One cold, January morning, a young man in a baseball cap walked to a local subway station in Washington. He pulled out his violin, and, over the next 45 minutes he played his heart out, playing five of the most complex pieces of music ever written. Over a thousand people walked past. It was morning rush hour.

But no one took much notice. A few people stopped and threw a couple of dollars into his open violin case. One child yanked on his mommy’s hand and told her he wanted to stay to listen to the “cool music,” but they ended up staying only a few minutes. He counted the money he made - a total of $32.17. How ironic, given that the young man was none other than Joshua Bell, a Grammy award winner and one of the world’s most accomplished musicians.

Hope you had a great Superbowl Sunday! Did you know that Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest snack day of the year? Second only to, you guessed it, New Years Eve. I confess that I’m far more interested in the ads, and the strategy that sits underneath each of them, than the actual game.

Last year’s ads were terrible. This year’s weren’t much better. It seems that all the time spent home thanks to COVID did nothing to spark any big ideas.

“I’m too busy working on my own grass to see if yours is greener.” – Unknown

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing …

This past weekend I read an extraordinary book that would easily rank in my top 3 best books of all time. It’s called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

This book was first published 31 years ago and has been translated into over 80 languages. Only the Bible has been translated into as many languages. Once you’ve read the book you’ll understand why.

The book details the story of a shepard boy, Santiago who goes on a great quest to find his Personal Legend – his destiny …

How have the elections impacted your business?

For many, especially those who sell large ticket items like machinery, cutting edge technology, or even facelifts, its like a large number of clients have hit the pause button. They’re waiting. Not sure for what exactly as life goes on either way. It’s a pattern we see before every election, most especially the week before – and if you know it’s coming you can not only prepare for it, but profit from it too …

A few weeks back I was pulling my horse trailer and one of the tires blew out.

Ok, to be more precise I clipped the curb while rounding a corner and put a tear in the rubber the length of a dollar bill. Oops. Fortunately I was not hauling any horses at the time. Taking a “glass-is-half-full” view of this unfortunate incident, it did give me an opportunity to check in on one of my favorite businesses - Discount Tire – the red branded tire place that has 1073 stores in 36 states …