Happy Tuesday, Reader! I started writing about the uncertainty in our current market last year. And to say it’s gotten even more tumultuous might be an understatement. The early days of the pandemic are still fresh in many of our minds, and some of us were around to navigate the Great Recession of 2008-2009. But for many small businesses, what's happening now with tariffs, inflation, and shifting consumer confidence is hitting differently. It's not just supply chain chaos. Your customers'...
14 days ago • 1 min read
Happy Tuesday, Reader! If you're like most founders I work with, the word "networking" might make you cringe a little. It's earned a reputation that conjures images of forced conversations, uncomfortable self-promotion, and that nagging feeling that you're just using people for personal gain. And, coming across as “salesy” in the current market can make you seem out of touch, at best. But what if networking could feel different? What if it could help you build a community that sustains your...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Happy Tuesday, Reader! If you've been around here for a while, you know we keep a running list of DIY business tools and resources on our website. These are things we've personally tested and actually recommend. We update it regularly, which means we also regularly pull things off when they stop delivering. This spring, we did a refresh. A few tools that hadn't lived up to their promise got the boot, and two new ones earned their spot. Both of them are AI-powered and genuinely useful for...
14 days ago • 1 min read
Happy Tuesday, Reader! The bro marketers of Big Tech have spent the last decade selling us on the dream of frictionless everything. Fewer clicks, fewer steps, fewer moments of discomfort standing between you and whatever you want. And most of us, if we're being honest, have figured out by now that a life with the friction dialed all the way down is a lot less interesting and joyful than advertised. (Get your mind out of the gutter, we’re not going there today!) For our final week of living at...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Happy Tuesday, Reader! We've spent the last few weeks holding some hard "ands" together: resist and reconnect, Placebinding™ and globalization, scale and sustainability. This week's “and” might be the most defining one of our professional lives right now. Let’s talk, again, about AI and humanity. AI isn’t a technology we get to uninvent. We must learn to live with it. One of my favorite, not-to-be-named app developers and podcasters has been making a lot of noise lately about running an...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Happy Tuesday, Reader! If you've been around here for any length of time, you know how much we talk about sustainability, particularly when it comes to business strategy and the marketing pillar of the Do Better Business™ framework. We believe it's the foundational place every strong, values-centered organization has to build from. Sustainability is at the core of what we do. But I want to clear something up, because I think it's an assumption that follows us around: Sustainability does not...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Happy Tuesday, Reader! A few weeks ago, I landed in Chicago in the middle of a polar vortex. Subzero temperatures. Wind that had opinions about it. And yet, the city was alive. I watched neighbors show up for neighbors. I saw joy that felt almost defiant. I felt a sense of purpose so honed and collective that it seemed to hum underneath the city itself. Chicago has been called a warzone. What I witnessed was a city rising up to protect its most vulnerable and refuse that narrative—together,...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Happy Tuesday, Reader! For Two on Tuesdays, we usually provide you with two concepts, tools, or quotes to help you think differently about your business. This month, we’re going deeper. Every week in March, we're going to give you two ideas that seem like they're in direct conflict with each other, and talk about why holding both of them at the same time isn't just possible—it's essential for this moment. The most essential skill we can develop as adults (with strategy, in relationships, and...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Happy Tuesday, Reader! If you've searched for anything on Google lately, you've probably noticed something different at the top of your results: AI-generated summaries that endeavor to answer your question before you even click on a link. These are called AI Overviews, and they're Google's attempt to synthesize information from multiple sources into one comprehensive answer. These aren't the same as organic search results or even the rich snippets that used to give "zero-click" answers....
about 2 months ago • 2 min read