Olana, the Elevator Pitch

Explaining a most significant planned landscape and artist's home during the briefest of encounters after someone asks for directions.

The Milk For Free

Never cry over spilled milk.

Pencil-whipped

“Pencil-whip. Verb. (third-person singular simple present pencil whips, present participle pencil whipping, simple past and past participle pencil whipped) (idiomatic) To approve a document without actually knowing or reviewing what it is that is being approved.” Typically, pencil whipping is as the definition above from yourdictionary.com implies. It is signing documents without really knowing what is being signed. …

I’m a Hat Guy

No, not the way you think. I don’t wear hats to cover up my thinning hair – at least not yet. I don’t wear hats to promote my favorite team. I don’t have a signature hat… BUT I do wear a lot of hats. I’m a photographer and I am a videographer. I’ve done these …

Robotic Sales Tactics … Wrrrr… eep-eep, beep-boop … Zzzzzz

Decades ago I worked as a trainer in an outbound call center (read telemarketing shop). I’d climbed the ranks quickly from modest dinnertime annoyance to being in the position to train and shape common sense in others. It was an interesting period. We handled fundraising I later considered dubious, sold pay-per-view boxing, offered free trials …

Bait and Switch

I recently consulted with a job-seeker somewhere in-between a career change and a life change. Her former career having been less than kind, resulted in a bit of time off while she cleared her head. Fast-forward three years and she was ready to return to the field for which she was well trained, qualified and …

First Impressions: No Substitutions

There’s an old saying – at least I hope it’s still a saying, ‘You only get one chance to make a first impression.’ It’s the premise, albeit somewhat misguided perhaps, behind the retail greeter. “Welcome to Wally-World, thank you for coming.” It’s also behind the root principal of consistency in service and hospitality. If a …

Everyone Needs an Editor

Typos are a given, so proof-reading is essential.

Are You Putting Best Practices To Work In Your Business?

My travels bring me in to a wide variety of settings across a range of industries. I may be photographing an event, portrait or party one day, then a product line the next.  I can also find myself analyzing processes within a small business or large-scale enterprise. I’ve recently been spending some time on a construction …

Just say Ahhh-mazon…

I was wrong. Or was I? For months I’ve been dismissing the negative impacts of Amazon on the economy. Perhaps I’ve got a soft spot for a success story. After all, who really took the company seriously when it launched as an online bookseller? Now look at ‘em. Amazon has done incredible things! Sure there’s …