Management
Michael Mehlberg
Project Management Solution? Keep It Simple ...

Project management is among a top skill to master in any business; especially one wanting to grow.

Why?

Because without project management, business owners will unnecessarily run into common issues:

Project Management Solution? Keep It Simple Stupid
Productivity
Michael Mehlberg
Getting Derailed? Leave Room to Accommodate the ...

You often get derailed by "the unexpected.”

It’s inevitable.

You get interrupted an unexpected number of times daily. Those interruptions come at unexpected times. They each take an unexpected amount of time with which to deal.

That’s why it’s "the unexpected."

These interruptions kill your flow, destroy your focus, and force you to work on the urgent instead of the important.

So how do you deter, prevent, and deal with the problems these unexpected interruptions incur? 

Getting Derailed? Leave Room to Accommodate the Unexpected
Product Development
Michael Mehlberg
The Exact Value of Your Million Dollar Idea

I was shocked, hurt, and felt like my idea had been stolen. Though I had the idea first, Nintendo would be the star. Nintendo would make $millions. It took years before I was old enough to recognize the important lesson in this experience... 

The Exact Value of Your Million Dollar Idea
Business
Michael Mehlberg
Finding Your Value Despite the Competition

Are you second-guessing your next great idea? Are you downplaying the value you could provide to others? Are you upset that you found a competitor in the market who seems to be offering everything you want to (and seems to be finding great success doing it)?

It might be time to step back and realize a few important things.

Finding Your Value Despite the Competition
Productivity
Michael Mehlberg
On the Power and Freedom of Getting Yourself ...
On the Power and Freedom of Getting Yourself (and Your Business) Organized

Social Media

How to Destress in a Time of Massive Anxiety and Hate

How to Destress in a Time of Massive Anxiety and Hate

I knew something was wrong the moment she answered.

“Your father had a stroke,” my mother explained. “He’s in the hospital now. The doctors are trying to find out more.”

The memory of my grandfather rushed to mind — a man I’d only ever known to be in a wheelchair from a stroke he’d had years before I was born. We used to watch Wonder Woman and eat popsicles together. He’d get pissed because I thought it was funny to hold the popsicle just out of his reach. It was a dick move, even for a four-year-old, and the sudden image of him reminded me just how helpless he could feel at times. It made me wonder if my father would suffer as he did.

Three days later, my wife received a similar call.

“I’m going to the hospital,” her mother explained. “I’m not feeling well, and I think there’s something wrong with my heart.”

As it turned out, my mother-in-law had…

An Open Letter to One Internet Shamer (Who Really Pissed Me Off)

An Open Letter to One Internet Shamer (Who Really Pissed Me Off)

I’ve got a message for the pissed-off suburbanite who posted an emotionally charged and personally-identifying Facebook story about a terrible person speeding through our neighborhood with reckless abandon.

You are the problem. You.

Not the person who was allegedly going 15 over in a school zone.

No.

If what you say is true, a local cop should serve that someone a ticket as punishment for their mistake and to pump a bit of funding into our sheriff’s coffers.

But that so-and-so was speeding, probably like you have too. It’s just that you happened to eat an extra bowl of bitch-flakes this morning, giving you some holier-than-thou complex that made you the judge, jury, and executioner.

So congratulations. You win the Internet shaming award. And you, being the problem, should change your ways.

Oh, and while you’re at it, take down that picture of their vehicle, or at least blur out their license plate.

You’re acting like a two-year-old, and shaming doesn’t work.

Here’s why.

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Conquering The World – Chatbots Gone Wild (Infographic)

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In the early ‘90s, when personal computers could only beep and boop, you had to buy a sound card to hear realistic sound effects or music. By all measures, Creative Labs, Inc. was the undisputed king of PC sound cards, selling their Soundblaster hardware to video game enthusiasts across the country. 

Soundblaster touted 16-bit audio (later 32-bit) and multiple channels of sound as their “drool-factor.” But when I first picked up a sound card from the shelves of Circuit City (remember that store?), I was interested in it’s hidden secret: Dr. Sbaitso.  

Dr. Sbaitso may not have been the first chatbot ever created, but he was the first chatbot with whom I ever spoke. Hearing his canned digital voice tickled my geek feathers. But it wasn’t all kittens and unicorns. Dr. Sbaitso had an unrecoverable problem... 

He was quite possibly the worlds worst chatbot posing as an even worse clinical psychologist. 

Dr. Sbaitso... you were cool, but not very helpful.

Dr. Sbaitso... you were cool, but not very helpful.

More recently, chatbot have entered into consumers lives and minds with force. And for good reason. In an age where instantaneous communication is valued over human interaction, getting the answers you need from a chatbot makes good business sense. 

Given my historical interactions with Dr. Sbaitso (and equally dissapointing interactions with Amazon Alexa’s chat service), I doubted chatbots would have a positive influence on business owners. Then I came across this comprehensive infographic...

Check it out and let me know in the comments below if and how you think chatbots can help your business succeed in 2018 and beyond! 

(Posted with permission from Josh Wardini, 16Best.com)  

Chatbots-infographic.png

The Most Important Element of a Social Media Post

The Most Important Element of a Social Media Post

Be honest.

How many times have you posted a selfie on social media? What about pictures of your business, your employees, or even your products?

If you said none, you can leave now. We all know you’re lying :-).

That's what you're supposed to do, right?

Constantly post pics and text revealing new features for your latest product release. Letting the world know you have new office space. Sharing a press release your company just wrote.

Wrong.

I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but it’s time for a little tough love. Tough love is because I want your business to succeed.

I want you to stop wasting time on social media. I want every post you write, every image you post, and every advertisement you pay for to generate massive returns. Whether it’s likes, shares or honest-to-goodness top-line revenue, I want your social media marketing strategy to succeed. Wildly.

And the fact of the matter is, if you are posting pics of yourself, your business, your employees, your news, and otherwise just talking about yourself on social media, your posts are falling on deaf ears.

Infographic | The Latest Social Media Marketing Best Practices You Need to Know

Infographic | The Latest Social Media Marketing Best Practices You Need to Know

How many times do other companies reach out to you via social media or a messaging service? 

It’s probably several times a day, right?

How many times a day do you pursue social media interactions with friends, family, and loved ones? 

Dozens? Hundreds? More? 

The combined time you spend sending and receiving social messages from everyone and ever company is growing at a crazy rate. No matter how you slice it, that's a lot of time... and that makes it very difficult for other messages to reach through to you and get your attention.

Now, imagine you are leading a marketing effort for your company. How on earth do you reach through to your customers? Customers who are inundated with messages from friends, family, loved ones, and other companies. Customers who are swimming in "noise."

If you've been trying to market your message to your customers recently, you know how difficult it is to cut through that noise. It's becoming a monumental task to attract anyone's attention!

It's time to change what you know about your customers and how to communicate with them.

Here are some best practices explaining how to effectively use social media in a modern way that cuts through the noise, get's your customers attention, and makes an impact:

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How to Grow Your Business with Strategic Customer Retention

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How to Grow Your Business with Strategic Customer Retention

The rising power of consumers is perhaps the biggest game-changer in the world of modern business.

People are well-informed, less tolerant of shabby service, and more specific in their demands. Digital technologies have empowered them and transformed the way businesses perceive and deal with them. Nowadays, attracting customers is just one part of the success equation.

The real work starts once you need to keep their attention and win their trust. ..

What 5.8 Million People Taught Me About Small Business Marketing

What 5.8 Million People Taught Me About Small Business Marketing

I know the feeling.

Another marketing campaign, another disappointment.

You start out with high hopes, and big dollar signs in your eyes.

But when the results from your campaign start coming in, it’s more of the same… Lackluster results.

Of course, you don’t fool yourself into thinking your marketing will take off like wild-fire, but you at least expect to get a few customers out of it.

Alas, every new campaign confirms your worst fear—you're spending money on crappy marketing that isn't effective.

Well, here's a secret...

The 7 Best Lead Generation Tips on the Internet

The 7 Best Lead Generation Tips on the Internet

One of the biggest struggles small business owners have is generating leads. 

Sound like you? 

Even if you're not "struggling," you'd probably like to have a few more. I know I would. 

That's why I went on a voyage across the Internet, searching for a cheat sheet, an ultimate guide, or any enlightening article on lead generation ideas. But after reading more than 50 articles, listening to dozens of podcasts, and skimming the highest rated sales books on Amazon, here's what I found:

Nothing.

Sure, some articles had a few good tips, but most were incomplete or misguided. No single article had it all. No single article was full of quality ideas for generating leads. So, I set about creating this article—a collection of the best tips on the Internet for generating quality leads—first for myself, and now for you.