Nov 6Member-onlyHow to sell your business for more money“Anyone who takes a ‘we’ll figure out how to profit in the future’ attitude to business is being ridiculous.” — Jason Fried, Rework Here’s a largely ignored secret about owning a business. Often you make more money selling the business than running it. Most business owners I speak with are…Business6 min readBusiness6 min read
Sep 21Member-onlyWhat, me worry?I was in a car the other day with a radiologist and a neurosurgeon talking about hypertension. This conversation is actually not as unusual as it might sound. …Worry4 min readWorry4 min read
Aug 21Member-onlyThe Art of Asking for What You WantWhen I was a kid my Dad was my hero. He wore a 3-piece suit to his accounting office, was always in control, and could fix anything. On weekends, the older kids became his soldiers marching around the property hauling downed branches, stacking wood, or some other work we couldn’t…Asking For Help5 min readAsking For Help5 min read
Jul 25Member-onlyMeasure What MattersWhen my daughter was young, we opened her first bank account. We went to my bank, opened an account and she made a small deposit. All the way home she held tight to her shiny new bank book. Back then they even imprinted her name on the cover. …Measure What Matters4 min readMeasure What Matters4 min read
Jun 28Member-onlyIs your Business too Complicated?My business coach squinted as he pointed at the long, winding snake of connected boxes I’d drawn on the whiteboard. “And why,” he asked as he pointed at my convoluted diagram of colored boxes, circles, and interconnected lines, “do you need to build that sequence with all that automation coding…Strategy Planning4 min readStrategy Planning4 min read
Apr 30Member-onlyWhy I ran the Boston MarathonThere are at least two reasons we do anything. The most obvious is what we think we should do, like “Some expert on a podcast said I should eat more blueberries.” Then there is the second, less obvious reason, like “I want to feel better about my health.” Last week…Marathon5 min readMarathon5 min read
Mar 19Member-onlyLife is Hard and That’s a Good ThingI have a hard time with people who sugar-coat the truth. I was on a webinar this week that promised to reveal the secret to becoming an author. Given that I published my book a decade ago I thought I needed a refresh. Instead of advice, or sharing actual steps…Stoicism4 min readStoicism4 min read
Mar 5Member-onlyWhy You Need to Tell More Stories“People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic.” — Seth Godin Cruising garage sales one weekend, researchers Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn spent the morning collecting dozens of random items including a common office stapler, a box of birthday candles, a pair of shark and…Stories4 min readStories4 min read
Feb 26Member-onlyThe Salesperson in You“Never mistake a quantity of calls for a quality of salesmanship.” — David Ogilvy The speaker before me is brilliant. They are an encyclopedia of knowledge, spilling out facts, statistics, and convincing arguments. Slide after slide delivered brilliant graphs and bullet lists that would make a university professor proud. I’m…Selling5 min readSelling5 min read
Feb 18Member-only5 books that taught me how to age better“What is a normal goal for a young person becomes a neurotic hindrance in old age.” Carl Jung It was July, we were hiking up to the third floor of my favorite bookstore, Powell’s City of Books in the old Pearl district of Portland. Picture a labyrinth of wall-to-wall books…Book Review4 min readBook Review4 min read
