I'm a dad of four and an entrepreneur. Both of these realities have very steep time demands. Being a dad of four means that I have to find a way to spend real quality time with four different children every day, and starting a company means that I have to spend a ton of time working to help my company grow and prosper. While these are not mutually exclusive things, they are difficult to manage simultaneously. Unfortunately its all too easy for me to get caught up with work and miss out on quality time with my kids. So, I decided to create this blog in order to explore ways to make more "dad time" for my kids and make sure that the time I spend is real quality time. At its very core this blog is simply about asking the question, "How do I spend more, and better, time with my kids?" My hope is that in the very act of asking this question (and writing about it) I will begin to make small changes to my routine that will impact my family in positive ways. As I make those changes I intend to write about them in a way that is compelling and (hopefully) mildly entertaining. I hope that my writing will encourage other dads and enhance their time with their kids as well. I believe the time that dads spend with their kids will be one of the most formative things in the children's lives. It will shape them in more ways that we will ever know. My hope is that I can be a better dad every day, and that I can encourage other dads as well. All that said, this blog is not meant to be only narrative. I have a lot to learn, certainly more than I have to teach, and my hope is that we can walk this road together. So, please comment on posts, feel free to contact me and from time to time expect some guest posts from other dads. With a little thought, intentionality and community we will all be better dads.

I've been a marketing agency owner (twice), chief marketing officer (CMO), and marketing consultant for over 20 years. These are the most critical marketing decisions a business owner/leader will make.

1. Why are you marketing in the first place? If the answer is to make money, it will be a long road. Seek to help first.
2. Who is your customer? Write out, in painful detail, who your ideal customer is and why. This decision will guide every other one, so don't take it lightly or aim too low.
3. What are your goals? Only start marketing with clear goals in mind.
4. What is your foundation? You need a solid foundation to draw in customers. Usually, it involves a content strategy and a website.
5. How will you price your product or service? The best business advice I ever got was, "Raise your prices!"
6. What is your value proposition? How will you bring the customer value and solve their problem?
7. What kind of offer can you make? Create an offer so good someone will feel crazy for saying no.
8. What marketing channels will you use? Social media? YouTube? Trade shows? Go where your customers are.
9. What will your marketing team look like? Be careful about hiring too low or too high. Full-time? Contractors? Or agencies?
10. How will your team execute? Who will be responsible for each part?

I'll write more on each of these in later posts. Stay tuned!

Want to get my posts about Simple Effective Marketing via email?