YSBWPAUTOMATE

This is an unpublished article I wrote from a recent overseas trip, detailing how a personal touch can make the difference in an evolving business relationship. The Christmas season connects two family-owned businesses with German heritage, thousands of miles apart. The partnership between Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan and Krebs Glas in Germany has survived the cold war, hot wars and economic downturns through

The past year has been an interesting experience for me as I transitioned from being fully employed, through unemployment and underemployment and now into self employement via my business, Cameron Knowles Creative Services. As you might imagine, I economized as best as possible including cutting out expenses when I could. Below are a list of casual expenses I abandoned and will try not to return to

I'm an inveterate multi-tasker. While this feeds my need for variety in my work day, it has its downsides too. Proofing and double-checking is a must for me. And I'm amazed when something compels my entire attention. I've been capturing silent films recently on Turner Classic Movies. I like older films, and will let them run in the background while I'm working on graphic arts

I've recently embraced the motor-scooter lifestyle. After a handful of days on the road, I'm made some observations about how scooter-riding resembles another passion of mine, playing defense on my adult league hockey team. I Can't Get No Respect Riding the motor scooter is an ego-testing experience. While I think make scooting look good (see photo), http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=11080789&l=8c0ca82f81&... , the fact of the matter is that it's

My dad was a police officer, but I’ve become a firefighter. You’re not going to find that skill on my business website,www.cameronknowles.com, but I’m thinking of adding it. I’m not the kind of firefighters who watch over our homes and neighborhoods, but a firefighter within organizations when a crisis breaks out. There are several things to think about to make sure that there’s a successful

As a native of Detroit, the Motor City, I have watched media coverage of Toyota’s troubles with an air of schadenfreude. I don’t usually take pleasure in other people’s discomfort, but I believe the hand-wringing I’ve seen in media coverage on organizations from CNN to NPR comes from the shattering of blind faith in Toyota’s product. I heard one host ask, breathlessly, “what should I

One of my previous lives involved helping to manage crises (yes, there were many) from a public and/or community relations stance. I don’t remember where I first heard the following phrase, or whether I originated it, but I started to refer to my strategy and philosophy on PR problems as ‘Licking the Toad’. What did I mean by that? Well, my philosophy was a simple

I’m 44 years old and I’ve un-friended someone for the first time. And I’ve stopped wringing my hands about it. My first experience with Facebook was in 2003 or 2004, when I was teaching at a community college. I set up my Facebook account under my dog’s name, as an object lesson on how you can’t trust information you find on the internet with out

I came across PlumSmart the other day. My career as a marketing and advertising consultant (www.cameronknowles.com) gives me a different take on how products get their word out. Boil away all of the marketing, and you find Prune Juice. You know prune juice. Found it in Grandma and Grandpa’s fridge. It had its heyday before we started stirring fiber into our beverages, before we started