If you’ve seen me speak live you know I have a fascination with celebrity birth names, famous criminals included. 

My interest is less about the people, and more about this question:  How famous would they have become if they’d stuck with the name they were born with?

Lauren Bacall was born… Betty Perske

50 Cent is really…  Curtis Jackson

George Burns’ real name was…  Nathan Birnbaum

Carrot Top’s actual name is…  (more…)

So here’s the disclaimer right up front:  I’m not a rabid Jimi Hendrix fan, in fact I don’t even own any of his records. 

But I do admit I’ve always had an appreciation of him.  And lately I’ve looked at his life a little more closely and discovered what may be the most interesting aspects of Jimi:  What propelled him to iconic fame, and why he’s still in a league of his own.

Along with Bob Marley, Bruce Lee, and Che Guevara, the face of Jimi Hendrix is on more T-shirts than any other mug in history.  That says something about (more…)

So I thump around on Craigslist occasionally… browsing for the fun of it, mostly, but I have bought a few things.  Recently I searched for a ’52 Reissue Fender Telecaster (guitar) at length—it took a while (months) to find the right one, but finally I did.  Like any other goof prowling Craigslist, I expected a deal… and got one. 

Everything Craigslist is not created equal:  There’s an art to listing your stuff so that it will sell every time (virtually nobody does it, or knows how to do it) and there’s also an art to noticing which sellers are vulnerable to taking a lower offer than what they have listed.  

True, I’m the guy who’s usually giving you the lowdown on how to tell if someone is lying to you… so what do I know about marketing on Craigslist?  Well, I know about words, and here’s the hard reality:  (more…)

I was just reading the blog of my friend Chuc Barnes, who has a great post in support of the iPhone4 and Apple in general. 

You’ve probably heard by now about the reception problems some users have experienced with their new generation phones, and I was fascinated by something Chuc had in his post:  The complaint rate is just .55%!  So this got me to thinking…

Consider this:  Whether it’s a fist-fight, a political scandal, or a problem with a new product, he who is first to the draw has the advantage.  In this case, the news of the iPhone4 problems came fast and furious through media reports, blogs, and top-of-the-hour news spots.  Buried deep in stories like this one was the truth of the infinitesimal fail rate.

And let me ask you this:  What would have been the result if Apple (more…)

Sure, I’m in:  Dirt sells, and nothing’s better than a celebrity in crisis, right? 

So I read about the impending financial ruin of Annie Leibovitz with some interest.   But I’m always considering the less obvious side of things, so when I was finished, something else hit me that I think is a lot more fascinating:  Her status as a “famous photographer”. 

Hmmm… pretty rare title, huh?  

In the first few pages of Conquering Deception© you’ll see a quote by my alter-ego, Calvin L. Hutton:  ”Persistence is more powerful than talent”.  But considering Leibovitz’ (more…)

One is never mentioned without the other; it’s always been “Bonnie & Clyde”, household names for nearly eight decades now.  Immortalized in book, movie, and song, their names have become the most repeated and recognizable of all the infamous bank robbers who freely roamed the Midwest in the early 1930s. 

Have you ever considered this:  Being known is a big part of being successful.

That’s what advertising and—even more importantly, branding—is all about. 

Now this criminal duo never planned to become famous, but Bonnie & Clyde had some things working for them that you’ll want to have working for you.  If you want to become successful and famous, that is. 

We’ll get to Bonnie in just a bit, but for now let’s consider Clyde and the lessons he can (more…)

If you’ve shopped for eggs lately, maybe you’ve noticed it’s not as simple as it used to be. 

When I was a kid, eggs were eggs.  They were all white, the cartons were pretty non-descript, and eggs didn’t have ‘features’.  I’m not sure, either, that there were actual brands of eggs.  In fact, I’m sure there weren’t.  Eggs were eggs.

All that’s changed. 

I was at the supermarket tonight picking up a few last minute things for our dinner, and the oblong things were on the list my wife had given me.  She usually tries to keep it short—I think she doesn’t want me to have a bad grocery shopping experience for some reason. 

If you read enough stuff I’ve written, it might gradually occur to you that I’m a creature of (more…)