Creative Business Advice
for Creative People
If you haven’t read the full text of the speech President Obama gave at Notre Dame this past weekend, do yourself a favor and go check it out. It is not only a beautiful speech, thoughtful, compassionate, humble and humorous, it underscores for me, yet again, what an accomplished negotiator we have hanging out in the White House these days.
Negotiation is problem solving. … Read More
As a society we’re sort of obsessed with losing things.
Losing your mind; your virginity; control; face; weight; your religion; your grip; your hair; touch; ground.
Generally speaking, we associate “losing” with things that are bad (OK, except maybe the virginity thing).
So it shouldn’t come as a shock that psychologically humans hate losing more than we like winning. A lot more.
I’ve been reminded a number of times in the last week that people Don’t Like Lawyers.
This confounds me.
No, seriously, it does. I understand that people usually need lawyers during rough portions of their life, but I’ve rarely heard as many jokes about oncologists as I hear about lawyers.
And yes, there are lawyers that are jerks. But there are also kittens who are … Read More
I’d like to invite you to something that has nothing to do with negotiation but might very well fill your heart with glee.
Every year I work on a film festival for Oregon students in K-12. The entire point of the film festival is to get kids excited about learning civics and history. And, man, do they produce some great films.… Read More
Shockingly, one of the things they don’t really teach you in law school is how to negotiate. They sort of expect that you know how to do it and that if you don’t, you’ll learn fast enough once you’re kicked out of the nest.
Looking back at my first year as a lawyer, I’m kind of amazed at some of the things I tried in … Read More
Huzzah! It’s time for Stumptown!
I’ll be hanging with the cool kids this weekend at the Stumptown Comics Fest. YOU SHOULD TOO!
If you happen to be there, swing by table 120 where I’ll be cooling my heels with the lovely Ms. Dylan Meconis. You can tell me your best negotiating war stories and pick up your very own copy of Bite Me… Read More
‘Tis the season for questions.
I am a big fan of asking questions during a negotiation. As a means of gathering information, asking questions is about 10 times easier than being imprinted with the skills of a covert spy, breaking into the NSA and stealing a planted file, all while running in high heels. (er, “spoiler.”)
But not all questions are created … Read More
Our friends at the Harvard Negotiation Law Review (ok, fine, we don’t actually know them), have a fine little piece up about communicating using technology and the challenges it can present. The intended audience is not of the 2.0 generation and may have recently discovered e-mail, but the nuggets of wisdom in the post are valuable. Especially for freelancers.
It’s easy to rely on email … Read More
5 Things to Know Before You Sign Your Publishing Contract
The following is the first of five emails from a free e-course about understanding publishing contracts. You can sign up for the rest of the course here. In any publishing deal, you're in charge. That's because a publishing contract is you giving the publisher permission to use your work. They need permission and
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