds and plants are essential for your body. When combined with omega-3 fatty acids from fish, omega-6s appear to play an integral role in maintaining health. Together, these two fats can help regulate brain development, energy production, and immune function, and control inflammation.
READ MOREMore Mispronunciations
In an earlier installment of “The Language Perfectionist,” I presented a list of the most commonly mispronounced words, courtesy of Charles Harrington Elster, a leading expert on pronunciation. In that column, I pointed out that if you don’t pronounce words properly, your image and reputation could suffer.
READ MOREBecome a Killer Link Builder
Link building is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization (SEO). When you attract links from other relevant websites, that tells the search engines that yours is a site to be trusted, and, therefore, displayed for relevant keyword searches.
READ MOREYour Reason for Buying Determines Your Ultimate Investment Success
Buying into a company because it has bottomed is a non-sequitur. You can’t really know when it has bottomed. Even if it has dropped 95 percent, you could see it drop another 50 percent.
READ MOREMy Favorite Holiday Tradition: Making Myriads of Kids Smile
To me, the holidays are all about the kids. At some point, we all reach the age when our parents have to get us up to open presents rather than the other way around. And once you reach this age, the holidays are a lot more fun when there are little kids around.
READ MOREChristmas Predictions for 2009
Builders make plans. Entrepreneurs make goals. Gamblers make bets. Fools make predictions.
I am quite sure that some of the following predictions will make me look foolish by the end of 2009, but I thought you might be interested in a few of the actions I plan to take, business-wise, next year.
Make This Year Your Best Year Ever – Resolution #3: Just Say Yes
On very rare occasions, I like to unwind in front of the TV with an episode of Law and Order. In one of my favorite episodes, Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy was enticed to take on a high-profile case, but he refused. You see, the case involved working against his boss, District Attorney Adam Schiff.
READ MOREMy Favorite Holiday Tradition: Stuffed Reindeer and Fishing Rods
Last year, we waited in line for an hour at the local mall. Meanwhile, we were subjected to nonstop trailers for a horrible holiday movie projected on big screens, and were surrounded by “themed” decorations based on the same film. Talk about the commercialization of Christmas. Anyway, after all that, my son took one look at Santa Claus and started crying so hard that his face turned the same color as cheery old St. Nick’s suit.
READ MOREHow to “Touch” Your Customers
Let’s face it. In today’s Internet world, it’s easy to stay in your hidey hole, avoid people, and just sit at your PC reading, writing, and thinking… which is what I’ve essentially designed my businesses to allow me to do! But the problem is that you become too isolated from the very people you are in business to serve.
READ MORENever a Bad Time to Spend Wisely
Splurging in the middle of a recession is a no-no by Wall Street’s lights. They’re very good at punishing companies that can’t rein in spending when the economy goes into a tailspin (like now). The thinking is, a company can’t increase sales in a recession and shouldn’t try. They can only hope to cut costs to sustain profits. But this particular piece of conventional wisdom doesn’t always hold true. In the recession of 1989 to 1991, many companies that dared to spend aggressively on advertising were amply rewarded…
READ MOREA Toast to Your Health
Mulled wine, Champagne, hot toddies… the holidays are here. And many of us are tempted to drink a little more alcohol than we’re used to. But what’s the story? Should you down that Irish coffee pushed on you by your host? Or pass?
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