Re “A Short History of the Devolution of Air Travel” in the Aug. 2 issue:
“This gave me a good laugh! As my wife and I prepare to take our first international flight since 2019, my feeling of trepidation has gone from a 4 out of 10 to a 9 or 10.” – ND
Re the Aug. 2 P.S. about Fred Astaire… from JM:
“Well, you got me thinking… about Fred… I believe Eleanor Powell was his equal.”
And he included two videos to make his case. Click here. And here.
My Response: Equal in technique. Not in style.
Re “Understanding Gravity in Five Lessons” in the July 22 issue:
“I love your research. The YouTube on Gravity was fascinating. Something I have been interested in for 50 years.” – MF
Another testimonial for our book, Central American Modernism:
“It’s great to get an insight into Salvadoran Modernism in art which is just so hard to find good writings about in this country. I showed the book to my parents, who were impressed since they had no idea there was art created in El Salvador and that museums and collectors collected them outside the country.
“I will continue reading more this weekend and start from the beginning and read about every country since it’s all connected in one way or another. Thank you.”
WR
Consignment Director
Urban & Contemporary Art
HERITAGE AUCTIONS
Someone talking about me…
Todd Brown, one of the brightest young marketers in the industry these days, sent this in:
“Thought you’d maybe enjoying seeing this little clip of me talking about you during a live interview.”
Watch it here.
“One hour speaking to you is worth a year of reading books!” – TD
RS sent me this little video. It’s a touching story, if I do say so myself. He said, “Not sure if you remember this.” (I didn’t. But it I’m not going to forget it now.) Click here.
Questions and requests:
“Hi Mark, what’s your opinion on mastermind groups? I’m wanting to connect with more experienced business owners and raise the bar of my business and my skills. Do you recommend any?” – AB
My Response: I’m all for them. I’ve never been to any sort of “mastermind” session, formal or informal, without coming away from it with at least several good ideas. Growing a business means creating constant change and constant change requires a constant source of new ideas. No one idea is a placebo. And many ideas are not appropriate for a given business at a given time. But that’s not a problem for the entrepreneur that is willing to consider new ideas and test them intelligently. More is better when it comes to business- and wealth-building ideas.
“Dear Mr. Ford – What is the biggest challenge any of your companies is facing that’s keeping you up at night and you must solve now?” – SV
My Response: Biggest challenges change as companies grow. When you are starting out, the biggest problem is finding out how to sell your products/services profitably before you run out of money, time, and/or patience. At other stages, the biggest problems are related to scaling. Or management. Or talent. If you’d like to know more, you should read a book I wrote about the big changes and how to deal with them. It’s called Ready, Fire, Aim.
“I’d like to create winning health promotions for The Agora Company. But I’m not sure how to go about it. Please, I’d love your advice and guidance. Looking forward to your response. Thank you.” – HO
My Response: I don’t pass along requests like this to my colleagues in Agora or to any other colleagues in any of my businesses. Not because they might not be useful, but because if I did I’d begin to get a hundred a day and my colleagues would stop talking to me. If you want to write advertising copy for Agora’s health publishing division, you should do some research and find out how they want to be approached. And then learn as much as you can about their products and their advertising so that, when you approach them, your letter will stand out from the rest.
Re the Amazon drone delivery video in the July 22 issue:
“The Amazon drone delivery video was super futuristic for a baby boomer like me. Having once owned a business, I couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Does Amazon get the box used by the drones to carry the items back, or does the recipient keep it? It can’t be cheap to use those boxes one time only. Are they recyclable?” – AS
My Response: Amazon has made a big deal out of its efforts to make its packaging recyclable. So, once the drone delivery service is up and running, I’m assuming there will be some way to recycle whatever packaging they’re going to use for it. Most items will probably be in the usual cardboard box. For items that have to go in the plastic bin shown in the video, I’m guessing there will be an extra fee for the bin that will be refunded when you return it to one of Amazon’s already established drop-off locations (Whole Foods, UPS, Kohl’s stores, etc.).
Re the article in the July 19 issue about auto makers, including Porsche, using the subscription model as a new sales tool, GM sent this in:
Lyrics from End of the Line by the Traveling Wilburys:
Don’t have to be ashamed of the car I drive
I’m just happy to be here, happy to be alive
It don’t matter if you’re by my side
I’m satisfied
Re the latest news about Rancho Santana in Friday’s issue:
“Love to read you on Facebook. I have spent 10 days in Santana enjoying the paradise you guys created and more and more appreciate how fortunate I was to be part of it. The place is magical, and just to sit in front of Rosada, watching a sunset and listening to the ocean while watching the big waves, lifts my spirits to continue living in spite of the age which advances whether I like it or not.” – MB
Re the Palm Beach Wealth Builders Club:
“Several years ago I signed up for the Palm Beach Wealth Builders Club and have since lost track of how I access information. Can you help?” – MP
My Response: When I retired for the third (or fourth?) time several years ago, the Club was closed. But If you were a paid member, you would have by then received all the materials they published.
The one element that was meant to be ongoing was my twice-yearly update on my investment portfolio and occasional essays on investing. These, you now get for free here on my blog.
Re my mention of The Stanley Hotel in the July 12 issue:
“Beautiful hotel in a stunning location. I didn’t know it was the inspiration for The Shining. A great movie, btw.” – TO
Re the July 15 issue:
“Three articles in this blog that were utterly fascinating: The Mathematical Power of Three Random Words, the William Blake article – I became a Marginalia donor as a result – and the Omeleto video. Thank you for your research. It gives me hours of reading pleasure.” – MF
A plug for my book The Pledge:
“Incredible Book! I highly recommend it to anyone that wants more success in their lives at a much faster rate!” – SV
Re my essay on Cultural Appropriation in the July 12 issue:
“Thanks for your recent article on cultural appropriation. It triggered me to confirm that the University of Utah also has a written agreement with the Ute tribe for use of the Ute moniker for its sports teams – and has since 1972.” – DC
“In the 1980s, the Regents of Eastern Michigan University (EMU) decided that the name ‘Hurons’ was somehow inappropriate. Never mind that EMU borders on Huron Street and the Huron River. Never mind that the tribe issued an official plea to keep the name. Noooo, the Regents conducted a public poll to find a less offensive replacement.
“I submitted two entries through the local newspaper in case the obvious and fun ‘Emus’ didn’t win: the Blands and the Regents. So what did they latch onto? The EMU ‘Eagles.’ (Yawn.)
“Love your blogs; please keep it up.” – JM
“Cultural Appropriation. Before it became bad, it was apparently acceptable to liberals to appropriate culture and use it to boost their woke egos.
“The Maori culture was always taught in schools as part of history and social studies. This occurred for 75-100 years. In the last 25 years or so, this transitioned to Maori culture being more important in NZ schools and woke society than the 3Rs. Children in grade school were forced to learn, read & write in Maori. This was odd, for Maori is a verbal language only. There was no written word, ever! So a written language was created in order to force-feed the culture on the citizenry. Now all kinds of non-Maori people converse online, in person, and even legal contracts in a dead verbal-only language.” – TM
Re my essay on Grandparenting in the July 15 issue:
“Freaking hilarious, Mark! And I love the long-term babysitting responsibility. Brilliant.” – KT
Re the Omeleto video in the July 15 P.S.:
“The video… was something else. What was it, 10, 12 minutes? I’ve watched two-hour movies with less impact than that. It’s amazing when you can combine great dialogue, great direction, and great acting. It’s so condensed yet you come up with such an emotionally charged segment. I’ll spend the rest of my day wondering what happened next.
“Is it part of a movie or is that all there is?” – AS
My Response: Yes, that was the whole of it. As I said, Omeleto specializes in short films. I recommend it. It’s free. And If, like me, you sometimes find that you want to watch a good film but don’t have 90+ minutes to spare, it’s just the thing!
Why I keep doing what I do:
“Your blog is, as is everything you write, absolutely terrific.” – BB
Re our ongoing discussion about Wokeness:
“[My] business professor… told a story about a businesswoman in Japan who traveled with an assistant who was a man who pretended to be the boss. A girl from the class got offended, saying the story was sexist. It was an international business course. He was just trying to give a look into another culture. I reached out to tell her that ‘I don’t believe he was intending to make a sexist comment.’ Too late, she complained and he was immediately fired, and I was labeled ‘a non-ally.’ That is the state of wokeness. The state of working as an employee for most businesses is similar. There is not a lot of conversation between the sides. Input, questions, or creative discussion is seen as a negative if it challenges entrenched beliefs.”– JG
Re what I said last week about the bad beginning of our recent trip to Greece:
“Think you were being too hard on yourself… the thief was the problem there.” – AD
“At least you fed some fish!” – SL
Re my July 11 review of Delicious:
“I thought Delicious was terrific! Loved when they were brainstorming what was to become a restaurant. When they were all set up, waiting for people to come, it brought back familiar feelings of anticipation, apprehension, and excitement from my early days in business.” – AS
Why I keep doing what I do:
“THANK YOU for your inspirational books. I have read The Reluctant Entrepreneur, Ready, Fire, Aim (many times), and The Pledge. Yes! You planted the Entrepreneur Bug in me. Can you please help me answer one question? How do I know if I’m an Entrepreneur?…. I’ve tried many businesses. But honestly, I’m not very good at it.” – SV
My Response: My first suggestion would be to reread those books and compare the advice given to what you have actually done. I guarantee you that there will be major differences. But because you’ve been kind enough to buy and read those books, I’m going to give you a brief, six-step protocol that – if you follow it assiduously – will virtually guarantee your success:
“Do you have any words of advice you would be willing to share with a newbie to the content marketing/copywriting world?” – KN
My Response: I have thousands of words of advice. They are contained in the books I wrote about writing and copywriting – The Architecture of Persuasion, Great Leads (cowritten with John Forde), and Copy Logic! (with Mike Palmer) – and in the basic program for copywriting that I wrote and AWAI publishes.
Why I keep doing what I do:
“I’ve been a fan of your books for some time now…. I owe my success in financial copywriting [to what] you gave in your books (Great Leads, Copy Logic, etc.) many years ago.” – TY
Re what I said about Carole King in the May 13 P.S.:
“You really thought her fame was based on her Friends??? And the two guys you mentioned makes me wonder if you are speaking of Carly Simon?” – SH
“Carole King and her husband Gerry Goffin were a hit machine at the Brill Building. She’s not a celebrity; she’s one of America’s best-loved popular songwriters.” – VS
“Did you see the Carole King play? I knew she wrote many songs but I was surprise by how many, how good they were, and who sang them.” – AS
My response: I did have that idea – that her fame was at least partly dependent on the bigger artists she hung with. My point was that until I saw the video I posted, I underestimated her talent and appeal. For example, I remember seeing her do a song with James Taylor, whom I’ve always been very high on. And I thought she was tight with Mick Jagger. But the reader is right. I may indeed have thought that it was she, not Carly Simon, who wrote You’re So Vain. I remember also not particularly liking any of her songs, which may have been the cause of my bias against her. But seeing that video helped me understand that I was both ignorant and wrong.
Re what I’ve been saying about conceptual art:
“Seeing all conceptual art as fraud is quite a broad stroke… there is much – as in all forms of art – that has validity, and plenty that doesn’t appeal to the masses.” – SH
My response: Yes, quite the broad stroke. And yet, I will make that statement again. Because I’ve yet to see an example of conceptual art that strikes me as anything but conceptually (i.e., intellectually) pretentious. My feeling about art is that pretentious art is, prima facie, bad art. And that plastic artists specifically should avoid dealing with ideas because they are generally ill equipped to distinguish good ones from bad ones.