neilmartin.me
Beats, Business & Life
Proud Dad and family man. A lifelong obsession with music. 3 decades in business and technology. Stuff about this thing called life that I’m still figuring out.
Latest
Fresh off the press
Creme Eggs, Chocolate Soldiers and Emerson’s Rejected Thoughts
I once joked that a Creame Egg with chocolate Fingers for soldiers was the ultimate Easter dippy egg. A couple of years later I think it was in the shops. Emerson on the ideas we park just because they’re ours.
Make People Feel Understood: Henry Ford’s Secret and the FABs of Selling
Most people work hard to be understood. The bigger win is making people feel understood by you. Henry Ford’s one secret of success, why being blind to other points of view costs you, and the difference between features, advantages and benefits.
You Don’t Know Me by Armand Van Helden, and why it’s on my soundtrack
Why You Don’t Know Me by Armand Van Helden, one of my favourite house songs ever, is my track for the person we never take the time to understand.
What wouldn’t you hand to AI?
Ecologi tested AI avatar outreach and stopped before 50 sends. Why deciding what you won’t do with AI is a brand decision.
Track by TrackA soundtrack for Today
You Don’t Know Me by Armand Van Helden, and why it’s on my soundtrack
Why You Don’t Know Me by Armand Van Helden, one of my favourite house songs ever, is my track for the person we never take the time to understand.
Previous tracks
Faithful by Common, and why it had to make my soundtrack
Why Faithful by Common, from his 2005 album Be, is my track for trust and loyalty, and why one of my favourite rappers was always going to make my daily soundtrack.
Be Thankful for What You’ve Got, and why the Massive Attack cover fits today
Why Massive Attack’s cover of Be Thankful for What You’ve Got, from Blue Lines, is my track for a week of gratitude, and what the title asks of you.
This Is Me (The Reimagined Remix), and why it starts with you
Two lines from Missy Elliott’s verse on This Is Me, the track I pick for quiet confidence, and why backing yourself starts with you.
Lovely Day (DJ Eleven Remix Do-Over): Bill Withers Meets Biz Markie
Bill Withers over Marley Marl’s beat for Biz Markie. You won’t find this DJ Eleven do-over on Spotify, so here are the two records behind it, and why I use it to close a set.
Beats
From the Decks
A lifetime of following music down the rabbit hole. The beats, the lyrics, the samples… but more than anything, how it makes you feel.
Sunday Selector
Sunday Selector: Kid Once
Some songs you don’t remember learning. They were just there, on the radio and in the playground, and forty-odd years later they still are.
That’s this playlist. Twenty tracks from the late seventies and early eighties, my primary school and even pre-school years. I couldn’t tell you where I first heard every one of them, but they’re all songs I’ve gone back to again and again since.
read more…You Don’t Know Me by Armand Van Helden, and why it’s on my soundtrack
Why You Don’t Know Me by Armand Van Helden, one of my favourite house songs ever, is my track for the person we never take the time to understand.
Faithful by Common, and why it had to make my soundtrack
Why Faithful by Common, from his 2005 album Be, is my track for trust and loyalty, and why one of my favourite rappers was always going to make my daily soundtrack.
Business
Business In Plain English
Some of it’s about tech. Some of it’s about teams. All of it’s about the conversation that changes everything.
Make People Feel Understood: Henry Ford’s Secret and the FABs of Selling
Most people work hard to be understood. The bigger win is making people feel understood by you. Henry Ford’s one secret of success, why being blind to other points of view costs you, and the difference between features, advantages and benefits.
What wouldn’t you hand to AI?
Ecologi tested AI avatar outreach and stopped before 50 sends. Why deciding what you won’t do with AI is a brand decision.
What? So What? Now What? Hook, Story and Offer in Five Words
Five words, three questions. The simple way I’ve explained hook, story and offer for about a decade, why kids are better at it than most of us, and how to ask for what you want without doing harm.
Life
Everything Else
The stuff off the clock. Good food, fresh threads, and trying to be a bit better than yesterday.
Creme Eggs, Chocolate Soldiers and Emerson’s Rejected Thoughts
I once joked that a Creame Egg with chocolate Fingers for soldiers was the ultimate Easter dippy egg. A couple of years later I think it was in the shops. Emerson on the ideas we park just because they’re ours.
What 28 Conversations Taught Me
Looking back at my 2019 summit, where 28 guests each told me about the one conversation that changed their life, and what the stories had in common.
The Bit After the Bad News Is Yours
Lessons from my 2019 summit on owning your response to a setback, from guests who’d been through sudden disability, hard news about a newborn and a marriage that nearly ended.
About
Hi, I’m Neil
I got my first turntables in 1987, when I was 12, and I’ve been playing records to people ever since. I’ve been in business for three decades and I wrote a book called Done Beats Perfect. This is where I write it all down.
By day I’m Director of Marketing & Edutainment at ActionCOACH UK.
DJing since 1987Three decades in businessAuthor, Done Beats Perfect
The book
Done Beats Perfect
A short, honest book about putting things off, and how to stop. Paperback, Kindle, or the audiobook read by me.
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