Coaching comes down to trust. You can’t coach people who don’t trust you. It’s that simple. So the question is: How do you earn trust? The answer: Integrity. Demonstrate to your clients that they can count on you. Here’s how. Punctuality Show up on time. Better yet, be early, waiting for them when they arrive. […]

How do you fill a 50-minute coaching session? When I first started coaching, I was terrified because I didn’t know what I was going to talk about. How did I make those minutes really, truly valuable for a client—valuable enough that they would keep coming back and refer their friends? Over the years, I’ve come […]

Too often, business owners launch into the new year without a clear plan. Here are 6 ingredients for making an effective strategic plan.

Sometimes clients aren’t a good fit for your business. If you notice these 4 signs, it’s probably time to let a client go.

Culture is a growth strategy, but it’s among the most underutilized. Here are 4 reasons it’s essential to intentionally develop culture.

Creating a thriving company culture requires intention. It doesn’t just happen. Here are the four ingredients for creating one.

Most leaders are born problem solvers. But if we’re not careful, we misdiagnose most problems. Here are 3 elements that help you solve any business issue.

The only way you can grow is to know what’s not working so you can fix it. To solicit the feedback you need, have intentional candor meetings. Here’s how to do that in 5 steps.

You usually don’t get to choose your boss, but you can learn from them. Here are 20 things I have learned from my bosses over the years.

If your team isn’t buying in to your vision, your results will be lackluster. Here are 3 ways to make your vision inspiring to your team.

Comedians refer to an audience that hasn’t heard any jokes yet as a “cold room.” It is thus the job of the comics who go first or second in the night to warm them up. You tell some jokes, suggest a convivial mood for the crowd, and hope they’ve brought their funny bones. I have […]

I was recently talking to a neighbor about an ordinance being considered by our city council. She didn’t like it and felt strongly that it shouldn’t pass. She went on to make the case to me, raising several valid points I had not considered before. I reminded her that the city was holding a public […]

At this point in my career, I’ve sold a lot of books. But I was hardly an overnight success. First came work in publishing and agenting. I learned how book sales worked—and didn’t work—well before I published a word of my own. I want to use my experience here to puncture a thought bubble I […]

Customer service is a double-edged sword. Get it right and you can make loyal, lifelong customers who sell your products for you. Get it wrong and you can find your business in real trouble. The Wrong Way to Do It My friend Frank gave me an example of the exact wrong way to do customer […]

One of the things I love about what I do is having the opportunity to learn and then share what I’ve learned with you. I recently spoke with twenty hugely successful entrepreneurs and influencers about how they cut through the noise and get heard. I’ve distilled what I learned down to eleven strategies, and I’m […]

Recently, my daughter Mary mentioned that she would like to begin speaking professionally. As an accomplished businesswoman and popular blogger, she was routinely on stage, but she was ready to turn pro. She asked for my help. As an amateur-turned-pro myself, I sat down and deconstructed how I got started. I emailed her a simple, […]

I create a lot of content across my blog, podcast, online courses, books, and membership site. And sometimes readers and other content creators wonder about my strategy. The other day I heard from a reader who not only follows my blog and podcast, but is also a Platform University member and follows #VirtualMentor. When he […]

When I talk about building a home base for your platform, people naturally assume I’m referencing a blog. But this is only one possibility. Your home base could just as easily be a podcast or vlog (i.e., a video blog). As I explain in my book, Platform, the key attribute of a home base is […]

Before you launch your product, service, or cause, you need “an elevator pitch.” Here are three reasons why and four components it should include.

Now that public speaking has become my primary focus, I thought it was time I revamped my Speaking page. I thought I would document the process here, in the event that you are thinking about “going pro.” This is the second of two posts.

Now that public speaking has become my primary focus, I thought it was time I revamped my Speaking page. I thought I would document the process here, in the event that you are thinking about “going pro.” This is the first of two posts.