Reuters recently ran a news story that caught my eye about how banks are coming up with all kinds of gimmicks to entice customers to come into a branch. The article led with, “Free Wi-Fi, discounted cappuccinos, artwork, and a dancing robot are among the features banks across the United States are touting to convince customers that even in an era of smartphones it is still worth it to visit a bank branch.” My first thought was that banks are making a serious mistake embracing this marketing approach.

While I have cut back on my traveling time significantly I have always attempted to use travel time effectively. When I had two to four hours to “kill,” I looked for something to do that's productive.

I prefer to take headphones that cancel noise when traveling. The sounds around me can be distracting and I attempt to shut out as many as possible. This allows me to stay focused on the task I have before me. When I block out distractions waiting in a terminal or flying on an aircraft, I've been able to write articles or other serious communication; something I can't do without my headphones.

Many years ago I participated in a high school glee club.  The good part was that a multitude of voices overcame my ability to sing like a cow. A local television station wanted to highlight the group and asked them to perform three Christmas songs.  In the spirit of full disclosure, the program’s producer was the father of one of our members. When the producer came to watch part of a rehearsal, he thought the music was pretty good but he was clear about one thing: we needed to look like we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Frequently a presenter on Shark Tank will talk about how passionate they are about their product, service or business. Unfortunately for the presenter, the investors don't really care much about the person's passion; they care about what the presenter can do and how the business can be successful. We've all seen people who are passionate about a concept that eventually fails.

Most of us occasionally buy a product on an unfamiliar website. We may think that it's not being run by scam artists; however, the reality is that some commerce websites are fake. They look for ways to defraud unsuspecting buyers on transactions.

A great resource is the scam advisor on this website:  https://www.scamadviser.com . All you have to do is type or cut-and-paste a website address into the appropriate box of the scam advisor.  The scam advisor will report whether the site is a high or low risk for fraud. 

The good news is that the scam advisor gives our site, www.Stevemarr.org , a “High trust - safe to use” rating.  As President Regan said, “Trust but verify.”