Three years ago, I fell severely ill with an autoimmune disorder. I'll spare you the details (but they were bloody uncomfortable). This illness transformed my life. It also transformed my body:For someone who is used to being strong and having high endurance, the change was drastic. I used to rely on my American work ethic [...]
Before I learned how to manage my tasks, my time, and my priorities, my desk was a huge pile of junk. I had long to-do lists that were never getting done. I was so overwhelmed by everything I had to do, I felt like I was drowning in obligations. Then someone threw me a [...]
There comes a time in the writing of every book when the author and the book don’t get along. I’ve been writing Marketing Yourself on and off for a few years. We have an on-again, off-again relationship, until I got committed last year and decided to see this through. Like any relationship, we’ve hit [...]
Sell Them What They Want, When They Want It The day was hot, and I was exhausted from running five kilometers. The Rugged Maniac obstacle course was filled with mud pits and climbing nets. After 37 minutes on the course, I was thirsty. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I was handed [...]
Smart marketing is like a cup of coffee. The coffee that we drink, as beautiful and invigorating as it is, starts out completely differently than what ends up in our cup. Coffee begins life as a hard, greenish-coloured bean, and it does not look or smell remotely edible. It is not a food. Humans cannot [...]
Prevent Simple Mistakes From Destroying Your Bottom Line My new client was panicked. 'We just paid for all this traffic,' he told me breathlessly, 'and we aren't making any sales!' I did a quick audit of his sales funnel. Right away, I found the problem: there was no Buy button on the mobile version of [...]
Create a pre-designed proposal template you can customise for every new client “Can you send me a proposal by the end of the day?” When I started my first web design agency in 2010, this question forced me into upgrading my business. I had only made four websites at that time, and a new client [...]
Fix Your Lead Generation With a Simple Sales Funnel To make pavlova, a delicate seasonal dessert in New Zealand, you need eight ingredients: eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, white vinegar, cornflour, cream, strawberries, and kiwis. If I gave you a shopping list, you could buy everything that goes into the dish. But you would not know [...]
Selling feels sleazy when you ask for commitment too early On the same day, I received a party invitation and a sales pitch. One of them made me very uncomfortable, and the other did not. The sales pitch was on a used car lot. I happened to be walking by, and on a whim, I [...]
Sell to the heart before trying to convince the mind On my third day stranded in the airport, I began to make bad decisions. The kids were hungry — again. The healthy snacks my wife prepared had run out yesterday. The food choices near the gate looked appetising, despite the behaviour problems that we know [...]