I’ve had a hard time blogging of late. I feel a little hopeless. Like I’m yelling at the top of my lungs and pointing and saying DON’T WALK INTO THE BURNING HOUSE, but there are 10,000,000 other people writing all forms of idiocy. Luckily, I know lots of folks are still scraping my blog and …

I did a presentation today at Emerging Media Conference: How marketing can change the world. I’ve distilled it down to the essential bits here. It’s not the best organized ever, but it covers the essentials. Give it a read: Streeeetchhh First, a quick mental stretching exercise: “Marketing” is not “Selling stuff”. “Marketing” is: Communications created …

Watching the argument over online piracy unfold in the US is like watching chimpanzees drive a car. They fight over direction but they don’t give a crap if they take the rest of us off a goddamned cliff with them. Here’s my problem with both sides in this Greek tragedy: SOPA = stupid If it …

Writing isn’t a talent—it’s a skill. You can get better at it through practice. If you want awesome verbal pectoral muscles: If you want to get better, you could write a novel, or a textbook. But there’s a much easier way: Freewriting Freewriting is like a verbal sprint. You write a lot, really fast, and …

If I look at Portent’s growth over the last 16 years, we’ve had what my COO calls the Graph of Shame: Some of that might be due to economic poop hitting the fan. And some of it is natural turnover. But the Graph of Shame is a dead giveaway that a business isn’t scaling as …

As of yesterday, Portent officially has a President and a CEO, and they’re separate people. Why? Why would I bring in a business partner after all these years? That means I have to share the glory of running my own agency! Ian takes a brief pause to laugh, but bites it back before the giggles …

I got called an elitist a little while back. I was at a social thing—I think normal people call them ‘parties’. I call them ‘opportunities for me to make an ass of myself’. Here’s the conversation: Other person: My friend got fired last month. Totally unfair. Me: mmm hmmmm I was hoping that’d end the …

I just can’t make this one any more bizarre. Maybe they’re hiring someone to write their social media help wanted posts…

Today, I got a fantastic demonstration of how social media really works. Here’s the timeline: 8:33 AM I totter over to the office fridge, looking for a Diet Coke. It’s my only source of caffeine. I’ve been working since 6 AM. I’m desperate. My batteries are near zero. As my vision starts to fade, I …

I run into a lot of people who feel entitled to success: Business owners with zero capital, below-average motivation and the expectation that internet + them = wealth. But every now and then, I meet people who are clearly going to kick butt. After 16 years of hearing pitches from the entitled crowd, and the …