• Breaking through barriers
    Attitude,  Challenges,  Clients & Customers,  Coaching,  Entrepreneurs,  Marketing

    Chipping Away Your Barriers to Success

    This Week’s Highlights: Core Article: Chipping Away Your Barriers to Success   Cool Stuff: How does the world’s largest cruise ship feed 10k people? AI Info & Resources: What the Media Gets Wrong About AI Chipping Away Your Barriers to Success   What if you were taking a class I offered and were going to get a grade after you completed it? When I started the class, I announced that everyone started with A.  All you needed to do was complete the exercise and what was on the syllabus, and you’d get an A. What possibilities would it open up for you, knowing you got an A before you even started the…

  • Mission Value Driven Projects
    AI - ChatGPT,  Entrepreneurs,  Marketing,  Product Launches,  Taking risks

    It’s time to team up – Are you ready?

    Before You Dive In – Some Highlights For You: Core Article: Teaming Up – Go Nike & Dove! Cool Stuff: Happy Leap Year – Feb 29 only comes around every three years. Here’s why… More Cool Stuff: Along with an oldy but goody—Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone in 2007 (It’s the original video. Kinda of cool. In a back-to-the-future kind of way!) AI Info & Resources: You asked for it — More Prompts and advanced ways to use AI It’s Time to Team Up – Are You Ready? Back in December, Nike and Dove teamed up to launch the “Body Sport Confident” program. Its mission is to support girl’s confidence in sports. What…

  • Soulful marketing
    AI - ChatGPT,  Clients & Customers,  Communication,  copywriting,  Entrepreneurs,  Marketing

    In a world of algorithms, hashtags, and followers…

    So many things have been swirling through my head since I got back from our trip to Jackson, WY.  Being away and realizing my age (as referenced after our snowmobile tour when I was so tired afterward that Alice and I barely made it through my birthday dinner!) has stirred a lot up from my past and things I’d forgotten…  After I got home, I spent the holiday weekend going through some of my old writing and photos in hopes of inspiring me to organize. What I found interesting was how many quotes I had collected over the years. And this was before personal computers, so I either wrote them…

  • Crushing on my AI
    AI - ChatGPT,  copywriting,  Entrepreneurs,  Implementation,  Marketing

    I think I have a crush on my AI… Ummm

    Ok, so…. first off – it’s not what you think… It’s more of a first-grade crush, you know, when you met your first friend, and they were incredibly kind to you. Maybe they even shared their snack or played jump rope or hopscotch with you on the playground…(yeah, I’m that old 😉 Who knows what kids are playing on the playground these days…. Ahhhh, and I digress… Back to my crush… Here’s what happened: I have been using ChatGPT for several months now. And I ended up paying the $20 a month, and I have to say, it is well worth it. So, if you’re not following what’s happening in…

  • Soulful Marketing
    Attitude,  Clients & Customers,  Coaching,  Communication,  Entrepreneurs,  Marketing

    Authentic Curiosity & The Beginner’s Mind: Embracing A Soulful Marketing Approach

    I want to share with you something that’s more than just a concept. It’s a transformative approach in the marketing world – it’s about embracing authentic curiosity and the beginner’s mind, especially when it comes to Soulful Marketing.  This is about diving into what makes your marketing genuinely resonate and connect with your dream clients on a deeper level. Have you ever attended a workshop or event, and the speaker got up there and started talking about a topic, and your mind immediately shut down and didn’t pay attention to the rest of the presentation? This used to happen to me. The more experience I accrued in marketing, my mind…

  • Shannon McCaffery
    Attitude,  Communication,  copywriting,  Entrepreneurs,  Marketing

    Remembering, forgetting, and remembering again…

    Have you ever had the experience of remembering something, then going to write it down, and you forget? Then, later on, do you remember it? Or maybe you’ve written a blog, eGuide, or email, and you go back and read it and don’t remember writing it? Yep, the aging mind is fascinating and frustrating at the same time… Something like that happened to me this week, yet it was a bit more profound. And I’m sharing it to help reignite the inspiration that may be buried within you, perhaps forgotten, and that can certainly be remembered again… After the holidays, I’ve been trying to tidy up the house and reorganize…

  • conneting with clients on a deeper level
    Attitude,  Clients & Customers,  Communication,  copywriting,  Marketing

    Connecting with your dream clients on a deeper level…

    Early on in my career, I had no clue about writing direct response copy. I pretty much just winged it. (Yeah, I know… And I was a journalism major, so I did have some writing experience. 🙂 Then, later on, writing better, more impactful copy became one of my core goals, and I invested in several writing courses and mastermind groups over the years. I wanted to get really good at communicating and reaching my dream clients. If you do nothing else in your business except this, it will be time and money well spent. The main reason is that some core markets are becoming incredibly crowded with competition – you…

  • Marketing

    The Best Marketer of the Year Award goes to…

    You might have guessed this answer if you read my email from last week… 🙂 (And thanks for all the kind comments – appreciate you!) This woman is simply on FIRE – Taylor Swift. Congrats on almost breaking the internet with your ticket sales to your live concerts, and now for breaking massive movie ticket records. Holy cow… what a force! Broke Movie Records – With her Eras Tour Concert Film – In the first 3 hours that pre-order tickets were available – AMC says their sales topped 26 million. And that was just one theater chain! Movie studios didn’t know this was coming, forcing them to move their release dates away…

  • Clients & Customers,  Marketing

    How picking the best strawberries could boost your business :-)

    Have you ever been shopping for fresh berries at the grocery store? The other day, while picking out some strawberries in the huge fruit section at Costco, I noticed the fascinating decision-making process of fellow berry enthusiasts. As I stood there, engrossed in the fruity frenzy, I couldn’t help but notice the thoughtful deliberation each person displayed. No one simply grabbed the first container they saw. It was like witnessing a secret ritual of strawberry selection. My Curiosity was piqued, and I began to think, “What criteria do these people use to determine which container is the perfect one that will go home with them?” After all, there’s more to it than just…

  • Marketing

    We all scream, “Ice Cream! Ben & Jerry’s Case Study – Lessons in Soulful Marketing

    I’m at it again, doing some fun research on “Soulful” businesses and how they use Soulful Marketing principles. This company is my personal favorite, not just cuz I love ice cream, it’s cuz of their mission, values and original focus on sustainability and social impact. Ben & Jerry’s understand their customer and how they care about issues and want to know what the company is doing to make a positive impact. This is a business that created a strong brand that totally appeals to customers who share their values. This is how you create longevity and long-term success in your business and more… Oh, and my favorite flavor is the…

  • Marketing,  Outcome

    Epic Marketing Fails – omg

    Last week, I did a case study on REI and how they’ve used Soulful Marketing Principles to build momentum and create incredible long-term success over 85 years… So this week, I thought it’d be interesting to share some epic marketing fails in business. I’ve already shared about an epic fail for me at the start of my entrepreneurial career a few weeks ago in this eNewsletter— if you missed it…5 Epic Marketing Fails & Lessons Learned: 1. Remember Gap’s Epic Logo Fail? They changed their logo and changed it back after 6 days. No other company has ever done that before in such a short time— on October 6, 2010, new logo, and…

  • Clients & Customers,  Implementation,  Marketing

    Case Study – REI – How they use Soulful Marketing Principles

    I’m excited to dive into a more extensive case study with you. We’re going to explore some core principles of Soulful Marketing, and how it has created immense success into some well known niche brands. My hope is that it will spark some creative ideas on how you can weave these principles into your own business. Let’s take a look at one of my favorite stores/brands – REI. Alice and I have been to most of them in Northern CA and Oregon! We plan on camping later this year and had to stock up on some stuff. That’s why I decided they’d be a terrific case study. Before I share…

  • copywriting,  Entrepreneurs,  Marketing,  Product Launches

    What do ChatGPT, virtual events, and blank screens all have in common? Hmmmm

    A couple of weeks ago, I attended a live virtual 3-day event – Product Launch Formula (PLF Live). I attended this event in person many times until the pandemic hit, and as you know – there weren’t any more in-person live events. And the people behind this event decided to keep it as a virtual event. I get it because they never were able to get more than around 900 people in-person. Virtually at this event, they had almost 2k people attend from all over the world. What do you think about virtual events? Have you attended a 3-day online one before? I honestly don’t like them. The thought of…

  • what-kind-of-soulful-entrepreneur-are-you
    Entrepreneurs,  Marketing

    What type of entrepreneur are you?

    Just got off a call with a person I met online at a Trends Newsletter networking event. (If you don’t know what Trends is – I’d highly recommend you check them out. Especially if you want to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs.) The funny thing is I’m not usually on these networking calls. And the only reason why I was on it was because I didn’t read the whole email. I thought it was their newsletter expert speaking – my total bad for quickly skimming that email. Please tell me I’m not the only person who’s jumped on a Zoom call thinking there was a speaker and I could be invisible — turned out…

  • Marketing Lessons I Learned from Nike
    Attitude,  Challenges,  Clients & Customers,  Communication,  Entrepreneurs,  Marketing,  Prospects,  Questions

    Is your business like Nike? Lessons from an athletic shoe company

    Last week, I shared about how your business changes over the years and how that change will impact your dream clients/customers. My core message was to ensure you connect with your power dream clients/customers and interview or give them a survey so you can take into account their needs before you implement your changes. This week, I promised to share some interesting insights from Nike (and the athletic shoe industry) – focusing on sales from a unique perspective. And how these insights can help your business. My spouse, during her college years, supported herself by working part-time at Athlete’s Foot. She was one of their top salespeople. She knows running and athletic…