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Make It Happen Tipsheet

  • Nickels and Dimes

    Nickels and Dimes

    If you had a choice to be paid either $500 or $1000 for a service that you delivered, which would you choose? Most of us would choose the greater amount; after all, if we have to do the work, why not be paid as much as the market will bear? [More]

  • Secret Sauce

    Secret Sauce

    There is no shortage of books, experts, websites, and computer programs that purport to tell you how to achieve professional (and also personal) success. They exist because of the market's insatiable appetite for self-improvement. When you examine them closely, the vast majority have two things in common: Success will be [More]

  • Improvisation

    Improvisation

    Recently I had attended the Montreal Jazz Festival. Over the course of several days, dozens of bands of all styles - blues, big band, dixie, fusion, to name a few - played to thousands of spectators. For those not familiar with the genre, most jazz follows a similar story line: [More]

  • Closing Statements

    Closing Statements

    Have you ever been in a sales pitch, job interview, or other important meeting, and the person you are meeting asks you if there is anything else you would like to say, or ask? How should you approach this situation? Essentially, you have three choices: say nothing, say something new, or [More]

  • PowerPointless

    PowerPointless

    Formal presentations are critical to your professional success: they are used when you are pitching your ideas to colleagues or clients, when delivering a speech, and even during the job interview process. When we were taught how to make a speech back in grade school, we were given the rudiments: [More]

  • TILIS – Tell It Like It Is

    TILIS – Tell It Like It Is

    hru? lol, the uv tmi; gtg. Does reading this text feel like reading another language? You may recognize this gobbledegook as text or instant messaging shorthand, used almost as an artform by those "younger" than you. If you've figured it out, great, but don't count on your parent's (or grandparent's) [More]

  • Who’s the Client?

    Who’s the Client?

    Were you ever at a restaurant when the service was really terrible? You probably promised yourself that you would not go back. And when the service was absolutely top-notch? You probably rewarded the waiter or waitress with a big tip. Either way, if you were asked about the restaurant, you [More]

  • Zero Sum Thinking

    Zero Sum Thinking

    Lester Thurow, one of last century's great economists, coined the phrase (and wrote a book) called "Zero Sum Society". In it, he described an economic system that had a finite limit, where one person's gain would precisely be another person's loss. Unfortunately, many of us seem to use this mindset [More]

  • The Opportunity of Unscheduled Time

    The Opportunity of Unscheduled Time

    I am writing this as I'm sitting in an airport terminal, enjoying yet another flight delay. In particular, I am sitting in a seat where I can survey all of my fellow passengers. It is very rare that I find an entire three hours (and counting) where I can spend [More]

  • Networking Three-Step

    Networking Three-Step

    Networking is probably the most important skill you can learn. It is a prerequisite for professional success, meet new friends - and even meet your spouse. Yet strangely, this key skill is rarely taught in school.  We all seem to learn by happenstance. At its core, networking is actually very [More]

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