I was driving down to Chicago Saturday. West Loop. Going to see my kids. Seventy degrees, which in Wisconsin in the spring feels like somebody handed you a gift you didn’t ask for and couldn’t be more grateful to receive.And as I’m cruising through I...
Most funeral homes are trying to fix their marketing at the top of the stack.Campaigns. Postcards. Facebook ads.All surface level stuff.And I get it, because that’s where the visible problems are. Leads aren’t coming in. Pre-need contracts aren’t get...
A Sunday morning riff sparked by a Barron’s piece: AI is not just a “tech story.” It is a civilization-scale infrastructure buildout already underway. Data centers under construction are projected to consume electricity on the scale of an entire coun...
No More ExcuseI was talking with Welton Hong recently — CEO of Ring Ring Marketing and one of the sharpest digital minds in death care. He said something I want you to sit with.“There’s no more excuse for not knowing how to write great content. You’...
"You can still dunk in the dark..." Remember that super bow ad? this is the $10 Million Lesson Funeral Homes Keep Missing...Super Bowl 47. 2013. Third quarter. The lights go out in the Superdome. Total blackout. 34 minutes.Nobody planned for this. No...
In 2025, I spent some time with a firm in Northern Illinois that represents the true challenge for your family funeral business. It reminded me of a battle in the civil war and inspired me to create this piece…The Hornet’s NestThat’s what Confederat...
Mark Zuckerberg says, “Move fast and break stuff.”Most people hear that and think it’s reckless. But here’s what I’ve learned after years in the funeral profession: It’s often easier to do the BIG things than the little things. To think BIG instead o...
Episode OverviewIn this episode, John challenges one of the funeral profession’s most damaging beliefs: that being “too professional” for proactive marketing is noble. Recorded on a cold January morning in Wisconsin while working on his upcoming book...
Show notes below created by Riverside.fm AIKeywordsAI, technology, cybersecurity, job security, personal branding, training, safety, advertising, innovation, 2026SummaryIn this episode of the Johnny Renaissance Podcast, John and Carl Ashworth discuss...
Does the math inside your pre-need program actually work?Not “could it work if...”Not “it’ll work when...”Does it work RIGHT NOW, today, as currently structured?I just wrapped a year where we grew a single-owner funeral home’s pre-need program by 41%...