Public Speaking Fear – 3 Surprising Tips to Overcome Yours

Old-time Disastrous Public Speaking on Stage

What techniques do you use to overcome your fear of public speaking and boost your self-confidence before an important meeting, presentation, talk, etc.? For most of my life, I used to fear and hate public speaking. Getting up in front of people to talk? No thanks! But, I actually enjoy it now. No, seriously I…

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The comfort zone is ok, until the day it isn't

It’s easy to get stuck in the predefined “comfort zone” that we’re all trained to be in as employees. That’s fine if you are happy. Really. It is. Happy with your job. Happy with your boss. Happy with your work experience. Happy with what you make. But, you must leave that comfort zone if you…

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Twitter Continues to Struggle with Growth and Engagement

Twitter user growth chart 2016

We need Twitter I know. It sometimes feels like kicking someone when they are already down. But, we can’t stop talking about the troubles with Twitter. It’s because so many of us really like Twitter and want them to figure this all out. As much as Facebook continues to be an unstoppable juggernaut, it isn’t…

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Think about where you place your job loyalty

Frustrated young business man lost job

Losing your job From a recent post by Gretchen Kittelberger about losing her job (CrossFit athlete and prior Counsel at CrossFit, Inc.): “It really wouldn’t have mattered if my work, or my effort, or my output had been 10x or 100x better. At the end of the day I still would have ended up in…

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People don't engage with logos

Larry Cornett, career and business advisor at Brilliant Forge

If you run a small business or startup, you may be guilty of this mistake that I’ve made. We’re excited about creating a new brand and building out a business, so we set up this independent entity from our own personal brand. A logo instead of our face on every social media profile. Using the…

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You can’t stand on two boats

Boat on the shore

There is an old proverb: “One foot cannot stand on two boats” Many of us start on a new business idea while we still have one foot in the “real job ship”, and start stepping into the new business lifeboat we are crafting. And that’s ok. For awhile. I did it for many, many years. But,…

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Ready for the Thumb Tribe?

Young child with smartphone

If you’re building a consumer experience, I hope you’re familiar with the Thumb Tribe because that is where your future customers are. I’m sure you’ve noticed that the younger generations are heavy mobile users, but you may not be aware of how extreme it is unless you’ve looked at your users’ demographics and analytics lately. These two screenshots are from…

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You don't need to create a "unicorn" to be successful

Unicorn and Young Girl painting

It is easy to get caught up in the “next hot startup” frenzy as you read about the insane growth and valuations of “unicorns” like Uber, Airbnb, and Snapchat. But, not every business can be, or should be, a runaway tech startup. When you live in a tech-centric area like Silicon Valley you tend to…

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