Category Archives: Tips & Hints

Home-Based Businesses are Exploding!

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Today, 50% of U.S. businesses are home-based businesses. That number increases to 60.1% when looking specifically at non-employer firms, or companies that don’t have any employees.

Add the number of employees that work from home and it changes the perception of a home. Buyers are now overwhelmingly looking at how their home can function as a business.

When selling a home, consider how that home will meet the buyer’s needs to operate a business there too.

We bought our property with that in mind and are getting ready to launch our home-based business in our new town Lake Placid, FL.

Our need was to have a property big enough, pretty enough to operate an art studio, hold occasional events, and have amenities already in place for our business.

We found it on Lake Huntley, a 1.2 acre lakefront home with 2 dozen oak trees, dock, and a shed we could convert.

See More [R. Michael Brown – Freelance Writer and Marketing & Communication Consultant]

Unlocking Customer Insights: Do You Truly Know What They Want?

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Understanding your customers/clients goes beyond just knowing their names and basic demographics. It’s about comprehending their needs, desires, and pain points. 🤔

How well do you know what they truly want? Listen closely to their feedback, engage in meaningful conversations, and conduct interviews to unravel their preferences and expectations, follow them on social media and see what they post. Surveys rarely work. Interview!

Remember, it’s not always what you think they need; sometimes, it’s what they’re longing for that truly matters.

See More Including Case Study [R. Michael Brown Marketing Consulting]

Why You Don’t Like A Recording of Your Own Voice

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Speaker Rébecca Kleinberger. Researcher from MIT Media Lab

Your voice is indistinguishable from how other people see you, but your relationship with it is far from obvious.

Rébecca Kleinberger studies how we use and understand our voices and the voices of others. She explains why you may not like the sound of your own voice on recordings and the extraordinary things you communicate without being aware of it.

Rest is Good for You

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By R. Michael Brown, Freelance Writer

#Cycling rest day for me. From my days as a coach at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs… the most important part of training is rest.

I can really feel my legs and the soreness after 6 straight days of cycling. I’m just spinning, not pushing, but the cumulative days add up.

Since it’s raining all day here in Lake Placid, it’s a perfect day to rest.

Will still do a rehab upper body workout to keep my shoulder replacement limber and getting stronger.

What are you doing today?

#training

#trainingtips

#recumbenttrike

#recumbentbike

#icetrike

#cyclinglife

New Scams are Making the Rounds on Facebook – How to Spot Them

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Users report receiving strange messages that appear to be from Facebook threatening to disable their accounts or Business Page if they don’t “verify” personal information or contact “them” because your page violates copyright.

“They” say in their direct Facebook message, “WARNING! Dear admin page! Your page is at risk of permanent deletion. If you do not confirm [click on their link], our system will automatically block your account. Thank you for helping us improve our account service.”

DON’T CLICK ON THE LINK!!!!!

See More on How to Spot Scams [R. Michael Brown Consulting]

AI for Marketing Software Platforms

Future Success Today: Become an AI Authority and Supercharge Your Marketing

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I’m a marketing pro on a mission to become an authority on Artificial Intelligence (AI) so I can use the tech to help clients with faster and improved marketing and business – with better results.

I’m looking forward to us doing this together. Nobody can do it alone. Here’s what I’ve found up to this point.

From predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms to natural language processing and chatbots, and visual creation systems, I’ve been searching to understand how these innovations can enhance customer experiences and drive results.

How I’m Using this New AI Knowledge

As I learn these complex AI concepts and skills, I’m working on crafting them into simple, actionable insights and projects for my clients.

Most importantly, I’m trying it out. Learning by doing is the only way with new tech.

I’m experimenting with AI-driven software for marketing content and campaigns, including:

  • An AI video generator called Synthesia. Still a bit robot-like but amazing that it can do it.
  • Learning prompting on ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Bard (Google) to generate more ideas.
  • Creating realistic images and art from a description in natural language with DALL-E.
  • Using SoundDraw to generate custom music for use in video.
  • Multiplying video content with Vidyo.
  • Doing creative headline and keyword research to maximize SEO with VidIQ.

See More [R. Michael Brown Marketing News]

How to Block Scam Calls, the Top Source of Fraud Against Older Adults

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Scam­mers are al­ways find­ing new ways to dupe peo­ple out of money. In the U.S., phone calls re­main the pri­mary way swindlers hook older vic­tims.

A study pub­lished last month by the Fed­eral Trade Com­mis­sion found that 24% of adults over age 60 who re­ported los­ing money to a scam in 2021 said it started with a phone call—the largest per­cent­age of any method, in­clud­ing email, text and mail. For vic­tims 80 and older, phone calls were be­hind 40% of scams.

Scams range from robo­calls pitch­ing car war­ranties to young peo­ple pos­ing as grand-chil­dren in need of a bailout. The best way to pro­tect against phone scams, on­line-safety ex­perts say, is to not re­ceive the phone calls in the first place.

So how do you do that?

While ig­nor­ing mys­tery calls is ef­fec­tive, it isn’t al­ways fea­si-ble. Per­haps you don’t have all the num­bers of health­care providers, in­sur­ance com­pa­nies and other vi­tal ser­vices stored in your phone’s con­tacts. Also, caller ID of­ten doesn’t iden­tify the name of the busi­ness that is call­ing. Tech com­pa­nies are de­vel­op­ing so­lu­tions for di­vert­ing scam calls. And even though the ma­jor­ity of Amer­i-cans over 65 have smart­phones, there are also ways to pro­tect your­self if you’re on a land­line.

See More [Wall Street Journal]

www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-block-scam-calls-the-top-source-of-fraud-against-older-adults-11673051224