A guest was checking out my vegetable garden and noted that my potato patch was growing extremely well. “Adam” commented that his potato plants were wilted and appeared to be dying. I mentioned a few things I did to keep my potatoes healthy and suggested how Adam might treat his sick plants. Immediately Adam took issue with my ideas. I quickly backed off because I didn't want to get into an argument. However, I was thinking how I wasn’t the one with sick potatoes. I believe part of the issue was that Adam didn't see me as an expert in gardening.

I've noticed that people have a tendency to argue with expert advice. I've had business clients argue with me intensely when they believe their business decision is correct and they don't want to make alterations. Inflexibility makes going forward in a different direction very difficult. In those moments I think to myself, I'm not the one with the failing business.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau issued a very insightful report demonstrating the major shift into targeted Internet and social media advertising. Internet advertising significantly outpaces television advertising, and the trend is for significant increased growth. The full report is here: https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IAB-2017-Full-Year-Internet-Advertising-Revenue-Report.REV2_.pdf

In the past advertisers paid to reach individuals who were not the target audience. The newspaper may reach thousands of readers in an effort to find a few who may be interested in purchasing a swing set this weekend. 

Frequently we present information about our product and service that we believe is important and valuable to customers. A better way to decide what to share with customers is to ask specifically, what does our customer value?

Most of us want to leave a good legacy behind. Demonstrating the power of Christ in your life is the best legacy we can leave. In addition, we may have other stories and accomplishments others may find interesting that we should pass on.

A few years ago I stumbled on some notes my uncle had written regarding my grandfather. I found an interesting story that occurred in 1910 when he left a small farming town in Aylmer, Ontario, to take a bank manager's job in Calgary.  In 1910, Calgary was still a part of what we would call the Wild West. My uncle’s notes told how my grandfather would sleep in the bank office with a .38 caliber pistol under his pillow to make sure nobody broke in to rob the safe. Years later after he moved to Detroit, he used the same pistol when he collected rent in a real estate business. 

While opinions are sometimes true, they are false about as many times.  One day I may be right about something, but the next day I could be wrong.  

Once when I was driving on the highway, there was a truck going 35 in a 55 mile an hour zone. I started to grumble at the truck for driving so slowly. When I had an opportunity to pass, I could see that the problem was a car in front of the truck traveling at the low rate of speed. I had allowed my opinion to become fact. The truck didn’t cause the slow traffic; it was the result of a slow car I could not see.

We tend to be quick to treat our opinions as facts.  That’s why I've learned to use a lot of clarifying questions when working with clients. I will ask, “Why do you think that?” or “Do you have specific information to support your thinking?”