Startup Nation

Spent a few minutes looking at some of the forums out there for start u businesses.  I like the one at Startup Nation…

Doug Hall and “Jump Start Your Business Brain”

Doug Hall has distilled a lifetime of marketing research into this one book with the essentials on what a successful marketing campaign should contain. He does this with a dynamic use of statistics to supports his points and anecdotal evidence from his experiences in helping businesses.

Designed for the individual that must build and manage the marketing program of his or her company, this book has ramifications that impact all levels of the hierarchy. It does so by reminding the reader that the business exists to serve a fundamental need of the client – and everybody must understand and be able to articulate what valuable purpose they serve.

Developed in two sections, Hall expands on how to generate better (more effective) marketing messages in the first and how to generate new ideas in the second. From the first pages, it is clear that this is a serious book of applied research. Jump Start Your Business Brain doesn’t want you to win advertising awards; the best award is making more money with less, but better informed, effort.

The sections include small exercises to illustrate your current position and define your strengths and weaknesses. The clarity of the writing really assists in the process. Doug Hall doesn’t leave you guessing about the application of his principles. He is very explicit in his statements and backs it with evidence.

The highest praise I can offer it is that I have used the principles to redesign my campaigns. I know my messages and more importantly, my clients now know my message.

My increased sales are a testament to Doug Hall’s applied research.

Is the Economy Tanking?

This article from msnbc.com gives survival tips for small businesses. But I wonder – Is the economy really that bad?

My business, which serves the real estate industry, is booming along (and, no, I don’t process foreclosures!) and I’m up almost 30 percent from last year.

Bad news sells and the MSM has their fair share of bad (self-inflicted) news but for the average small business, it looks decent.

 

How to go from “Broke blues guitar player” to “rich Internet marketer”

 

If you wanted every tip known to man on how to be a broke blues guitarist, Pat O’Bryan is your man.  Here’s a guy that has played music professionally for the better part of 30 years, toured Europe, landed recording contracts.  And he’s been so broke that he had a trailer repossessed.  That’s broke.  Pat today would be the first to tell you that “a career in music is as dangerous as a crack habit” for him.  Why?  He explains it in his book, Your Portable Empire.  Written after the broke guitarist stage, O’Bryan is able to sell his narrative with grace and humor.

 

Which leads us to Pat O’Bryan, rich Internet marketer.

 

This Pat O’Bryan is a hugely successful marketer who does his best work by the pool with a cigar in his mouth and wine in his hand – though it’s a struggle to call that work.  O’Bryan has developed a consistent system to deliver products to willing buyers.  Not just any products but products that he has created to answer the specific questions that they are asking.  His reward has been to make more money than he ever thought possible.

 

O’Bryan’s book, Your Portable Empire: How to Make Money Anywhere While Doing What You Love, is both autobiographical – he doesn’t spare himself embarrassment describing his life as an aging hippie musician- and informational as he explains his system, the steps to build it and how to duplicate it.  It’s also a genuinely fun read – a quality that is lacking in many “how-to” business books. 

 

The first half of the book deals with the “how-to’s”.  How to create a product.  How to get a list.  How to find mentors.  How to find a joint venture.  It’s the “how-to” toolbox for anybody that is looking to create an internet business in information products. 

 

Not interested in information products?  Then take his same techniques and apply them to marketing your product or service.  The key is automating your systems to remove you from the machine.  By automating, you free yourself to take advantage of opportunities as they come at you instead of chasing your tail with unproductive tasks.  In this sense, he is preaching from the same book as Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich.  Automate, automate, automate.  Look constantly to streamline your systems.

 

Each of the “how-to’s” are written by experts in their field: Craig Perrine for marketing, Joe Vitale, one of the stars of The Secret (Original Edition) and author of the Attractor Factor, for copywriting and a cascade of others, each with a unique point to make.  The only complaint about these sections is a lack of a call to action.

 

It’s in the second half of the book that Pat O’Bryan shines.  All the skills training in the world won’t help you create Your Portable Empire unless you combine them with the mental and emotional skills to apply them consistently and successfully.  Starting with a chapter titled “Your Inner Game” and moving to topics such as Self-sabotage Solutions, the Gold Zone, Failing Up and The Magical Marketing Tour, he takes you through the mental tools that you’ll need.  Every lesson is one he learned the hard way – by living it.

That’s powerful in telling and he’s brilliant at teaching it.

 

This is a terrific motivational book with a ton to recommend it for skills building especially for the beginning infoprenuers.  More advanced marketers will recognize and appreciate the emphasis on the Inner Game. 

 

 

do people really like top 10 stories?

Turns out that the folks at Google Cache had some time on their hands and calculated the best number for a List of Top ___ widgets/blogs/whatevers.

What’s the number?  Head over and check it out….

Independant Contractors or Employee?

Looks like the Senate has decided that IC’s might be part of the “underground” economy. 

“You say the worker is in an independent contractor. The IRS says he or she is an employee.”

Read. Weep. Follow the money.

Bezos and the Booksellers

Key graf from this AP story:

“Bezos continued his advocacy of the Kindle e-book reader, billed as “revolutionary” by the retailer, although at this point more as a concept than as a way of life. His talk disappointed many attendees, who had hoped that he would announce some major news, but it did continue the ongoing discussion of the e-future. “

Book sellers are dying and the proposed solution from the biggest player seems to be to hand them an anchor.  The Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device is not being well received.  I haven’t picked one up yet to try it but I must admit that I like the feel of a book, the sound of the pages turning and textures to the type.  Don’t think that the Kindle will deliver that.  We’ll see.

 

 

Finishing Trump 101, Starting “The World is Flat”

I’ll have a post up in the next day or two about Trump’s book, Trump 101: The Way to Success.

For now, the short version is that this book is not going to teach you a dozen different methods for building opulent towers, getting tons of free publicity or how to manage a bad comb-over.

It will give you the mind tools to develop specific strageties for success. 

Definitely not a how-to-do book; more a how-to-think book.

More later.