Book2Use - Confessions of an Entrepreneur - How to survive the highs and lows of starting up

Confessions of an Entrepreneur - How to survive the highs and lows of starting up by Chris Robson



"This is not a textbook about writing a business plan or choosing the right business idea. Those books exist already. This doesn't"

"As Nick Wheeler, founder of Charles Tyrwhitt, said:'It wasn't the idea - it was about doing better. The idea wasn't the issue. The vast majority of businesses are trying to be different. People say that they can't start a business because they don't have any idea. They don't need a new idea!'"

This is another book I like; Clear in delivering and simple in language. Chris presented his emotional journey in this book when he started his company. This is valuable for Entrepreneurs who are starting or started a company or business.

Let me share with you the lesson is important to me:

The key lessons for any entrepreneur who hits rock bottom:
1. Don't retreat ignominiously
2. Make a simple plan to move forward
3. Don't be bitter about what happened
4. Don't see what happened as a failure
5. Recognise that you many need more safety nets next time
6. or recognise, as Seb James did, that being an entrepreneur was not the right career: 'It has taught me that I am shit at starting things'

You can review the book here:
Confessions of an Entrepreneur: The Highs and Lows of Starting Up

Book2Use - Socialnomics - How Social Media Transforms The Way We Live and Do Business

Socialnomics - How Social Media Transforms The Way We Live and Do Business by Erik Qualman

I read this and I find Erik has given best views and ideas on the impact of social media onto business. Below are some of the points that I find it useful to remember and use.


"Content and Conversation will drive awareness - not advertising


World of Mouth is an advancement of Word of Mouth as: 1) it disseminates the information quickly and globally; 2) its digital aspect allows the original integrity of the message to remain intact; and 3) it is traceable to an original source


Businesses don't have a choice on whether or not to DO social media, their choice is how well they DO it.


Ineffective companies spend time attempting to obfuscate or manipulate negative comments within social media. Good companies spend time addressing and resolving customer complaints.


Try to use social media to get hired vs. fired.


Social media is the new inbox: Younger generations find e-mail antiquated and passé. 


The main threat to Google in the search wars is not another search engine, but the rise of search queries within social media. More and more, products and services will find us (as opposed to us finding them).


Marketers' jobs have changed from creating and pushing to one that requires listening, engaging, and reacting to potential and current customer needs.


It's better to live a social media life making mistakes than living a social media life doing nothing.


Don't forget that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social media go hand in hand.


Don't build your own Field of Nightmares by creating or replicating a social network for your company. If you built it, they most likely will not come. You are better connecting to the best in class social media tools that exist.


The overall achievement of individuals and companies will be largely dependent on their social media success.


Proactively build your digital business network before you need it."

You can find more information here:

Book2Use - The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea

This is a simple to understand and easy to read book about some of the laws for becoming Success. I find that all these laws are very fundamental and easy to exercise.

Let me give you the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success at the end of the book.

The Law of Value
Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.

The Law of Compensation
Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.

The Law of Influence
Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first.

The Law of Authenticity
The more valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.

The Law of Receptivity
The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

Visit http://www.thegogiver.com/

Book2use - Flicking Your Creative Switch by Wayne Lotherington

Flicking Your Creative Switch by Wayne Lotherington (Author), Alan Pease (Foreword)

A great book to read to enhance your creativity. You have to be opened to be creative and also remember that "Everyone can be creative".

From Amazon:

Flicking Your Creative Switch: Developing Brighter Ideas For Business

From the Inside Flap

"These days we’re all being encouraged to be more creative and innovative. And for good reason. Creative thinking and innovative actions give us the edge over our competitors, whether we are competing at school, on the football field, in the market place or at a global level. Despite it’s importance and its impact on our success, no one seems to tell us how to be creative. But this easy-to-read book can help you learn the core principles of creativity and enable you to develop the bright ideas that lead to innovative actions.

Flicking Your Creative Switch contains six inspiring creative-thinking tools that you can learn and apply immediately. Tools like Eyes of Experts, Random Word, What’s Hot and Extremes will help you come up with creative ideas in a matter of minutes. The more challenging tools of Curly Questions and Exquisite Corpse will give you a fascinating new way of looking at business – whether its yours, your client’s or that of a competitor.

Packed with examples, advice and exercises, this invaluable book will help you to:

• Understand creativity and innovative and the relationship between the two
• Recognise the importance of creative thinking in your business life
• Believe in the creative power within yourself
• Realise how your creative mind works
• Access new creative thinking tools as and when required
• Come up with multiple bright ideas for any business problem or opportunity
• Develop the most important habit of all…the creative habit!

This book is a must for anyone who wants to develop brighter ideas that bring a competitive edge to themselves or to their business."

From Amazon:

Flicking Your Creative Switch: Developing Brighter Ideas For Business

What you can take back:

There are Six Techniques which you can use to help you generate ideas:

1. Random Noun - Take a noun randomly from somewhere and apply it to the subject. Pictures can be used too.
2. Eyes of Experts - Choose three (3) respected experts from other fields and consider how they would deal with your issue. This is a variation where you view it through other different category.
3. What's Hot? - Use popular current things to appeal to your audience.
4. Curly Questions - Use analogies, speculation, role reversal and imagination to re-phrase the issue at hand so that more original answers can be found.
5. Exaggeration and Depravation - Over-exaggerate the benefits of the product, or push to ludicrous extremes what happens if that product isn't present.
6. Exquisite Corpse - Based on surrealit thinking, different people randomly select five words to create a sentence in the pattern adjective/noun/verb/adjective/noun. The each word is scrutinized to review problem.

Read more here:

Book2Use - The NOW HABIT at WORK by Neil A. Fiore, Ph.D.

The NOW HABIT at WORK by Neil A. Fiore, Ph.D.

Chapter 1 - The Seven Essential Strategies
Chapter 2 - Time and Life Management
Chapter 3 - The Language of Effective Self-Management
Chapter 4 - Effective Communication
Chapter 5 - The power of Focusing
Chapter 6 - The Power of a Compelling Mission
Chapter 7 - Ignite Your Motivation
Chapter 8 - Effective Goal Setting
Chapter 9 - Managing Procrastinators and Difficult Employees

If you really want to overcome your procrastination, read this book. Neil Fiore, Ph.D., wrote this fantastic book “THE NOW HABIT at WORK” is a timeless business and life strategies that work as the fundamentals are simple yet powerful.

You can find the product review and some insight here in Amazon:
The Now Habit at Work: Perform Optimally, Maintain Focus, and Ignite Motivation in Yourself and Others

From the Inside Flap of the book:

"Drawn from the latest neuroscience, cognitive behavioral psychology, and peak performance research, The Now Habit at Work enables you to optimize your approach so you:

• Identify your negative habits and develop corrective actions
• Use the Law of Reverse Effort to accomplish more by struggling less
• Shift from defending your ego to focusing on the task of achieving your goal
• Learn how to focus on when, where, and what to start so you can stop feeling overwhelmed by large projects
• Work with the power of your entire brain's left and right hemispheres so you achieve twice as much in half the time
• Align your daily actions with your higher values and goals

Filled with practical examples and exercises that are thoroughly tested and easy to implement, The Now Habit at Work will enable you to increase your productivity while eliminating negative patterns and reducing your stress. You'll be amazed as your new habits improve your work/life balance and inspire those around you to create a vigorous organization with a healthy bottom line!"

I have read and felt this book is a work of self-help brilliance. Let me give you my take on one of his tactics which I use it for effective time management.

“How to be effective in using your time”

• Use your full brain and focus fully to SKIM books and material that you want to read.
• Before you start, ask what information you want to get out of the material.
• Start Skimming for Diagrams, Pictures, Charts, Graphs, Questions at the end, Opening/Closing paragraphs. Do this for about 10~15min.
• Formulate your question or the knowledge you wish to seek, then you begin to read in detail at the specific chapter for the knowledge you want. Do this for 30min. If you need more time, do for another 30min.
• What do I gain? Fast and more focus on getting the answer I want. Time is saved.

The above Tactic is found in Chapter 7 "Ignite Your Motivation".

Check out the book:

You can find the product review and some insight here in Amazon:

Check the link here:

Book2Use - Leadership Wisdom from the Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Leadership Wisdom from the Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

This is the first time reading Robin Sharma's work. He uses story narrative to give us lesson in Leadership Wisdom which I feel that it is true to life. In fact, the problems and situation describe in the book is similar to my ex-company; low productivity, low moral, declining revenue etc. Yes, all these did happen and I saw this on my ex-boss.

The 8 rituals of leadership wisdom is timeless fundamental which one can go back to common sense or basic to find the answer. Robin did a excellent job in giving great details of the 8 rituals as well as the problems. Leadership wisdom not only can apply in corporate world, it

also can apply at home. You are the head of the family and thus a leader. An old saying "In order to manage a country well, one must manage one's family matter. In order to manage one's family matter well, one must manage oneself."

Let me give you the 8 rituals and I will give one of the rituals that I feel most important.

• The ritual of Compelling Future Focus
• The ritual of Human Relations
• The ritual of Team Unity
• The ritual of Adaptability and Change Management
• The ritual of Personal Effectiveness
• The ritual of Self-Leadership
• The ritual of Creativity and Innovation
• The ritual of Contribution and Significance

Ritual here define as the action that one makes everyday without fail. This is like brushing teeth every morning, saying prayer for every meal and etc. We do the same action every time and without fail. The 8 rituals of leadership wisdom has to be practiced and make it a habit that come naturally.

Something you can take back:

The ritual of Compelling Future Focus

The main point of Compelling Future Focus is that the visionary leader "instills a sense of passion within his people by engaging their hearts and minds through the power of his purpose".

Steps to take:

Find a truly compelling cause or worthy vision for the future of your company
Communicate effectively it to your employees in a way that fulfills their hunger/need to contribute

Take an example from Robin's book on creating the mission statement

that engage employees:

Previous Mission Statement:

"To be preferred supplier of our customers, to create high quality products and to grow into a five-billion-dollar company within five years."

New Mission Statement:

"GlobalView is passionately committed to saving lives of men, women and children by providing our respected customers with cutting-edge, high value software that allows them to brilliantly serve their patients' need. Our five-year goal is to save the lives of over five million people and make a significant and lasting impact on the healthcare industry."

Read the book. It contains timeless fundamentals that not only will change your company but also will change your life.

Book2Use - Lucrative List Building by Glen Hopkins

Lucrative List Building by Glen Hopkins

What this book is about?

In any marketing, customer base is what we after. In real world

business, your customer is your most valuable asset; without buying

customer mean no revenue.

Like Glen put it in his book: "you must have your own list No Matter

what your Niche is"

In his book, 10 secrets of list building are shown:

1. Squeezed pages
2. Signature Files and Business cards
3. Viral Marketing
4. Articles
5. Search Engine Traffic
6. Ezine Adertising
7. Mastermind Groups/Joint Ventures
8. Affiliate Marketing
9. Teleseminars
10. Co-registration

How to get start building your list?

How to get start building your list?

Step 1 - Select and Purchase your domain.
2 options for selecting your domain name. 1) Your company brand 2)
your area of expertise
As for domain registrar, there are many out there who provide value
for money and service

Step 2 - Find a hosting Service
In my opinion. this is least important as there are many reputable
domain hosting on Internet.

Step 3 - Automate your business with Autoresponder.
Autoresponder is a system or tool that help you send out email to your
subscribers automatically. There are 2 types of autoresponder; Single
& sequential. Single autoresponder send a reply to your friend when
the email host receive an email from your friend. Sequential
autoresponder will send sequential emails in different numbers of day
apart.
There are few autoresponder service providers in the market and if you
are not tech savy and do not want to pay webmaster to set up the
autoresponder, go for online autoresponder service providers. I do
recommend the following: Aweber, Constantcontact, getrespond

Step 4 - Set up a squeeze page.
The purpose is to capture email for those who visited your site. Rules
to catch email: Offer something valuable for signing up, Clear and
easy sign up box.

Step 5 - Create a sale page
Once your interested viewer sign up in your mailing list, you can
direct them to your sale page.

Step 6 - Follow up with sequence of email
Follow up = building relationship.
Prepare a list of articles related to your products and services so
that your customer will know more about you.

You can visit Glen Hopkins' website for more information.

Welcome to book2use

My intent and commitment to read books and put them into format that is useful to all. I read mostly practical book like business management, internet marketing, leadership and more on life. I have read many books but most are not documented.

With this blog, I choose to put into use and write down my thoughts. \

Stay tune and stay cool.

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