Did you know that November 10 has been set aside for celebrating vanilla cupcakes?  Seems kind of silly, right?  I mean, who comes up with this stuff?  And how creative could a celebration of vanilla cupcakes really be?
And yet, there might be a few marketing lessons to learn from this and other seemingly trivial commemorative [...]

Being in business is tough.  Being a small business is tougher.  Being a sole proprietor is one of the most challenging adventures of my life.
“Grass is greener” folks envy my freedom to set my own rules, schedule, pricing, etc.  They note my low overhead and absence of HR headaches, and believe that with only myself [...]

When marketing folks and professional communicators like me wag our fingers at clients and declare that their prospects have short attention spans and selfish motives, we’re not kidding.  When we nag that you’ve got to catch their attention quickly, hold it just long enough, and then let go before they drift away, believe us.  We [...]

Just like everyone else this month, I’m caught up in the Olympics. I didn’t plan to be, and would have proclaimed that I didn’t really care about any of it, but when flipping channels and catching a glimpse of the determined facial expressions, the deep, calming breaths, and the struggle to control the disappointment, [...]

I’m a sucker for e-books, especially when they’re free. I’ll trade my name and e-mail for knowledge any day of the week, especially knowing I can opt out if the subsequent stream of e-mails becomes too annoying.
So I downloaded my latest e-book today and it’s really got me thinking. You can check it [...]

Happy New Year!
What is it about the flip of a calendar page that makes us think we need to dive into self- and professional-examination mode?  Is it the thought of a fresh slate?  Is it the relief of the end of the taxable year?
For me, it was …  about time.
I have been accused of being [...]

Thanks to Daphne Gray-Grant’s newsletter Power Writing, I’ve discovered the greatest website ever, because its developers have made it possible to give and to get at the same time!
You may already be familiar with FreeRice.com, but if you’re not, here’s how it works. You visit the site and challenge your vocabulary by selecting the [...]

If this is your first time visiting, then you and I have a lot in common, because this is my first time posting to my brand new blog.
Obviously, I’d love for you to visit again! So here’s what you can expect to find:

tips about how to write more cleanly and concisely
thoughts about the freelance [...]