Don’t you want to paint your walls without worrying about the landlord?   My very young first-time home buyer who is currently in the Naval service, closed his home last Thursday. He took a one-week vacation to attend this momentous day. He flew from Virginia a day before the closing and is now busy making his new home his own. I can't be so proud of this man as at the age of 23, he can proudly say that "I have a home in Manchester Connecticut."   With the current mortgage interest rate at historical low–under 4 percent for qualified borrowers– and affordable home prices, these are favorable conditions for first-time home buyers. In Manchester Connecticut, there is a huge inventory of homes under $250,000.                                                                                  ... 02/15/2015

Erick called me two weeks ago. You don't know him, but you should. He's one of the quiet giants out there helping take over the world with drones. So, I'm hoping you'll give me access to the video," he said. "You know - THE video. He was talking about the piece that brought one of our clients international media exposure six months earlier. Working with Erick Royer and his partner Joe, our teams successfully launched the world's first delivery of wings by drone. Good Morning America wants the piece," he said. "They're having us come down for a week for a segment called 'Game of Drones'. What do you think? It was one of those double-edged swords. I wanted to say "no"...as the client we ran the event for defaulted on all of their bills. But let's be honest. It's Good Morning America. So o... 02/13/2015

The entire landscape of the U.S. job market is about to change. In fact, the shift has already begun. And it's going to simultaneously put a LOT of people out of work...while creating countless opportunities for others. We see it in the TRUE unemployment numbers, as courageously highlighted by Gallup CEO Jim Clifton. The number of underemployed Americans and Americans who have just given up looking for work is a dizzying and terrifying number. Those who have lost their jobs often like to blame the small businesses that hired them. But in so many cases, their blame is misguided. Businesses face an increasing number of taxes, fees, penalties and rising insurance costs. As a matter of fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, for the first time in more than 30 years the number of business... 02/08/2015

Lots of people like to dip their pen in company ink. Part of the thrill is keeping it on the down-low. It’s a little office supply room secret between you and little Mary. It’s naughty. It’s dirty. It’s EXCITING. But as it turns out, you may want to leave an ink trail. Business Insider put together a little survey in 2013 about sex with colleagues. The results? Nearly 85% of those surveyed think colleagues at the same company should be allowed to hanky panky. More than 90% of people said they’ve been sexually attracted to a colleague. 64% have hit on them. 80% have BEEN hit on by a colleague. And 54% say they’ve actually bow chicka wow wow’d with one. Perhaps that’s why more and more companies are having employees sign love contracts. Click to read on. 02/05/2015

Social media.  It's like a giant online cocktail party. Would you show up to a cocktail party wearing sweatpants or gym clothes?  Probably not. So allow me to teach you how to work the room like a champ...and create a profile picture that won't just get you recognized - it will get you business. Click here to read on. 02/04/2015

Restaurants. Car dealerships. Bars. Retail shops. Museums. Chances are - if you own a business, you're on Yelp - whether you know it like it or not. Which also means that chances are good you've suffered "review extortion". We'll get to the "dining with your lawyer" part of this article in a second. But first - check out the statistics. 90% of Yelp users say that positive reviews affect their buying choices. 93% who conduct research on review sites including but not limited to Yelp (there are countless sites such as Google, Trip Advisor, etc) say they typically make purchases at the businesses for which they search for reviews. Now let's look at the flip side. 77% of small businesses that use Yelp say that the site has impacted the way they respond to customer issues and complaints...bu... 01/27/2015

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine stopped by the office to chat business.  He's owned his own company for the past four years or so and works specifically in the automotive world.  His plan is to sell his company in the next couple of years and retire in Florida. While enjoying a drink together, he vented about the frustration working in the world of automotive.  And he made a spectacular analogy that can be applied to any business. "Kyle," he said.  "Giving big data to car dealership owners is like giving a bottle of bourbon and keys to a Beamer to a 16-year-old.  There's absolutely nothing good that can come of it." While I work with plenty of dealership owners who this statement would NOT apply to, his point wasn't lost on me.  I'd seen it recently in a number of different... 01/26/2015

A couple of weeks ago, my brother was driving down the highway when he noticed a decked out truck loaded with LED lights.  The vehicle wrap indicated that the truck belonged to a company specializing in the lights.  The wrap talked all about how technologically advanced the company was. My brother was intrigued.  He's the kind of guy that when he's not patrolling the seas with the Coast Guard, he's hooked on the latest tech gadgets and technology. From a marketing perspective, the vehicle was a success. Except for one minor detail. The contact information?  It was an @aol.com email address - not a company email address. Of course the first thing my brother did (when he was done laughing) was to call me. "I've got a great blog for you," he said.  "Here's this company promoting itself as ... 01/24/2015

It's one thing for a job candidate to tell the interviewer how amazing they are. It's another thing for that candidate to be endorsed by a third party. We're all about testimonials - especially video testimonials - when it comes to establishing credibility for our clients. And I'm sure that you, as a job seeker, are all about testimonials and recommendations as well. So here are a few tips and tricks on how NOT to ask for them. 1.  The Bridge That You Torched I had this girl intern for us a couple of years back.  We taught her a lot and gave her some great opportunities to grow.  Then what happened?  She told us she thought our competition was better and that we "sucked donkey balls".  She was quite the professional with her departure, clearly.  When her new employer went out of busines... 01/24/2015

 From Left to Right:  Patrick Greene, Rebecca Hauer, Praful Thakkar, Kyle Reyes, Colleen Ferrary, Conrad Allen, Randy Kirsch, Annette Thor, Andi Laemmel, Alex Riceviens (Attorney non-AR member), Gail Petrowsky (Joe's wife non-AR member), Maria Gilda Racelis, Joe Petrowsky, Jill Petrowsky(Joe's daughter non-AR member), Manny Rivera, Barbara Altieri, George Souto, Glen Hauer, and Ed Silva.   Yesterday was the 2015 ActiveRain MeetUp In Manchester, CT, which was hosted by Joe Petrowsky and Kyle Reyes at Kyle's office.  Yep you heard that right this is Kyle's office in the picture, imagine coming in to work each day to what you will see in the picture to the right and the pictures at the end of this blog.  Joe and Kyle were very gracious host and provided all of the food and drink for the M... 01/23/2015

    Two years ago, one of the restaurant groups we handle the marketing for approached us about a major problem they had discovered. Employees had been caught red handed in a gift card scam. Here's what was happening. The employees had failed to turn in gift cards that some customers redeemed.  They instead reloaded the gift cards on the gift card terminal. Because the gift card terminal wasn't tied to a point of sale system, they were able to load the cards without having any real money tied to the account. Then, when customers would pay with cash, the servers would swipe the gift cards for the amount of the bill and hand in the gift card receipt to the manager - pocketing the cash. Another restaurant group we market for found a similar line of theft going on - to the tune of tens of t... 01/21/2015

"I love you." Three simple words.  Without them, relationships fall apart. But the human language is sometimes best shown - not spoken. And in an age where we can market to anyone anywhere in the world...it leaves us with a simple and yet highly complex problem: how do you say "I love you" in customer? It's quite simple, really. Click here to read more. 01/18/2015

It's causing the death of a generation. Or at least the communication of the millennial generation. And we're all becoming infected. My wife is trying to save our family. She's identified an antidote. It's called "20 minutes of no technology during dinner". If my symptoms are particularly bad, she'll actually confiscate my cell phone. It leaves my skin crawling as I go through withdrawal. The more I interact with millennials - whether I'm interviewing them, overseeing internships or giving speeches to them - the more I see it. It's an entire generation that doesn't know how to communicate. Here are some stats for you: According to a Nielsen study, 83 percent of millennials say they sleep with their smartphones. (I think 17% of them overslept and missed the study). A Cisco study found th... 01/17/2015

Doctors will tell you that pizza slowly kills you. But in this case, it may have lead to a very quick death for a car dealership in Westport.. You may have already heard the story. But you may not have realized the implications. Here's what you might have missed. The video, which was posted to YouTube (apparently by the employees at the dealership) was picked up by LiveLeak. It begins with a delivery guy returning $7 cash to the dealership that he thought was a tip. By the end of it, one of the dealership employees threatens to "put my foot up your ass" and another says he's going to call the delivery man's manager to get him fired. The total bill for the pizza and drinks was just over $42. Dealership workers gave the driver, Jarrid Tansey, $50 in two twenties and two fives. In the vide... 01/15/2015

I'll never forget the line growing up. "Say hi to grandma and grandpa.  But don't forget - it's long distance!" I'll also never forget our AOL account.  The painful sound of dialing up.  The excitement of hearing, "you've got mail".  The thrill of talking to my friends in chatrooms about God knows what.  And the horror of the phone ringing right when I was in the middle of IM'ing with a cute girl...because it meant getting kicked off line.   We tend to take for granted our ability to connect with everybody now...RIGHT NOW.   Unless you're calling another country, there's no such thing as long distance in 2015. And that's a good thing...and a very, very bad thing. Businesses owners all over are so excited about the ability to talk to EVERYBODY in the world that many end up talking to NOB... 01/14/2015

This is one of those random little bonus blogs that I think is worth throwing out there from time to time. First of all - have you met Manny Rivera yet?   The guy is a technical genius, as evidenced in his latest blog here.  Manny is the biggest technical geek I've ever met.  And I love him for it.  He's turned our studios into the most high-tech office ever.   He's also speaking with Joe Petrowsky and I next week at our ActiveRain meetup.  Who is coming? I also want to take a moment to thank a non-rainer.   Alexandros is a pen-pal of mine from across the globe.  He and I met on LinkedIn a few months back and I feel like I've gotten to know him as a brother.  In fact, we're working on several projects together - and couldn't possible be further apart.  Alexandros wrote an incredibly tou... 01/14/2015

I'm sitting in Starbucks enjoying some coffee last week and trying to get a few reports done...and there are two guys in their mid-20's having a conversation next to me. I'm not sure if the bourbon I'm smelling was snuck into their coffee or seeping from their pores. "Dude - I quit my job like a BOSS yesterday," said one of them.   "How did you do it?" "Bro - I walked in and said 'I want a raise'.  And he said 'no'.  And I said 'the hell with you - I QUIT!' and I knocked over his bookshelf and I LEFT." "No you DIDN'T!" "Yeah, man.  I quit like a BOSS. No, You Didn't Let's examine this little exchange between two friends.  I kept my mouth shut, but I'm going to weigh in here from a professional perspective.  This guy didn't quit his job like a "boss".  He quit his job like an idiot.   Cl... 01/12/2015

It's a term that's become wildly overused.  "Hacks".  Somehow the idea of hacking went from being something that gets you arrested to something that gets you bonus points in life. So hell - let's run with it.  Here are some LinkedIn "hacks" that you may not have known about to help you grow your business in 2015. 01/12/2015

Happy New Year, rainers. Couple of questions for you....followed by some analysis. 1) Outside of the typical Trulia, Zillow, etc. - where do you spend your advertising dollars?  Social media?  Traditional advertising?  Other? 2) Do you have a website that's specific to YOU?  Is it responsive? Doing a little research for a "coming soon" blog on the digital age for you guys...so any input that I can use as examples will only help you all!  Links, examples, I'll take it all.  I may not respond to every comment, but my team will be looking at what you guys are all sharing and compile some strengths, weaknesses and suggestions coming soon! LOVE YOU ALL! 01/08/2015

My generation didn't have the problem that our parents' generation had with QVC. The whole shopping in the middle of the night because we are insomniacs?  Oh, it's happening alright.  Just not with "as seen on TV" products. That's because these new generations of buyers are driving an "it's all about me" economy.  And OUR "QVC addiction" is now in the palm of our hand. Rash Decisions Thanks To Creative Marketing I'll admit it.  I've made rash decisions to buy things after having a cocktail or two and playing on my phone. The last time I was "QVC'd" as I like to refer to it was when I stumbled upon an open-palm flame thrower.  That's right - after a couple of cocktails, I found this little treasure that basically turns you into one of the X-Men. The video shows someone launching small f... 01/04/2015