Another in the popular “How To Be Taken Seriously” category. It all comes down to personal trust, whether you’re a one-person shop, a small business, or a multi-billion dollar corporation. As I’ve mentioned a few times already, I finally bought an apartment in Manhattan. Years of renting have come to a close as I signed close to 1,453 documents over the course of an afternoon in exchange for two lock keys and one mailbox key. I’m a homeowner. Yes, it’s scary as hell, with each day bringing up more scariness excitement than the day before. But the one thing that keeps me smiling is this: Because I own, I can create. Or, in less dramatic terms, I can mold my [...]

This is a part of a continuing series of posts on the topic of how to be taken seriously. And if you wonder why a post about how to live your life while having fun is part of a group of posts on being taken seriously, think about it – If you can be a professional, while having fun and enjoying your life, there’s nothing more respected than that. Before you read this post, read this one first. Chances are, if you’re gonna leave a snarky comment, it’s already been left there. Now then: I’m writing this blog post on a flight back from Frankfurt, a connection to end a trip that started four days ago at Newark Airport, led [...]

One of my biggest problems is figuring out how much to charge, whether it be for speaking, consulting, or any of my services. I suspect a lot of us have that problem. We don’t want to overcharge, lest we don’t get the client/gig/project, but then, we don’t want to undercharge, hating ourselves while we’re doing it, knowing that the client would have easily paid more. I used to err on the side of undercharging, and I hated myself for it. I still do, sometimes. It’s frustrating. I’ve seen it happen out of business situations, as well – Paying six dollars for that trinket in Thailand, knowing that I probably could have negotiated my way down to four. It’s really a [...]

Yesterday, I tweeted the following:Increase your hustle by 10%, and your game will increase by 50%. Trust me. I’ve done it. Here are five easy ways to help increase that hustle. 1) Talk to three people you haven’t spoken to in a while – Hint – Facebook makes it super easy. Simply look to the right of any page, and you’ll see this: Simply say hi to three people in your network. Doing this every day guarantees that you’re talking to your entire network, and not wasting those connections. It also promotes top of mind presence, which makes people think of you when they need something – which leads to more work for you, which translates into more revenue – [...]

So… Y’all remember how I started that little Facebook group I started that allowed me to connect reporters and sources, right? Well, 1,200 members later, and we’ve blown past email limits for Facebook groups. So with that said… Welcome to Help A Reporter: The Sequel. Help A Reporter, at www.helpareporter.com is live, and already making waves. Check out the NY Times from this morning, Marketing Sherpa from this morning, and the tons of blogs and Tweets about it. When we do it right, I REALLY love this industry. Two quick photos: First one from my arrival at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach a few days ago. I love it when hotels take the time to figure out what your [...]