I love pretzel rods. When I was a kid I would pretend they were cigarettes (hey it was before the Surgeon General). They are a great snack. I recently bought a tub of pretzel rods and was reminded of how a similar tub of pretzels once made my career! Several years ago I was [...]

I have been saving a torn out letter to the editor since May 26.  The letter struck a cord with me.  This election year the local school put a levy on the ballot. They wanted the residents to vote for adding a sizable tax amount to our real estate taxes for the purpose of…..well, I [...]

A friend forwarded me an email this morning that told of an interview Oprah had in April with Maya Angelou.  It was Maya’s 70+ birthday and Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older.  She said lots of thought provoking, inspirational stuff as Maya often does but the one quote that really struck me was this one: [...]

Do you ever read Consumer Reports?  I know that when I plan to make a large purchase, I’ll research before heading to the store (or car lot) by looking for a recent issue of Consumer Reports for the scoop.  But they don’t just research the large ticket items. I was doing a little work at [...]

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” That may be true, but some words can alter how one person feels about another or how a customer feels about a business. Take this little romance story:  Once upon a time there was a man and woman of a certain age [...]

I recently read an article called Don’t Give Customers What They Think They  Want in which the writer, Steve Towers reminds us of Henry Ford’s great quote ““if we ask customers what they want they’ll ask for faster horses.”  Customers are not always able to think outside the box and articulate what they want, but they [...]

I heard a story the other day that makes me wonder how you would react. A friend of mine is a writer and met with a prospect to discuss the possibility of setting up a blog.  She listened to him tell about his business and  describe what he hoped to accomplish with the blog.  Great guy. [...]