• 6 Business Lessons from The Martian

    6 Business Lessons from The Martian

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    Have you read The Martian? If not I’d say it’s probably the most riveting piece of fiction I’ve read…ever. Spoiler warnings: There will be a few. To bring you up to speed, in this story, humans are making exploration missions to Mars. On one particular mission, after the crew has landed on Mars, a big storm develops…

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  • The 3 Things You Need to Share

    The 3 Things You Need to Share

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    I’ve written before about how I wouldn’t have a site if I were scared of sharing things, so the importance of sharing is not the point of today’s post. Today I’m going to talk about 3 things you should be sharing with those around you. When I say “those around you,” I mean clients, colleagues,…

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  • We scope and we charge for scoping

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    This is the second episode of the Smart Business Show and today we’re talking about scoping client projects. We will scope projects because just fixing things without diagnosis is malpractice and we won’t be guilty of malpractice. Further, we will charge for scoping because it is a valuable asset to your business. To get more…

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  • Your First Sale is to Yourself

    Your First Sale is to Yourself

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    I admit I didn’t get into this business because I liked sales. I started building websites because I found the process of building them to be a great technical challenge. Now I build sites and coach because I want to help people succeed. I even enjoy sales now because I get to hear about the…

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  • Do you have a ‘yay’ file?

    Do you have a ‘yay’ file?

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    Some days just plain suck. You get a flat tire or get in your car and the battery is dead. Maybe a client sends you an email that’s less than complimentary. Maybe you just didn’t sleep well last night. And little kids are a pain and maybe they didn’t sleep last night, so they’re an…

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  • 10 Questions to Figure Out Why You Work

    10 Questions to Figure Out Why You Work

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    Yesterday I talked about the reason I do what I do. Not only why I build e-commerce and membership sites for traditional clients, but why I write and coach. I’d be lying if I told you I’ve understood my why the whole time I’ve run my business. Like I said yesterday, I got into this…

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  • This is WHY I Do Business

    This is WHY I Do Business

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    I’ve already written about my goals for 2015 and I shared with you how much I want to earn in a year. For some people, the financial goal itself is the primary reason ‘why’ they do their business — just to earn money. There’s certainly nothing wrong with earning money. Money is a necessary tool…

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  • You run a business and that means having hard conversations

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    Today marks the first show where we have a podcast available as well. It’s going to take a day or two to show up in iTunes but I’ll put the link in here when it’s ready. We’re talking about the fact that you run a business and that means having hard conversations with clients about…

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  • 7 Tips for a More Effective Work Day

    7 Tips for a More Effective Work Day

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    Yesterday I talked about how automated tools like RescueTime and Todoist can be manipulated to create a false sense of ‘productivity security’. My goal is not to be productive in the conventional way. You see, many people equate productivity with simply doing lots of stuff. The term I prefer is ‘effective’ which you’ll notice is…

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  • Busy Doesn’t Equal Productive

    Busy Doesn’t Equal Productive

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    Have you heard of RescueTime? If you install this app on your computer it will log every place you spend your time during the day and then give you a report on your productivity. I used it a good bit when I first began working for myself, to help me curb my Twitter habit. RescueTime…

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