I overthink so you don’t have to.
The Red Thread® Newsletter
Stories, examples, images, and data you can use to help bring your ideas and messages to life.
The best ideas aren’t found — they’re built. Get a weekly dose of strategies, studies, and stories — direct to your inbox from me — to help you make your ideas strong enough to build change on.
Please enter your name.
Please enter a valid email address.
Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.
Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.
I don’t want you to miss a thing
Pick your format and be the first to get all my content.
YOUTUBE
YOUTUBE
APPLE PODCASTS
APPLE PODCASTS
LIBSYN
LIBSYN
FRESH THREADS
The Freenoter Podcast
There are lots of resources out there on how to become a paid speaker or keynoter, but what if you speak to build your business, as a FREEnoter? Each week, join me and Tom Webster as we cover all the angles of how to profit from speaking for free. If you are looking to grow your business from the stage--without "selling from the stage," this is the show for you. We will cover EVERY aspect of building your business through speaking, and even share a different craft cocktail recipe every week, just because. Subscribe now!
Five top tools for 2020… and a free prize!
Ah, that New Year smell, when everything is fresh and new and only possibility lies ahead. But you’re not satisfied with possibility, are you? No… not you! You want to get things done. So, here’s a little New Year’s present for you: instead of the regular #swipefile, here are my top 5 tools from 2019 that […]
Read More 
How to set better New Year’s resolutions? Find a Red Thread instead. *2020 Update*
This post first appeared around this time last year. I’ve updated with this year’s results and my Red Thread® for next year, too. Yep. That time again. New Year’s Resolution time. Everyone’s goal-setting, theming, three-wording, and all-around resolving. Fun fact: when I was a Weight Watchers leader, all the new folks didn’t usually show up […]
Read More 
Should great performance be your goal? Or great *expression*?
We’ve talked before about setting an outcome for your message — that’s what makes your message measurable. It also helps you shape your content. But when you talk to others about your ideas, what should your goal for delivery be? What will help you shape how you get your ideas across? There’s obviously a huge range of situations where we need to […]
Read More 
How to make your message measurable
You put a lot of work into your messages. You spend a lot of time and effort on building, writing and sharing your content, your presentations, maybe even your book. At a high level, there are reasons all that work is worth it. If your messages work the way you want them to, they’ll help you […]
Read More 
Can you profit from speaking for free?
I’m obviously a big believer in the power of speaking to drive business, both to and for your business. If you’re in a business (or represent one), there are few opportunities better than a conference stage to get in front of the people you want to hear your message. When it comes to that kind of speaking, I see […]
Read More 
Stop writing scripts (and do this instead)
There’s a bit of a rant ahead, but it can be summed up in these 16 words: “It is nothing short of ridiculous to memorize ten words in order to remember one fact.” I don’t think I can say it any better than Dale Breckenridge Carnegie said it…way back in 1915. But I do think I can […]
Read More 
3 things you need to know to draft the perfect message
So, you need to draft a message. Sounds simple, right? After all… it’s just a piece of content. It could be an email, or a blog post, or a presentation. So why is it often so hard? Because a message isn’t just a message. Wait… what? No, really: a message isn’t just a message. Yes, there are […]
Read More 
How I decide what work to do, and how.
Have you ever struggled to figure out how to organize your day, or week? Has it ever felt like what you were doing, and how, was *almost* right, but still not there yet? Do you wish that those occasional moments of “flow” — when you were so engaged in what you were doing that time […]
Read More 
What’s your problem? Or rather, what’s *theirs*?
You already know your idea — or product or service — is an answer. It’s your answer to a question your audience (or clients or customers) have. You also know that, for some reason, whatever they’re doing now to find that answer isn’t working for them, or isn’t working well. They’re tense. So are you. They’re tense […]
Read More 
How do you change (like, REALLY change) a mind?
It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that the success of your marketing and selling efforts — not to mention much of your speaking and writing efforts — depends on how good you are at changing people’s minds. Except that people don’t like to change their minds. In fact, when challenged, people will often double down on their […]
Read More 