So today I opened the Google home page to check my Gmail account, and I was greeted with this funky image: As you can see from the left-hand sidebar, the core products from Google are there for you to access immediately, as opposed to links within your account. Which makes me wonder – could this be  the first steps in Google bringing all their solutions under one integrated offering? If so, it’d really push Google+ into the mainstream and grab those Gmail users (and web users) that currently have no inclination to try the service. Your move, Facebook. MORE >>

When you think of your customers, how do you picture them? Are they friendly, appreciative, and happy to be using your products and services? Or are they angry, complaining, and ready to hang you out to dry publicly every time one of your products doesn’t perform properly? If your perception is of happy people, great. It likely means that you have strong products and services that help your customers in their daily life and they enjoy using them. Are your customers really just whining? Or are they pointing out actual flaws in your products? Think about it. Reward them when they help. MORE >>

It is true that I am sometimes a grumpy curmudgeon, however, I also know a little about word usage. So, please let me help you so that you won’t look like an ignoramus when you attempt to create an act of literature. Let’s start with homonyms, that is words that sound similar but have different meanings. accept and except – accept is a verb meaning to receive with approval, except  is most often a preposition meaning excluding. I graciously accept this honor. Everyone being honored was there except for me. Now, let’s use them in sentences. I took a peek into the package. MORE >>

This post first ran on Jan. 27 of this year. It’s still the most popular Waxing UnLyrical post to date, so we re-run it, with minor edits to keep it updated, for your reading pleasure in case you missed it earlier. And because we’ve gone shoe shopping. Enjoy! In the genes? don’t know if we PR pros have a faulty gene or what, but we make it so easy for other professionals to beat up on us. Image: JKönig via Flickr, CC 2.0. while back, I posted 6 ways to ruin your chances of getting free publicity over at BNET. And O.M.G. Be blatantly self-promotional. And that was it. But heck. MORE >>

Recently I listened to a podcast hosted by Mike Vardy where he interviewed Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice. found a couple of Todd’s quotes to be quite profound. Here is the video, 4:05 minutes long. have a bonus letter this week for Premium subscribers, with expanded notes and thinking on this subject. Subscribe to the Weekly Letter. Business Development Productivity books meditations Mike Vardy podcast Todd Henry videos MORE >>