President John F. Kennedy said, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” Mac Lackey says something similar, “The time to think about selling your business is long before you plan to sell.” Having founded and sold six companies, Mac is something of an expert on entrepreneurial exits. Two of his […]

“On a three-year voyage in the 1740s, a British naval expedition under the command of commodore George Anson lost fourteen hundred men out of two thousand who sailed. Four were killed by enemy action; virtually all the rest died of scurvy… In roughly the same period, James Lind, a naval surgeon, conducted a scientifically rigorous […]

“Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation – the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless, yet […]

Brian played guitar.He wasn’t very good,That was his charm.And he swore he’d be an indie god by 23.Now he’s 25 and living on Long Island.And I called him up, to finally do some catching up,And that’s when he said to me,Listen carefully… “I was just a kid then.Money makes the world spinAnd if they tell […]

Anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?Can you tell me where he’s gone?He freed a lotta people but it seems the good they die young.You know, I just looked around and he’s gone. Anybody here seen my old friend John?Can you tell me where he’s gone?He freed a lotta people but it seems the good […]

“Why do millions of people buy James Michener’s books and why does every bed lamp shine down on his newest title? Isn’t it because he has spent 40 years coming back from far journeys and difficult languages, to tell us about other people’s other ways of life? Other challenges and other lives survived?” – Ruth […]

  I’m still parked out by the lakeEighty miles from Santa Fe.And I’m sittin’ here, just parked out by the lake.   If you’re wonderin’ where I parked,I’m out parked by the lake.It’s the lake that’s eighty miles from Santa Fe.   And I’m parked out by the lakeEighty miles from Santa Fe.It’s the lake […]

Dr. Michael Lenox is an expert on artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. He knows the opportunities and the dangers of digital technology. Dr. Lenox advises business people on how to prepare for 2024, a year in which more data will be generated than in all previous years combined. Dr. Lenox is interviewed today by roving […]

      “An art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t an art at all.”– Paul Cézanne  

  “The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenalin but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.” – Glenn Gould, concert pianist  

The identity of the lady with the fan on the previous page remains a mystery, although there have been suggestions that it is Johanna Staude, a friend of Klimt who modeled for him. But the mystery of her identity reveals how he felt about the people he painted. They were never the entire point of […]

“And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.’ And it was so.” – Genesis ch. 1 “Don’t be misled… You will always harvest what you plant.”– Galatians ch. 6 IMAGE: Dame Mit Fächer (Lady With a Fan), […]

Why Write? “Last week, I was in a classroom in Austin, Texas, where a girl who was apparently going through a really rough spell at home wrote a poem that was definitely tragic and comic, both, about — everybody was yelling at her in the poem, from all directions. She was just kind of suffering […]

Joanne Lipman was the first woman to become a deputy managing editor at The Wall Street Journal. She was the founding editor-in chief-of Condé Nast’s Portfolio magazine. She served as editor-in-chief of USA Today and chief content officer of its parent company, Gannett. Currently, Joanne is a regular contributor to CNBC and a lecturer at Yale University. In her […]

You see this handful of sand? Could you imagine counting every grain? Could you imagine how many grains of sand there are on this entire planet? Our best estimate is that for every grain of sand here on earth, there are 10,000 stars in the universe. It is probably more likely that we don’t really […]

Height is a vertical line.Width is a horizontal line.When you have both height and width, you can create a 2-dimensional image.Depth is the 3rd dimension. Combine these first 3 dimensions – height, width, and depth – and you have created volume: space. The 4th dimension is Time. These first 4 dimensions encompass our physical reality, often […]

Why Write? “Last week, I was in a classroom in Austin, Texas, where a girl who was apparently going through a really rough spell at home wrote a poem that was definitely tragic and comic, both, about — everybody was yelling at her in the poem, from all directions. She was just kind of suffering […]

Take a look at Richie’s store.

Dave Albin helps business executives and employees face and overcome their fears. But that’s nothing special. What makes Dave a legend among corporate coaches are the methods he employs. Dave is the #1 firewalk instructor in America, having cajoled more than one-half million people to walk, barefoot, over a bed of hot coals exceeding 1,000 […]

Jerry Seinfeld was once thinking about golf announcers whispering. He then found something in his notebook about how people whisper when they talk about tipping.  When you notice a commonality between two or more things, Seinfeld explains, “You say, ‘Oh there’s something there.’ And now we make what’s called a charm bracelet: You take these […]

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Dear Sir: I like words. I like fat buttery words, such as ooze, turpitude, glutinous, toady. I like solemn, angular, creaky words, such as straitlaced, cantankerous, pecunious, valedictory. I like spurious, black-is-white words, such as mortician, liquidate, tonsorial, demi-monde. I like suave “v” words, such as Svengali, svelte, bravura, verve. I like crunchy, brittle, crackly […]

My friend Ryan Deiss wrote: “Since I believe we’re entering into/already in a recessionary phase, I’m going back and reading memos from 2007 and 2008. Lots of applications for today (or maybe that’s just my confirmation bias speaking). Either way, it was a fun walk down memory lane. Do you ever read your old stuff?” […]

“‘God Only Knows’ is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It’s really just a love song, but it’s brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian. I’ve actually performed it with him, and I’m afraid to say that during the soundcheck, I broke down. It was just […]

      We have art so that we shall not die of reality. – Friedrich Nietzsche

Amy Dockser Marcus won the Pulitzer Prize because she can clearly explain things that are deeply confusing to so many of us. Amy understands – and can explain – the complex relationships between economics, society, health, and medicine. In a meticulously researched book, she talks about the remarkable accomplishments of “citizen scientists” – ordinary individuals who […]

If you can keep your head when all about you        Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,    If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;        If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;    If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster     And treat those two impostors just the same;    […]

The wizard rarely voices ads anymore, but he wrote and recorded these for his longtime friend, Sean Jones. Penticton is wine country, the Napa Valley of Canada. Okanagan Falls is very near Penticton. If you ever get a chance to visit, you should. The Tiny Tribe is there now and will have a full report […]

  Bob Johansen has been forecasting the future for the past five decades. He and his colleagues get it right 60% to 80% of the time. Bob is no pointy hat, crystal-ball-gazing fortuneteller. In addition to helping clients like Procter & Gamble, Walmart, and McKinsey, he is an instructor at the Army War College. Bob […]

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But Some Things are NOT a Matter of Perspective. “Perhaps you’ve heard it said that if you want to form a new habit—say, flossing your teeth or exercising regularly—all you have to do is perform that act for 21 days in a row, and presto! The desired behavior becomes automatic.” “That, my friend, is a […]

Bryan Eisenberg knows I am concerned about mental decline. Not my own. Everyone else’s. Bryan’s awareness of my concern caused him to think of me when he read this from Rosita Diaz: My husband and I went through the McDonald’s driveway window and I gave the cashier a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so […]

“I took this photo 6 years ago and turned it into a Monet.” – Craig Arthur You have a gift with the camera, Craig.

  “Happy Thursday to you and Pennie, from midway on the hike to Pinnacle Peak.” What a photo!– RHW “The desert makes it easy.” 😁 – Michele

“Once upon a time, I lost a friend because I thought facts beat feelings. Nope, lesson learned. When someone loves you, they trust you all the way – and facts can’t melt hearts. That’s why I learned to write ads that help people fall in love with you, not just trade money for stuff. Love: it’s stronger […]

Nick Loper has helped tens of thousands of people bring home some serious extra cash on top of what they earn in their day jobs. In fact, Nick’s podcast, which offers a steady diet of “side hustle” ideas, has been downloaded more than 25 million times. Nick is a fountain of money-making ideas. Near the […]

QUESTION: In your summary, you said, “No daypart can cross 6A, 7P, or Midnight.” Why? I’LL BEGIN MY ANSWER WITH A QUESTION: When you ask Nielsen to calculate the Reach & Frequency of ads scheduled 6A to Midnight – (Remember: Frequency is REPETITION; the number of times an individual in your NET REACH will hear […]

SUMMARY 1. Make sure you have great ads.2. Buy a 1-week schedule with a 3-frequency. (You can go as low as a 2.5, but not 2.4.)3. No daypart can cross 6A, 7P, or Midnight.4. Buy the largest 1-week NET REACH you can afford. If you’re using more than 1 station, the Master R&F cannot drop […]

Bryan Eisenberg knows I am concerned about mental decline. Not my own. Everyone else’s. Bryan’s awareness of my concern caused him to think of me when he read this from Rosita Diaz: My husband and I went through the McDonald’s driveway window and I gave the cashier a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I […]

Dr. Henry Mintzberg has written more books than the Beatles had #1 records. He is an organization and management rock star. Dr. Mintzberg says many organizations – for-profit and nonprofit – are making a big mistake when they embrace a one-size-fits-all approach to structuring their operations. Listen as Dr. Mintzberg – who has received a whopping […]

I would like to thank the great Oogimauskii for nudging me to write to you once again about Perceptual Reality, one of my favorite topics, and an extremely important one. The cognoscenti of the Magical Worlds Workshop will remember a brief discussion of Perceptual Reality at the beginning of class.  “Each of you will sit in this […]

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“Paris. April. Twilight. A few flat clouds folded themselves like crepes over fillings of apricot sky. Pompadours of supper-time smoke billowed from chimneys, separating into girlish pigtails as the breeze combed them out, above the slate rooftops. Chestnut blossoms, weary from having been admired all day, wore faint smiles of anticipation with the approach of […]

  Luis Castañeda is a Wizard of Ads Digital Marketing Specialist, expert in B2B, Google ads, and Web Analytics. You REALLY want to read what he posted on the Wizard of Ads partner blog this week. – Indy Beagle

“Google laid off 12,000 employees. Then they bought back $70B in stock. And then they gave Sundar Pichai a big raise that raised his total compensation to $226M. And now Google is discovering that their employees are upset.” – Craig Andrews, April 5, 2023 NOTE: Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, receives a $2 million […]

The wizard texted the most knowledgeable tech-scientists within his circle of friends. “I’m quoting a few people in the rabbit hole on Monday. I’d like you to be one of them: What is your read on this internal Google memo? 1: is it real, or propaganda? 2: What are the implications?” These are a few […]

The mortality rate for young men in society is six times what it is for young women, from violence and from accidents, just the stupid stuff that young men do; jumping off of things they shouldn’t jump off of, lighting things on fire they shouldn’t light on fire, I mean, you know what I’m talking […]

March 7, 2023 – Facebook’s large language model, which is usually only available to approved researchers, government officials, or members of civil society, has now leaked online for anyone to download. The leaked language model was shared on 4chan, where a member uploaded a torrent file for Facebook’s tool, known as LLaMa (Large Language Model […]

When Victoria Pelletier sets her mind to achieving a goal, she won’t let anything or anyone stop her. Nor will she blame anyone but herself when things don’t go the way she planned. Those two personality traits — being unstoppable and making no excuses — have been a recipe for success since she became the […]

ChatGPT In the land of Brushenstroken, a tale began, Of a Doodlefumbler, a failed painter man. Splotzwhifferführer, his name was known, He sought to make all of Europe his own. Tired of being mocked for his colors so poor, He devised a plan to rule and to roar. With a wave of his brush, enchanted […]

Wizard of Ads, Inc. has sponsored the wiener dog races in Buda, Texas, for more than 20 years. Wiener dogs were built for racing, don’t you think? – Indy Beagle

I’m floored. I’ve been working with ChatGPT, and tonight I figured out how to make it act like an AI chatbot that applies DaVinci’s 40 answers to whatever problem I present it with. It gives me 5 ideas per TRIZ principle, and tells me which one it thinks is the best. It’s like having a […]

“This sentence is made of lead (and a sentence of lead gives a reader an entirely different sensation from one made of magnesium). This sentence is made of yak wool. This sentence is made of sunlight and plums. This sentence is made of ice. This sentence is made from the blood of the poet. This […]

“All powerful messages must contain an element of absurdity, illogicality, costliness, disproportion, inefficiency, scarcity, difficulty or extravagance.” – Rory Sutherland

You see a photo of a man in a blue jacket standing in front of McDonalds. That photo contains at least 3 pieces of information. Information is content. 1. Man2. Blue Jacket3. McDonalds Content without context is boring. The reason that photograph was taken was to encourage you and elevate your hope. Does that surprise […]

We have also started an e-mail exchange with an NGO out of Australia called Classrooms of Hope. They have built 5 schools on the island of Lombok using a new technology called Eco Bricks. They are bricks made of plastic waste. Classrooms of Hope has opened a new factory to produce these bricks in Lombok […]

Dear Roy and Pennie,This is the current status of the school land you helped us to buy: we are still waiting for the land certificate to be issued by the government but after almost two years of waiting we found a lawyer who has helped us draw up some paperwork that will help us plead […]

Dave Combs is a disarmingly charming southerner and a man of faith. He’s also one of the most successful musicians and music distributors in America today. Dave and studio pianist Gary Prim recorded their first song in 1986, and the duo has since produced 15 successful instrumental albums which have attracted millions of worldwide fans. […]

Clay Stafford produces an annual conference that brings together authors, agents, exhibitors, and fans of crime and thriller literature. And he’s been doing it for 17 years. To pull off a large meeting, workshop, or other live event in the post-COVID-19 era requires countless steps in planning for the next conference, beginning a year in […]

“During Tuesday’s webinar, ‘A Conversation on Being African-American in the Nashville Music Industry,’ you made a passing reference to something I’d wondered about — the 1960 book Black Like Me and film adaptation that tell the story of a white man trying to learn about black suffering in the South by passing as black. What […]

  Your Main Man Manley Miller of New Orleans and the Zacmaster of Wizard Academy Online show off their cabernet corkstamps at one of their favorite restaurants.

Zac Smith couldn’t drive when his parents piloted the family car nearly 2,000 miles so that he could walk around in the wilderness that would become the Wizard Academy campus. This is Zac signing the Founder’s Document, 19 years ago. Today Zac is Vice-Chancellor of Wizard Academy Online. People occasionally ask Roy if he writes […]

David C. Tate teaches psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and he has created a new type of leadership that gives every employee, regardless of rank, the opportunity to be heard, and to contribute to the success of the company.  David says that in today’s business world, how you succeed is often as important […]

Dave Young in 2004, standing in the barn that occupied the exact footprint of today’s Tuscan Hall on the campus of Wizard Academy. Today, Dave is the on-campus Vice-Chancellor, the person responsible for making sure all the behind-the-scenes miracles are happening just as they should.

‘The Holy Church of Christ Without Christ’ is well-written and interesting. But in the end, Antonio García Martínez proved that he was doing exactly what he was mocking: “Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder ‘why, why, why?’ Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got […]

She Did Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night A few close friends are dealing with hard family issues right now – all health related. Watching them cope made me remember the last time my late Grandma visited our house. I was 15. We were living in a small town just south of Austin. Everyone knew […]