Posts Tagged ‘bookreview’
Confessions from an Entrepreneur
Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
It’s nice to hear an inspiring story from an experienced entrepreneur. Ash Kumra has compiled 35 such stories from a diverse array of entrepreneurs in his book, “Confessions from an Entrepreneur (Volume 1)“.
When you want something more substantive than an inspirational quote but don’t have time to read an entire book or long chapter about entrepreneurship, then a bite-sized chapter from “Confessions from an Entrepreneur” is the ideal option.
Currently available on Kindle ($4.99 at the time of this writing) and soon available in paperback, this is an affordable book that every entrepreneur should have and share with fellow entrepreneurs.
How a Cultural Pendulum Becomes an Entrepreneur’s Advantage
Friday, November 9th, 2012
When we find ways to level the playing field for small businesses and entrepreneurs, we share them.
The slowest of the herd get eaten.
The view for the middle of the pack never changes.
But those at the front eat first and best.
The Reality
There is no perfect crystal ball, but information does exist that can give us a competitive advantage. We don’t need perfect foresight, just better information sooner than our competitors. Relying on trends and patterns identified exclusively for a slice of society, such as stock markets or fashion, may provide minor insight into what we should do now and what we should plan to do in the future, but isolating a piece of society to forecast the future may be severely limited in value.
The Challenge
The challenge is to identify patterns so we don’t fight trends we can’t control. We must find ways to harness the natural energy within markets so that our businesses benefit from motions we cannot control but can be leveraged to our advantage.
Waves oscillate. Capital markets oscillate. People, populations and political winds oscillate. Oscillation is a given within both nature and man. When we tune our businesses to the right oscillations, we compete and serve our customers more effectively.
The Approach
If you could identify a pattern that has held up for thousands of years, that oscillates with regularity and integrates broad cultural trends to show how humankind collectively swings like a pendulum back and forth between a “We” mindset and a “Me” mindset, would you have an advantage over your competition?
If you had information that enabled you to target belief systems, worldviews and attitudes instead of simply age groups or other narrow demographics, would you have an advantage over your competition?
Yes.
The Solution
When we find ways to level the playing field for small businesses and entrepreneurs, we share them.
Pendulum is a program you should seriously consider.
Entrepreneurs need a better way to figure out what people need now and will need in the future, not what they needed yesterday.
Entrepreneurs need to know what marketing angle will be most effective in reaching people.
Entrepreneurs must avoid investing in marketing that may have been previously successful but will likely flop now and in the future.
Patterns have emerged through the oscillation of our culture over time. Pendulum has uncovered a tantalizingly interesting pattern that can benefit us and our customers, which is why we have decided to share this with you while exploring it ourselves.
History, if you will listen to her voice, may stutter sometimes, but she is a brilliant teacher.
Fearless Living …and Working
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
Q. Would you be able to point me to a resource – book, website, etc. – that I could learn about risk taking and how to do it?
A. Check out a book called “Fearless Living“. The author has a lot of interesting things to say about fear and risk; they kind of go hand-in-hand.
Stretch, Risk, Die.
Rhonda explains the zones of fear and comfort (“stretch, risk and die”) in a very straightforward way. Fear is often as much a part of an entrepreneur’s life as risk. Building a startup often has daunting moments. Starting a business can be intimidating. Managing, coping or resolving fear is critical, and Rhonda Britten’s approach is one of the best.
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Are You Three Feet from Gold?
Monday, September 19th, 2011Entrepreneurs, small business owners and founders of startups tirelessly work toward turning their business vision into a commercial reality, and possibly a metaphorical gold mine. While the destination and even the journey can be rewarding, it’s often lonely and frustrating to the point entrepreneurs often give up. If this describes you, then read “Three Feet From Gold” before making your final decision to throw in the towel. It may be a life-changing choice.
There’s no doubt that Napoleon Hill has influenced many generations of leaders with his research and writing that stems from a 1908 encounter with Andrew Carnegie.
Hill’s principals have been artfully brought into today’s business landscape with the book, “Three Feet from Gold”. ActSeed champions books and individuals who can both educate and inspire. Sharon Lechter and Greg Reid do this well.
When you buy this book, buy a notepad, too. This is one of those books that inspire you to take notes and then muster the tenacity you need to pursue your own purpose.
As the book states, the greatest reason for failure is quitting. Don’t even consider quitting until you have read this book.
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Impact Your Business
Saturday, June 11th, 2011Many entrepreneurs are “allergic to the numbers side of the business”. Part of the high failure rate of small businesses is due to avoiding and ignoring basic financial principals.
Ken Kaufman’s book explains the essentials of small business finance and how to easily apply them through the use of allegory. In other words, he uses “good ol’ fashioned story-telling” to make even the most finance-phobic business owner learn and appreciate the need for quantitative, financial management.
This is not just a story about Steve, a man struggling as a small business owner, a husband and a dad. It is a guide penned in a way we can all identify with. It goes beyond merely being clever about teaching financials.
For example, in Chapter 23, the protagonist (Steve) starts to see, from his own experiences, how anxiety and clarity are negatively correlated. This is a non-financial lesson we all must learn and respect. This book is full of well-articulated insights that we all face as business owners.
The first time you read it, Kaufman’s book is an enjoyable story that “hits home”. Then, it becomes a very useful reference guide for the next hundred times you’ll take it off your bookshelf.
You can get your copy of “Impact Your Business” here.
The Realities of Being an Entrepreneur in One Book
Friday, May 6th, 2011“Most people start businesses simply because they just don’t like working for someone else.”
If this quote resonates with you, or even if you have another motive for becoming an entrepreneur, you should read this book.
Scott Shane packs this book with statistics and information that really helps you understand the realities of building a business. If you are a true entrepreneur, this book should sober your expectations and then bolster your resolve. If you aren’t quite there yet as an entrepreneur, this book will properly discourage you from burning too much of your own time and money (not to mention the time and money of others) until you are truly ready to “do it the right way.”
In this book, Shane shares statistics and data about where funding comes from for new business creation, what impact VC and angels have on new business creation, which industries receive most of their funds and who may likely be the best source of funds for your own business. He shares data about how long it usually takes to “turn the corner” with a new business and the demographics of entrepreneurship, too.
The Illusions of Entrepreneurship pulls data from a multitude of resources, including the Federal Reserve Survey of Small business Finance and the Center for Venture Research in New Hampshire. Essentially, Scott Shane has condensed thousands of pages of research into a single, coherent book.
This book is one of the first ones you should read if you are contemplating the plunge into the world of entrepreneurship.
You can purchase this book from ActSeed’s Amazon store here.
Enjoy!
How to Write an Effective Business Plan in the 21st Century
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010David Ronick has penned a winner.
If you’ve never drafted a business plan (and need to), “Hit the Deck” is a great investment.
The title of Chapter 1 is “You Need a Business Plan. (Yes, This Means You)”. We absolutely agree, so we read further.
We’re glad we did. Ronick really “cuts to the chase” about what a business plan of the 21st century should look like and why it’s important not only for pursuing investors, but even more for the entrepreneur to set a solid foundation to enter the marketplace and complete.
Lots of step-by-step guidance and examples.
If you’re new to investing, it’s a great book for you to read as well; here, you can learn what you should be understanding and what you should be seeing from the entrepreneur pitching you an idea.
The days of a business plan looking like a 48 page master’s thesis are gone. David shows you how to craft a solid plan quickly and with both internal and external impact. Again, it’s a book you should add to your library, a quick read, and won’t set you back more than $15 or so.
You can buy “Hit the Deck” by clicking here.
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