An influential professor always told me that comfort is your enemy, which is why – every once in a while – we all need to pick up a brick and toss it through one of the plate glass windows which so neatly contain our lives.
In other words, if you want to grow, you sometimes need [...]
[Update: Amusingly, Twitter's been very unhappy since I posted this, and suggesting it's in the midst of a meltdown wouldn't be out of line...]
You can’t help but hear the drumbeats about Twitter. Depending on who’s talking, it’s either a colossal waste of time, or humanity’s last, greatest hope.
I’ve used Twitter for months now as a [...]
I’m at my parent’s home in Central California, my brothers and I converging on our home because of the death of my father.
Those of you who’ve gotten The Call know the jarring mix of emotions that come with it, and right now we’re digging through the accumulated belongings of a man who — like many [...]
Brandweek ran a story on deceptive marketing practices, and because of my outspoken advocacy of ethical marketing, I was extensively quoted.
The human brain can track up to four complex thoughts simultaneously, and yet — just before lunchtime today — I counted the open windows on my new 17″ laptop.
Six OpenOffice windows (five text, one spreadsheet), four Live Writer windows (my blog editor), three draft e-mails, a still warm-to-the-touch Google Talk window, and yes — two [...]
Sometimes the weight of a couple deadlines, too much coffee, and a late night can have a mildly hallucinagenic effect on a copywriter — especially when you’re trying to pop out a half dozen “brilliant” ads.
And yes, there were times when I was reasonably sure my typewriter/computer/fingers/brain were conspiring against me. And if anyone else [...]
No freelancer likes to get sick. It’s not as if we get sick days from the HR department. And there’s little worse than missing deadlines because you’re too busy driving the porcelain bus.
Yet it happens. It’s been happening to me all week.
I’ll be back at work next week. Preferably without the headaches, nausea, fever — [...]
It’s hardly an advanced copywriting secret. Good news sells. For most copywriters, leading with the good news is second nature — a reflex. You’ll be thinner. Richer. Happier.
You get the drift.
In my writing, it’s second nature. In my speaking life, it apparently isn’t. Last weekend I served as Ride Director for the Shasta Summit Century [...]
It’s not exactly “Copywriters Gone Wild,” but for the next two weeks, this copywriter will be blogging from a remote camp on East Grand Lake, Maine.
If I’ve learned one thing over the years, it’s that your best new-business technique isn’t advertising, or networking, or picking up the phone.
It’s scheduling a badly needed vacation.
In 1.5 weeks, I’ll be somewhere in the vicinity of this boulder.
Need work? Plan a trip.
Once you’ve actually purchased the non-refundable plane ticket, clients new and old [...]
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