Part of the reason this project exists is that many marketing gurus and experts haven’t actually read a marketing textbook. Or taken a marketing course. Or got a degree in marketing.
To be clear, you don’t NEED to do these things to understand how to promote yourself or your product. My grandfather had an elementary school education and still ran a successful small business in Brooklyn.
But, call me old-fashioned, I think that if you’re going to call yourself an expert, or position yourself as one to get speaking engagements and book deals … You should know a thing or…
Hi. I think politicians talk too much, so I’m going to *try* to keep this as short as possible.
I live in New York’s 98th Assembly district. The Republican, Karl Brabenec, is running unopposed. There are other races for Assembly where the incumbent is running unopposed, and I feel that’s not how things should work. You should always have a choice. Especially when the incumbent running unopposed is a Republican. Here’s why.
So, I am asking residents of NY’s 98th Assembly District to write-me in. You can do so by going to the last row on your ballot in the…
Dear Congressman Maloney,
I am writing to encourage you to do the following: Help draft legislation, and then guide it through the appropriate committees and then to the floor of Congress, that would officially replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
In addition, this same legislation should also create a new federal holiday that celebrates the contributions of Italian Americans to this country. That holiday should be named for Geraldine Ferraro, an Italian American, and the first female major-party nominee for vice president.
That new holiday should be on the Friday that proceeds Indigenous Peoples Day, giving American workers a…
There’s nothing wrong with being a Republican, but there is something wrong with being a part of the Republican Party. That sounds weird, right? But let me explain the difference:
The Republican Party, as it exists today, is not a party that represents the people. It’s not even a political party. Not anymore. The Republican Party today is a white supremacist criminal organization disguised as a political party. It exists to fatten the wallets of a small group of people at the expense of you, me, and the planet.
This is not an endorsement of the Democratic Party either. If…
A big problem in the marketing world is short-termism.
People just care about the metrics. They only care about this quarter. Right now. Not the long term.
This thinking often focuses on Facebook advertising and Google advertising instead of print, television, or radio, even though those options may have benefits that you can’t quantify or see right away.
For example, print is known to have a higher recall rate than Facebook and Google placed advertising. This shouldn’t be a shock. Our brains have been working with print since the days of Sumer, in what is now Southern Iraq.
The marketing…
I was never a big Monty Python fan. My older brothers and sister loved it. My friends in high school loved it. But it just didn’t take for me. I’m not saying they’re not funny, they are. But it just wasn’t for me. I did; however, always love their segue line of “And now for something completely different”. The line fits pretty appropriately for what I’m about to share with you.
Just a couple of quick things first:
- My blog posts tend to be long. So if you make it to the end, let me preemptively congratulate you now. They’re…
Always Take Your Break
My sister told me that she works through her break. “It’s only fifteen minutes. Why bother taking it?” Don’t do this. You should always take your break. Always. Why? Because your job will kill you if you don’t.
If you MUST do something during those breaks, use that time to work on your own projects. There’s always going to be a struggle between going for the thing you REALLY want in life, and surviving the obstacles that get thrown your way. …
One of the things I’ve been reading a lot about lately is intrinsic motivation.
Basically, the thing that motivates you and me to do what we do, assuming all our other needs are met.
You’d think money would be the primary reason for us to do anything, but you’d only be half right.
Money is the primary motivator up until your financial needs are met. After that, money stops motivating people to do much of anything. Actually, in a lot of cases, introducing money into the equation after our financial needs are met can have the opposite effect of motivating…
When I read, I’ll read a book three times.
First, just to read and enjoy it. Second to take as many notes as possible, and then (after about a month of not looking at it and reading other stuff) I’ll go back and read the book one final time. That third time may seem like overkill, but I found looking through the book after some time off helps me to see new connections and other things I might have missed.
I also do one other thing during that third reading. I’ll ask myself: What’s the most important takeaway here?
There…
(Author’s note: I originally wrote this in 2016 for CBR.com. I’m reposting it here because of the news of the new Blade film.)
I last saw “Blade” when it was in theaters. Way back in 1998, during the days when Blade’s look, the sunglasses and trench coat, predated “The Matrix” by almost a year. Watching the film recently, I forgot how funny it was. Thanks in no small part to Wesley Snipes’ dialogue and mannerisms. But there were a few things I didn’t forget about it, which I want to pass on to you.
First and foremost, given Blade’s record-setting…
B.J. Mendelson
B.J. Mendelson is the author of “Social Media Is Bullshit” from St. Martin’s Press.
