If you are an expert, you need to serve all the clients in your audience. You need a diverse portfolio of examples to draw on, so you can answer any question. All of your examples will be in some way similar, because they all relate to people similarly situation to your audience. For example, they…
Now that we all see each other on video calls, it’s inevitable that you’ll observe other people and form impressions. When is it to make a comment about how someone looks? Let’s make this simple. The answer, with a few narrow exceptions, is, never. I was recently on a video call with the CEO of…
It is June. In many parts of the world, the weather outside right now is incredible. Put on some comfortable, sturdy shoes and head out to a nearby park or nature sanctuary. Take a walk. Allow you eyes to focus in the middle distance — or to infinity. If there are people with children and…
Google used to embrace the principle “Don’t be evil.” Even if that’s no longer central to their way of doing business, it should be to yours. As a freelancer, you might be asked to do anything. And as an employee, you might face difficult ethical choices. In the back of your mind is a thing…
I occasionally hear from people who want me to appear on their podcasts. I usually say yes. But there’s a right and wrong way to do this. A recent lame-o invitation I received made so many mistakes that I think it’s a good illustration how not to succeed in podcasting — or any other venture…
Newsletter 46: Curiosity beats animosity, OpenAI trains ChatGPT-5, Google spreads fakery, plus three people to follow and three books to read. The value of principled argument When I was a media analyst, companies often brought me in to hear my perspective. Many of the companies who hired me also intensely (and sometimes very publicly) disagreed…
Newsletter 44: Getting old means not giving a damn about stuff that doesn’t matter. Also, why you shouldn’t buy at Amazon’s book sale, Google and OpenAI announce great steps forward, why Joe Mazzulla is a profound philosopher, plus three people to follow and three books to read. On not giving a damn If you’ve had…
My freelance pricing strategy maximizes two competing priorities: the chance I will get paid properly for my work, and the likelihood that the client will be happy. That means pricing and billing on milestones, not by the hour. So let’s go over the best way to make that work. Why I price on milestones The…
Newsletter 43: Free advice is the lubricant of the business world; PRH proprietary AI tool; hybrid insights, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Beyond the old-boy network The working world runs on free advice. This may or may not have been visible to you when you started working, but unless you’re…