Jeff Seckendorf draws a clear distinction between experts, and experts who can teach. Whether it’s scuba diving, aerial acrobatics, brain surgery, or auto repair, Jeff Seckendorf can not only teach the subject, but he can train others to teach it as well. His secret is allowing others to be the subject-matter experts, while he zeros in on the process […]

“Sales activation is any kind of marketing activity which is intended to evoke a fairly immediate response from the consumer. For long term growth, you need something different, and that’s brand-building. Brand-building is any kind of marketing communications that are intended to produce long term changes in human behavior by creating long term memories.” “Our […]

Seen in the Wild Hey Andrew,I wanted to share with you a compliment you received in an affinity group I’m in. I want you to know how proud I am to be represented along side you, Andrew. You are a true testament to the Wizard of Ads and the very best that we stand for. If you ever […]

We asked William Hackett-Jones, Wizard Academy’s Official Ambassador to Russia, what the guys are saying at the beginning of the video. He answered, A lot of nothing, really.“Come on”“Hurry up”Then the bloke in the middle says “This is judgement day.” And that’s about it.

Let’s be honest, you can’t always answer the phone and that is especially true if you are a small owner-operated business.  I work with a client just like this in Canada.  Stadium Property Stars.  The owner is awesome, works very hard and loves his customers.  He makes every effort to answer every single call without […]

Club Tattoo currently has six locations, including a booming tattoo studio at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Their artists have inked or pierced hundreds of celebrities, including musicians Blake Shelton and Miley Cyrus, actors Ewan McGregor and Chrissy Metz, and athletes Héctor Sanchez, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Frank Trigg. Sean Dowdell, The Tattooed […]

What Did Covid Do to Friends? Below is the second paragraph of a very interesting story published by The Survey Center on American Life

The Wizard of Ads wrote “Banter as a Tool for Selling” for Radio Ink magazine. He then had the Two Dudes record it. Click here to read and Listen.

 

Read the story, watch the video.

Claude Jeter joins Paul Simon in “Take Me to the Mardi Gras”

Loves Me Like a Rock  

Paul Simon later met Claude Jeter face-to-face and gave him a check for inspiring Bridge Over Troubled Water. Three years later he hired Jeter to sing the falsetto background vocal on “Take Me to the Mardi Gras,” a song on his 1973 album.

In 1812, Charles Redheffer devised a machine he claimed could keep moving forever without ever being touched or otherwise aided. His machine had a gravity-driven pendulum with a large horizontal gear on the bottom. A smaller gear interlocked with the larger one. Both the large gear and the shaft were able to rotate separately. Placed […]

“On September 11, 1660, Samuel Pepys tried a new hot beverage for the first time, recording in his diary: ‘And afterwards I did send for a cup of tee (a China drink), of which I never had drank before.’ Whether he liked it or not Pepys didn’t say, which is a shame, as it is […]

Cezanne’s Card Players sold for $274 million in 2011, making it the most expensive painting ever sold, a record that held until the sale of Salvator Mundi, which was supposedly painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Cezanne’s Bouilloire et Fruits sold for $52 million at Christie’s in 2019.  Cezanne’s Nature Morte de Peches et Poires brought $28.2 million at Christie’s in […]

Picasso referred to Cézanne as “the father of us all” and claimed him as “my one and only master!” Other painters such as Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Kasimir Malevich, Georges Rouault, Paul Klee, and Henri Matisse acknowledged Cézanne’s genius. – WIKIPEDIA

The idea that children are passive repositories to be shaped by their parents has been massively overstated. A child’s peer group is a far greater determinant of its development and achievements than parental aspiration.

See and hear it for yourself at https://goodmeat.co

Wizard of Ads partner Paul Boomer offers some sage advice about what to do when you get stuck on a goal. What triggered Paul’s flash of brilliance was the wizard’s Monday Morning Memo and my Rabbit Hole for July 12, 2021. – Indy Beagle

Indy, we’ve come to that time where I call upon you for a favor, knowing full well that it means I’ll probably have to help you bury a body someday, no questions asked. I’m willing to make that bargain. Today is the day my book comes out: Los Angeles is Hideous: Poems About An Ugly […]

<a href=”https://bradwhittington.bandcamp.com/album/wunderfool-kids-stuff”>Wunderfool Kid's Stuff by Brad Whittington</a>

“Is that ham processed?If it’s processed, I don’t want it.” “Ma’am, that is an eleven pound whole slab of deli ham. It has no bones, fat, or connective tissue.  It is an amalgamation of the meat of several pigs, emulsified, liquified, strained, and ultimately inexorably joined in an unholy meat obelisk. God had no hand […]

Meet Michele Miller-Nelson and increase your sales to female customers.

Read about Gunner, Bootsie’s Grandpa, at War History Online

STEP ONE: Distribute these 2 sheets. STEP TWO: Deliver the speech below: Ted Leonsis was on a little commuter airplane that lost the ability to use its wing flaps and landing gear. Faced with death, Ted wrote a bucket list of 101 things that he promised himself he would do if he lived. Start to […]

Mandy Hale isn’t a business writer, but she may have written the best piece of business advice, ever. “To make a difference in someone’s life, you don’t have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to care.” Your employees need to know you care. Something that makes me happy every time I […]

Meet Jay Mistry!

A Unique Application of Personas George Packer believes the people of the United States see Four Different Americas. Each of these Americas is a “persona” crafted to fit personal values and beliefs. According to George…   “Free America” believes the purpose of government is to secure individual rights and little else. Consumer capitalism and the elevation […]

“Nations, like individuals, tell stories in order to understand what they are, where they come from, and what they want to be. National narratives, like personal ones, are prone to sentimentality, grievance, pride, shame, self-blindness. There is never just one – they compete and constantly change. The most durable narratives are not the ones that […]

You and I decide to wander around Cambridge in 1609, the year that George Herbert entered Trinity College and came to the attention of King James. Indy Beagle, upon hearing of our journey, decides to go with us. We wander first into The Eagle and the Child, a pub in Cambridge that William Shakespeare was known […]

You and I decide to wander around Cambridge in 1609, the year that George Herbert entered Trinity College and came to the attention of King James. Indy Beagle, upon hearing of our journey, decides to go with us. We wander first into The Eagle and the Child, a pub in Cambridge that William Shakespeare was known […]

You and I decide to wander around Cambridge in 1609, the year that George Herbert entered Trinity College and came to the attention of King James. Indy Beagle, upon hearing of our journey, decides to go with us. We wander first into The Eagle and the Child, a pub in Cambridge that William Shakespeare was known […]

You and I decide to wander around Cambridge in 1609, the year that George Herbert entered Trinity College and came to the attention of King James. Indy Beagle, upon hearing of our journey, decides to go with us. We wander first into The Eagle and the Child, a pub in Cambridge that William Shakespeare was known […]

The slosh of the remnants being thrown out. The annoying clanking of the mugs being unceremoniously placed in their starting lineup for the coming evening’s encore performance. Through blurry eyes, Shakespeare considers. What happened? One thought leads to another. More importantly, what will happen?  What stories are there yet untold, yet undiscovered?  As he gently […]

Good evening to you my dear friend,  You asked in your recent letter whether I remembered what happened that night we met Shakespeare and I certainly do, since only a small cup of the Italian was left when I arrived.  However, I considered it my great honour to be a part of such a historic […]

Indy & Elroy discover later that morning, when they stumble back to the Bird & Baby for some meat pie and a mug of mead, that the gent, who they presumed was William Shakespeare, was actually his cousin Wally Shakespeare.  A notoriously bad playwright but a delightful conversationalist and noted for plagiarizing others quotes.  They […]

The bartender doesn’t flinch. “Barkeep!” bellowed Shakespeare, “the good Italian, I say”. Annoyed the bartender looks up and stops. Eyes on us, he slowly reaches under the counter, bringing forth a rather large, ornate jug.  A big man, he waddles over to the table. He starts to set the jug down but hesitates.  “I don’t […]

You and I decide to wander around Cambridge in 1609, the year that George Herbert entered Trinity College and came to the attention of King James. Indy Beagle, upon hearing of our journey, decides to go with us. We wander first into The Eagle and the Child, a pub in Cambridge that William Shakespeare was known […]

The wizard said, “Before I begin, I want to make sure the mic is working.” I walked over to the stand, looked out at the crowd, and said, “If your name is Michael, please stand up.” Two dudes stood up. I announced, “That concludes the mike check.” And then I looked at the wizard and gave […]

Back in the days when the wizard was dating the Princess in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, about 45 years ago, some guys made a really bad movie about a guy on a buffalo. Then in 2011, some awesome guys in Austin took some clips from that now-copyright-expired movie and wrote 4 short songs to go with […]

The book will be available for sale in August. If you’d like a signed first edition (at no additional cost), this is your secret spot.  

The book will be available for sale in August. If you’d like a signed first edition (at no additional cost), this is your secret spot.  

It began with a question from a student during the most recent monthly Q & A webcast of Wizard Academy: Hey Guys- I’ve got a tough commercial to write and could use some direction. I have been working with our local Health Department on writing Covid Commercials.  I’m stuck on the latest commercial because of […]