It’s funny. I sat down to explain simple steps business owners could follow to apply world-class marketing principles to their company...and was stumped. What do you say to a guy who’s already working his butt off and might not even get enough time with his family? How do you give him something else on top of his already-swamped schedule? Sorry, not going to happen. Yet at the same time, so often I see small business owners trying to do marketing as an afterthought. They’re Continue Reading
Happy 250th Birthday, St. Louis
250 years ago today, a fourteen-year-old boy commanding a party of 30 men began construction on a small handful of rough timber cabins clinging to the western bank of the Mississippi River. Crossing the ice-cold water by boat the previous day in late winter of 1764, he had arrived on behalf of his stepfather to found a fur trading post at the edge of the known world. Thus began St. Louis, Missouri. As the thud of their axe strokes echoed across the lonely wilderness, a bitter wind would have Continue Reading
The Auckland Invasion: Lorde Reigns at the 2014 Grammys
The youngest person in 25 years to hit the number one spot on the Billboard charts is a seventeen-year-old girl from New Zealand. Until last year she was a total unknown living in Aukland. Now she's a superstar who just won the Grammys. Her name is Lorde. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Lorde (real name Ella Yelich-O’Connor) is a singer and songwriter with a style that’s sort of an unpretentious mix of electronica, pop and art. Her song “Royals” held the top spot on the Billboard charts for Continue Reading
Thank You, Dr. King
I sometimes think that it can be difficult for this white Midwestern boy to truly comprehend racism and discrimination, both because I haven’t experienced it personally and because it is so foreign to how I was raised. It is almost otherworldly to me that a person would be persecuted simply because of who they…are. Though I grew up in racially-divided St. Louis, I always thought my birth city made me far more racially accepting. I was a jazz musician and hung around smoky clubs, clinging to Continue Reading
From Worst To First: How The Red Sox Won The World Series
Several months ago a friend wrote to me and requested an article about stat management, Japan's legendary post-war economic recovery and the 2013 World Series--quite an assignment, eh? I think I managed to pull it off. The result was this article, which appeared in Prosperity On-Line several months ago. You can read the original here. From Worst To First: How the Red Sox Won The 2013 World Series By Matt Hanses Full disclosure: I am a Cardinals fan. When you’re born and raised in the Continue Reading