Inspired by this morning’s post about not making contract language too informal, here are my 11 commandments for drafting business contracts: Contract language should be clear. Contract language should be only as complicated as it needs to be. Contract language should be precise. Contract language should omit redundancy. Contract language shouldn’t say the same thing twice. Contract language should be … Read More
Learning involves relying on others. It’s not remotely feasible for everyone to, uh, do all their own research. Instead, you have to rely on others who really have done research and written it up in a way that makes it accessible. But who do you rely on? The overwhelming majority of commentary out there isn’t reliable, or it’s lightweight. For … Read More
In the early days of the pandemic, the fortunate among us had the luxury of wondering what to do with themselves in isolation. It seems that for many, the answer was, “Baking!” In particular, Ooni pizza ovens have been selling like crazy. If you find yourself in the company of people who own an Ooni pizza oven, be prepared for … Read More
Hell is other people’s reviews. In October I bought a copy of The Joy of Pizza, by Dan Richer with Katie Parla. Richer is owner of the restaurant Razza, a noted pizza joint in Jersey City. Parla is a food writer and cookbook author based in Italy. After buying it, I looked at some reviews on Amazon. I quickly spotted … Read More
On 30 August, Joanne and I should have been in Nashville to see for the first time Steve Earle and his band in concert, but COVID put the kibosh on that. Instead, we saw Colin Hay at the City Winery in New York City. This year I’ve found myself listening more closely than previously to both Earle and Hay. And … Read More
Above is a sample cover slide from my new PowerPoint deck. At the bottom of this post is the cover slide I’ve been using for years, so yes, the new design is a big upgrade. The photo in the cover slide is customizable, so I contemplate changing it for different clients and different kinds of presentations. By itself, a new … Read More
I’ve decided to offer digital credentials—a certificate and a badge—to participants in my course Drafting Clearer Contracts: Masterclass. You’ll be able to click on the certificate to confirm that it’s authentic and get details of the course. And you’ll be able to upload the clickable badge on LinkedIn and elsewhere. The digital badge is in the image above; it was … Read More
Since 2013, I’ve had only one web designer—Selene Bowlby of iDesign Studios. Working with her has been gratifyingly straightforward: I tell her what I want and she builds it, using her technical and design skills to give specific form to my very general wishes. I’ve always been pleased with the results. And in between sporadic rebuilds, she looks after things. … Read More
The engine driving my rebranding (described in this blog post) was my new logo, by my new graphic designer, Gothard. Yes, that’s it, above. (I also have four Drafting Clearer Contracts variants.) I think it’s great. I got it through a contest I ran using 99designs. I chose to do a “Platinum” contest, the most expensive level—I had one shot, … Read More
Take a look around—I’ve rebranded! “Rebranding” sounds vacuously corporate, but what the heck—I’m going with it. I’ve overhauled my look enough that the sum is modestly greater than the parts, so “rebranding” it is. These posts describe the elements: Rebranding: New Logo Rebranding: New Website Rebranding: Digital Credentials Rebranding: New PowerPoint I like to think that because the design face … Read More
