“Friend, I know why you are struggling to hold onto the light within you right now. I am, too. But I also know that right now it is more valuable and powerful and necessary than it’s even been.” “Do something to remind yourself why you live.Embrace the people you love.Use the gifts you have […]

Bob Dylan’s song “Shelter from the Storm” contains several references to Christ: The narrator as Christ The narrator is both God and man, and some say the lyrics imply that he is Christ himself. For example, the narrator says, “I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form,” which alludes to Christ’s 40 days […]

Len Clark is the Winner of our AI-Prompting Contest and will receive $1,000. AI gave Len’s ad a score of 633.* Len is a media consultant with a Ph.D. (I have to admit I got a chuckle out of the final line of his prompt. – RHW) This was Len Clark’s AI Prompt: Write a […]

  The most effective ad campaigns cannot be ignored. Ineffective ad campaigns are easily ignored. Most ads are not written to persuade.They are written not to offend. When a message has the power to move people, a percentage of those people will be moved in the wrong direction. Get over it. A lack of complaints […]

  While most consultants focus on improving a company’s mechanics — sales, marketing, human resources, and the like — Charles Rose advises his clients on the best ways to unload the personal baggage that limits their bottom line and personal satisfaction. Charles Rose built an e-commerce company and sold it for 10 million dollars. He […]

SUBJECT: Can Steve Huff attend my foster son’s birthday party? My foster sons are obsessed with the Steve Huff commercials and billboards. I have 5 boys.  The 2 in middle school particularly quote the Steve Huff ads daily. They make everyone in the car stop talking and turn the volume up, then quote the commercials […]

This painting from 1911 sort of pulls you in, doesn’t it? It’s a wonderful example of a technique that Wizard Academy teaches called “Portal Stacking.” You can do it in paintings, photographs and videos, even in music, literature, and storytelling. When I saw this painting, I knew it was going to sell for a lot […]

Adoration of the Magi with Alfie the Elf, by Litvinov Oleg Arkad’yevich. You will notice Babylon in the background. It is widely agreed by scholars that the wise men – the magi – were from Babylon. If you read the book of Daniel in the Bible, you will see that Daniel, a Jew, was made […]

People stoppin’, starin’I can’t see their facesOnly the shadows of their eyes. I’m going where the sun keeps shinin’Through the pourin’ rainGoing where the weather suits my clothesBankin’ off of the northeast windsSailin’ on a summer breezeAnd skippin’ over the ocean like a stone.

  David Griffiths is on a mission to spread the gospel of social media success, teaching business owners and entrepreneurs how to amplify their brands and reach new heights. The social media strategist and consultant enjoys more than 1.3 million followers on TikTok and more than 150,000 followers on Instagram. Simultaneously, David, blessed with a […]

“You may recall a variety of wackadoodle proposals, alternatives to the rebuilding, that circulated online after the fire, including one to put a swimming pool on the roof, another to replace Viollet-le-Duc’s spire with a chubby, gold-leaf, carbon-fiber sculpture of a flame, which looked vaguely like the logo for a chicken wings franchise in Colorado.” […]

“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 […]

If I were a farmer, I would plant orchards and vineyards. If I were a farmer, I would sell milk and eggs. If I were a farmer, I would sell wool. If I were a farmer, I would never trust a weasel with a calculator. Allow me to explain. When you plant crops, you have […]

How Facebook’s Algorithms Fueled Anti-Muslim Hate in Myanmar “Facebook… publicly acknowledged that in 2016-17, ‘We weren’t doing enough to help prevent our platform from being used to foment division and incite offline violence.’” “While this statement may sound like an admission of guilt, in effect it shifts most of the responsibility for the spread of […]

 

“Mary’s right hand, which is on the back of John the Baptist, is very tense. Her fingers are pressing into John’s back, but the thumb is over his shoulder, and what she’s doing is holding him back!” “Mary, in the popular theology of the time, already understood her son must one day die, and in […]

“Good-bye, Good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover’s Corners…. Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking…. and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths…. and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it – […]

Give David Brooks just a few minutes and he will increase your happiness and give you a divine sense of purpose. Seriously, you need to make time for this.

Stephen Semple is director of Canadian operations for Wizard of Ads, Inc. and a stunningly good ad man. This is the email Stephen sent the wizard a few days ago: Roy, I am really excited to share my TEDx video with you.  I believe you will see and feel your influence in this talk. It […]

“As a poor Black American growing up in the 60’s-70’s-80’s, all I can say is it really touched, not just my heart, but all of our hearts when Bobby Kennedy toured the poor South and saw for himself (as well as on National T.V.) what the black community was really like. Even to this day […]

    Douglas Katz is a West Point graduate, a disabled Army veteran, and a culinary enthusiast (also known as a foodie.) Douglas, like many other people who suffer from limited mobility, struggled to use kitchen utensils that require upper extremity strength. Aided by an army of friends and military veterans, Doug retreated to his […]

WANT TO DO SOME TIME TRAVELING? In the first video below we see Henry Fonda – the friend who read the Robert Louis Stevenson poem at Steinbeck’s funeral – talking with Dick Cavett about a movie that was released the same year Steinbeck died. This interview was December 30, 1969. In the second video we […]

  “I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very […]

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“A gentleman who possessed a large personal library was asked a too-familiar question by a visitor to his home. A question so often posed to those who own a lot of books – ‘And have you read them all?’ But this wise collector faced his visitor with an astonished look and simply replied: ‘No, and I […]

“Several decades ago, when treating substance abuse problems, psychologists developed a technique called motivational interviewing. The central premise was this: Instead of trying to force people to change, you’re better off helping them find their own intrinsic motivation to change.” “You do that by interviewing them — asking open-ended questions and listening carefully — and […]

“I met Carl Sagan when I was 17. I had been accepted at Cornell, but didn’t know what college I wanted to go to, and the admissions office saw that.” “I didn’t know this, but they had forwarded my application to him for his reaction. I had been deep into the universe since I was […]

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They were climbing Montblanc when they decided to take this photo more than 130 years ago. Do an image search on Google and you’ll see it on lots of websites, though most of them don’t list a date for the photo. One claims the photo was made in 1820 which, if you know the history […]

  Andrew Matthews has inspired more than 1,000 global corporations, including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Honda, and Citibank. In addition to that, Andrew and his wife produce uplifting books that have sold over 8 million copies in 70 countries and 48 languages by presenting timeless wisdom in fresh, engaging ways. This week, Andrew reveals his creative process […]

Words are a language. Music is another language. When these two auditory languages collide, your feelings and responses are more often controlled by the music (pitch, key, tempo, rhythm, musical interval, and musical contour) rather than by the words. As an example, listen to a bit of the hit song “September” by Earth, Wind & […]

“The thing about Bing was, he made you think you could do it too. He was so relaxed, so casual. If he thought the words were getting too stupid or something, he just went buh-ba, buh-ba, booo. He even walked like it was no effort.” – Frank Sinatra, remembering Bing Crosby in Pete Hamill’s Why […]

Below is a real radio ad running on real radio stations for a real business. It was written and produced by Johnny Molson, one of the amazing Wizard of Ads partners. Johnny’s ads always get attention and drive a lot of traffic to his clients.

  Renita Wolf is an expert on Exit Strategies. Whether you hope to execute  “the transaction of a lifetime” in one year, a decade, or longer, there are steps you should take now to maximize the value of your company when the time arrives to sell. Renita describes how to identify potential buyers for your […]

Elliott Stark is a marine biologist, a fisherman, and a Wizard of Ads partner famous for his ability to bang words together and make music. Elliott is a big, big, deal in the world of sport fishing. He has fished on four continents, spoken to large groups about sportfishing and conservation around the world, and […]

Get to know Zac and Craig.

  The wizard and I had to fight like tigers to wrestle this 300-year-old English stained glass armorial panel from the grasping hands of all the other people bidding on it. It was an online, international auction with live bidding, but we had a specific place for it in the new conference rooms being built […]

This was sent to the wizard and me from Todd Liles, one of the Wizard of Ads partners: He sat his bag down to dig out his ID. The line was moving slow this morning. Being a veteran of travel, Todd knew this was unusual for a Tuesday morning. The airport was very busy, and […]

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The World Outside My Window The color is gone from the sky today. I went to church and was told things about God that I never knew before. I was told there are 5 things God really cares about, and that it is my job to make sure that God gets what God wants. This […]

  David Sauers used to be a commercial banker, but today he runs a service business with 50 branches nationwide. It’s not the type of business that most people dream about owning. The nature of his business – and the powerful lessons you can learn from his success – will be revealed in this week’s […]

Television and radio sales professionals spend so much time trying to sell television and radio ads, they have almost no time to learn how to make those ads work. When you know how to make ads work, and can prove it, television and radio are incredibly easy to sell. So instead of asking a salesperson […]

Self-made people have the ability to recognize the possible. They see a path where others see only a wilderness. These pathfinders are often called “people of vision.” People flock around them as if they are gods. DANGER 1: When enough people believe you are a god, you start to believe it yourself. Uh-oh.  DANGER 2: […]

“Fast Car” earned Tracy Chapman a GRAMMY in 1989, when she took home the trophy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The song was also nominated for Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year. Thirty-five year later, Luke Combs cover was also nominated — this time for Best Country Solo Performance – and […]

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Big Sister and Little Brother are ready to go Trick-or-Treating! These are the kids of an awesome Mom who is a friend of mine and the Tiny Tribe. What great costumes! – Indy Beagle

How does a self-published children’s book author garner global media coverage, reach more than 2 million potential customers in a single day, and zoom upwards more than 1 million spots to the top of the Amazon charts? (1.) You have to write a truly incredible book. (2.) It helps to be married to Dean Rotbart […]

Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” peaked at No. 6  in August, 1988. You got a fast car.I want a ticket to anywhere.Maybe we make a deal.Maybe together we can get somewhere.Any place is better,Starting from zero, got nothing to lose.Maybe we’ll make something,Me, myself, I got nothing to prove.   You got a fast car.I got […]

“Jesus lived as a common man among common men. He lived where they lived – fishermen, tax collectors, shepherds street vendors. And He loved them all, outcasts of every kind, the untouchables, lepers, lunatics, Samaritans, street people and women taken in adultery. He loved kids and crowds, celebrations and solitude, miracles and quiet meals with […]

“All that we know is nothing, we are merely crammed waste-paper baskets, unless we are in touch with that which laughs at all our knowing.” – David Herbert Lawrence

“Science lessons are everywhere, all around me. I climb trees and peer at birds’ nests. I watch hard eggs become naked hatchlings, mouths wide and begging. The hatchlings grow feathers and muscles, leave their nest, begin pecking the ground. I see storks and swallows take flight, then disappear when the weather grows cold. In the […]

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“The old world is dying. And the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” – Antonio Gramsci (1894–1937) A vocal critic of Benito Mussolini and fascism, Gramsci was imprisoned in 1926, where he remained until his death in 1937. While in prison, Gramsci wrote more than 30 notebooks and 3,000 […]

https://youtu.be/jO_PJQShhrI?si=SmK-dkf83GEGbgM6&t=990

The music for “Moon River” was written by Henry Mancini and the lyrics were written by Johnny Mercer, who grew up in Savannah, Georgia, picking huckleberries and watching the river roll by without a care. Writing a song about those Southern summer days and gently flowing rivers, he incorporated “my huckleberry friend” as an homage […]

  “When Henry Ford built his first Model T, Americans had some 2,200 makes of cars to choose from… One central characteristic of the Model T now generally forgotten is that it was the first car of consequence to put the driver’s seat on the left-hand side. Previously, nearly all manufacturers placed the driver on […]

    “Tesla’s veneer of irreverence conceals an inflexible core, an old-fashioned corporate autocracy. Consider Tesla’s remote work policy, or lack thereof. Last year, Mr. Musk issued a decree that Tesla employees log 40 hours per week in an office — and not a home office — if they expected to keep their jobs. On […]

Carl Sagan published a book 29 years ago called “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.” He likely wrote the book in 1994. To put this in perspective, only 31 percent of American households had a computer in 1994. Floppy disks, pagers, fax machines, and dial-up modems were considered state-of-the-art technology. With […]

Karen Carpenter was one of many singers who sang “This Masquerade” and owned it. But the man who wrote the words and the lyrics was our enigmatic homeboy, Leon Russell. When the wizard and the princess were in high school, he and Pennie would cruise through Tulsa’s marvelous Woodward Park, then swing by to admire […]

Duane Scott Cerny is an expert on dead people. (Or, more precisely, he is an expert at selling their possessions when they’re gone.) A best-selling author, music producer, lyricist, and newspaper columnist, Duane runs Chicago’s largest antiques mall and fully understands the formula for business success. Thanks to his ability to listen closely to his […]

Would you like to read about where and when the wizard and I found the cement mirror? – Indy Beagle

“I don’t know if this is healthy or not.”– JP Engelbrecht “I’m with you. It is certainly one of the unintended consequences of today’s onscreen world, but is it healthy? I’m not sure. The idea of ‘unlimited possibilities’ in dating could cause a person to forever believe ‘there is someone better out there,’ resulting in […]

    Once a year, Bard Press selects a single to spotlight with national attention. More than 50% of the time these books have become New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers. This year’s exclusive release from Bard Press is a book on selling by Mo Bunnell that focuses on the power of (1.) solving […]

“Belief is not a matter of evidence, it is a matter of choice. This is why a person convinced against their will, remains unconvinced, still. Evidence rarely informs our beliefs. More often, our beliefs filter and interpret the evidence. If you believed that elves cause rain, every rainy day would be proof of elves. Objective […]

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Peter Spitz is an MIT-trained chemical engineer and a renowned expert in petrochemicals. He holds seven patents and started a company that grew to $20 million in annual sales before being acquired by IBM. Peter’s most recent book is about the history of inventions. When we turn on a television, use a computer, heat dinner in […]

  “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.“ – Christopher Reeve sent to us by the immutable and irreplaceableJeffrey Eisenberg

You know, I was thinking about the Wizard of Oz story.I don’t think it’s a story about Kansas, tornadoes,and trying to find your way back home. I really think it’s a story about hope,about feeling lost, broke, or both.And where we can again find hope. It’s about the navigation of a new direction through connection.Feeling […]

I believe there is a time and a space and a placefor free verse, It is a style of expression not better, or worse,than iambic pentameter. Frost was wrong.Free verse is a song. I love you Robert, but vertical-flip your frown. Free verse is notlike playing tenniswith the net down. – Roy H. Williams, Oct […]

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”– H.L. Mencken, (1880-1956)

Brian Brushwood is the newest of the Wizard of Ads partners. It’s likely you’ve seen him on Youtube or on TV.  As a magician, he Fooled Pen and Teller. He has appeared twice on The Tonight Show, won Billboard’s Comedy Album of the Year twice, created and hosted Scam School on the Science Channel and […]

Autumn Harvest by Trish Sylvestre, taken on their farm last week in Canada.

The fire spread through Washoe Valley, hopping from tree to tree, jumping over highways and attacking homes, barns and businesses. The Holy Spirit Catholic Mission burned to the ground, leaving only a five-foot statue of the Virgin Mary in its wake. The north wind headed the flames toward South Reno. Six hundred firefighters, volunteers and […]

America’s 13 Colonies were  like 13 countries, each with its own government and culture and sense of superiority. This flag said, “We better figure out how to come together or England is going to own all of us.” I think the wizard was saying something like that in today’s Memo, don’t you? If we don’t […]