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Get clear on what to say and where to focus so people quickly “get” what you do and say yes to working with you | Marketing that works for values-driven business owners, without the hype or hustle.

I lost a long-time client to AI last week. And I picked up another one because of it.For seven years, I was the "marketi...
11/09/2026

I lost a long-time client to AI last week. And I picked up another one because of it.

For seven years, I was the "marketing guy" for my client. And things were working.

But another provider convinced him he needed to take his marketing to the next level. Spend less on the strategy, management and ex*****on. And more on ads. All by letting AI agents write the posts, create the designs, reply to the reviews and manage the campaigns.

I'm at peace with it. I know God provides. And this is a shift or "threat" in the market I knew was out there.

I just didn't expect him to do it in a way that made me laugh. See, a few days later a past client reached out. She needed help clarifying her homepage message. Her words, "I've worked with Chat and Claude, but they aren't quite getting it."

She hired me for a single brainstorm session to help her nail it down.

See, AI can do a lot things. And it executes a lot of things well. But it can't sit down with a business owner the way I can. It can't read the room and know when we're close or have reached the "aha" moment when it all comes together.

Have you had a moment that's reminded you of the value you provide even in a world of AI platforms that want us to believe they can do it all?

I'm doing six presentations between now and the end of the year. Here are a few coming up this month. If you want more i...
03/09/2026

I'm doing six presentations between now and the end of the year. Here are a few coming up this month. If you want more information or times for any of the events, let me know. I'll be happy to give you the details. (And, yes, I'm doing two on September 15. One in the morning and one in the evening).

28/08/2026

Two people told me the same thing today. Separately. Each not knowing the other said it.

And it caught me off guard.

I was at the LinkUp Madison event. Both told me my newsletter is one of the only ones they get that they actually read.

They get an idea. A nudge. Or a thought worth trying often enough that hey keep opening it (and at least skimming it) every time.

And here's what stuck with me. If I hadn't been standing in the room, I may never have known. Neither person has hit the reaction button that I'm aware of. And I can't recall a time when either responded or commented.

No signal. No feedback. No notification. Nothing that let me know the topics I've shared landed.

But they have. For both people.

So, if you're putting content out there to add value for your audience and it feels quiet, the quiet isn't proof that nobody's paying attention. They may not have told you yet.

Keep showing up.

And if something you read, watched or listened to helped you this week, tell the person who created or shared it. It might make their day. It might be exactly what they need to hear to keep going.

Ever have a bat fly directly into your face?Yeah. Me neither. Until last night.I'm in Austin this week while my wife's a...
25/08/2026

Ever have a bat fly directly into your face?

Yeah. Me neither. Until last night.

I'm in Austin this week while my wife's at a work conference. Evenings we've been watching the bats fly out from under the Congress Avenue Bridge. It's the largest urban bat colony in North America. Somewhere between 750,000 and 1.5 million of them live under there this time of year.

Two nights we watched from a distance. Last night we stood right on top of the bridge with a crowd of people, watching them stream out below us.

Then one flew straight into my face. Got stuck under the brim of my hat for a split second before I moved my head and it took off. Left a mark on my glasses.

No one else (that I know of) on that bridge had the same experience of my last night.

And it got me thinking about small business marketing and the customer experience. You can plan a great event, offer or delivery. But you still can't control everything. At some point, something unexpected is going to happen.

What matters is how you react.

Panic and overcorrect, and you end up punishing everyone for one person's bad moment. I watched this play out more than once working in other companies. One customer or employee takes advantage, and suddenly there's a new policy that slows things down for everybody.

So what do you do? Stay calm. Handle it well. People will remember that longer than the incident itself.

And the same goes for good surprised too. if something unexpected happens that delights someone, don't let it vanish. Ask if it's something that can easily be repeated. If so, consider building it into how you do business. Or simply give your team permission to create small delights when they spot the opportunity.

Tonight, I'm skipping the vantage point under the main part of the bridge. I don't need bat guano falling on my head to make the point twice. 😂

I chickened out. At the window. As I placed my order.A few weeks back, a friend shared a photo of her with Belt's large ...
18/08/2026

I chickened out. At the window. As I placed my order.

A few weeks back, a friend shared a photo of her with Belt's large soft-serve ice-cream cone. It comes in at a whopping 2.5 pounds and is huge.

I'd never heard of the place before. But I remembered it.

So, when we drove past Stevens Point heading to vacation, I told my wife we should take a detour, get off the freeway on the way back, and stop for a large.

We all decided to make it our lunch and stopped. I walked up. And I ordered the large like I meant it.

That's when the warnings started. Do you really know how big the large is? It's two and a half pounds of ice cream. And the medium is still pretty big, nineteen pumps.

I folded. Ordered the medium.

But what got me thinking was the fact the large only costs a dollar more than the medium. Price wasn't what stopped me. The size did. (And maybe a bit of pride about whether I'd actually be able to finish it).

And that's exactly what makes it shareworthy. My friend, who doesn't like to be told what not to do, ordered it. And posted a photo of something a little outrageous.

And that little bit of outrageousness? It got us to take a small detour off the freeway to go see it for ourselves.

That's the power of an amplified customer experience.

So, let me ask you. Do you have part of your experience that could be amplified in a way that makes it stand out and become shareworthy? Might be the best marketing investment you make.

(And if you're wondering, I'm now thinking about "training" before our next trip so we can make a pit stop. And I can tackle the large with confidence)

I'm headed back to the SCORE WI Accelerate Your Business for Women conference this September to lead a breakout session....
18/08/2026

I'm headed back to the SCORE WI Accelerate Your Business for Women conference this September to lead a breakout session.

This year's topic is Simplify Your Marketing Approach. If you've ever felt overwhelmed trying to figure out where to spend your marketing time and energy, this one's for you. We'll talk about ditching tactics built for someone else's business and how to build a rhythm that actually fits your strengths and your schedule.

The full event runs September 28 from 8am to 3pm at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. A full day of sessions on finance, marketing, tech, and life skills, plus a chance to connect with other business owners doing the same hard, good work.

Registration link in the comments. Hope to see you there.

Last chance: 30% off* your purchase.That asterisk showed up in the subject line of a promotional email I received from a...
04/08/2026

Last chance: 30% off* your purchase.

That asterisk showed up in the subject line of a promotional email I received from a business. And again in the banner headline when I opened the email, right above "including full priced and sale styles."

So I scrolled down to find out what the asterisk actually meant.

Turns out the 30% only applied to select styles. Nine entire categories were excluded entirely.

I clicked through anyway. Turns out there were 646 men's items and 687 women's items on sale. That's 1,333 items at 30% off.

They could have just said that. "30% off 1,333 full-price and sale items." No asterisk needed. No fine print to hide.

Instead they led with a vague promise and let the customer find the real story on their own.

I get why brands do this. A big round number grabs attention. 30% off "your purchase" sounds better than 30% off a defined list.

But here's what it costs you. The moment a customer feels misled, even a little, they stop trusting your next email. And the one after that.

Same discount. Same urgency. No asterisk required.

Trust builds slow and breaks fast. Before you hit send on a promotion, see if there's a way you can frame it so no asterisk is required.

(Seen in a promo email from a large name fashion brand this morning, no need to name names, the pattern shows up everywhere.)

As a small business, what's your unique value proposition?A question that stops many small business owners in their trac...
01/08/2026

As a small business, what's your unique value proposition?

A question that stops many small business owners in their tracks. And it's not because it sounds like it's coming straight out of a corporate slide deck.

From my experience, it's because most business owners don't feel they're really any different than many of the other companies in their market.

But you are. And for marketing to be effective, to stand out, you need to find something to plant your flag around. It can be your mission, your values, your way of doing things, or something else entirely.

Here are two questions to answer that will help. Answer them before you write a single word of marketing copy.

1. Who loses the most when your business doesn't exist?
2. What are they doing right now to solve the problem without you?

That second question is one most people skip. It's not asking who your competitors are. It's asking what your ideal client is currently doing instead of hiring you. Maybe it's trying to do everything themself and sacrificing family time in the process. Maybe it's a spreadsheet with good intentions. Maybe it's just putting up with the problem.

Once you know the answer, it gets a lot easier to paint a picture that shows your difference and the difference you make for your ideal clients.

A crowded market isn't your problem when it comes to standing out and being known. That surprises a lot of small busines...
30/07/2026

A crowded market isn't your problem when it comes to standing out and being known. That surprises a lot of small business owners I talk to.

Most people see competition and assume they need to be louder and do more to get noticed. More platforms. More posts. A rebrand.

While those may be worthy attempts, none of it works if nobody can explain what makes you different in the first place, including you.

Here's what notice with clients who feel invisible in a busy market:

→ They can list their services but can't name their edge
→ They copy what's working for a competitor instead of building from their own strengths → They chase visibility before they've done any clarity work

A crowded market is proof of demand. Dollar Shave Club didn't invent the razor. Mailchimp didn't invent email marketing. They found a customer who was overserved by what already existed and gave them something simpler.

Competition is never the real problem. Sameness is.

If you're struggling to figure out what makes you different, message me. That's a big part of what I work with business owners to define as we build their message and marketing approach.

A client told me something last week that stuck with me.She said our work together made her say out loud, for the first ...
29/07/2026

A client told me something last week that stuck with me.

She said our work together made her say out loud, for the first time, what she actually does. Not written down first. Just said it. Out loud. And it landed.

That's the part of this job I love most.

Business owners carry so much in their heads. The mission. The reason they started. What they want people to feel. But saying it clearly, in a way that actually connects, takes a different skill than running the business itself.

What I've noticed over time? Marketing doesn't really start with a plan or a schedule. It starts with a person believing their own message. Once that clarity shows up, the rest gets a lot easier. People can hear it in your voice. See it in what you post. And feel it when they meet you.

My job isn't handing someone a script to memorize. It's sitting with them, asking good questions, and pulling out what's already there. Then shaping it into something they believe enough to say anywhere they show up.

She said something else that stuck with me too. The plan doesn't feel like it's everywhere anymore. It feels doable.

That's the goal every time. Clear enough to believe. Simple enough to follow through on.

If your message feels scattered right now, you're not the only one. Most business owners hit that wall at some point. And clarity usually changes more than the marketing. It changes how you show up.

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Monday 08:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 08:00 - 17:00
Thursday 08:00 - 17:00
Friday 08:00 - 12:00

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+16084808890

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