You should always ask for 100% up-front payment and offer 100% money-back guarantee for your work. This is especially important for project-based services. It avoids scope creep, tightens the schedule, and you will have peace of mind if the client goes dark. But there is more to it. When a client refuses to pay up-front, it’s either a trust issue or the client doesn’t have the budget. Both are huge red flags. If the budget isn’t there… that’s a no-brainer, … Read More

Do you have something valuable to say but your message doesn’t get through? It’s because most people are already in some conversation, therefore you won’t get their attention. Imagine yourself in the middle of a huge crowd. A sea of people talking, arguing, some even screaming. Do you want to be heard? Do you want people to pay attention to your valuable message? Do you want your message to spread? Then, you better start talking. At first, no-one will listen. … Read More

A way to change the world As a hole, people are curious creatures but at individual level you will often encounter a lot of resistance towards the new. Take links for example: you usually don’t click them if you’re not clear about where they’ll take you. It’s the reason why most web designers will stick to the rules and place your logo in the top left corner, will have the menu top right and will populate it in a classic … Read More

Teaching the principles of Future-Proof Businesses in the middle of a global pandemic is like describing the most delicious, decadent chocolate cake recipe to drooling hunger strikers. But the timing isn’t really wrong – I’d bet you are paying attention now. More than ever, actually. Because if your business is in lockdown, almost dead, craving for the tiniest crumb… of revenue,  you probably have abundant time for self-reflection and for finding out what you could have done better and how to avoid it … Read More

So many of you speculate about how to become successful yet fail to fiddle the right questions.I see it all the time. What microphone to use, how often to post or finding the best hashtags seem to be the main concerns. That’s “putting the cart before horse” definition!  Marketing and gadgets are not responsible for success. You are. Your voice is.  It’s the loud and clear voice you use to talk about the subjects that excite you. It’s about sharing … Read More

Long time ago, as a kid I promised myself to never be late. It’s a very simple rule that everyone could and should apply without exception.  Basic rules like this can be very powerful. In fact, everything we know is based on a simple set of rules that evolved and formed a complex universe. Here is how it applied in my case:  The basic rule was to never be late. NEVER! That meant being well organized and planning in advance. That meant … Read More

“Eight of out 10 businesses fail within the first 18 months” was the myth spread by Forbes in 2013. Don’t let this journalistic marble scare you. It’s not that bad. Jet, the real numbers still show you have to do your homework. So lets start right now: Half of new businesses fail during the first five years, of which 30% in the first two years, … seem to be the accepted rough numbers across multiple institutions and media. For me, that is … Read More

You want to be respected?You own the business but don’t feel like your own boss?You want to be The One in your industry? Position yourself as an expert!  This is good advice for life in general, but I find it important for business in particular and critical for service providers.  As a result, you won’t be pushed around or micromanaged and your recommendations won’t be questioned. You also won’t have to pitch because they will turn to you asking for help, … Read More

Communication is vital, jet so many misunderstand and misuse it with regularity.Here are some arguments to raise your awareness:  Without communication, we wouldn’t be.  Society was built through communication and every relationship is a communication game. We communicate with ourselves and our organs communicate to each other. So are our cells. Even microbial invasions depend on communication.   Disrupting communication is an efficient way to destroy almost anything.  Being able to communicate better than others is how you gain leverage.  Communication is … Read More

Merry Christmas everyone!I’m having a great time this morning being the brand advisor of The Grinch himself  🙂  First thing I notice, is that being the Grinch isn’t the worst thing. Being unknown is far worse.And having Santa as a rival is also a good thing: it’s just one.  Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who don’t like Christmas. There are plenty of reasons for that. Take religion, for example. And then there are the folks who … Read More

We’re about to complete another year and maybe you feel like writing a review. It’s not the trend that should drive your action, but the need to evaluate your progress.  How do you feel about the past year? How did you change? What did you learn?  Here is my guideline: If I’m looking back at my one-year-younger version, and I’m not ashamed, then, I didn’t learn enough.  I heard this a few years ago and it stuck with me. It became … Read More

Convenience is one of the biggest driving forces in decision-making.  We try to cut corners every day. We give up our privacy, just to be able to buy with one click. Some even prefer stomach surgery to dieting.  We would do anything if it would spare us some effort. Most people can’t fight this kind of laziness, it’s part of evolution. Nature needs to be efficient and preserve energy whenever possible. As a result, we are on a shortcut hunt all the … Read More

Do you feel like a fraud for not having original ideas? Are you censoring yourself because of that? Do you call it a writer’s block? Coming up with original ideas, ideas that no-one before has articulated, is really, really hard. Someone said it before, someone has written about it, someone thought about it before you. Good luck beating Socrates on original ideas. People share inspiration for as long as we have been a species, so it’s getting harder every day … Read More