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Social media is a very powerful tool for allowing businesses to efficiently and economically develop a strong brand presence in the marketplace. Read More

Those who know me well (and probably also those that only know me a little bit), know that I am an eternal optimist. Sadly, I find that by living a life as an optimist, I'm often misunderstood, maligned and simply found ignorant and annoying. I find this a bit of a sad reflection on a world that is becoming increasingly mistrusting and negatively focused. After all, if you don't LET a light shine, you can guarantee that it won't, and for me, that is no way to live Read More

There are so many ways to make LinkedIn useful for your business, this is really only a starter list to get you up and going Read More

After I wrote yesterday's article "Who's Got Your Back" about my traumatic, and lesson teaching, experience with the death of my beloved Macbook 'Larry', I went over and posted the article for my friends and fellow Third Tribe members as a warning to them to BACK UP YOUR WORK. Read More

An important lesson in protecting yourself and intellectual property. Back up your computer files nightly to save yourself the anguish and despair of losing everything Read More

Dealing with business operations is important, managing and communicating with employees is important, heck...even talking to yourself is important! However, customer communications is the most important and too often business owners stop communicating directly with customers and leave all communications in the hands of employees or other third parties Read More

Do you treat your customers the way you would like to be treated? Try turning the tables to figure out how effective your customer communications really is Read More

The famous phrase "The Buck Stops Here" was popularized by President Harry Truman, who had a sign with it on his desk in the Oval Office. Stopping the Buck means taking action, making decisions and then (most importantly) taking responsibility for those actions and decisions. Every business owner and manger must see themselves as the ultimate buck stopper. If it happens in your business, it is your fault. period Read More

I'm often asked the following questions by clients and readers:

"How can I set myself apart from my competitiors?"

"How can I define myself in the market?"

"How can I reach out and bring in customers?"

My simple answer to all of these, and similar questions, is Relationship Building.

We aren't talking 'customer service' here, customer service is how average businesses deal with customers....we are talking about creating an environment where your customer sees you as their friend. Where you build a level of trust, credibility and respect, and your business becomes part of their worldview.

This is Relationship Building, and this is how exceptional businesses communicate with customers Read More

Surfs up kids! It's summer are your ready? Better yet, is your business ready?

Summer is simply a different time of year, kids are out of school, people are on vacation, the atmosphere is more laid back in some ways and more frantic in others. Summer is the best time of year for some businesses and the worst time of year for others. Regardless of where your business fits in that spectrum you need a plan of attack to make sure you either maximize opportunity or minimize damage Read More