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You do a search for your name (or the name or your company or product) and one of the top results is a blog post attacking you. Or maybe there is something that you wrote, but it does not reflect what you believe today. Or there are those embarrassing vacation photos your friend posted to flickr.

Is there anything you can do to get this negative publicity off the Internet, or at least keep customers (and your mother) from seeing it? Although you may not be able to get all of it completely off the Internet, there are several things you can do to make it less visible. Let’s take a look at what your plan should be. [Read more →]

Obviously, I don’t advise you to become a “con man.” But wouldn’t it be wonderful if individuals with real ability and honest-to-goodness services to sell would learn to be half as effective as the average con man?

You can learn from the con man without sinking to his level, using the tricks of his trade for good instead of evil. So why don’t we take a look at his methods? [Read more →]

As you probably know, marketing is something you will do for as long as you are in business. It may be tempting to skip it when times are good and you have all the business you can handle, but it is important to be in the habit of marketing every day.

By doing five things a day to market your business, you keep a supply of new business in the pipeline so you are able to stay busy–and profitable–all of the time.

Five things are more than you can handle? Well, you probably could do five, but if you really think you can’t, then start by doing three things. Think you can’t do three? Even one thing a day can help, but aim for three to five marketing tasks, every single day.

You do not have to do the same things every day. In fact, it helps to mix it up a bit. I have listed some ideas for marketing activities that can keep you in front of new and existing customers. Choose some of these, and mix in other ideas of your own. [Read more →]

My mother-in-law called today to tell me she got a check for more than $300. And it was all because of some time I wasted on the Internet one day. [Read more →]

If you think of yourself as lucky, then you are lucky. You might think of your thoughts as magnets. If you think, “I am lucky,” that thought will attract luck to you as naturally as a magnet attracts steel.

On the other hand, if you habitually think, “Isn’t that just my luck!,” proving that you expect bad luck, that thought will drag your luck down to its own level.

Does that sound kind of new-agey, touchy-feely and unrealistic? Although I do not believe that you can control everything that happens in your life, I am a big believer that you can change your luck. Here are some ways you can improve your luck. [Read more →]

I recently posted a list of Don’ts for Public Speakers from a book published in 1916. Some things do not change much over time, and the characteristics that made a speaker great in 1916 will make you a great speaker today.

Take a look at the following list–do you do these things when you speak? [Read more →]

Are you one of the Twitterati? Twitter is a social media site where members can “follow” each other and issue periodic updates on what they are doing at any point in time. Your first reaction may be like mine: Sounds like a colossal waste of time. Although it can be a less-than-productive way to spend your day, I have discovered several benefits of Twitter in the month or so I have used it that make the small amount of time I spend on Twitter worthwhile. (You can learn more and see what I am up to at http://www.Twitter.com/CathyStucker.)

Lots of bloggers are finding Twitter to be a good way to promote their blogs, find new material, and build more one-on-one relationships with their readers. Darren Rowse at ProBlogger.net posts about the value of Twitter here.

Here are the benefits I have discovered in 37 days of Twittering . . . [Read more →]

I was listening to one of those radio advice shows (Yeah, I know. That was my first mistake.) and this caller was whining and crying about how bad her life is. Of course, nothing was her fault. Everything in her life just happened to her and none of it was because of choices she made. And of course there was no way to make any of it better.

This is why I would not make a good radio advice show host: My advice would have been, “You don’t like your life? Get off your ass and do something about it! And stop sniffling. Dear God, it is no wonder you do not have any friends. Would you want to be around someone like you?”

Gee, does that seem harsh? I tend not to be very understanding of people who whine and complain but never to do anything to change their situation. Want to know why? [Read more →]

I discovered these tips for public speakers in a book from 1916. Although this list was written more than 90 years ago, these suggestions are still good today. It seems that good speaking habits are timeless. [Read more →]

Most of your marketing activities should be in the context of ongoing campaigns. You should think of marketing as something you do every day, every week, every month, for as long as you are in business. Advertising, direct mail and other marketing methods may be part of your long-term strategy.

However, there are some things you can do to bring quick results. The next time you need to generate some revenue in a hurry, try some of these fast and easy ways to get more business from new and existing clients. [Read more →]