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You may not often think of trust in relation to productivity but there’s a very direct correlation, especially for small businesses. What is trust in a business relationship? It can be quite different than in our personal lives, of course. I’ve recently weathered the end … Keep reading…

Whenever you write something, it’s always a good idea to wait a while before editing – later the same day or the next day. You’ll have a fresh perspective and it’ll be easier to pick out what can be improved upon. Here are a few … Keep reading…

Small business owners can spend a lot of time and money on marketing initiatives. Sometimes we’re successful and sometimes not so much. I think of marketing as an experiment because – really – there are no magic bullets. There are best practices, there is good … Keep reading…

If you’re feeling – like I am – that you need to get focused for the next quarter, perhaps my list of planned activities below will be helpful. Business development: Continuing to refresh and work a business plan is a top priority, but sometimes it … Keep reading…

“Yes, it’s an old marketing trick to “accidentally” make a mistake in an email campaign so you can resend an email shortly thereafter to increase the number of times people see your message.” This was the lead message in an email I received recently which … Keep reading…

This post was written by Liam Friesen, who has recently joined Daley Progress in a part-time support role. (How lucky am I to have a journalism student helping me out?) Telling yourself that you want to start writing an article is simple. The hard part … Keep reading…

When I see the words “try this” along with the words “your email subscribers” in a headline, I get a little antsy. The email I received today included “sneaky-favorite email sequences” in the body text. Here’s the thing, if you’re delivering value to your readers … Keep reading…

Every small business owner struggles with their messaging from time to time and this is especially true when developing content for a new or refreshed website. I – and you – can sit and make a long list of words and phrases that describe the … Keep reading…

This is my 600th blog post. I’m feeling the pressure to write something wise and inspirational about blogging like I did with post #500. Are you ready? Here it is… Aside from your business objectives, you actually have to like doing the work of blogging … Keep reading…

Many small business owners didn’t start their careers as small business owners. And the road each of us took to get here is quite different. But one thing is fairly common – we’re finding ways to earn a living doing work we love. Often that … Keep reading…

Survivor fans might remember WWMD – “What would Monica do?” – from Season 34 Game Changers. Brad Culpepper often reflected on what his wife Monica would do in a given situation. He considered Monica his hero as she had made it to the final tribal … Keep reading…

Did you know that a third to a half of the total time spent working on marketing implementation projects is spent communicating with clients? That communication usually takes the form of informing, consulting, decision-making and tracking action items. Depending on the scope, it may also … Keep reading…

My good friend and business collaborator, Anita Kirkbride, has been doing keynotes recently about how to embrace being #flawsome. It’s a hard lesson for someone like me with perfectionistic tendencies. But around mid-May, I made a conscious decision to let a few things suffer so … Keep reading…

Social Media Day Halifax 2019 was an amazing day of learning and networking. I’ve been spending hours on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram reliving the day through other people’s posts… laughing, crying, and feeling the love. (Cue the angles… er… angels singing.) There is so much … Keep reading…

Change is a wonderful thing – it keeps life interesting. It allows our businesses to evolve and do better. When we can plan and drive change successfully, it can be very rewarding. Then there’s the change that’s forced on us. You know, like when your … Keep reading…

Every small business owner knows what it feels like to have a “million” things to do and nowhere near enough time. We are constantly prioritizing, sometimes deliberately and sometimes less consciously. During the past month, I’ve done a heck of a lot of prioritizing. Some … Keep reading…

Email bots are coming. Now, your reaction might be “Ugh!” but mine was, “Yay!” And that’s part of the challenge. Here’s another part: they are heaven-sent for spammers. Yes, that deserves an “Ugh!” What I’m excited about are all the possibilities for improving productivity in … Keep reading…

The words that make my heart sing are only sometimes the same words that make my potential clients’ hearts sing. And I’ve learned that I can be quite wrong about what I think is the value I bring to each relationship. For instance, nagging can … Keep reading…

Can you agree that’s a subject line you don’t see every day? Yet it describes something that happens frequently in small business – the mingling of ideas, processes and tools. One of the templates in my Quick and Easy Content Creation workbook is called “The … Keep reading…