The landscape changed, and you probably have had to to adapt. Maybe it was a switch to online? Maybe you’re working from home? Maybe you’ve changed some routines? Knowing what you now know, what would you change about how you went about it all? How would you set things up differently? Would you wait as...
Hype and volume is an easy way to front effort or concern. The idea is: If I yell louder about something, surely I must care more? Really, creating change is about enrolment. Of course volume might play a role, but it’s the underlying message, concept, story and language that’s far more important. If we aren’t...
Having an idea is kind of like having a certain amount of strength. It gets you so far, and allows a certain amount to happen. Perhaps it’s actionable. Maybe it’s helpful. It might even be able to be monetised. And, it can be thrown away, matched, replaced or copied. Not only are ideas cheap, but...
A few years ago I was sitting at a long table in a sales and marketing workshop. An entire weekend, shoulder to shoulder with small biz owners. And a big chunk of this workshop was around how to write great headlines or email “subject” lines. The idea with crafting the perfect “subject” is to stop...
First, before I talk about something I think is important right now, here’s another little sailing clip I found to set the scene. I was around 15 in this one (between NZ and various parts of French Polynesia): “Heave to” is a term used in sailing. This is when you fix the helm and sails,...
The bustling streets of the Junction, no parks on Darby St and the line out the door of the gelato shop on King… These were all scenes from early 2020 on a warm summers day. Right now, the same streets are empty. There is tape across the doors of the cafés and stores to limit...
When Newcastle went into partial lock-down along with the rest of Australia, a lot of stores or food outlets were reduced to take-away, or closed completely. Despite this, one day last week I found myself at my favourite spot in Darby street, seeing if I could grab a take-away espresso as I passed through. It...
In “top down” processing, when we look at something, we know what to expect, and we fill in the blanks. When we see a pen, we glance at it, recognise it and if we need to write, we grab it. If the pen is in a drawer alongside other pens, pencils and rulers, we have...
