NHT Blog

For more than a dozen years now I have seen and been reminded of the importance of managing expectations.  In fact, it has become so prevalent in my life that not only do I give it out as one of my top pieces of advice to people, but I even did a search on this very website to see if I’d already written a blog about the topic.

Around March or so, I start challenging people, “How’s that New Year’s resolution of yours doing?”  And it’s not even out of the realm of possibility that I bring it up again in May.  The point being that you – duh – need to stay with it, regardless of what goal you’d set.  After all, you wanted change as the new year started, so what made you decide it wasn’t important enough to stick with it?

For all the glass-half-empty opinions that get expressed about the music industry, there are good things happening for those who see the glass instead as being half full.

There’s the old expression, “I was in the right place at the right time” and I see lots of benefit in looking at the second part of that statement.

If you have landed on this blog post, you've probably heard the terms public relations and advertising interchangeably (and now you're wondering what's right for your brand). While both are valuable tools for growing your business, they serve very different purposes. Understanding when to use PR, advertising, or a combination of both can help you make smarter marketing decisions and get the most from your budget.

What is Public Relations?

I think I’ve written before at some point in this weekly blog about the fact that there are people that you just expect everyone to know, when in fact, you’ll run across folks who you’ll find yourself saying, in amazement, “You don’t know who John Cena is?!”

Last week was interesting not only for sports but some might argue that pop culture was impacted too.

I’m referring to NBA superstar Lebron James choosing to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers.  And the indicator that people outside of basketball – heck, outside of sports – were interested was the reactions posted on social media by celebrities not connected to the game that “The King” plays.

I remember when I used to work in the Olympic Movement and I would come back home from somewhere and my mother would excitedly ask me over the telephone, “Well?  How was (insert country here)?”  In other words, she wanted to hear all about the sights.

The thing is that business trips are just that.  Almost to a fault I have always traveled with that mindset.  I almost have to force myself to go do something that’s just relaxing and enjoyable.

Someone recently told me that they don’t like hearing people use the word entrepreneur because they feel it sounds a little too ‘early stages’ (my words, not theirs).  The thinking was, convey to people that you are established and have been at it for a while.

Comedian Jim Florentine was the guest way back on Episode 200 of my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast.  On his show, “Everybody is Awful (Except You),” he regularly cracks against inspirational quotes – and the people that live by them.

The fact is, there are some themes, common messaging, that you’ll hear that I suggest you put some stock in.