What Is America’s Brand? When I was a kid, the Vietnam war was winding down and we were all celebrating our nation’s bicentennial. Rocky had just come out and Star Wars was on deck. It was a good time to be an American. Of course the Iran hostage crisis hit, oil prices skyrocketed, and gasoline was scarce. But then Reagan came in with his “shining city upon a hill” vision, a strong arm against Russia, and sweeping economic ideals that…
I’ve been around long enough to notice some things. For example, if you want to be successful at ANYTHING you must be willing to laser focus on that thing for a long time. This year I committed to observing the traits of different people as a way to understand what separates successful people from people who are merely sustainable. But first let’s define success. Most anyone can become sustainable and be happy, and yes sustainability is considered a form of…
What’s the first thing you do when you need a part for your car or a cake for a party? You turn to Google. What’s the first thing you do when someone recommends a company to you? You Google it, then you visit the website. That’s what you do. That’s what we all do. And it’s not going to change anytime soon. You’re in business because you do something well. Be it a product or a service, that thing is why you’re in…
A wise person once told me that when something is free, it isn’t. Since about 2009, we’ve all grown accustomed to using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to share our lives, read the news, and keep in touch with friends and relatives. And the most amazing part about this is that you can use these platforms for FREE. All you have to do is turn over an email address and you’re in. An email address is a direct…
Since floating the idea of Gone Dogs to friends in 2015, every person I’ve spoken with has responded favorably. Every one. Mostly, it was because they thought a coffee-table style book filled with stories about man’s best friend was surely something people would want to own. The idea was born out of love for my dogs and my motivation was simply to create something people would want to be a part of. Since then, I’ve had plenty of time to…
I’m a writer who makes his living in marketing. I’d rather save whales and write adventures about it, but I get paid to position brands so that they grow. Marketing pays the bills, even though it means competing in an oversaturated field chock full of conmen with blue checkmarks on Twitter. And I’m pretty good at what I do. There’s a big difference between knowing how to run a Twitter campaign and understanding the idiosyncrasies of a brand to make…
