I’m sure in your life you’ve met your fair share of whiners and complainers . . . individuals who say, “If only I had a fair shake” and then blame their problems on one cause or another, but never their own actions (or failures to act.) In a few minutes, for example, I’ll respond to [...]
Talent, persistence and luck
I believe three elements combine to create the environment for success . . . Persistence, talent and luck. Luck happens when you least expect it but there are obviously no guarantees. (Talented and persistent people sometimes fail despite everything they try while absolute idiots who are totally lazy occasionally have incredible luck.) However, while I [...]
Delegating or doing it yourself: The challenging construction marketing choices
One of the most interesting challenges/choices in business is deciding when to delegate or outsource, and when to do the work yourself. In some cases, the answers are stunningly obvious. If you have a task you hate and/or are terrible at completing, and others are willing to do (happily) for price-for-time cost far less than [...]
Where is the real construction marketing opportunity?
Yesterday evening, screenwriting coach Erik Bork sent this intriguing email to his marketing list. In case you are wondering, I have no plans to become a screenwriter, but someone I know through a rather remote connection referenced me to Bork, and his thoughts are a refreshing change from the standard stuff we see around here. [...]
New Year’s resolutions, nah
I’m not much of a believer in New Year’s resolutions. People resolve to do all sorts of good things, but rarely if ever even get started on the process. The most extreme example of this stuff occurs at the gym, when out-of-shape people clog the place for about a week at the beginning of January [...]
The Miracle on 34th Street
The classic 1947 seasonal film, The Miracle on 34th Street, reminds us that generosity, faith and imagination are essential in life long after we lose our childhood innocence. The story of how the “real Santa” changed merchandising rules by actually steering children (and their parents) to competitors’ stores if they had the toys of the [...]
Consistent persistence: Is it good for construction marketing?
I’ve been blogging every day since 2006. You can track down the beginning of the blog though the “about” function here and discover links to the old blogspot.com site, which remains active because of its archival wealth (and rather strong, still, Google rankings). As far as i can tell, the only time I missed the [...]
Work is done . . . time for the holidays
Last night, about 10 p.m., I received the page layouts for one of our publications from our graphic designer. With a few clicks, I sent the page layouts to the sales representative responsible for the newspaper and our proofreader, and then realized that Christmas break, indeed, is here. There’s a little work to do over [...]
