"When you do the common things in an uncommon way, you'll command the attention of the world." - George Washington Carver You have things you need to do today that will feel common. They feel forgettable and undeserving of our best energy. They are the "check this off my list" tasks that we want to get done and get over. Compared to the uncommon, more exciting things we'll do today, they feel unimportant. How can you find ways to do those everyday things in an uncommon way?

A recent episode of Lewis Howes’ School of Greatness podcast hit home. Lewis was interviewing Rory Vaden from the Brand Builders Group regarding the power and importance of personal brands. Rory shared something crucial about business…

"So, tell me a little bit more about that if you could." In a recent meeting with a client, exploring the messages they wanted their website to communicate to customers, we heard something that piqued our interest. We immediately asked to hear more – to dig deeper into the statement they had just shared – but we took it one step further as well.

Too often, we get caught up in a “this is how we’ve always done things” mentality. We run our businesses and serve our clients in a certain way because it’s the model we developed over the years, and everyone seems to be satisfied with it. We lead our teams, create our cultures, and build our workforces the way we do because it’s what we know. But what if we did things differently?

Things feel different today. Masks are coming off, activities are coming back, and life is returning to normal. The question we’ve heard asked multiple times over the past few weeks is this… Do we want to return to normal, or are we craving something better than normal? With that in mind, we’re resurfacing an exercise that our friends at Good Leadership shared with us years ago. Using the past year as a catalyst for learning some valuable lessons, here are three simple questions we should all be asking ourselves right now as the world is opening back up...

Before the pandemic, there were a lot of things we took for granted… Being able to grab lunch or coffee with a client. Being able to sit with our teams in conference rooms to brainstorm, mask-free. Being able to go on-location with a customer to work with them side-by-side. Dipping out a little early on a Thursday afternoon to watch our kids play sports or pick them up from school. Do you remember what life was life before? We are excited to return to normal, but maybe we shouldn't go back to exactly the same way things were...

With everything going on in the world over the past year, it's felt easy to get trapped in the negativity. The world has felt just a bit off-kilter, more for some of us than others. For the businesses and non-profits we work with, the year has come with unique challenges – from some having to close their doors to others finding themselves too busy to get everything done. Both situations are high-pressure. Add to that some of the personal challenges we've experienced, and it's been a roller coaster. So when you're on the ride, how do you keep from going off the rails? We have one word for you…

As part of our logo development and brand messaging process, we ask this question, “What brands do you admire, and what brands inspire you, inside & outside your industry?” Over the years, we’ve heard so many unique answers to this question, and our time with a client yesterday was no exception. When you hear the surprising response they shared, you’ll gain immediate insights you can bring to your own business...

In his book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill writes about what he calls his “QQS Rating” and how this simple formula impacts our ability to sell our products and services. Here’s a quick explanation of his rating system and the one piece of the system that dictates success or failure in all we do...

Every day, multiple times each day, we follow processes. We observe patterns when we wake up in the morning and steps we note when we’re preparing to end our day. We follow a process to put gas in our cars, recipes that guide us in baking our favorite foods, and procedures we pay attention to when we onboard new clients. Frankly, there’s a process for just about everything we do.