Category: lifestyle


Marketing Monday: Sales pointers gleaned from author Michael Port

Marketing Monday: Sales pointers gleaned from author Michael Port

Entrepreneur magazine hosted a half-day workshop on selling professional services last week, anchored by Michael Port, author of “Book Yourself Solid.” I took away several helpful ideas and pointers so today’s Marketing Monday is some highlights: 1. There are certain people you are meant to serve. Your job is to find them and push away the people you are not…

Five tips on how to change the world, as seen by Public Words

Five tips on how to change the world, as seen by Public Words

Wanting to change the world is a lofty goal, but according to a recent post by Public Words, it comes down to some basic principles. In an article headlined, “How to Change the World – 5 Lessons from People Who Have,” the communications strategists boil it down to five characteristics. My very streamlined summary: 1.  Take the plunge.  No one…

Do you have difficult people in your life?

Do you have difficult people in your life?

The world would be a lovely place if we were all kind and respectful and loving toward one another. Unfortunately, there are greedy people, bullies and manipulators among us, to name just a few of the difficult people we all have to encounter. How should we handle these people who make us feel less than great? A recent Deepak Chopra…

Amy's lesson in giving and receiving, inspired by Newtown

Amy's lesson in giving and receiving, inspired by Newtown

John and I spent last weekend with friends in Newtown, Conn. They have a school-aged child. As they described learning about the terrible events at Sandy Hook Elementary, and how the loss of 26 lives to a gunman continues to play out in their small town, I tried in vain to imagine what their experience must have been like. Shortly…

Embracing uncertainty as the path to happiness

Embracing uncertainty as the path to happiness

If you don’t yet read Brain Pickings, the smartly wonderful guide to things you should check out online, here’s yet another endorsement to check it out. I spend a lot of time reading and blogging about happiness, but recently Maria Popova, the curator of Brain Pickings, turned me on to a happiness book I hadn’t heard of: The Antidote: Happiness…

Marketing Monday: Social media is about being social

Marketing Monday: Social media is about being social

This year at SXSW Interactive, I heard a speaker say something that made me want to leap up, throw my hands in the air and yell, “Amen!” He suggested that many new technologies, whether that’s smartphones, social media or the Internet itself, have been around long enough that we should no longer be infatuated with their gee-whiz factor and instead…