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 …

“Good products can be sold with honest advertising. If you don’t think the product is good you have no business advertising it.”

- David Ogilvy

Yesterday I went to see the kid-friendly movie The War With Grandpa. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the movies. We sat the obligatory 10 seats apart from the group over, bought a large popcorn and patiently waited for the movie to start.

But first, the ads…

Some years ago one of our clients, a prominent facial plastic surgeon, told me a story about one of his patients. She had a precancerous mole on her face that needed removal. After an initial consult, the patient scheduled the outpatient procedure that took less than 10 minutes to perform. The surgeon’s bill? Around $10,000. The patient complained to the surgeon that her bill was excessive – he was charging $1,000 a minute! Our client’s response was golden: “Madam, while it is true that the procedure to remove your mole only took 10 minutes, the …

This week the iconic New York jeweler that makes more money from 4 simple words (will you marry me) than any other company on the planet - aired some of its dirty laundry.

As its $16 billion acquisition to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton lay in tatters, Tiffany&Co rolled up its sleeves and started swinging punches –