I'm working hard to eliminate from my regular vocabulary the following phrase: “Sorry I haven't called, I've just been so busy…”

Like so many things in life, getting new clients is not nearly as complicated as we sometimes like to make it. Here are three ways you can get new clients (whether your freelancer, a consultant, or a salesperson)… and get them today.

Chris Garrett gave an excellent talk yesterday at Wishlist Live about online community. I was struck — not for the first time — by the thought that online community is no different than “real world” community. I need this reminder every now and then.

Common wisdom says “give the customer what they want”.

There's a saying: “the customer is always right.” Really? What about:

The word “rights” gets thrown around a lot these days. There's often a lack of focus on the other side of the “rights” coin – “responsibility”.

If you are a freelancer I can predict a few of the bad habits that hold you back in your business. I present them for your consideration:

We allow ourselves to be influenced by the people we like. The reason good salespeople are known to be friendly (some even hyper-friendly) is because they understand this core principle: being likable is one of the quickest ways to being influential.

We are a world of people who love to be fascinated.

Whenever you are writing for the purpose of influencing other people (which pretty much includes all writing, doesn't it?), it's essential to know your strategic objective.

When writing for strategic influence, whether your outcome is intended to be the sale of a product or service, the adoption of an idea, or a certain outcome for your political candidate, you must begin with knowing your mythology.

Today, I'm beginning a new series on the subject of “writing for strategic influence”.

What do you stand for? I mean you as a business?

You can't “create” culture.

Urgency addiction kills efficiency. It disrupts workflow. It breaks concentration.

Instead of trying to duplicate every product feature of your competitor, why not focus on one feature? Why not do that one thing, and do it exceedingly well?