Blog - Page 14 of 24

The George R.R. Martin Recipe for Creating Irresistible Products

I’m a big fan of fantasy novels, and I’ve read my fair share of them through the years ranging from epic to downright awful.

I still remember the day I picked up the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series back in high school.

The story was gritty, and depressingly bleak at times. George R.R. Martin, the author, seemed to take sadistic pleasure in skewering every literary convention of the fantasy genre.

Bad things happened to good people, and the characters I loved to hate would do things that made me empathize with them or (gasp) even feel sorry for them.

But I couldn’t put the book down. I tore through scene after violent scene, eager to find out what would happen next…

Is Anyone Else Clueless When it Comes to NBA Officiating?

Corey Pemberton

I watched Game 6 of the NBA finals last night.

Is was an… interesting one. The Spurs were ahead for almost the whole game before the Heat stormed back and sent the thing into overtime. That period was back and forth between the two, but Miami had too much momentum.

They pulled out the victory, forcing a winner-take-all Game 7 on Thursday night.

One more thing about the game: a ton of whistles were blown. At times, I wasn’t sure if I was indeed watching a basketball game, a dog competition, or a bizarre new reality show sponsored by hearing aid manufacturers.

These whistles had a huge impact on the game.

Apparently I’m not the only one who has a problem understanding NBA officials…

Why You Should Stop Worrying about Hurting People’s Feelings…

Corey Pemberton

Want to write better ads?

Stop trying to make everyone happy…

Easier said than done, I know. Especially when the urge to win the approval of parents, teachers, bosses, and various authority figures has been pounded into you as long as you can remember.

Not worrying about turning a few prospects OFF with your ads can make them more effective.

The real world doesn’t work that way; it’s quick to teach us that. “Everyone” doesn’t always win.

In the “school of hard knocks,” life never fails to deliver these lessons, often with a delicious twist of irony…

Failure = The Imaginary Monster Under Your Bed

Corey Pemberton

You can’t fail.

I’m serious.

But it’s true.

Plenty of self-help authors and their acolytes say otherwise. They acknowledge failure as an essential part of the success process. They pay it lip service and prop it up with sayings like “failure’s the mother of success.”

Hogwash.

There’s another way to look at it. A better perspective. Once I adopted it, it’s allowed me to work past resistance and plenty of misgivings about not wanting to “fail.”

My First Experience with the “Razor and Blades” Business Model

Corey Pemberton

When I turned 18, I had to register for the “Selective Service.”

This is the case for all males in the U.S. And it’s just a fancy way of saying I had to provide information to the government so it could track me down in a worst-case scenario: a reinstatement of the draft.

Shortly afterward, I received a package in the mail.

It was from Gillette.

I found a brand-new, sleek “Mach 3” razor inside. It looked like a spaceship compared to the disposables I’d been using.

And it was completely free.

What’s the catch? I thought. Why would a company give something away when it would cost me 20 bucks to buy it at the store?