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Book Review: Building on Bedrock, by Derek Lidow

February 15, 2018 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

Successful entrepreneurship starts with donkey poop and watermelon juice, according to Derek Lidow. I couldn’t agree more.

Some people think that successful entrepreneurs roll around in expensive cars, giving interviews on CNN, and gracing the cover of the Wall Street Journal in pixelated glory. The reality of it is years of very hard work, financial sacrifice, lost family time, and unglamorous tasks.

Building on Bedrock by Derek Lidow uses the life stories of some well known (and some not-so-well-known) entrepreneurs to illustrate the path to entrepreneurship. Sam Walton started from nothing (and leveraged the aforementioned donkeys and watermelons), Estee Lauder was struggling against an unkind comment from a store patron, and “Jody” Maroni just didn’t want to work in his dad’s butcher shop.

I’d recommend this as a good read for anyone who might be wondering whether they’re cut out for being an entrepreneur. Using the interwoven stories of these successful men and women, the author provides a “gut check” of how, when, and why you might want to start your own business.

Continuing the lessons of the highlighted men and women, they all slowly built their empires one step at a time. Once the new business was launched, the real success came with control, low risk, and patience. We can all draw some inspiration from these stories.

There is a diversion in the book, going into detail on “high risk” entrepreneurs, and the venture capitalists and angel investors they typically deal with. At first glance, it seems off-topic; however in today’s world of high-flying tech geniuses, it’s useful to know the pros and cons of dealing with that type of business model.

The financial foundation of a quick-start, high risk tech startup is vastly different from the “bedrock” entrepreneurship of a Sam Walton (not that one is better or worse, they’re just different, and it’s best to go in knowing where you fit into the equation). The two different modes require completely different personalities and leadership styles.

Another recurring theme among the entrepreneurs is travel and face-to-face interaction with the team. Walton even bought a used plane at one point, so he could more easily visit his franchise locations. Estee Lauder spent years on the road while her husband took care of the family.

Ultimately, according to Lidow, it comes down to five core skills:

  1. Self Awareness
  2. Relationship Building
  3. Motivating Others
  4. Leading Change
  5. Enterprise Basics

Are you thinking about starting your own business? Would you consider yourself a “bedrock entrepreneur?”

 

 

Disclosure: I was given a digital copy of this book for purposes of this review.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Filed Under: Business Book Tagged With: book review

Book Review: Known, The Handbook for Building and Unleashing Your Personal Brand in the Digital Age

February 23, 2017 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

All of the personal branding gurus out there are leaving out an important piece of the puzzle.

Yes, you should try to discover your life’s passion. But what’s next?

According to Mark W. Schaefer, consultant, speaker, and author of Known, the missing piece is applying your passion in service of a long-term goal.

For example, talking about my obsession with cupcakes is not going to help my personal brand unless I’m opening a bakery.

Mark is a masterful teacher, and he uses extensive interviews with successful people to give the reader actionable advice. He pulls back the curtain on regular people who found the right niche, built an engaged audience, and then patiently activated that audience to achieve a goal.

He’s the right person to talk about this subject, since he left the corporate world and started over as a consultant, using blogging as his calling card to become known in a new professional niche. His blog, {grow}, is now one of the top marketing blogs in the world.

My favorite thing about this book is that it’s written in Mark’s inimitable voice, as if you’re old friends. It’s not a stuffy, by-the-numbers business book.

Each person interviewed brings a new insight to the story, whether it’s the “grandpa who shoots things on YouTube,” or the blogging pediatrician. You’ll just have to read the book to meet these interesting characters.

There is also a separate workbook that takes the lessons from the book and provides a step-by-step walkthrough of the process to become “known.” Each question or prompt will provoke deeper thought and encourage you to put some meat on the bones of your professional plan.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who is struggling to be heard and recognized above the din. You’ll find inspiration and solid ideas in one entertaining package.

 

 

Disclosure: I consider Mark a friend, but he did not request this review or send me a free book (what’s up with that?). I forked out my own hard-earned dollars to purchase it, and these are my unvarnished opinions.

 

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Filed Under: Business Book Tagged With: book review

Book Review: Hug Your Haters, By Jay Baer

February 11, 2016 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

My grandfather would have called Jay Baer “a gentleman, a scholar, and a judge of good whiskey.” In other words, the highest compliment he could give.

Jay is all of those things, and his latest scholarly work is his new book, “Hug Your Haters.”

I was not given a free review copy of this book (what’s up with that?); I purchased it with my own hard-earned dollars because I have been hugging haters for almost 18 years.

Haters come with the territory if you expose yourself by starting a business or promoting an idea. They will come in many different forms, both in-your-face, in person, and anonymously, online.

If you don’t have a strategy for dealing with them, you can find yourself distracted from your mission or worse, with a damaged reputation.

Hug Your Haters teaches you who complains, why they complain, and how to capitalize on those complaints. And the book is built on a solid foundation of data that Jay collected in collaboration with Edison Research.

Capitalize? On complaints?

Do tell…

The research showed that “answering complaints increases customer advocacy, across all customer service channels.”

The book is packed with real-world case studies (refreshingly moving beyond Zappos and Nordstrom). You will be able to recognize your own “hater” situations, as well as some you may need to be prepared for down the road. It’s meant to be a reference book, and I already have highlighted numerous passages for my own future reference.

Below are two quick peeks into the strategies for dealing with offstage haters (private communication behind the scenes) and onstage haters (social media or public comments). You’ll just have to go buy the book to get the complete action plan (and I highly recommend it).

Dealing with OffStage Haters – H-O-U-R-S

  • Be Human
  • Use One Channel
  • Unify Your Data
  • and Resolve the Issue
  • with Speed

Hugging Onstage Haters – F-E-A-R-S

  • Find all Mentions
  • Display Empathy
  • Answer Publicly
  • Reply Only Once
  • Switch Channels

If you have a business, or if you are thinking of having a business, or if your job requires you to communicate directly with customers, you need to read Hug Your Haters.

You’ll thank me later.

And your customers might, too.

 

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

 

Filed Under: Business Book, Uncategorized Tagged With: book review, customer-service

Book Review: E.Q. Librium – Unleash the Power of Your Emotional Intelligence

October 1, 2015 by Rosemary 1 Comment

cover of EQ Librium bookHave you ever had a colleague who was totally brilliant, but had no clue how to handle office politics?

Whenever humans are required to work together in an enclosed space, there is conflict. Those who can manage their emotions effectively become the leaders, and those who can’t, are always grumbling together in the break room.

E.Q. Librium, by Yvette Bethel, provides you with practical tools that can help you achieve balance through your emotions. The book offers a diverse array of case studies, stories, and examples that illustrate how emotional intelligence impacts every aspect of our lives.

The author draws on research as well as her own experiences over 20 years within a Fortune 500 company to offer guidance on how to improve one’s emotional intelligence. That’s the good news–while your IQ is pretty much determined at birth, your EQ can be lifted if you take the time to focus on it.

This book, along with the associated workbook, are no quick-read opinion pieces. You’ll want to take notes, read a chapter at a time, and put the ideas into action immediately. Be forewarned, though, you may catch yourself evaluating the emotional responses of others around you!

Value-Based Characteristics That Will Benefit You and Others

  • Integrity
  • Situational Ethics
  • Ownership
  • If you say you are going to do something, do it
  • Recognize biases
  • Demonstrate courage
  • Weigh as many sides as possible
  • Forgiveness
  • Communication
  • Responsiveness and resourcefulness

Ms. Bethel goes into detail for each of the above characteristics, providing a real-world case study and then research and explanation to go along with it. The chapter on resolving conflict is one I plan to refer back to in the future, as well.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in improving their relationships at work and at home. The principles outlined are applicable whether you’re a solo entrepreneur, a recent graduate, a small business owner, or CEO of a large company.

 

Featured image via Flickr CC: aboutmodafinil.com

Disclosure: I was provided a digital copy of the E.Q. Librium for review purposes. The opinions in this review are my own, unbiased reaction to the book.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Filed Under: Business Book Tagged With: book review, emotional intelligence

Book Review: Content Code, by Mark W. Schaefer

March 19, 2015 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

I suppose it was Mark Schaefer’s responsibility to write this book after he set off the earthquake that was his original post about “content shock” last year. He terrified huge swathes of marketers who were happily cranking out useful, relevant content and hoping for the best. After all, what can a small business or entrepreneur do when they’re up against big brands with agency resources, editors, and video crews?

According to Mark’s newest book, The Content Code, the secret is that content marketing doesn’t end when you create the content. That’s only the beginning.

Content Code book, by Mark W. Schaefer

Mark is, at his heart, an excellent teacher, and that shines through in this very approachable book. Each chapter lays out one of the ways you can “ignite your content” and crack the code.

He explores concepts like how to differentiate your voice, get attention for your brand, and be the go-to resource for your customers.

He has actually lived through the experience of cultivating his own community and successful consulting business, so he is speaking from direct knowledge, not from hypothetical concepts.

Here are the six factors of the content code:

  • Brand development
  • Audience and influencers
  • Distribution, Advertising, Promotion, and SEO
  • Authority
  • “Shareability” embedded into each piece of content
  • Social proof and social signals

There are so many concrete ideas for you to implement, but here are a few great ones just to whet your appetite:

  • Get emotional. Find a way to weave inspiration, laughter, awe, or entertainment into your next blog post.
  • Don’t abandon your older content. That great thing you wrote two weeks ago is still relevant and engaging, and useful to your customers, right? Build in a mechanism where you can re-share older content down the road, and watch it get shared more! Go one step further and re-share content that accrues lots of shares the first time you post it.
  • Comment on new research or ideas. Many of your readers want to share your content because it makes them helpful to their own readers (double karma). Be the one who reads the whole trend report for your industry and makes incisive commentary first.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone involved in marketing, regardless of where they are in their career. There are tidbits in the Content Code for the new marketer as well as the seasoned veteran.

Get the book now, before your competitors do.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Disclosure: I was provided with a digital copy of the book for review purposes.

Filed Under: Business Book Tagged With: bc, book review

Book Review: The Art of the Start 2.0, by Guy Kawasaki

March 5, 2015 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

Have you ever wished you could pick Guy Kawasaki’s brain?

Like, sit down with a pitcher of beer and just pepper him with questions until the pub closes or his head explodes?

This is your lucky day. Guy has done a “brain dump” in the form of an update to his 2004 book, The Art of the Start.

However, The Art of the Start 2.0 is not just a quickly busted-out update, it’s a complete overhaul. It covers everything you want to know about starting a new business, from idea to exit, written by someone who has literally been-there, done-that.

I would recommend it for anyone who is considering answering that little voice in their head, telling them to start something.

Art of the Start 2.0 book review

Guy Kawasaki was the first person I ever knew to hold the job title “Evangelist.” He has been on the giving and receiving end of pitches, and advised companies large and small. He’s seen the heights of the tech boom and the lows of the bubble burst.

He’s the person who will stand over your shoulder and remind you to spend more time on the product than on the furniture in your conference room.

The style of the book brings you right into Guy’s world. There are pithy stories, lessons-learned, exercises, and Q&A galore. It’s not the type of page-turner that you spend a weekend curled up with; it’s a manual that you dog-ear, highlight, and refer to over and over again.

Each chapter ends with recommended reading, so you can dive deeper into any subject as necessary.

“Customers don’t care if you want to destroy the competition. They want to know what benefits they derive from using your product. Also, evangelism is about what you do for your customers–not about what you want to become.” Guy Kawasaki

There is solid business advice in The Art of the Start 2.0, but by far my favorite bits were the hard-won little insider tips.

Remember to bring two thumb drives to your presentations, pick a company name with “verb potential,” and find your Morpheus (someone who will tell it like it is).

Some of the major topics covered include:

  • The Art of Starting Up
  • The Art of Launching
  • The Art of Leading
  • The Art of Bootstrapping
  • The Art of Fund-raising
  • The Art of Pitching
  • The Art of Building a Team
  • The Art of Evangelizing
  • The Art of Socializing
  • The Art of Rainmaking
  • The Art of Partnering
  • The Art of Enduring
  • The Art of Being a Mensch

In my own 20 years of business experience, I’ve been in many of the situations described in the book. It can be intimidating navigating conversations with potential investors, knowing when to hire more staff, and figuring out how to get the word out about your project.

With Guy’s advice in your arsenal, you’ll be ahead of the game.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Disclosure: I was given a digital copy of the book for purposes of this review. My opinion is my own.

Filed Under: Business Book Tagged With: bc, book review, startup

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