Creed

God told Moses: “I am”. That’s good enough for me. God Is.
God is everything and nothing, he is life. He is creation.
I have a puny human brain, so at various times, I’ve tried to define God as an Old Man with a White Beard, a Spirit, a Father, a vengeful God and some kind of [...]

Shame, Blame and Justify

Since I am a man, it is common for subtlety to elude me. Quite often, I need things spelled out. I told my daughters, when they all went off to college, that if they needed money (or anything else), I would probably not get “hints”. It’s better to just come out and say, “Dad, I [...]

What is Your Brand?

Here’s quick reminder: What is your brand? In my book, the Affluent Artist, I spent quite a bit of time talking about your brand, the lightening fast image that comes to someone’s mind when they hear your name, the business equivalent of what Mom used to call “your reputation.” Big business spends billions of dollars [...]

What we can learn from Joel Osteen

Can you imagine a 15,000 seat NBA basketball arena being transformed into a church, a church whose congregation fills the arena for three services every weekend? That’s what happens at Lakewood Church in Houston, and as someone who is interested in God, and to a lesser extent, marketing and sales, I stopped in to visit [...]

Help Someone Be Significant

We’ve gone through a “quality revolution”, we’ve gone through a “cheapness revolution” and, according to author Daniel Pink, we are now going through a “Meaning Revolution”. If you are someone who has something to sell or people to persuade, you need to understand that the people you are talking to have a basic human need, [...]

Your Environment and Riding Lawn Mowers

Driving to work the other day a I did a real “guy” thing. Some workers were cutting the grass and one of them had one of those big red lawnmowers that you stand up on; it cuts really tight corners around trees and stuff. I said, no lie, at 53 years old, “That would be [...]

The Affluent Artist Needs Your Vote!

HI, We’ve been nominated for an Orbbie Award by my town’s newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel as the best local blog!  Could you take a minute and click here and give us your vote?
THANKS!!
Rick

A Quick Story About Telling Your Story

Remember how I’ve been telling you that you need to tell stories to get people to buy your work? Remember I said that YOU are the product. It happened to me this morning when I needed to hire a plumber. The kitchen sink at Casa Affluente’ wouldn’t turn off and my three years of temporary [...]

Could I Speak With The Owner?

“Well, I know Bob, tell him I want the seat by the window for dinner at 7:00″.
If you want to irritate the staff at a small business just tell them you “know the owner”, “I’m a friend of the owner”  or “Is Joe here? I only want him to take care of me!” You’ve probably [...]