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Talking Shrimp

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business

The #1 Most Beautiful Word Of All Time

22 Comments

I won’t tease it out. Here’s what the word is: CANCELED. Or, cancelled. I looked it up, and you can choose your own spelling. Ever go to the magazine store and notice there’s Conde Nast Traveler and Conde Nast Traveller? It’s like that. I spell it canceled, single “l” because I canceled the second one, and I […]

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business, random personal

Not every entrepreneur wants to change the world. Some of us just want to love what we do and never fly coach.

72 Comments

Should I be ashamed? Am I a freak? A grinch, a soulless beast, a Kardashian-hearted money grubber? I wonder that sometimes. Because here’s what I see: People in the online business world (life coaches, business coaches, healers, private chefs, virtual assistants, copywriters, dog psychics) who cater to other people in the online business world (other […]

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business, copywriting, marketing, work

The real secret to a million-dollar business

60 Comments

Back in like, 1999, I kept getting calls from a collection agency for a mobile phone bill I’d already paid. Yes, I’d paid it late — to a previous collection agency, which, because collection agencies are just knuckleheads earning dollars from home in their dirty undies, had neglected to do the proper paperwork and log my payment. […]

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business, entrepre-nerd-ville, rants

Yes, it’s raining, humans are weird, and you can make a living telling us what we already know.

10 Comments

The other day, I was on my walk (fyi – when I say “a walk” it means just a putter around the neighborhood where I might stop into a clothing store and try on a top; when I say ​”my​ walk” it means a long one that counts as my workout for the day. A walk that must happen. Podcasts […]

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blogs and blogging, business, copywriting, creativity, work, writing

The Cab Driver Who Convinced Me to Have Kids

106 Comments

No, a cab driver didn’t really convince me to have kids. But he sure did try. As soon as I got in, I knew he was was going to be one of “those” drivers. You know: the talkative kind. My first clue was that he asked, “How was your day?” instead of asking where I […]

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business, hand-picked, life and stuff, marketing

Business lessons from the guy who tried to scam me twice

23 Comments

On my way home from dance last week, at the crosswalk on 5th Ave and 9th Street, I noticed a guy walking slowly in front of me. He was weaving a little as people do when they’re texting, except he was looking down at a piece of paper and then back up at the street […]

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business, copywriting, New York City

The power of saying “whoopsie”.

92 Comments

Steven and I had a recent restaurant experience that really bugged me. Actually, it wasn’t all that recent – it was last spring – but it still bugs me.

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business, food, self-help-y stuff

The Curious Case Of The Cagey Waitress And Her Secret Steak

12 Comments

​”Before we decide, I want to hear about the specials,” our friend JP said. He and his wife, Caroline, had been to this Brooklyn restaurant before and had wanted to come back, with us. Mostly because they liked it, but partly because JP felt ripped off that no one had mentioned any specials, and then he saw […]

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business, copywriting, food, New York City

I deserve to be lazy. But so what.

12 Comments

I’ve been very deserve-y since I got back from Europe. (Sorry for that sentence. “Since I got back from Europe” is a heinous thing to say. Makes me think of my first day at my private all-girls school in 9th grade. During lunch, one of the fanciest girls in the class — her last name was one […]

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business, creativity, life and stuff, my dad, work, writing my dad

The beauty of the non-niche niche

14 Comments

“You need a niche,” everyone screams. I get it. When you do one really specific thing for one really specific group, you’re more likely to be the only one. You get to be THE top expert who’s top of mind when someone says, “I need an online business strategist for gluten-free bakeries.” “I need an […]

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business, copywriting, entrepre-nerd-ville, language

How to know if your idea is a winner or a dud

9 Comments

I keep a stash of images to post on Instagram. Sometimes, I get low on supply and say, f- it. I’ll use this dumb picture I keep passing over because it’s meh. To me, it’s the peanuts and filberts at the bottom of the nut mix when all the cashews are gone. It’s the unflattering, […]

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blogs and blogging, business, copywriting, creativity

20 Steps To Never Finding Your Passion

123 Comments

Do you suffer from FYPPS? Ever since I stepped into this online business world in 2009, I’ve noticed a pattern I found sad. I call it the “Find Your Passion Pyramid Scheme.” Or, FYPPS, pronounced “fips.” No one’s designed it as a scheme. There’s no Bernie Madoff behind it. What makes it run? Human nature. […]

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blogs and blogging, business

Hate Monday? Here’s how to tear it a new one.

11 Comments

“You teach people how to treat you.” You’ve heard that one, right? What if you could teach Mondays how to treat you, too? If you don’t like Monday, show it who’s boss. Tear it a new one. I don’t mean “Go get ’em tiger, be an unstoppable beast.” That’s great if you can do it on […]

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business, copywriting, creativity, success

I Was A Domain Name Junkie (Or, business name indecision, dreams of riches, and that night I bought a URL named after a Little House On The Prairie episode)

39 Comments

I used to have a serious domain name addiction. Late at night was the most dangerous time. I’d get all these ideas that seemed better in the dark, when I was hopped up on my second bowl of Haagen Dazs Vanilla Bean. This was back in 2009 and 2010. My business was young. So was Facebook. […]

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business, copywriting, internet

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