Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer

Are you struggling to make progress on a project, a business, or something in your personal life? Find these two points of clarity for a map out of “the land of Stuck.” The difference between people who are ultra-productive and the rest of us isn’t willpower. It isn’t intelligence, or time, or money, and it... Listen to episode

Ready to launch a digital product? Here’s are the first steps to get you moving … One of the greatest things you can do to boost your income, or just expand your options, is to launch a digital product. The tools, platforms, and options for these are better now than they ever have been. So,... Listen to episode

How do we know we’re successful? How do we set up the rules of our own game so that they serve us, and give us a more meaningful life? Jonathan Nation left a nice comment on an earlier episode about the definition of success: … What is success? What is that vision you are striving... Listen to episode

The keys to good sponsored content or native advertising, content for B2B organizations, and how to make connections with the big-audience content publishers … It’s Independence Day in the U.S., and time for a Q&A! And no, those things aren’t really related at all. In this 25-minute episode, I answer questions on: Techniques for... Listen to episode

Is an “abundance mindset” the same thing as wishing really hard and making something magically appear? I don’t think it is. Here’s why … As you may have seen in my podcast a couple of weeks ago, my friend Julie Cairns’ documentary The Abundance Code has been premiering for free in the past week. (And... Listen to episode

When is it smart to keep your business’s “trade secrets” — and when should you blow them up? How much sharing is too much? As I was writing a quick introduction to Rand Fishkin over on Copyblogger, I got to thinking about this “transparency” buzzword. When is it good business to play your cards close... Listen to episode

Language is complicated, and in the context of shifting cultural norms, it gets even more complicated. So the question comes up: Is it OK to swear in our content marketing? We had a bit of a dust-up on Copyblogger a few years back, and every once in awhile the topic comes back up again. The... Listen to episode

No, it’s not a simplistic “Secret,” but there are some very pragmatic benefits to adopting a mindset of abundance. I’m going to be in a documentary! It’s called The Abundance Code, and it’s about folks who have worked through varying kinds of constraints and found a more fulfilling path. (Both financially and personally.) All told... Listen to episode

Content marketing has been a hot buzzword for awhile now, but it’s tricky to pull off unti you understand this context. Once upon a time, combining relationship-building content with solid sales strategy was a weird idea. Now it’s pretty mainstream — but a lot of folks are still missing the underlying context that makes it... Listen to episode

What’s one of the biggest constraints that keeps us from doing the things we want to do? We don’t have the time. Here are some thoughts on how to manage that. Remember when the internet was going to give us all the free time we could imagine? Yeah, well. Not so much. In this 27-minute... Listen to episode

This week I want to talk about the values, practices, and principles that help us build “escape pods” from whatever is not serving us. And I’d love to hear your take! I’ve been thinking about the themes or principles that I’ve seen to be most useful for people who are building businesses, including “side hustle”... Listen to episode

Great content creators are made, not born. It takes a mix of a well-chosen topic, smart content strategy, attention to craft, and lots of personality. Then, as Rosanna Pansino would say, just Put it all together! Ro Pansino’s YouTube cooking show Nerdy Nummies has millions of fans of all ages. Where else are you going... Listen to episode

Real leadership starts when you step up with the courage to be a category of one. I have a short episode for you this week, honoring the life of Prince and opening up some ideas about leadership, about community, and about building something that matters. Corporate culture (and what to do if you’re stuck in... Listen to episode

Creative productivity is all about habits. Here’s a super quick weekly ritual (you could even do it daily) to have a brilliant week … every week It’s a funny paradox — if you want to be more productive, especially as a creative professional, the best thing you can do for your output is to establish... Listen to episode

“Help! I have no idea what to write about!” We’ve all been there — and when you produce as much content as the Copyblogger team, keeping the idea stream flowing is a top priority. Today, I’ll talk about five practices we use at Copyblogger and Rainmaker to come up with plenty of high-quality ideas. These... Listen to episode

Blogging isn’t the only game in town any more for content marketers. Podcasts are super popular as the new “do-it-yourself” content format. So which works better, and why? Today’s content marketing question: Should I blog or should I podcast? Or maybe I should be doing video? Or all three? Or do I even need a... Listen to episode

Today, two techniques that can boost your “EQ” (emotional intelligence) and help you be a happier, more productive person. Today I have two techniques for you — a new, research-based “hack” that looks interesting for improving our ability to make positive changes, and an approach I’ve used for a long time to constructively handle emotionally... Listen to episode

Health and fitness have some of the strongest examples around of good content marketing — and unfortunately, they also have some of the sleaziest. It’s that time again! Today I’m talking about more things I love! (And … a couple of things I hate.) In this 30-minute episode, I look at three different health and... Listen to episode

Creativity isn’t just about getting inspired — it’s about strong systems to capture inspiration when it arises. Today I outline a simple system I’m using to capture ideas and put them into action. In this 30-minute episode, I talk about: A boring office supply that can boost your creative productivity Why going analog (sometimes) can... Listen to episode

It’s the podcast’s birthday! To celebrate, today I want to talk about one of my favorite traits: stubbornness. There are all kinds of traits our culture insists we “have” to have to run a successful business, but looking around, there’s just one I’ve seen. In this 22-minute episode, I talk about: How to make the... Listen to episode

Cornerstone content, how to create compelling content for an “overexposed” topic, and predicting the future for our businesses. It’s Q&A day! Our wonderful community of listeners shared three questions with me today. In this 29-minute episode, I talk about: How to, in Wayne Gretzky’s phrase, “skate to where the puck is going” What to look... Listen to episode

Content strategist Sonia Thompson talks with me today about business clarity and the power (and pitfalls) of limitless opportunities. Whether I’m podcasting, tweeting, or writing a post for Copyblogger, I talk a lot about the combination of values and tactics. Financial success won’t make you feel amazing until you can create it while living on... Listen to episode

All-caps, all-me Twitter accounts! A fabulous police department Facebook page! It’s time for Things I Love / Things I Hate. This week I’m launching a new regular mini-series on things I think are awesome and … the other stuff. Let me know if you find it useful! I’ve found it’s often easier to see a... Listen to episode

Any time you can take a measurement in your business — any time you can look at something and get a number — the question arises: What number should I be aiming for? Business benchmarks and metrics are a complicated topic, and the answer to those questions is usually “It depends.” But what does it... Listen to episode

“Untethering” is a major 21st-century trend, from Uber to minimalism to remote workplaces. How can we get the most freedom from this social trend, without getting lost in the shallows? More and more people are decoupling from traditional models of work, housing, relationships, possessions. This can be a recipe for liberation, or for hollowness and... Listen to episode

What does it mean to live an amazing life? Why put the time in to get great at something? And how can we keep having fun for the long haul? Last week David Bowie died, leaving a lot of us shocked and saddened — and leaving all kinds of “What David Bowie can Teach Us”... Listen to episode

Creative people (in other words, all of us) are supposed to be motivated by the pure joy of creating. But what happens when we aren’t? Poet, coach, and creative entrepreneur Mark McGuinness has a new book for us called Motivation for Creative People. He joined me to talk about some of the lessons he’s learned... Listen to episode

Vision and goal-setting are useful practices for business owners and professionals — but they can also be a recipe for beating yourself up and feeling like crap. Here are my suggestions for productive goals. This time of year, it seems like there are almost as many “goals and resolutions are for dopes” posts as there... Listen to episode

Don’t you love those Internet facts? You know, the ones that aren’t facts at all, they’re fodder for our own confirmation bias, and weapons in the Outrage Wars. For Christmas week, we have an encore episode from earlier this year. Given the current state of political discourse in the U.S. at the moment, I thought... Listen to episode

Ever wonder why some people think content marketing is the greatest thing since sliced bananas, and others find they never get any real return on time and energy they’re putting in? The difference tends to be a question of strategy. Just because it’s “content” (what does that even mean, anyway?) doesn’t make it “content marketing.”... Listen to episode

Getting your stuff done every day is tough enough. Getting it done while working from home? Definitely “Hard Mode.” But the rewards can be pretty great. Whether you work from home all the time, or just occasionally, you need a new set of habits and practices to make the most of it. Your time at... Listen to episode

Today I’m going to dive into the work rituals of 12 widely influential creatives — writers, musicians, artists, and others. I’m swiping these snippets of creative rituals from a fun book by Mason Currey called How Artists Work: Daily Rituals. (Link in the show notes below.) I was struck by both the similarities and the... Listen to episode

Today we’re revisiting a popular early podcast about how those of us who aren’t “naturally organized” can still get lots of high-quality work done. Note: For Thanksgiving week in the U.S., we thought we’d offer up an encore presentation of a popular early podcast. This one talks about productivity for those of us who struggle... Listen to episode

Thought about guest posting? It’s an excellent way to grow your audience and build your authority in your topic. But you want to approach it in the right way. In this 23-minute episode, I talk about some of the questions I see most often around guest posting. Including … What you absolutely must understand about... Listen to episode

If you’re actively creating content, you’ve probably noticed that “waiting for inspiration” doesn’t tend to work all that well. In this podcast, I go through my workflow for content creation. This works for blog posts, podcast or video scripts, infographics, slide shares, or really any piece of strategic content you’ll want to create. In this... Listen to episode

Self-help books, seminars, and retreats: People tend to either love them or loathe them. I have some thoughts on what’s useful for business owners — and what isn’t. I’ve noticed that a lot of online business owners tend to gravitate to self-help — maybe because we find “Dumbo’s feather” belief-boosters are useful when we’re out... Listen to episode

A few tweaks and checks can often boost a piece of written content about one “grade level.” In other words, if it starts out “good,” this will take it to “very good.” Here’s the process I use. No, this isn’t a “write a blog post in seven minutes” podcast. It’s the process I go through... Listen to episode

Content Marketing can be a powerful way to increase your influence and authority. And, as always, along with power comes responsibility. As writers and content creators, I would argue that we can and should make the world — and the web — a better place. Assuming you have the major stuff covered (you’re not killing... Listen to episode

Success certainly doesn’t have to make you crazy, unhappy, or selfish. But sometimes it does play out that way. I don’t know much about being a millionaire, but I’ll bet I’d be darling at it. ~Dorothy Parker There are plenty of advantages to material success. But it’s smart to keep your focus on the practices... Listen to episode

Today’s podcast might seem like a “soft” topic, but it also ties tightly to serious pragmatism about how to reach your goals — and more to the point, what reaching your goals is going to do for you. Everyone wants a little more success, and everyone has goals they’re aiming for, but the quality of... Listen to episode

If you feel like you need to choose between idealism and getting your bills paid, look again. If you’re getting along financially but compromising your own beliefs, you’re going to make yourself sick and miserable. Or if you’re leading some kind of “pure” life but suffering a lot of financial stress, that’s not the key... Listen to episode

Marketing today, especially online marketing, is all about intersections. So don’t think about doing content or email or multimedia or social — they’re all woven together into one cohesive experience for your customer. This one is a riff on a talk I gave last week at the Inbound conference in Boston. It’s not an exact... Listen to episode