Recent Articles

Jen from Chicago got laid off from her job in marketing on Oct. 25 and gave birth to her son on Nov. 3. It was odd, and potentially illegal, timing. You see, you can’t just get rid of an employee because she’s pregnant. I know some of you are thinking, “Duh Eve, tell me something [...]

Updating your blog erratically is one of the best ways to lose the interest of your readers. If they don't know when to check, they don't check. It's as simple as that. Schedule your blog for a day or days every week that you... Read More

The Single Most Important Word In Any BusinessThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing The Single Most Important Word In Any BusinessThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing I want to ask you to take a little test. Go out and grab five or six of your best customers and pose this question to them: What’s one word you would use to describe how you think about our organization? The [...]

This post is by staff writer Sarah Gilbert. This is America Saves Week, and I am writing to you sitting next to a jar. This jar is stuffed full (okay, imagine it gently filled — it’s a small jar) of five dollar bills. I do not feel proud that this is the best way I’ve [...]

This weekend, triggered by a few readers who disagreed with my assertion that socioeconomic status is a huge driver of educational attainment and performance, I decided to respond the way any nerd would in my situation: I made a chart. In a moment of Excel fervor, I took data from the College Board’s 2011 Total [...]

The map keeps getting redrawn, because it's cheaper than ever to go offroad, to develop and innovate and remake what we thought was going to be next. Technology keeps changing the routes we take to get our projects from here to there. It doesn't pay to memorize the route, because it's going to change soon. The compass, on the other hand, is more important then ever. If you don't know which direction you're going, how will you know when you're off course? And yet... And yet we spend most of... read more

Thing 1: More yoga during Rally. Here's what I want: Tonight is Erev Rally and we are welcoming in Rally (Rally!), and this is wonderful because Rally is my favorite thing in the world. Rally #17! You know what? It used to be that during Rally I'd get way more yoga than in a normal week because we do old Turkish lady stretching all the time and then I usually do an hour of asana in the afternoon. But lately (thanks to past Very Personal Ads), I've been back to having much more yoga in my... read more

When you provide superior service, people talk about you online and that drives new business. I caught up with my good friend Doug Weil recently. We used to work together in Tokyo in the 1990s. Like me, Doug moved back to the USA and now runs his own business. Doug's business, Clearly Resolved, provides video calibration services to customers throughout the Midwest. Video calibration is the art and science of adjusting high-end video displays (such as those used in home theaters and... read more

Foursquare Turns Into Powerful Local Search EngineThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Foursquare Turns Into Powerful Local Search EngineThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing Between you and me I had become a little bored with Foursquare. I think it has application for many small businesses and certainly know some businesses that use it quite well. As a consumer user however, it never really offered up enough value. [...]

Last week I presented a scenario from one of our readers. Anna was recently laid off from a middle management