2023-09-21 10:22
Reading Time: 2 min
As technology develops, our skills change along with it. Not only does this means we have new skills to learn, but it also means that we have older skills that are no lo… Read More
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Mickey Mellen Blog
mickmel.com
Mickey is a partner and Technical Director at GreenMellen Media. He’s been using WordPress for about 16 years, and has helped build hundreds of WordPress-powered sites over the years.
2023-09-20 10:12
Reading Time: 3 min
When trying to remember something there are two basic parts to it:
The signal, letting you know that there is something to be remembered.
The message, with the det… Read More
2023-09-19 10:33
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I’ve mentioned the fantastic “Founders” podcast on here a few times. Not only do I get a lot out of it, it partially inspired my new podcast as well… Read More
2023-09-18 10:33
Reading Time: 2 min
Over the next few months I’ll be heading to both New York and San Antonio for some fun trips. My goal is to work very little on those trips, but I still want to ke… Read More
2023-09-17 11:47
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In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, September 11: There is… Read More
2023-09-16 11:44
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There is a fine line between a design that is clever and one that is self-indulgent, and they often fall to the latter. As Don Norman said in “The Design of Everyda… Read More
2023-09-15 09:42
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A popular piece of advice is to “never quit”, but it’s not always a good way to approach things. Certainly you don’t want to give up too early, b… Read More
2023-09-14 10:04
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Work-life balance is something that many strive for, but it’s often a fool’s errand. Not that work should consume your life, but that trying to balance them n… Read More
2023-09-13 10:03
Reading Time: 2 min
Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of AI. There are some great things coming from it, but I generally prefer the old way of doing things, and wish that all creativi… Read More
2023-09-12 09:45
Reading Time: 2 min
As I’ve shared before, the “weekly preview” that I do each Friday is one of my favorite things. It helps me to make sure the coming week is well-organi… Read More
2023-09-11 10:40
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While building audience personas is a vital piece of any marketing campaign, it’s also a bit strange. We build this very specific idea of who the customer is, knowi… Read More
2023-09-10 11:31
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, September 4: Norman Do… Read More
2023-09-09 11:30
Reading Time: 2 min
I’ve talked about Obsidian (the note-taking app) a few times on here, such as when I moved my notes into it last summer, and when I made the choice to stick with i… Read More
2023-09-08 10:21
Reading Time: 2 min
I talk a lot about giving feedback on here, both in terms of how to give good feedback to others, and how to appreciate feedback as a gift when it’s given to you… Read More
2023-09-07 10:37
Reading Time: 2 min
There are some things in life that are almost certainly out of reach, but in many cases it can be worth chasing after them anyhow. A great example is guitarist Joe Walsh… Read More
2023-09-06 10:10
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A few days ago I shared the concept of Norman Doors, which are doors that can be confusing to open. When you come across a typical door and push the flat plate to open it… Read More
2023-09-05 09:46
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When you’re a solopreneur, working on your own, you need to control every decision. It can be brutal, but necessary. As your company grows, though, getting out of m… Read More
2023-09-04 11:23
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I recently finished reading Don Norman’s excellent “The Design of Everyday Things“, and I highly recommend it. He mentions in the book something I&rsquo&hell…Read More
2023-09-03 11:40
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, August 28: A good ment… Read More
2023-09-02 11:33
Reading Time: 2 min
When it comes to issues with your partner, whether that it’s marriage or in business, knowing who has the final say on a particular issue is hugely important. In m… Read More
2023-09-01 09:52
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Urgency and hurry can sound like doing the same thing, but deep down they’re quite different. A good example of this came from a post I shared earlier this year whe… Read More
2023-08-31 09:53
Reading Time: 2 min
If you’re an Olympic-level diver, the “degree of difficulty” on your dives is very important. For the rest of us, not so much.
When it comes to some… Read More
2023-08-30 09:54
Reading Time: 2 min
People work hard to try to have “all of the facts” when making a decision, which is a wise thing to do. At some point, though, you need to realize that you c… Read More
2023-08-29 09:47
Reading Time: 2 min
Apple tends to do something very special with their products that other companies miss — they get the tiny details perfect. I disagree with some of their larger fe… Read More
2023-08-28 09:48
Reading Time: 2 min
I’ve talked a lot about mental models on here over the years, and even did a series of them a while back (found here). Charlie Munger is a huge proponent of them… Read More
2023-08-27 11:12
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, August 21: Emphasize t… Read More
2023-08-26 11:24
Reading Time: 2 min
Over the past decade, presumably to try to help their websites rank higher in Google, most websites just don’t link out to others anymore. It’s common to rea… Read More
2023-08-25 10:30
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If I’m talking with my friend Steve and we set a meeting for next week, I might send out the calendar invite to him with the title of “Meet with Steve“… Read More
2023-08-24 10:29
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A few weeks ago I mentioned the new podcast that I was putting together, and the first episode went live this morning. In this episode, Cindy Villanueva and I spent some… Read More
2023-08-23 10:25
Reading Time: 2 min
Taxes can serve a few purposes — they can help bring in more money to the government, and they can encourage people to do less of a particular behavior (and often… Read More
2023-08-22 10:45
Reading Time: 2 min
Back in the day when calling a company you’d often hear a messaging saying that “your call may be monitored”, which I suspect was true. We hear the sam… Read More
2023-08-21 10:22
Reading Time: 2 min
I’m a big believer in focusing on processes over results. We all certainly want to have positive results from our efforts, but the focus should be on the process b… Read More
2023-08-20 11:22
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, August 14: Share with… Read More
2023-08-19 11:27
Reading Time: 2 min
A recent episode of “The Long and the Short Of It” podcast brought up a really interesting idea — is being “like-minded” even possible?… Read More
2023-08-18 10:48
Reading Time: 2 min
I recently listened to an older episode of the “Founders” podcast where host David Senra unpacked the book “The Vagabonds“, which was the story o… Read More
2023-08-17 10:24
Reading Time: min
Many people pine for the “good old days”, but those days seem to be in a different decade depending on who is saying it. Kevin Kelly explains why in his book… Read More
2023-08-16 10:24
Reading Time: 3 min
Just over a decade ago, Paul Graham coined the phrase “schlep blindness”. It essentially means that we often become blind to tedious, unpleasant tasks and si… Read More
2023-08-15 10:13
Reading Time: 2 min
I work hard to accrue knowledge. I think that’s a lot of my Enneagram 5-ness coming out, as I shared a few years ago when I unpacked the various Enneagram numbers:… Read More
2023-08-14 10:48
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As my team will tell you, I’ve been bad over the years about forwarding information to them with just one line from me: “Thoughts?”. That’s not he… Read More
2023-08-13 11:10
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, August 7: People aren… Read More
2023-08-12 10:57
Reading Time: min
It can be interesting to think of ourselves as two people, and we often do it without realizing it.
I’ve shared before how I often use that to my advantage by ha… Read More
2023-08-11 10:39
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Putting extra eyes on any piece of writing is always a good thing. While I don’t have others proofread anything on this blog, I still find it helpful to put my own… Read More
2023-08-10 10:37
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Lately, I’ve been trying to pay more attention to who a creation is for.
In the case of this blog, as I’ve said for years, I’m writing primarily for… Read More
2023-08-09 10:32
Reading Time: 2 min
None of us want problems to pop up, but worse is ignoring them when they do. Discovering and resolving problems and deficiencies are one of the best ways to grow your bu… Read More
2023-08-08 10:10
Reading Time: 2 min
I read a lot of books, but I’ve noticed that I’m not retaining what I read particularly well. That’s frustrating, and this blog is intended to help wit… Read More
2023-08-07 10:18
Reading Time: 2 min
For an official Type 2 tennis ball, which weighs between 1.975 – 2.095 ounces, dropping it from a height of 100 inches should bounce back up between 53-58 inches… Read More
2023-08-06 11:56
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, July 31: Mindlessness… Read More
2023-08-05 11:34
Reading Time: min
When it comes to marketing, I’ve long interchanged the words “Retargeting” and “Remarketing”, considering them similar enough to essentially… Read More
2023-08-04 10:34
Reading Time: min
There are two kinds of people in the world:
Those that want to be right.
Those that want to do the right thing.
There is certainly some crossover there, but if your… Read More
2023-08-03 10:34
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I love the processes behind the work we do at GreenMellen. By taking things in the right order, the results are far more likely to be successful. However, there is a down… Read More
2023-08-02 10:32
Reading Time: min
When we’re preparing for our quarterly meetings with our clients, we spend a lot of time digging into their analytics from the previous quarter. We want to understa… Read More
2023-08-01 10:19
Reading Time: 2 min
Ownership of physical objects is easy to understand, but taking ownership of an idea can lead to problems.
This doesn’t mean “taking ownership” of a… Read More
2023-07-31 10:32
Reading Time: min
A few of the posts I’ve shared in the last week came to me at nearly the same time, even though they weren’t related. The time? When I was just messing around… Read More
2023-07-30 12:01
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, July 24: Yes, that&rsq&hell…Read More
2023-07-29 12:41
Reading Time: 2 min
When you try to categorize the “best” of anything, whether it’s a car, book, or actor, there is going to be disagreement.
For example, right now I t… Read More
2023-07-28 10:24
Reading Time: 2 min
Years ago, I had a Motorola phone that came with a windshield mount that you could use for navigation. This was in the very early days of Google Maps having that support… Read More
2023-07-27 10:28
Reading Time: 2 min
There’s a weird psychological phenomenon where humans are willing to do things for free (“social norms”) but may turn away if you try to pay them for i… Read More
2023-07-26 10:27
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When presenting options for feedback, a common question is simply asking “which one do you like?”. While that might be a good question at times, it’s ge… Read More
2023-07-25 10:19
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Boundaries can feel like a hinderance, and they often are, but they can bring freedom with them if you see the in the right light.
Last year I shared about the show &l&hell…Read More
2023-07-24 10:41
Reading Time: 2 min
As time goes on, my definition of spam has gotten larger and larger. If you’re thinking about sending something and wonder “would this be considered spam?&rd&hell…Read More
2023-07-23 12:27
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, July 17: Multitasking… Read More
2023-07-22 11:44
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I mentioned a few weeks ago that feedback such as “make it darker” isn’t helpful or acceptable, but it can go a bit further than that.
On a recent ep… Read More
2023-07-21 10:15
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Confidence is a good thing. If you can be confident in what you believe, what you know, and who you trust, that’s fantastic. However, if you have to project fake co… Read More
2023-07-20 10:27
Reading Time: 3 min
For years, I’ve noticed an issue that arises when something comes along that can save many lives, but may cost a few in the process. Here are two examples.
When… Read More
2023-07-19 10:16
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We all know that’s generally better to listen than to speak. The more you listen to others, the better you can understand what they’re actually saying.
Thi… Read More
2023-07-18 10:27
Reading Time: 2 min
Depending on your marketing goals, one approach might be to reach “thought leaders” so that they can spread the word about your product to their audience. It… Read More
2023-07-17 10:16
Reading Time: 2 min
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the idea of multitasking. I know that it’s mostly a myth (you don’t really “multitask”, you just &l&hell…Read More
2023-07-16 12:02
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, July 10: A lot of work… Read More
2023-07-15 11:37
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When I first moved to Atlanta in the late 90’s, I remember hearing a very strange tagline on radio ads for a local car dealer: “We’re number two in Atla… Read More
2023-07-14 10:11
Reading Time: 2 min
In any kind of marketing it’s essential to know who your real customers are, but it’s sometimes a little trickier than it might seem.
As I shared earlier… Read More
2023-07-13 10:17
Reading Time: 2 min
Solid marketing can do wonderful things for your business, but it can be easy to get distracted and waste your time.
Similar to my recent post “Can you speed it… Read More
2023-07-12 10:21
Reading Time: 2 min
If you’ve ever done work on your website to improve your search engine optimization (SEO), and you’ve done it in a legit way, the techniques really haven&rsq&hell…Read More
2023-07-11 10:14
Reading Time: 2 min
I write about empathy quite a lot on here, as I feel it’s a valuable skill that we should all be looking to improve. However, if you have empathy for a situation b… Read More
2023-07-10 10:37
Reading Time: 2 min
How much time do you need to work in order to have light in your house for one hour? It’s not something I’ve really thought about before, but a long quote fr… Read More
2023-07-09 12:13
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, July 3: Your oncologis… Read More
2023-07-08 12:14
Reading Time: 2 min
When a news story starts taking attention of a large part of the country, like the recent implosion of the Titan sub or as COVID was sweeping the world, many people beco… Read More
2023-07-07 10:02
Reading Time: 2 min
Feedback can be a wonderful thing, as I’ve shared many times on here (like “Feedback is a gift“), but only if it’s the right kind of feedback. If… Read More
2023-07-06 10:15
Reading Time: 2 min
It’s hard to come up with any truly new ideas today, as most of the best new ideas are merely the combination of existing ideas — but that’s a good thi… Read More
2023-07-05 10:32
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Most tasks in this world could be sped up with improved processes, but in many cases that’s not what’s best. I recently wrote about un-automating parts of my… Read More
2023-07-04 11:57
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It sounds counter-intuitive, but some of the best companies in the world work hard to sell as little as possible to each of their customers.
I first shared this a few… Read More
2023-07-03 10:47
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In many types of businesses, it’s helpful when the owner has gone through what their customers are facing. I shared a few years ago how that can work well, focused… Read More
2023-07-02 11:55
Reading Time: min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, June 26: It’s ab… Read More
2023-07-01 10:21
Reading Time: 3 min
I haven’t talked much about my tech on here lately, because most of it has been fairly unremarkable — I love the tools that I have, but not much has been all… Read More
2023-06-30 10:22
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Generally speaking, there two big ways to get your team to do what needs to be done.
Obedience: You can require obedience, with a very detailed list of what needs to b… Read More
2023-06-29 10:16
Reading Time: 2 min
The title of this post may seem a bit obvious, and I think it is, but taken from a wider view it can get a little interesting.
In Patrick Lencioni’s book &ldquo&hell…Read More
2023-06-28 10:30
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While AI is already writing a ton of the content that you come across on the internet, that won’t ever be the case on here. That’s not because AI isn’t… Read More
2023-06-27 10:29
Reading Time: 2 min
As you improve some parts of your life it can make other parts of your life seem worse, even if they’re improving as well. As I shared last year, the world is in f… Read More
2023-06-26 10:16
Reading Time: 2 min
“Gated content” on websites has historically been a great way to build an email list. I’m sure you’ve done it — there’s a great PDF t… Read More
2023-06-25 11:04
Reading Time: 2 min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, June 19: If it costs… Read More
2023-06-24 11:29
Reading Time: 2 min
While Apple (and to a lesser degree, Google) have made huge strides over the last few years in helping you move your headphones from one device to another throughout the… Read More
2023-06-23 10:33
Reading Time: min
We’ve all worked at organizations where they had some rules that were clearly overkill, or even didn’t make sense at all. Most of these rules can be traced ba… Read More
2023-06-22 10:33
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For hundreds of years, your ability to create was dictated by the tools that you had access to. If you couldn’t afford the right tool, some types of creation were j… Read More
2023-06-21 10:29
Reading Time: min
Advertising tycoon David Ogilvy had many tremendous ideas when it came to advertising, but one of his big ones was to stick with what works. In his mind, companies switch… Read More
2023-06-20 10:36
Reading Time: 2 min
I’ve recently started listening to David Senra’s “Founders” podcast, and it’s fantastic! Every week he reads a biography of someone interes… Read More
2023-06-19 10:41
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This is one of those pieces of human nature that I don’t really like, but I need to accept that it’s true. If you pay less for something, you value it less, e… Read More
2023-06-18 12:13
Reading Time: 2 min
In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.
Mon, June 12: If you finis… Read More
2023-06-17 12:03
Reading Time: 2 min
When it comes to sports, the best athletes are the ones that appear to do things without thinking — and it’s true. As explained in the book “Trying Not… Read More
2023-06-16 10:35
Reading Time: min
There are a lot of tools out there to help automate your note-taking. For example, a recent episode of Tech Talk Y’all shared the Omnivore app, which can automatica… Read More
2023-06-15 10:37
Reading Time: 2 min
Readwise has a lot of great tools to help manage the content you’re reading. I’ve mentioned their RSS reader before, and they do a nice job of pulling over h… Read More
2023-06-14 10:32
Reading Time: 2 min
When sharing ideas and strategies with others, I try to be very clear. This takes two forms:
First, it’s not magic. It irritates me when people tell me they hav… Read More
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