Category Archives: Business

Aaron Marcus: Home Town Boy Does Good

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Aaron R. Marcus and I went to high school together. I was on stage while he was always the one behind the scenes, mostly doing lights. He was one of those boys who is so skinny, if he didn’t wear loose clothing you’d never have been able to see him. He didn’t stand so much as slouch; he was arc-shaped, like a parenthesis ). He had long, straight, limp hair and and would eat green peppers like apples. His most outstanding feature was his nose. That’s pretty much what you saw when you looked at his face. Well, time goes by and darned if he didn’t grow into that nose! Of course the long hair is gone and he’s filled out to a good – … Continue reading →

Use One of the Secrets of the Rich!

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We all want to know the secrets of the rich, right? Well, this is one of them: Incorporate.  Becoming a corporate entity has many advantages financially.  The first advantage is you pay many of your bills before being taxed on that money. The way most of us do it, we work, pay taxes, and pay bills with what’s left. You can’t pay all of your bills that way, of course. You can’t deduct your mortgage or your kids’ tuition, it has to relate to the corporation. But it doesn’t have to relate solely to the corporation. I know you’ve heard of those big execs who write off a family vacation. It’s not fair, is it? The people who have most of the money might pay … Continue reading →

UGG®: Lessons in Marketing

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Everyone in Australia wore sheepskin boots. They were amazingly durable and they kept feet warm even in the worst of conditions. Surfers loved them! A surfer could put them on his wet feet, straight out of the ocean, and they would be warm and dry almost immediately. You’d think they’d be uncomfortably warm, though, wouldn’t you? Nope. They keep feet at a constant temperature. Hmm… When Brian Smith came to southern California in the late 70s, he noticed an astonishing lack of sheepskin boots. So, he brought some in. It was a harder sell than he had expected. People in this country just didn’t get them. What was their point? What were they good for? They weren’t exactly the height of style.  And UGG? The … Continue reading →

Etiquette Never Goes Out of Style

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If your eyes just glazed over, hang on a sec. Etiquette is not complicated or arcane. It’s about how we treat people. I think the problem is more with the word than the concept. The term etiquette conjures up images of formal dinners where there is more silverware than courses. Maya Angelou said, “I want to display courtesy, courage, patience, and strength all the time. Now, I blow it 84 times a day. But I’m trying.” That’s etiquette.  That’s manners. Manners and courtesy are a way of saying, “I understand that you are in the world, too, and that you have as much right to be breathing the air as I do.” What I find strange is how many of these rules of etiquette we … Continue reading →

Overwhelmed by Social Media?

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If you’re in business and have not been living under a rock, you know social media has become one of the strongest marketing tools available now. It’s probably not the death knell to mail, newspapers, or television and radio ads that many are saying it is, but if you want your business to grow, you must use online marketing sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. You cannot do what’s been working for you for years; it won’t anymore. But, oh, my gosh! It is so complicated!  Right now, I have two Facebook pages and one uses an email address I didn’t even know I still had. I have to combine them, but how do you do that? I’m still not clear on the … Continue reading →

Business Coaches vs. Business Mentors

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Business coaching used to be a luxury for start-ups. These days, it seems almost a necessity. Or is it? Let’s take a look. First, the difference between a coach and a mentor. A mentor has done what you want to do. S/he has walked that road successfully, and so can help you walk it faster. Or at least know what challenges you’re probably going to face and when. A business coach knows business. The process of starting and successfully running a business is pretty much the same, regardless of what the business is. In fact, many businesses fail because they don’t recognize that. Being great at what you do is not enough. Think of it like building a house. The steps are the same, no … Continue reading →

How You Look Matters in Business … and in Life

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I grew up believing it was vanity to worry about looking good when you left the house. It didn’t matter what you looked like. “It’s what’s inside that counts.” How many times did I hear that growing up! And while, ultimately that is true, it’s also not. When we first see someone, within three seconds we form an opinion of them. It’s not conscious, you can’t help but do it. What else can that opinion be based on but how you present yourself? And yes, you could ignore your first impression. But the plain fact is, in business, people respond better to someone who looks professional. Would you trust your taxes to an accountant who was dressed in sweats? (Conversely, would you want a plumber … Continue reading →

20 Reasons Everyone Should Take Acting Lessons

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Here’s what my students learn: Enter a room with confidence, head held high. Look people in the eyes. If you shake someone’s hand, your grip should be firm, not flimsy and not vise-like. Don’t babble, but do speak clearly, distinctly, and loud enough to be heard. Listen carefully when someone is speaking to you. The most important thing you do is listen. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes, especially when you do not like how they are acting. Why do you think they are behaving the way they are?  Figure it out. It’s probably not the reason you think. People have reasons for everything they do. They may not be good reasons, but they make sense to that person at that time. Very often, they themselves … Continue reading →

Winning v. Losing: Nicknames Required

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Have you ever noticed that nicknames seem to be required in baseball? For the stand-outs, anyway. Name a baseball superstar who isn’t known by his nickname. Dizzy Dean… Shoeless Joe … Jim Palmer… Okay, maybe not all. Anyway, Cy Young was one of the best pitchers in the history of the sport, but his name is not Cy, it’s Denton. At his first professional try-out, he pitched a ball so fast that it smashed into the wooden fence behind home plate and tore it up. Someone said it looked like a cyclone had hit it, a reporter shortened it to “Cy,” and it stuck. He and a couple other pitchers with cyclonic fast balls are thought to be the reason the pitcher’s mound was moved … Continue reading →

Business Person v. Person

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Thirty years ago – maybe even just 20 – terms like fierce and ruthless were often used to describe a good businessman. Let the buyer beware and cutthroat competition were commonly heard. In other words, the qualities associated with being a good businessman were not the same as those associated with being a good person. As businessman began morphing into businessperson – possible because of that transformation – that became less and less true. Situational ethics are frowned upon by most these days. It is commonly accepted is that right and wrong rarely change with the circumstances. And that is good news for everyone. As far as I can see, the only people who lose from that are those who are unconcerned with anyone but … Continue reading →