Nathanael Yellis

I wish more well-read sages from the 60s wrote books like this one. Back then people learned rhetoric in school and they read enough books to recognize their most influential authors. Muggeridge is at his best when talking about his four: Bacon, Kierkegaard, Weil, and Tolstoy. More than that, he's conversant with a host of thinkers with which he has quibbles. The point: he's well-read and well-reasoned. That is, until he takes up the important battles of the day. His day, the 60s. Not very reasonable for right now readers.

I like simple instructions, and this guy has them. From the HBR blog:
1. Know your audience.
2. Say one thing, and one thing only.

Yesterday, I decided to start using dedicated CRM (customer relationship management) software for my ongoing freelance work and related job search. CRM started with firms wanting to better manage marketing and sales efforts with multiple reps. I think it's going to fit with what I'm doing, we'll see.

In my last post I introduced the two questions my small business counseling generally covers:


1. Can you do this profitably? (Unit economics.)
2. How can you do this now? (Bootstrapping.)

This morning I helped counsel aspiring entrepreneurs through SCORE, a non-profit group that offers free advice to folks looking to startup businesses. During those conversations, I kept returning to two essential questions:

"Are you the judge that made them speak in rhyme?"

Mark 12: 41-44:

I wrote the following as part of an email conversation a few days ago and think it's worth mentioning here. When I was a horrible writer, I thought writing was something that either came naturally or not at all. Since, I've learned that writing is like other creative processes--something you work at.

Whether writing a blog post, work report, or speech, what follows is the rough process I use. The exact process depends on the nature of what I'm working on.