Next 2 me

By Danny Last week on the post One Key To Developing Compassion for the Offender , somebody had a great question/comment. You can read the full comment here , but it can be summed up as follows: “If we don’t call people out on bad, rude, unkind behavior, then I feel like we have no standards left at all. Sure, everyone is fighting a battle of some sort, but if there is no expectation from others – from their community or society as a whole – why would they make any effort at all to over come those struggles?” This question, in some form or another, arises nearly every time the ideas of compassion are discussed on this blog…for good reason. No one wants to get walked all over, treated as a doormat, or dehumanized. Unfortunately, sometimes when this concept of compassion and understanding and patience is advocated, it sounds like you’re telling someone to do exactly that—get treated as a doormat, or just play nice and it will all go away. But that isn’t what I’m advocating at all. Pract...

https://entmusical.blogspot.in/ Ever see a numbered headline like the one above and try to guess what the three things are? Sometimes it’s easy; sometimes it’s not. In this case, you could be thinking I’m going to talk about content, copy, and email. And while you’re right that those things are important, that’s not what this article is about. Content and copy contain the messages you need to get across, and email delivers those messages within a conversion-rich context. But without understanding the fundamental elements of those messages, you won’t create the kind of influence with your target audience that  leads to sales . With companies of all sizes rushing to embrace “influencer marketing,” it seems that many have given up on the unique power the internet provides to  form direct relationships with prospects . Instead, they’re trying to avoid the work by reaching the audiences of people who have already put in the work. Despite the disintermediated nature ...

https://entmusical.blogspot.in/ On Monday, Jerod Morris explained how he’s leveraging those impressive new-dad time management skills to get more efficient at content creation. He walked us through a great way to  take a single strong idea and turn it into multiple formats , without spending a ton of time. On Tuesday, Brian Clark showed exactly  how to build a content strategy for a business or project  … demonstrating how he’d approach a specific persona with a specific sequence of relevant, useful messages. Twenty bonus points if you can catch the incredibly subtle promotion he works in there … And on Wednesday, I wrote about the  magical powers of doing your homework . It may not sound sexy, but when you approach influencers or companies and they don’t curse at you and mark you as a spammer, you’ll find out how sexy homework can be. Over on the Copyblogger FM podcast, I talked about  what I suspect was behind that spectacular United Airlines fail ...

https://entmusical.blogspot.in/ Social chaos. Most of us have lived our lives without ever having personally witnessed true and up-close human social chaos, and the terrible follow-on effects that rip away life as you know it. We are seeing it on TV (more and more), but for most, it’s somehow not ‘real’ or personal. It could never happen here — right? The modern world of today coupled with our normalcy bias that nothing could possibly hurl our lives into social chaos – presents a much higher risk than you think. If something were to go terribly wrong having to do with our many systemic dependencies on complicated and interwoven systems that keep us alive… If something were to go terribly wrong with the underlying fragility of our financial systems and economic stresses that are straining all logic while hiding from view by distortion and manipulation… If something were to go terribly wrong from the political forces at work which control and manipulate public pe...

https://entmusical.blogspot.in/ The first time I rode a motorcycle, I fell in love. Between the power, the speed, and the freedom, I knew it was something I wanted to keep doing for a long time. But I also knew I had a lot to learn. Learning to ride a motorcycle requires several new skills. You have to learn how to maneuver and balance a heavy, two-wheeled vehicle, how to change gears, how to let the clutch out smoothly and at the right time, and how to work the hand and foot brakes. And that’s  before  you leave the parking lot. Learning to advertise on  social media  is a similar experience: there’s a lot to be excited about, but all the options, features, and adjustments can leave you dazed. Start with the fundamentals After that first ride, I spent a couple months brooding. I knew I wanted to ride, but I didn’t feel ready for a full-sized motorcycle. Then, one day, I decided to check out the local Vespa dealership, just to see … A week later, I b...

https://entmusical.blogspot.in/ Oh, those idealistic good old days. Back when we truly believed that the global digital community would fact-check lies, make us smarter, and force our institutions to serve the greater good. As the man said, “How’s that working out for us?” It turns out that the  social media utopia , like other utopias, didn’t end up as rosy as we’d hoped — mainly because it’s made of human beings. But the social web is still an extraordinary tool. The ability to instantly communicate with thousands of people isn’t to be scoffed at — if you can do it without losing your mind. I’ve been using social media since 1989. The remarkable thing for me isn’t what’s changed … it’s what’s stayed the same. Here are some of my survival tips from decades in the digital realm. #1: Watch out for the ant-shakers Remember ant farms? These were glass cases filled with sand or gel, where you could watch ants building tunnels and carrying things back and forth. In gr...