Entrepreneurship
Lessons, mindset, and strategies for building and running a business.
56 posts
The Death of Email
I take great delight in my growing collection of screen captures of ads declaring "The Death of Email." I take a picture of the ad, then I click on...
The Inevitability Cheat Code
Mike Tyson once said "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." When you stepped into the ring with Mike Tyson circa 1986, it was in...
Imagine If You Applied Your SELF
When my mother passed, I found a red box with all my old report cards. It was an amazing walk down memory lane. The thing I loved most was reading the handwr...
That's Not Your Job
I once saw a great interview with Quentin Tarantino on The Charlie Rose Show. He told a story about a lunch that changed his life. Quentin was having lunch w...
Your Own Personal Pluribus
I just watched the amazing Pluribus Series on Apple TV. The central idea of the story is simple and unsettling: what happens when every person in the world i...
Irrational Confidence
The first time I saw the words irrational confidence together was in a book called Overachievement. It was written by a sports psychologist who has coached a...
The Purpose of a Podcast
There are three models of podcasts that currently exist. The most common model involves one person interviewing a celebrity or people who have notoriety in a...
Syndication
There are two ways to grow your business: You can either scale it... or you can syndicate it. While some businesses are more suitable for scaling, others fit...
The Four Seasons Valhalla
I do a podcast with my friend Dan Sullivan called "The Joy Of Procrastination." And one of the things we talk about a lot is how Dan and his wife a...
Enjoyable Life
I’m sure there’s a good reason why you’re an entrepreneur. If you’re anything like me, it’s probably because you like problem-solving. And conceptualizing id...
The Cost of Success
Sometimes, success comes at a cost. You may find yourself with a successful business, but your days are packed full of work you're not excited to do. And you...
Vending Machine
Sometimes, when your business is going well and you have more clients than you can handle, You come to a point where you start playing with the idea of helpi...
Lifestyle business
Many people talk about creating a 'lifestyle business'. But very few set out to find a business that meets that goal. The reason for that is, that a lifestyl...
How It's made
Have you ever watched How It’s Made? It’s a great show. And what they do is, in each episode, they take you behind the scenes and show you how everyday objec...
Predictable Vending Machine
After many years of working with various entrepreneurs and business owners, I’ve found that one common mistake people make (especially the one-man-band busin...
The Protocol
To scale any business, you must first nail your result-getting protocol. Because that's the basis for the scale-ready algorithm. And, you've heard me say thi...
Chain of Events
I did some work with a party rental company here in Toronto. When I asked them who’s their largest check client, what’s the jackpot for them, they said, “ An...
A Lottery
In certain industries, emergencies are the most common way to get new clients. Think plumbers, electricians, roofers… or any other business that falls into t...
Book Title Formulas
Can you guess the most important thing about a book? That’s right, its title. Your book’s title should be so compelling that when your ideal audience reads i...
The Discipline of Market Leaders
Remember how I always tell you that you must plan to dominate your category? Well, sometimes this also means deciding on what your core activity is and becom...
The Biggest Band in the World
There are many more people out there who can execute a scale-ready algorithm than people who can create an algorithm that’s ready to scale. And the fact that...
Outcome Based
Let me ask you something, How big do you think my email list is? I mean, how big would you expect it to be for a guy like me? You know, with my profile or my...
Monetizing Results
Whenever you start a new business venture… a big part of its success is to build a community around it. Especially when you’re in the lifestyle or well-being...
Franchise Prototype Thinking
Have I ever told you how much I like the franchise business model? There are two reasons. First of all, I always talk about breaking businesses into the Befo...
Ghost Restaurants
I read an article in the Chicago Tribune about a new concept called ‘ghost restaurants’. Have you heard of them yet? The headline was " Nine Restaurants...
Thriving Affiliates
Sometimes, when you have a groundbreaking product, it makes sense to license it to other people in your industry. Say, you have a new hair-thinning solution....
One Target Market at a Time
The most confusing part for many business owners is selecting a single target market. I know it sounds simple. But when you get down to it… There are just to...
''One for One'' Model
Most business owners who provide a service that’s project-based have one big problem in common… And that’s scaling. Think about it: The only way to scale a p...
Who not How
We’re living in a world right now where it’s never been a better time to have ideas. Think about it; Whatever you can imagine, no matter how ambitious or cra...
Filters And Amplifiers
Sometimes you want to know if your prospect meets certain criteria before you can help them. For example If you help people get loans, you might want to know...
Creating a Movement
When you have a great message, an idea, a system or framework, that you know is helpful to people… and you want it to spread as wide as possible… The first s...
Competetive Advantage
Do you know what’s the best way to get rid of your competition? Doing things that nobody does... And sometimes, this means going against what’s perceived as ...
Name Droppers
When I was in college, my friend Neil and I used to run a painting company, And the way we got clients was... We created another company called Name Droppers...
Tiger-proof Business
Several years ago, I was flying to LA and, to pass time, had Forbes magazine to amuse me. There was this article about the top 100 entertainers that caught m...
The Culture Code
There's a great book by Clotaire Rapaille called "The Culture Code." In his book, Rapaille explains how everything in our lives is based on an impr...
Unearned Income
Let me ask you something… If you took 100% of all the money you’ve made in the last 12 months, what percentage of that would be “unearned income”? That is, i...
Three Words
Your whole marketing strategy can be distilled down to just three simple words: Compel, Convince, Collaborate. You need to COMPEL somebody to raise their han...
Your Biggest Opportunity
One of the biggest marketing ideas around is risk reversal., It means taking the chance, taking all the risk and putting it on your shoulders instead of on y...
Where It All Starts
Have I ever told you how the whole “More Cheese Less Whiskers” idea started? I used to read a lot of articles about psychology and human interaction dynamics...
Escape Valve
Here's a curious thing... Very early in my "internet" years, I discovered that the fewer options I put on the site, the more people opted in. That'...
Start Here... Again
The secret of entering the conversation in your prospect's mind is figuring out the timeline they're on that leads to your product or service. Because when y...
Are You a Doer?
Sometimes, the only thing stopping you from having an enjoyable and successful business is YOU. We all thrive in different situations, and figuring out what ...
The P&G Principles
There's a book about Procter & Gamble called "The P&G; 99". It describes the 99 principles P&G; uses when thinking about new markets an...
Future Money
Here’s what I find fascinating: People are far less attached to future money than present money. For most people, present money is already spoken for. This m...
Simple Website Formula
I have a formula for measuring websites… and it goes like this: Eyeballs + emails + hearts = faces. You have to have eyeballs. That’s the first number I’m in...
Results vs Tools
People often assume the value is in their tools. But the reality is, nobody really cares about the tools. Your product or service… that’s not where the value...
Gift Card Ideas
Here’s an idea: Next time you run a promotion, use gift cards. Instead of doing the usual “Buy one get one free…” or “50% off…” just give away $20 (or even $...
The Marketing Equation
Since the beginning of time, commerce has been driven by exchanging goods or services for money. You have a widget or service people want the results your wi...
Scalable Workforce
One necessary requirement of a scale-ready algorithm is to have a scale ready team. sALIM ISMAIL If you think of Peter Diamandis’ books Abundance and Bold as...
Dig Well, Get Thirsty
I’m sure you’ve heard about Robert Cialdini’s new book. It’s called Pre-Suasion. And it’s the “sequel” to his seminal book Influence. I’ve read it four times...
Winning Small
There’s a guy you’ve probably heard of; he spent a great deal of money building a rocket. And when he launched it... it crashed. Soon after, he built a secon...
The Multiplier Effect
You can look at your During Unit two ways: At the most basic level, it should satisfy your CORE objective: to deliver the product or service you promised. If...
The President's Choice
Have you ever heard of Dave Nichols? Maybe, if you grew up in Canada. But if you didn’t, Dave Nichols was the president of the biggest grocery store in Canad...
Syndication For The Win
If you're at the point in your business where you’ve figured out a cool and efficient way of doing things, and you’re wondering, "How could I license th...
When Marketing Works on YOU
I am always hyper-aware of when marketing is working on me. Are you? I travel a lot, so I notice when things in the hospitality service work amazingly well a...
One Word "Trick" That's Cures Procrastination. Now.
Here's a thought for Wednesday as you're planning the rest of your week... When I’m procrastinating, which is often, it’s almost always because I’m not exact...