Free Video Lesson from the Queen of Stumble Caroline Middlebrook. I recently bought Caroline’s new Stumble Rush course. I have had job of completing the course in the to do list every day for a week. I was going to spend one hour each day implementing this. So have you ever bought a new course and promise yourself that you will take action immediately? Caroline sent me an email on Monday saying : Hi Suzie, Three weeks ago I launched a brand new blog on a brand new domain and yesterday when I... Read Full Story

Pelican Point, The Anchorage Islands, Tweed Heads, Australia: Copyright 2008 Des Walsh Sometimes there are no pelicans at Pelican Point. Sometimes it’s a pelican picnic. ShareThis Read Full Story

In the second of this short series on Business and Branding, Finding What Works, I mentioned that my core brand these days is effectively my own name, as in the name of my other main blog, Des Walsh dot Com.   Another way I could put that is to say that I am practicing “personal branding”. The decision to use my own name as my brand, or as the focus of my brand, was influenced by several factors, including: flexibility in being able to make the brand refer to what I’m working on now, rather... Read Full Story

In the first post of this short series on Business and Branding, I suggested that the business environment today requires that our brands be built for now, rather than, as in older times, built to last. The two are not, of course, inherently incompatible. It’s a matter of where we put our priority. The primary reason for giving not giving priority to the “built to last” objective is the rapidity of change in the business environment, in technology, in markets. As I illustrated in that earlier... Read Full Story

My friend Bill Vick is nearly always at least one step ahead of me in finding and testing new Web 2.0 applications. Sometimes I wonder how he keeps up with them, but when he sends me an invitation to join something new, I usually take up the invitation. Like today, with Jott. It wasn’t immediately clear to me what Jott is or does, so I checked out the About Jott page, which said: Headquartered in Seattle, WA, Jott Networks operates a voice to text service that makes staying organized and in... Read Full Story

Portable Lettuce Farms: Sunday Markets, PCYC, Tweed Heads, Australia: Picture copyright Des Walsh 2008 It’s hard to beat lettuce picked fresh from your own garden. Growing it successfully is another thing altogether. So finding this man at the local market selling mini lettuce farms was a boon. He also sells bok choi farms so we have fresh greens for our stir-fry dinners. It’s Thursday here now, but still Wednesday on the other side of the world. ShareThis Read Full Story

Working on some business planning lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about branding. Specifically about how I brand my business and how attitudes to branding have changed during my working life. Built to last, for a world that was I’m no branding expert - far from it - but it seems to me that whereas in the world of work I entered back in the 20th century there was a high value set on companies and their names and images (what we now call “brands”) being built to last, that attitude doesn’t cut... Read Full Story

Does Your Blog Need Some Love? (c) Yo Ghurt Liz Strauss at Successful-Blog is having a Blog Show this weekend It will be like a Car (Auto) Show. Does your blog need a tune-up? As Liz suggests, give it a polish and a trim. Maybe unload some of those widgets? I won’t suggest a new theme unless you are feeling very adventurous. Maybe there is something you have been putting off doing that will improve your blog? Liz is is going to line them up and look them over. This is a great free... Read Full Story

At the end of the first post in this short series on putting your business cards to work I promised some thoughts on: why it is a good idea to have your card designed professionally and why you should not leave it all to the designer Getting your card designed professionally Over the years I’ve been in business I have used professionally designed cards and ones I’ve designed myself. I’m not a designer, so guess what? The professionally designed cards looked better. One reason for that would... Read Full Story

Is a business card an essential tool for doing business these days? I certainly find them handy, both for giving people a way to contact me and for helping me learn more about people I meet in the course of business and, if appropriate, follow up with them. But I’ve noticed lately that quite a few people I meet in a business context are not carrying business cards. That has even happened when I’ve attended “networking events”. When there’s been a conversation that seems mutually interesting... Read Full Story