Month: June 2021

ZenBusiness Review of Business Formation Services – 2021

ZenBusiness is one of the most reputable and popular business formation services on the market today. If you’re starting an LLC or a corporation, they can handle all of the paperwork and filings for you.

The simplicity, fast filings, and excellent support provided by ZenBusiness are all top reasons why it’s so highly recommended. Plus, it’s affordable—even for small businesses.

Tens of thousands of businesses have been formed with ZenBusiness.

As a Public Benefit Corporation, ZenBusiness is committed to making sure small businesses are successful. Social impact is part of their business model and mission statement.

So is ZenBusiness right for you? What services do they offer? Is it a good value? We’ll answer all of these questions, and more, throughout our in-depth review of ZenBusiness.

Already convinced? Get started with ZenBusiness now.

ZenBusiness Business Formation Services

ZenBusiness has a wide range of services, but its offerings in the business formation category are definitely the most popular—more specifically, the LLC services, incorporation services, and registered agent services. We’ll break these down in greater detail below.

ZenBusiness LLC Services

Due to its liability protection, forming an LLC (limited liability company) is an appealing option for business owners who want to protect themselves from individual responsibility related lawsuits or debts incurred by the business.

Once an LLC is formed, the business becomes its own entity. So all of the legalities associated with the business are separate from the owner.

Of all the services offered by ZenBusiness, LLC formation is definitely the most popular.

Getting started is simple. Just navigate to the ZenBusiness website, select “LLC” from the dropdown menu on the homepage, and select your state.

Next, you’ll choose from one of three ZenBusiness packages. Let’s take a closer look at these plans…

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The Gift of Negativity: What We Gain By Faultfinding, Nitpicking, and Naysaying

The Gift of Negativity: What We Gain By Faultfinding, Nitpicking, and Naysaying

Painful experiences teach you to protect yourself. The tools of self-protection are faultfinding, nitpicking, naysaying, and quibbling.

Experience gives birth to protective negativity.

The birth of negativity:

“If a cat sits on a hot stove, that cat won’t sit on a hot stove again. That cat won’t sit on a cold stove either. That cat just don’t like stoves.” Mark Twain

A painful experience with a hot stove makes you critical, skeptical, cantankerous and disagreeable.

Negativity bias:

The gift of negativity is about NOT DOING. But ‘not doing’ doesn’t get much done.

There are a few people who think of how something might work, but in my experience, they are the dodo birds in the crowd. Faultfinding is an Olympic Sport on average teams.

Avoiding is stronger than pursuing.

People have a stronger negative reaction to losing $20 than the positive feelings they have from gaining $20. (Kahneman – Thinking, Fast and Slow)

5 ‘advantages’ of faultfinding, nitpicking, and naysaying:

  1. Admiration: You seem wise when you explain why something won’t work.
  2. Time: You don’t waste energy on things that probably won’t work.
  3. Stability: You don’t need to change when you kill ideas before they grow legs.
  4. Power: You empower yourself by blocking other people’s ideas.
  5. Security: You protect the status quo, even if you complain about it.

Beyond negativity:

It’s natural to say, “That won’t work.” It’s leadership to ask, “What’s useful?”

  1. Define your goal.
  2. Engage in open conversation.
  3. Don’t silence reason givers – people who give reasons why something won’t work.
  4. Evaluate suggestions, reasons, and ideas by asking, “With our goal in mind, what’s useful about that?”

The “Usefulness” lens:

“How is this useful?” empowers people to explore, adapt, or eliminate suggestions or ideas.

“What’s useful?” treats all ideas equally.

Apart from “What’s useful?”, negative bias wins.

Bonus: The ‘useful’ lens enables learning. Nitpicking blocks learning.

What ‘advantages’ do you see in faultfinding, naysaying, and nitpicking?

How might leaders create future-building conversations?



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Episode 1411 Scott Adams: Ice Cream, Ponies, and Sunsets Are Irrelevant to This Program

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Top 7 Best Sales Courses – 2021 Review

At one point in time, to be a successful salesperson all you needed to be was a people person. However, times have changed and that is no longer the case. The world of sales has become something much more complex.

To stay on top of all that is happening in sales and to ensure that you have the knowledge you need to make your job more successful and smooth, you want to consider taking some sales courses. These are developed to teach everything from the basics for newbies to complex new potential sales techniques for seasoned pros.

We have scoured the internet for the sales courses being offered and narrowed down the list to the top seven sales courses.

The Top 7 Best Sales Courses

  1. The Art of Sales – Best for most salespeople
  2. Sales Training: Practical Sales Techniques – Best for basics
  3. HubSpot’s Inbound Sales Course – Best for inbound salespeople
  4. John Barrows’ Driving to Close 2.0 – Best for improving closes
  5. Art Sobczak’s Smart Calling College – Best for sales calls
  6. RAIN Selling: Foundations of Consultative Selling – Best for relationship sales
  7. Asking Great Sales Questions – Best for guiding sales conversations

To learn more about these courses and see which ones may be a fit for you, read our in-depth reviews below.

#1 – The Art of Sales — Best for Most Salespeople

  • Offered through Northwestern University
  • Four courses in one
  • Three-hour commitment per week
  • Certificate available for a fee

Audit for free

If you are looking for a sales course that covers a wide range of topics, then look no further. The Art of Sales is made up of four different courses…

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Using the Double Win to Beat Back Work That’s Out of Control

Scale your business. Find your freedom.

With proven systems, frameworks, and guidance, you can join other successful business owners as you scale your business, reap the fruits of high-performance, and spend more time on the things that matter most.

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Misattribution: How Memories are Distorted and Invented

Misattribution of a memory is when some original true aspect of a memory becomes distorted through time, space or circumstances.

Misattribution of memory is a psychological phenomenon that involves the creation of memories that are false in some way.

Sometimes known as source misattribution, misattribution of memory sometimes involves false memories, sometimes when forgotten memories return (cryptomnesia) and also when confusing the source of memories.

However, it is best explained with a true story…

Example of misattribution

One evening in 1975 an unsuspecting Australian psychologist, Donald M. Thomson, walked into a television studio to discuss the psychology of eyewitness testimony.

Little did he know that at the very moment he was discussing how people can best remember the faces of criminals, there was someone encoding his own face as a rapist.

The day after the television broadcast Thomson was picked up by local police.

He was told that last night a woman was raped and left unconscious in her apartment. She had named Thomson as her attacker.

Thomson was shocked, but had a watertight alibi. He had been on television at the time of the attack and in the presence of the assistant commissioner of police.

It seemed that the victim had been watching Thomson on television just prior to being attacked.

She had then confused his face with that of her attacker.

That a psychologist talking about identifying the faces of criminals should be the subject of just such a gross memory failure – and at the very moment he was publicly explaining it – is an irony hard to ignore.

Donald Thompson was completely exonerated but many others have not been so lucky.

Gary Wells at Iowa State University and colleagues have identified 40 different US miscarriages of justice that have relied on eye-witness testimony (Wells et al., 1998).

Many of these falsely convicted people served many years in prison, some even facing death sentences.

Donald Thomson’s ordeal, though, is a perfect example of Harvard psychologist Daniel L. Schacter’s fourth sin of memory (Schacter, 1999).

Unlike the first three sins, which all involve being unable to access memories, this is the first sin that involves the creation of memories that are false in some way.

When a memory is ‘misattributed’ some original true aspect of a memory becomes distorted through time, space or circumstances.

Daily misattribution

While misattributions can have disastrous consequences, most are not so dramatic in everyday circumstances.

Like the other sins of memory, misattributions are probably a daily occurrence for most people.

Some examples that have been studied in the lab are:

  • Misattributing the source of memories. People regularly say they read something in the newspaper, when actually a friend told them or they saw it in an advert. In one study participants with ‘normal’ memories regularly made the mistake of thinking they had acquired a trivial fact from a newspaper, when actually the experimenters had supplied it (Schacter, Harbluk, & McLachlan, 1984).
  • Misattributing a face to the wrong context. This is exactly what happened to Donald Thomson. Studies have shown that memories can become blended together, so that faces and circumstances are merged.
  • Misattributing an imagined event to…

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5 Lessons I Learned As CXL’s Content Lead

After writing and editing nearly 100 blog posts for CXL, this week is my last week as content lead. The previous year has been one of the most rewarding and challenging periods of my career, and I’ve learned so much along the way. 

Here are five lessons I learned from running the CXL blog that not only apply to becoming a better marketer, but also a top-performer in all areas of your life.

1. Yes and yes

Early on in my content marketing journey, I studied the success of entrepreneur and finance ‘guru’ Ramit Sethi. He was creating great content long before “content marketing” became a thing. 

In his material covering how to land your dream job and build a successful business, he shares the powerful concept of “Yes and yes.”

With most marketers looking for the ‘quick hack,’ going just one step further can help you truly become one of the best of the best. 

Should you write content that is SEO optimized and consumable by actual humans? Yes, and yes.

Should you write in-depth and actionable content with an ambitious posting cadence? Yes, and yes.  

Should you focus producing new content and updating old content? Yes, and yes. 

While there are limitations for how much anyone or team can do, we shy away from doing the hard work more often than not. To become one of the best in your field, you have to be willing to do what others will not.  

2. Trust the process

One of the reasons we’ve built such a recognized and trusted brand is through our high-quality content. That didn’t happen by accident. Each week we aimed to publish two long-form articles come rain or shine. 

Some weeks were more stressful than others. But in the end, we did everything we could to stick to the plan.

And the results speak for themselves. 

CXL traffic. CXL traffic.

For nearly a decade, what has worked for CXL has been producing long-long form, actionable content without the fluff. While at times it was tempting to ‘reinvent the wheel,’ our current process ultimately produced consistent results.

That certainly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try new things and experiment, and of course, there’s a point where you can become too comfortable. 

But we ‘won, by consistently publishing long-form articles tailored to intermediate to advanced marketers looking to continue to improve their careers.

For example, early on we decided we wanted to ramp up our social media presence. Truthfully, it’s been a weakness of CXL for quite some time.

While I personally enjoy social media and think there is a long-term business benefit, the reality is, most of CXL’s success comes directly from search. While it would have been nice to increase our engagement on Twitter, for example, writing another article or updating a few top-performing posts would 99.9% have the better ROI. 

If you find something that works, continue to double down on those efforts….

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Top 7 Best Leadership Courses – 2021 Review

Worried that you weren’t naturally born with the skills necessary to become a good leader? If these skills aren’t inherent to you, you can learn the leadership skills necessary to help you reach new heights in your career.

And even if you feel you were born a natural leader, you may need some help honing those skills and ensuring you’re using your power in a way that benefits you, your employees, and your company.

One of the best ways to gain skills and put them to good use is by taking an online leadership course. Courses like this will help you to become an effective leader that can drive your company to success. There all kinds of leadership courses available, and we have researched to compile a list of the best leadership courses to help you become an all-star leader.

The Top 7 Best Leadership Courses

  1. CCL Leadership Development Program – Best For Most Leaders
  2. Strategic Leadership and Management – Best for New Managers
  3. Mindfulness Practices – Best for Reducing Stress
  4. Team Facilitation: The Core Skill of Great Team Leaders – Best for Managers with Teams
  5. Nonprofit Ready Leadership Training – Best Free Classes
  6. Leading Teams Remotely – Best for Remote Leaders
  7. Agile Leadership Principles and Practices – Best for Modern Leaders

More in-depth reviews of the top 7 leadership courses are below. Read on to learn about who it benefits, how it benefits them, and potential drawbacks. This information will help you determine which courses are right for you.

#1 – CCL Leadership Development Program – Best for Most Leaders

  • Oldest leadership program on the market
  • Problem solving & stress management
  • Great for mid-level/senior mgmt
  • Over 50,000 graduates

Learn more

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How to Procrastinate Successfully and Defeat Pointless Procrastination

How to Procrastinate Successfully and Defeat Pointless Procrastination

“In a prosperous society most misery is self-inflicted.” George Ainslie*

Squirrel chasing, avoiding discomfort, perfectionism, and waiting to the last minute are symptoms self-inflicted misery.

Procrastinators make on average $15,000 less than non-procrastinators. Nguyen, Steel, & Ferrari**

Squirrel Put off low impact activities so you can do what matters.

Procrastinate successfully:

Put off creative activities. Many people who come up with original ideas let them ruminate. Adam Grant

Put off low impact activities so you can do what matters.

The person who does a few quick things before beginning an important thing spends their best energy on low impact activities.

It takes courage to stop doing the next thing so you can focus on important things.

Defeat pointless procrastination:

#1. Accept it.

Procrastination is normal. Most people procrastinate from time to time. College students are the best procrastinators.

Guilt creates avoidance.

Don’t beat yourself up for procrastinating. You’re less likely to solve a problem when guilt and shame dominate your thinking.

#2. Begin strong.

Do the hard thing first. Brian Tracy says, “Eat That Frog.”

#3. Boost accessibility.

Make it easy to do things you put off. I recently put some dumbbells near the door of my office. I pump a little iron before I sit at my desk, very little.

#4. Say good enough.

Something done imperfectly is better than something not done at all. You can always improve something after you do it imperfectly.

The future is built one imperfect step at a time.

Procrastinators think, why begin if you don’t have time to finish.

#5. Improve calendar management.

The ability to manage your calendar is the ability to manage your life.

Place important items on next week’s calendar before it fills up.

Schedule free time. The procrastinator in you loves to see free time on your calendar.

Evaluate your calendar. What’s on your calendar that others might do?

Tip: Never procrastinate on bedtime.

What suggestions do you have for chronic procrastinators?

What low impact activities are better left undone or postponed?

*Ainsile, G. (2005). Precis of Breakdown of Will. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, 635-673.

Dear Dan: I Put Stuff Off and Work All Weekend

**Procrastination’s Impact in the Workplace and the Workplace’s Impact on Procrastination | Joseph R. Ferrari – Academia.edu

When Is Procrastination a Matter of Mental Health?



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