Developing a message map for a business, organization or even a sole practitioner like me, is really important. It helps you quickly tell folks what it is you do and why because, as Simon Sinek says, people don’t buy what you do or how you do it, they buy why you do it… Here’s what […]

[The difference between a city accountant and a country one explained…] Clients of mine, first time home-buyers Katie and John (not their real names), are not on a path like others. No, they want to buy a home that pays them rather than one they pay for. What’s that you say? A home that pays […]

I teach/mentor/coach a buy and hold strategy when it comes to real estate investing. It’s also a truism that you make money in real estate when you buy not when you sell (and since I teach folks to hold property for at least 3-generations), purchasing well-located properties at a decent price (ie, buying smart/buying low) […]

By Richard Paul Evans (2005) Review (from Amazon): When Richard Paul Evans was twelve, his father, a building contractor, shattered both his legs. With no insurance, no income, and eight children, the family was destitute. At that difficult time young Evans was introduced to a kind multimillionaire who taught him the five secrets of wealth. […]

To be honest, I’ve long felt that baby boomers (of which I am one) have acted in a way to favor their generation over younger people. Here’s an article written by Lyman Stone for the Atlantic (June 24, 2019) that extends and builds on that argument… The political ascendancy of the Boomers brought with it […]

I’ve written before that it’s a mistake in my view that many companies in North America these days push out employees over 50 (and, in tech, anyone over 40). These people are your time machine, your Wayback Machine (aka, internet archive) if you will. Plus, they know how to work hard, which means, basically, they […]

Charles “Chip” Esten (better known as Deacon Claybourne from TV series Nashville) was asked by his writers to come up w/ a song (in just 3-days) he could perform on the show (season 6) as a tune his daddy had once taught him. The result is the fabulous, Itty, Bitty, Ditty, https://youtu.be/ZmMz1UQu0u0 Play it and […]

Bruce M Firestone, PhD, keynote at FanSaves Event May 2019 YouTube video link: https://youtu.be/ZY6j-PgjUFU What is covered? -even Ice Fishing Huts are sponsored! -and keynotes are sponsored! -Ottawa 67s find a way to say “Yes!” to every sponsorship request by turning such asks into a new sales channel by harnessing the give a person a fishing […]

Here’s an excerpt from Jenna’s Story, a learning outcome novel I wrote. It’s set in the future; the story revolves around Jenna McConnell, a young revolutionary and Tom Hatch, a business owner and wealthy person. Tom is in love with Jenna, but she views him alternately with suspicion and affection. Jenna speaks with a deep […]

I have long believed that the best urban condition is one that arises from multiple ownership of land, each of them doing their own thing in a kind of organic growth mode. In other words, the best towns, villages and cities in my view evolve with little in the way of interference from a modern […]

Harmonized sales tax (HST) is a value added tax. Believe it or not, it’s a profit center for most businesses (because you are allowed to set off against HST amounts owing to government any ITCs (input tax credits) you may have). From a consumer’s POV, however, it’s just another tax (in most cases). When we […]

Sales and marketing are about storytelling, true, but it’s also about improving your ability to communicate. A client of mine started his storytelling business–teaching enterprises how to do a better job at communicating their stories. His first step is interviewing clients using a two-way video tool like Zoom, which he records and uploads (unlisted) to […]