Just spent multiple happy hours working on a friend’s book proposal. Doing work for friends can be tricky, mostly because if you feel nothing for the material or the approach, you know you can’t do it justice as an editor/consultant. And how can you say, “Well, sorry, but what you’ve been working on and agonizing [...]

That has to be the best email subject line I’ve seen in ages. Sounds almost like a Zen koan, doesn’t it?
The email came from writer and friend Elizabeth Clarke. She went on to explain, “I got a puppy…” and it seems the lively little guy is getting in the way of her good intentions to [...]

Over the past year, many of you have been following my news about my client and friend Marc Warnke, who has had the vision and commitment to make the journey from hatching an idea, to creating a manuscript, to becoming a published author. The journey reaches its culmination today, folks – the book is now [...]

I got to hear Greg Mortensen speak at the Morrison Center last night. One of the many amazing stories from his amazing journey was about the struggle with his publishers at Penguin over the exact wording of the subtitle for his book, Three Cups of Tea.
The publishers insisted on “One man’s mission to fight terrorism [...]

I was the guest speaker for a lively group of business analysts at the Treasure Valley IIBA lunch meeting today. During the Q&A they gave me some wonderful examples of miscommunication. (For those of you who don’t already know this, I’ll explain here that I collect such examples to use for trainings, workshops, and just [...]

Have you been meaning to write a book “someday?”
Well, how would you like to get that book written by Christmas?
As a market-savvy entrepreneur, you’re probably aware that writing a book is one of the best ways to advance your career and build your practice.
 
As a committed professional who is driven by the passion for [...]

How would you like to finally start that book?
Here’s your chance.
Writing a book is one of the best ways for consultants and entrepreneurs to build credibility and share their expertise. For many of us, it’s also a life-long dream that ranks high on our life list of things to accomplish someday.
Well, someday may be sooner [...]

One of my favorite clients is writing his first e-book and has been sending me drafts, asking for my professional opinion about whether the book is “there” yet. It’s a tough question to answer since “there” means such different things to different people. But it did get me thinking about what makes the difference between [...]

In public speaking as in writing, it’s all too easy to go on and on and on. As a Toastmaster, I know that the biggest challenge in giving a speech is to keep from running over your alloted time, so I’ve worked hard to edit down my speeches to their core messages and to keep [...]

The process of writing my own website content — or rather, the process of failing to get anything written or posted for way, way too long — taught me some lessons about how it feels to be a client. It’s difficult to know exactly what you want to say until you try a few things [...]