So take a look at these short write-ups and see if they belong on your summer business book list as well.

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work 
by Chip Heath and Dan Heath 

I was lucky enough to see Dan Heath (@Heathbrothers) speak about the insightful and simple decision making process that anyone can use for both personal and business decisions.  In fact, that’s where I got my copy of this book.

Like their previous books; Made to Stick and Switch, Decisive is written in an engaging style that’s easy to read. Decisive is loaded with lots of wonderful examples of familiar brands and how they made both good and bad decisions.  Here’s a teaser – Remember the old story about David Lee Roth and his insane request for having all the brown M&Ms removed?  It’s true.

But you’ll want to read the book to find out the method behind the madness.

Contagious: Why Things Catch On 
by Jonah Berger 

An enthusiastic referral from a fellow business book junkie convinced me to buy this book by Jonah Berger (@J1Berger) and I have been referring it to anyone who asked me about how to generate word-of-mouth for their business.

This is a fabulous summer read because it has all the ingredients – fun stories about brands you’ve heard of and other small businesses that have creatively tripped the triggers that make us want to share and spread the word about businesses and products we love.

What’s the Future of Business: Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences
by Brian Solis

Brian Solis (@BrianSolis) is at it again.  The Future of Business is the ideal summer read because it’s what I call a “thinking book.”  This is a beautiful hardbound book with plenty of full-color graphics that illustrate Solis’ points about the ongoing and increasing importance of creating meaningful experiences for your customers that gets them hooked and keeps them coming back for more.

Here are just a few of the points you’ll ponder: Why experiences matter to your nosiness, what’s the importance of brand in a world of “Digital Darwinism” and how to marry customer experience with leadership.

Definitely a book loaded with big thoughts for small business.

Rock Your Business: What You and Your Company Can Learn from the Business of Rock and Roll
by David Fishof and Michael Levin

What’s summer without Rock ‘n’ Roll?  I’m not even going to contemplate it.  Instead, I’m going to sit down and read my review copy of Rock Your Business.  David Fishof (@DFishof) is the Founder of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camps that have been a huge hit with music fans who dream of getting on stage with their favorite rock stars.

In this hot summer read, you’ll pick up the strategies that rock stars use to launch them from garage band to household name.  Rock Your Business covers all the business basics, from how to create a business plan to writing out the perfect pitch.

What can be better than using your love of rock and roll to grow your business?

Stiletto Network: Inside the Women’s Power Circles That Are Changing the Face of Business
by Pamela Ryckman

If you’re a guy, you’re probably thinking about passing on this book.  I can respect that.  But Stiletto Network brings to light a very interesting trend; women collaborating, working together and leveraging their collective wisdom to succeed both individually and together.

I’m not at all prudish, but I have to admit that some of these women’s networking group names really piqued my interest; “Power Bitches,” “Brazen Hussies,” and “S.L.U.T.S (Successful Ladies Under Tremendous Pressure).  With names like that, can you really afford to ignore their impact on small business?

Pamela Rykman (@Pamela Ryckman) is a New York Times author.  So you know the writing is good and engaging.  If you’re a woman business owner, you might be inspired to start your own brain trust.  And the guys will certainly get a peek inside what my husband likes to call “The Women’s Mysteries” – of business.

Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs
by Larry Keeley, Helen Walters, Ryan Pikkel and Brian Quinn

This is yet another beautifully designed book, full of colorful graphics that enhance the content and make it a lot easier to read and understand.  I really love the principle of this book that innovation and success happen by design.

The authors, who are highly qualified strategists, prove their knowledge inside the pages of this book.  Innovation is a complex topic and the text and graphics guide the reader through the authors process rather effortlessly.

This is a highly heady topic brought down to earth in manageable, understandable and doable chunks.

Whiteboard Selling: Empowering Sales Through Visuals
by Corey Sommers and David Jenkins

How many times have you heard that PowerPoint is “out?”  Whiteboard Selling is saying exactly that, but not because PowerPoint is bad, but because PowerPoint can disconnect you from engaging with your customers.

The authors point out how powerful standing in front of a whiteboard can be in building the relationship between salesperson and customer.  More importantly than the message, however, is the fact that this book also offers mini tutorials and training on how to use the whiteboard in a variety of selling situations to pull out specific customer needs.

I received a review copy of this book but would have bought it on my own.  In fact, if you’re a fan of Back of the Napkin  and Blah Blah, Blah, this is a book you’ll want to read as well.

There you have my summer business book reading list.  What’s on your reading list this summer?

The post 7 Best Business Books for Summer Reading appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Summer Reading List

A Brief History of Swearing by Melissa Mohr

After spending about 25 years in manufacturing, I’m ashamed to say that I’ve acquired a sort of potty mouth.  So when I saw this book on the NPR website, I thought I’d add it to my reading list.

Melissa Mohr takes us on a historic journey of swearing that will transform the way you react to swearing.  For example, she covers the difference between obscenities and oaths and goes into details about how swearing or not swearing in the Middle Ages could be a matter of life and death.  The book also covers censorship and the rise of racial slurs.

Overall, this book will make you a more refined consumer of language and add to some colorful cocktail talk over the summer.

The Entrepreneur Diet : The On-the-Go Plan for Fitness, Weight Loss and Healthy Living by Tom Weede

For those of us in colder climates, Summer is an ideal opportunity to lighten our eating and a great time to get healthy.

Entrepreneurs lead busy and stressful lives and The Entrepreneur Diet looks like a great book to point small business owners in a healthier direction.

This book is published by Entrepreneur Magazine, so you know they understand how we live.  Inside you’ll find habits for shedding fat, habits that work with busy schedules, stealth exercises that can be done on an airplane and many more healthy strategies for busy business people on the go.

A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It or Not!” Ripley by Neal Thompson

What’s a Summer reading list without a good biography?  When I saw this title about Robert Ripley (from Ripley’s Believe it or Not) it took me back to my childhood and one of my favorite books to grab when it was reading time and my favorite cartoon in the newspaper.

You’ll enjoy getting to know this cartoonist turned millionaire adventurer through the eyes of Neal Thompson (@NealThompson).  Ripley embodied the entrepreneurial spirit with his penchant for making outrageous statements that often turned out to be true such as that Charles Lindbergh was only the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic or that “The Star Spangled Banner” was not the national anthem. (Really?  I didn’t know this!)

This is why I loved Ripley and you will find his story inspirational.

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss

So if the healthy entrepreneur book didn’t get your attention, maybe Salt Sugar Fat will.  I heard about this book from some friends and then I heard an interview on NPR and this is how it ended up on my list.

I’m not one for conspiracies, but if you love documentaries like Food Nation, then you’ll want to grab this book for yourself.  Michael Moss (@saltsugfat), Pulitzer Prize winning writer for the New York Times unearths the “secret sauce” behind our cravings for all things salty, sweet and fattening.  (Whew!  I’m glad it’s not just my lack of willpower!)

As it turns out, food companies spend a lot of research dollars and time figuring out exactly what trips our taste buds into wanting more and more of their products.  They call it the “bliss point” and you’ll call this book riveting.

Hacking Your Education by Dale J. Stephens

This is the season where young people are either heading into college and about to spend more money than you can earn in a decade or getting out of college with relatively poor job prospects.

If you’re part of either of these conversations, then this will be a book for your summer reading list.  Dale Stephens (@DaleJStephens) claims that you can hack your education and that college degrees are antiquated.  The new generation of “Hackademics” (as he calls them) are building successful careers and futures with nothing more than curiosity, confidence and grit.

Hmm, sounds like the attributes of budding entrepreneurs, doesn’t it?

Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

Many of you are going to be spending the summer at a variety of sporting events.  If you’re there with your kids or grandchildren, you might see everyone get a trophy and you’ll either applaud it or go on a rant. Whichever camp you fall into, here’s a book that will keep you company in the shade.

Top Dog is all about identifying your own competitive style and learning how to tip the odds in your favor.  For example, home field advantage matters in sports as well as in diplomacy and business, women are better at judging risk while men are better at ignoring it.

There are tons of other interesting strategic game plans you can learn from the world of sports that you can incorporate to build a winning business.

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan

Since I’m a foodie, Cooked grabbed my attention.  This is a really interesting book, not just about food and mastering the art of elemental cooking, but about impact of NOT cooking.

When we stop cooking, we hand off a critical component of nutrition as well as relationships to corporations.

Michael Pollan’s (@michaelpollan) position is that taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable.

Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters by Jon Acuff

The idea of “success first and significance later” is dead.  This is the phrase that stopped me cold in my tracks.  It explained why Gen X, Gen Y and the Millennials put such a high priority on the quality of how they spend their time and who they spend it with.

Jon Acuff (@JonAcuff), Wall Street Journal best selling author explains how much the idea of success has changed over the last 100 years.  Baby Boomers are starting second and third careers and technology has given rise to a whole new tribe of entrepreneurs.  Acuff explores the idea that there are only two ways to get through in life; average and awesome.  Average is the easier path and doesn’t require much effort, while the awesome path is extremely challenging.

So where is the middle?  You’ll have to read the book to find out.

As I pulled this summer reading list together, I noticed that I didn’t have any totally off the business path books.  Do you have any on your list?  What are you reading this summer to get your mind off of business?

The post 8 Top “Guilty Pleasure” Books for Summer Reading appeared first on Small Business Trends.

If you have, you’ll never forget the feeling of having every eye in the room on you, people practically breathing along with you. I think that’s what they mean when they say having them “eating out of your hand.” Now, have you ever completely lost control of the room? As you look around, eyes are glazed over, people sneaking peeks at their smart phones and mobile devices or just typing on their computers (and you know they aren’t taking copious notes). Even worse, executives throwing twenty questions at you and you having that sick, squirmy feeling inside?

If you’ve spent any time at all in the world of business, you’ve probably had both of these experiences and wondered how in the world the same person could create two completely opposite experiences. One answer is to simply say that it’s a function of the audience, and in some ways it is. But like most things in this world, the experience we create for our listeners is really in our own hands.

What I didn’t realize, until I read “Own the Room: Discover your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence,” is that we can control the outcome of any conversation and any presentation. WE are in control.

What authors Amy Jen Su (@AmyJenSu) and Muriel Maignan Wilkins (@MaignanWilkins) clearly point out in their new book is that you can power up your career and leadership cred by simply mastering your “Signature Voice” that is uniquely your own and can be adapted to any situation. This signature voice comes from aligning your beliefs, your communication skills and your physical energy with the needs of your audience.

For example, there are what I’d call “doing” conversations and “leading” conversations. And you have to be very clear about which conversation you are having. If you are the team or project leader giving an update to the management team – a “Leading” conversation is required because you are speaking up to a leadership audience. Their information needs are different AND they are looking at YOU as the leader in the situation. Hence, they expect you to communicate as a leader would.

The Authors Speak From Personal Experience

I heard about the book from a publicist and requested a review copy based purely on the title. I mean, if there is a process out there where I can get people eating out of my hands, I want to know about it.

The authors, Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins, are the owners and managing partners of Asis Associates, an executive training and coaching firm. Both are sought after speakers on the topic of leadership presence and communications. Both have had personal experience in this area. Amy was told that she needed to toughen up. She was perceived as being too young and passive to be considered as “leadership material.” On the other hand, Muriel was told that she had to turn her bold personality down a notch.

Amy and Muriel took their personal experiences and work to transform their communication style and turned it into a process and a book that you can use to learn how to leverage your strengths and gain the high-powered presence you need to reach your full potential as a leader.

How to Become an A-C-E in Your Field

The authors have developed a powerful model to help you become a power communicator.  It’s called A-C-E:

A – Assumptions you make and the mindset you bring to your interactions with others.

C – Communication Strategies – Techniques and tools you use to engage influence and inspire.

E – Energy and Expression – How you physically show up; how your nonverbal cues impact others.

You will learn from the examples of well-known people like:

• Christine Day, CEO of Lulemon Athletica, whose authenticity helped her grow her company’s market share to become the largest yoga outfitter in the world.
• Al Gore, who was known for his robotic style who then transformed his presence to one of warmth, poise and passion for the environment.
• Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP at the time of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, who was skewered for his insensitivity when he failed to adapt his communication style to the crisis.

But the book also includes those unsung leaders in organizations like yours who are all dealing with the same communication challenges.

You won’t just learn from their stories, you’ll have the opportunity to experience the process for yourself by using their diagnostic tool to assess your current and ongoing presence and how others perceive you.

“Own the Room” is a Much-Needed Book

While there are many books on how to give powerful presentations, “Own the Room” is about how to have appropriate communications while not losing yourself in the process. One observation I had as I read through many of the examples is that the style was a little more “corporate-speak” than I’m used to in the world of small business. But don’t let that stop you from taking the authors’ message to heart.

This is a book that is as applicable to small business owners who sell to more corporate clients as well as to employees who are looking to move into leadership positions.

The post How to “Own the Room” in Any Presentation appeared first on Small Business Trends.

If you can remember back when American manufacturing was reeling from the onslaught of Japanese high-quality products hitting our shores, you’ll recall that the culture of American individualism was considered passé.  That’s when U.S. corporations made a commitment to figure out how to work in teams so they could gain back their competitive advantage.

I was part of that culture — excited about the prospect of leveraging our creative strengths to create even greater growth than we thought was possible.

So, when I went to get my MBA, I chose to focus on multi-functional work teams.  As you’d imagine, we studied many different team models. Some were better than others.  And what I learned from that experience was that not every team model is right for every organization.

Choosing a model that your organization can work with and follow is a lot like choosing a spouse or a friend or a religion for that matter.  In a strange way, it’s a personal decision that you make with a group.

So why am I telling you all of this? Simple: so that you can read my review from the perspective of someone who’s lived through and studied “trends” in business teams.  I received a review copy of Team Renaissance: The Art, Science & Politics of Great Teams from a publicist. I wanted to read it because I was curious about what the latest strategies were in team management.

In this case, I’m not just going to review a book. I’m also going to provide my personal insights about how to use or read this book based on my experience with a variety of team models.

You Are Always Part of a Team

Whether you acknowledge it or not, your business is founded on a team.  You may have a team of full time employees or you may have a team of virtual employees.

Even if you are a true solopreneur, you actually have an invisible team in place — your customers, your family and friends, your networking group and even the vendor companies you use to help you run your business.  These days, none of us is truly alone in running our business (whether we want to be or not).

Teams Need a Solid Structure

Once you’ve acknowledged that there is a team dynamic going on in your business, this will completely transform the context from which you run your business.  And suddenly, you will see the issues that appeared to be random hiccups as part of a pattern that, when mastered, will have your business standing on a much firmer structure.

Team Renaissance Offers Structures and Tools for Today’s Teams

In the past, team models were fairly simple.  There was the “Forming, Norming, Storming and Performing” model you may have heard of, for example.  Today’s team environments are understandably a little more complicated than that with a few more pieces and parts.

Team Renaissance is a book that gives readers the opportunity to choose what works best for them and their organization.

You’ll find real life examples and stories throughout the book to guide you on your particular journey of building a strong and stable work team.

Like every other team model out there, Team Renaissance has a graphic representational model of its process, called the Team Arch.  There’s also an assessment tool, the Team Renaissance Survey. This is an interactive tool that helps you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your team.

About the Authors

Team Renaissance is written (as you’d expect) by a team: Richard Spoon and Jan Risher.  Richard Spoon founded ArchPoint Consulting after spending more than 15 years working in large organizations like Proctor and Gamble and Campbell’s Soup.  He’s led large organizations through change efforts and worked with a diverse group of clients.

Jan Risher is a freelance writer with international experience that includes writing a regular column, traveling around the world and running a PR firm.

There are two additional authors who are mentioned inside the book, but not on the jacket flap.  Jesse Edelman is also a Proctor and Gamble veteran with broad experience in sales and marketing.  Stephen Peele is an independent consultant with an expertise in technology and marketing.

The fact that these four authors were able to pull together such a beautifully written and designed book should tell you that the process works.

Can Beauty and Substance Exist at the Same Time?

This is a beautifully designed and high quality book.  You may want to display it on a coffee table in your office or home – but only do that after you’ve read it.  There really are a lot of wonderful tools and insights inside.

Simple in its Complexity

As I mentioned before, the “Arch” is the guiding model for the content inside the book.  One of the statements about why they chose an arch as the foundation for their team model also says a lot about the book itself – it’s simple in its complexity. 

“Just as the arch provides support for a structure, teams act as the foundation for any successful organization.  The individual pieces hold the arch together, uniting to form a design that allows for the equal distribution of weight across the entire structure.”

The authors take you through each component of the model.  If you’ve been used to the overly simplified models of business teams like I talked about at the beginning of the article, you might have a freak-out.

Even though the authors say it’s “simple,” if you’re just stepping into the space of running a team and you’re a small business owner – you might feel overwhelmed at first. Stick with it.

I can’t lie to you, gentle readers.  This is a book that is targeted to larger organizations more used to complex human interactions and processes than a bootstrapping startup.

But that doesn’t mean that won’t find valuable tools and strategies that you can use in your small business.  Each element of the model is easy enough to understand. You can certainly use pieces and parts of the model in your small organization.  You just won’t have the complex structure in your application of the model that a larger multi-national company might have.

Team Renaissance is a wonderful book for managers inside of larger organizations. It can be used by small business owners of organizations that use a lot of teams, especially small manufacturers or design and development firms.   This book is definitely worth reading if you are interested in team management.

The post “Team Renaissance” Brings New Insights into Working with Teams appeared first on Small Business Trends.

But I didn’t know Dave Carroll and I didn’t have a lot of faith in reaching him via the website.  So I found Dave Carroll’s Twitter ID (@DaveCarroll) and told him who I was and what I wanted in less than 140 characters.  Within a week, I had a review copy at my door (along with a sweet inspirational calendar).  I’d say it was a win-win all the way around.  And now, I’m going to tell you all about United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media.

The Backstage Story in an Afternoon

I read United Breaks Guitars – on a Sunday.  Yup.  That’s all it took.  It was a perfect weekend read because it told the tale of a video I had heard of but knew little about.  On July 6, 2009, Dave Carroll uploaded the original United Breaks Guitars video to YouTube.  Nearly 13 million views later (as of today), he continues to represent the impact that one person can have using social media and a message that resonates.

United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media is his first-person tale of his experience with United Airlines’ handling of his Taylor guitar … and the ensuing circus that was his journey through their massive customer service system.

How United Breaks Guitars Kept Me Glued to My Chair

I can assure you it had nothing to do with any kind of cutting edge marketing or customer service strategies that were revealed in the book.  That’s because there weren’t any.  It wasn’t that kind of book.

It was the authenticity and the sheer humble curiosity of the story that kept me sitting in my favorite reading chair. Of course, I had my computer close by so that I could revisit all three United Breaks Guitars videos – just so I can have the experience and take a second look at some of the details Carroll reveals throughout the book.

Here is a quick tour of what you may not have known behind the United Break Guitars phenomenon and the small business lessons you can take away from the book.

Male Musicians Pick Up Guitars Like They Pick Up Women

I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether this is a healthy relationship to be having with an inanimate object.  But the chapter on how a musician chooses a guitar is an absolute hoot.  You’ll never look at someone carrying a guitar through an airport the same way.

As I read this chapter, I immediately thought about the myriad special requests our customers make.  While every business can’t fulfill on the special needs for every customer situation, if you’re in the service business, this is something you need to be prepared for.   In the United Breaks Guitars book, I learned that most airlines make musicians sign waivers that remove all responsibility for instruments from the airline.  In other words, if you have to check your instruments (or other fragile piece of luggage) you do so at your own risk.

You’ll Need More Than One to Get the Job Done

Did you know that there were actually three United Breaks Guitars songs and videos? Dave had a plan and he fulfilled on it.  Once he had come to terms that United was not going to take any responsibility for the damage done to his guitar (despite the fact that he had not signed a waiver), he decided to create three videos of varying styles telling the story.  He had a goal to reach a million views between the three videos.

I got a powerful lesson from this.  Carroll had made a mental shift and redirected his energy to doing what he does best; writing songs as an emotional and creative outlet.  He set three primary goals with this:

1. To take a frustrating experience and make it positive.
2. To create something with his friends.
3. To change the way one of the world’s largest companies deals with it’s customers.

He could control the first two goals, but he threw the third one in there as a stretch goal.  He knew he couldn’t exactly control the outcome, but his efforts on the first two could certainly make a dent.

You Can Strategize the Impact of a Song

Here is another little tidbit I got from United Breaks Guitars that I didn’t know.   You can program or create a song to get the desired response.  I didn’t realize that.  I thought songwriters were inspired and just wrote what came to them.  I thought it was magic, and maybe sometimes it is.  But for Dave Carroll’s project – it was all by design.

As a small business owner or expert in your field, you have amazing powers at your disposal that you can use to influence how people respond to you and your product or service.  Dave knew from experience that certain beats and types of songs influenced how people reacted.  He knew how important the refrain was.  He knew it had to have a certain beat and a certain style.  All in all, I was blown away by the strategic planning brilliance he used to write the song.

Ask Your Friends to Help

One of Dave’s goals was to work with his friends and enroll them into his project.  A phrase that he keeps repeating in this section is:

“I love how [insert industry or expertise here] professionals don’t need a lot of details before saying yes to a gig.”

The lesson for small businesses in this chapter of United Breaks Guitars is clear – don’t insulate yourself.  You are not on your own.  There is a community of partners in the wings ready, willing and able to help you achieve your goal.  All you have to do is ask.

Storytelling is Powerful Stuff

We aren’t all songwriters, but we all have stories that can ultimately help other people and make a real difference in the world.  Don’t wait for a frustration or life changing experience to tell your story.

Stop to think about how the stories you have and the stories you tell can ultimately help other people and make a difference in the world.  You can start by reading United Breaks Guitars for inspiration.

The post “United Breaks Guitars” is a Fun and Fantastic Read appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Nothing about this meeting was working.

I came away committed to referring him to a client, friend or a fellow business owner who was looking for help.  But I just couldn’t get to the information that I needed to make the referral. What was he capable of that set him apart? How did he differ from all the other unemployed job seekers?

We finished the meeting in about an hour or so, but I have been thinking about it ever since.  What has changed so drastically since the last century?  Why is a process that worked perfectly in the past so out-of-touch with today’s work environment?

One of the ideas I came up with, but hadn’t been able to articulate, was an observation that today’s job market requires that everyone in it be branded in some way. A person has to be known for what the employer or the customer can count on them for.

Reinventing You Shows You How to Brand Yourself Successfully

In this insightful book, Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future, branding expert Dorie Clark (@DorieClark) offers a step-by-step guide to help you assess your strengths and develop a compelling personal brand.  The goal is to ensure that others recognize the powerful contribution you can make.

It’s all abut reinventing yourself and how you present yourself to others.  The book runs just over 200 pages and even contains an appendix with a professional reinvention self-assessment.

Clark takes you through the “New Branding Landscape” so that you understand exactly what kind of environment you’re playing in.  Then she walks you through understanding where you are now, what your destination is going to be, and how to pick up any skills that are missing.  From there she shows you how to leverage those uniquenesses that set you apart, creating a new story for yourself, introducing your new self to the world and, finally, proving your worth.

Throughout the book you’ll find stories of people going through the process that will lend context to Clark’s process.  Another feature of the book that I really like is that she has these “Try This” boxes inside of every chapter. They give you homework or skills to practice.

Here is just one example from the chapter on Researching Your Destination:

• Make a list of people you think are doing the most interesting things. this could be anyone from famous business leaders to your neighbor who lived in Bangkok for a year.
• Salt their bios online.  You can usually find them on the “About” page of their company’s website, but you may also have to do some detective work.  If they’re well known, read news articles to familiarize yourself with their progression.
• Identify Patterns.  If every person you admire is a Rotarian, maybe you should think about joining.  If they all raise money to fight breast cancer, you can build a solid network by pitching in.
• Brainstorm a list of goals based on your idols.  Think big: Visiting at least 50 countries, getting your own radio talk show, raising a million dollars for charity – whatever appeals to you.

This book is targeted to executives and business owners at any stage of their lives who want something different and better for their careers.  In the foreword to the book Clark quotes Longfellow, “We judge ourselves by what we are capable of doing, while others judge us on what we have already done.”  This book is focused on uncovering what you’re capable of doing — so that you can do it.

Dorie Clark Is An Expert Reinventor

As a marketing strategist, clients like those at Google, Yale and the National Park Service counted on her to help them reinvent themselves.  But what makes this book so powerful (I think) is the fact that Dorie has gone through this process herself a few times.

Her first brush with reinvention happened on the event of September 11, 2001 when she got laid off from a reporting job at a weekly newspaper after barely a year on the job.  After one of the most tragic events in our history, she had to find another job.  She did some freelance work, always intending to stay in journalism, when she got the opportunity to be the Press Secretary for Robert Reich.  From there she launched her consulting firm.

The defining factor for her was understanding that today’s audiences aren’t paying attention.  They simply have too much to do and are overwhelmed with their own issues.  And that means a successful reinvention has to connect what you do well with what matters to your audience.

It’s this journalistic law of writing, paying attention to who your audience is and what matters to them, that has made Clark a successful branding expert.  If you are in the process of reinventing yourself or feel you need to do something to make  yourself stand out, this book is a vital guide well worth picking up and following.

The post Read “Reinventing You” to Create Your Next Chapter appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Aren’t you glad I got my hands on this book?  I’m glad too because now I have a much more solid understanding of why things go viral and even more importantly, how to put certain elements in place to increase the likelihood that my product, service or video will have the best chance of going viral. And after reading this review, so will you.

It’s Like Made to Stick, and Then Some

If you think Contagious sounds a lot like the Heath Brothers’ Made to Stick, you’d be on the right track.  You see, Jonah Berger’s mentor in graduate school was Chip Heath and as he says early in the book, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

The key distinction between the two books is that Made to Stick (as the name implies) is about how to get ideas to stick so that people remember them.  Contagious is more about how to get ideas to spread, so that people talk about them.  And this is why I bought a Kindle copy of this book on early order as soon as a friend mentioned it to me.

The Six Elements to Consider for Contagious Ideas

Let’s just jump right into the nitty-gritty.  I know you’re probably chomping at the keyboard and scrolling through this review to get to the meat of the book.

Contagious quickly gets to the key points – that a viral idea, product, service or video has to contain at least a couple of these six ingredients:

1. Social Currency:  The bottom line is that human beings like to brag.  We like to see ourselves as being special, important, knowledgeable and unique.  In short, human beings want to look good.  So if sharing something is going to make us look good, we’re going to share it.  The examples given in the book include: A restaurant bar with a secret entrance through a phone booth.  They don’t promote this entrance, you just have to know about it.  The place is packed.
2. Triggers: This is really an interesting element of contagious ideas.  Would you believe that Cheerieos gets more word of mouth than Disney?  It’s all because of triggers.  People have breakfast every day; they don’t go to Disney every day.  And it’s this daily dose of Cheerios at breakfast that generates the word of mouth.  The phrase to remember here is, “Top of mind, tip of tongue.”
3. Emotion:  Making people feel something gets them to talk about it.  One of my favorite examples is the Google video that shows the story of a meeting, turning into a romance turning into a wedding, all through the various search terms entered in the search field of Google.  “When we care, we share” is the phrase associated with this element.
4. Public:  This is one of my favorite elements in viral content.  Berger illustrates this element using the Armstrong Livestrong story and the story of the Mustache movement for men’s health awareness.   The basic idea is to make some element of your idea, product or service visible to the world in such a way that makes people ask about it and ultimately participate in it.
5. Practical Value:  This is one element that may or may not be a function of your idea.  But if your idea has practical value; if it shows people how to do something, overcome a challenge in a creative way or solve a problem, it’s got a higher likelihood of being shared. Think of this one as, “News you can use.”
6. Stories:  This element should come as no surprise.  Stories have always been amazingly powerful and shareable.  Everyone loves a good story.  Read this chapter carefully because the stories you create have to have a specific connection and relevance to the idea you are trying to spread.  Remember that, “Information travels under the guise of idle chatter.”

Contagious Contains Even More Content You Can Use

Another wonderful thing about Contagious is that there is even more content.  You’ll find a downloadable workbook as a PDF file that you can use to add some viral ingredients to your idea.

There is also a STEPPS (those are the six elements I described above) framework on a single sheet that you can carry along with you. Finally, there’s a book club discussion guide that you can use with your team.

Don’t Just Read Contagious BE Contagious

When you get your own copy of Contagious you’ll want to read it all the way through for the sheer entertainment value.  But then, I’d recommend that you download the worksheets and keep them close and handy.

This is a book you’ll want to spend some time with and perhaps use it as a checklist.  Another element that I like about the book is how useful it can be in starting discussions with your team about how to give your ideas and campaigns the highest chance of success. You’ll learn valuable viral marketing examples.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering why some ideas spread while others don’t – read Contagious and learn how to add a viral element to your business.

The post Read “Contagious” and Learn How to Take Your Ideas Viral appeared first on Small Business Trends.

I’m already going through the spring cleaning process at home, so this week, I’ve vowed to take a fresh look at my business and clean out all the wasted time, projects, clients (yes, even clients) that are mucking up my money making machine.

For help and assistance, I turned to an unlikely source – a new business book I just received as a recommendation from a friend The Entrepreneur’s Trap: How to Stop Working Too Much, Take Back Your Time and Enjoy Life.  From the title, you’d think this was a book that was written to warn entrepreneurs about the obstacles that will get in the way of your success.  It’s about so much more than that.

Are You Working Too Much?  Stop it!

The Entrepreneur’s Trap is a short, practical book.  It’s written for the independent business professional, solopreneur, consultant or coach – although, there is great wisdom in here for all kinds of businesses.

Forsyth is writing this book for business professionals who decided to pursue their dreams of owning a business with the primary goal being to have control of their lives. They want to have a say in how things go, how they spend their time and who they work with.  But, somehow, in the process of building and growing a successful business, they have found themselves being controlled by the business itself.  Blech.

If that sounds like you, at any level, then this is the book for you.

You’ll get through this book in a day or a weekend, that’s how short it is.  It’s written in such an easy and engaging style, you’ll feel like you’re having coffee with a long-time friend.

I’d say the book really takes you on a journey from realizing that you’ve fallen into the trap of being run by your business, to showing you how to use automation to multiply yourself and your time.  To build the business systems and mindset to create a business that practically runs itself.

The Entrepreneur’s Trap is Loaded with Goodies

One of the really great things about this book is that it has online resources.  There are worksheets you can download with a password that’s given in each copy of the book.  In addition to that, Forsyth also gives you access to her THRIVE Hiring Systm ™  so that you can build a team to support your business.

Tina Forsyth is a Force

Let me tell you a little about Tiny Forsyth  (@TinaForsyth).  She is an authority on establishing systems and building virtual teams.  She is the Founder of the International Association of Online Business Managers and the creator of Automate Your Growth Business School, where she teaches entrepreneurs her process of building a strong business.

Don’t Ignore The Entrepreneur’s Trap – it’s Short, Easy to Read and Persuasive

When you get your copy of The Entrepreneur’s Trap, you’ll notice that it’s loaded with accolades from experts from the information marketing, coaching and online business worlds.  Do not make the assumption that this is a book trying to sell you something.  Forsyth does offer a “contact me for help” page at the end but that’s it.

What you may not know about the people who have made testimonials for The Entrepreneur’s Trap is that they are masters of building and developing business systems.  Masters.  That is all I can tell you.  When you see them talking about developing a “freedom lifestyle” and doing videos by the beach, it’s not because they don’t work. It’s because they have worked on their systems.  They have entire teams dedicated to running the system so that they are freed up to create and develop products.

Another reason I loved this book and was inspired by it is that it teaches small business owners how to hire people.  I’ve made it my mission to help small businesses hire “just one more person” and this is a book that I’m using to make that happen.  I can already share that I’ve been on this journey of building a business infrastructure for over a year and have built and developed a team of about 6-10 people.  I can tell you that the more I work on the system, the more my business grows and the more people I hire.

Pick up a copy of The Entrepreneur’s Trap and start building your own business system. Stop trading time for money and start living a life you love.

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And so begins “Can’t Buy Me Like: How Authentic Customer Connections Drive Superior Results.”  The book is a tale of what it takes to woo customers these days.  The narrative is skillfully woven by Bob Garfield (@onthemedia), Host of NPR’s “On the Media” and Doug Levy (@douglevy1), the Founder of CEO of MEplusYOU, a leading strategic and creative agency that believes authentic relationships fuel astonishing brands.

I received a review copy of this book just this week and couldn’t wait to tell you about it as soon as I finished reading it. I think it contains vital mind-shifting information for every business; large and small.

Top Down Telling and Convincing is Dead 

According to the authors, we’re evolving into the relationship era. If you remember any marketing class you’ve ever had or marketing book you’ve ever read, you’ll recall this timeline:

• Marketers define their history as beginning in the 17th century with the “Product Era” which stayed with us into the 1950’s.
• Then there was the “Consumer Era” which started around 1965 and ran up until “five minutes ago” (according to Garfield and Levy). This was a time where large brands thrived by simply finding out what consumers wanted and then giving it to them.
• “Cant’ Buy Me Like” is all about the next step in marketing – “The Relationship Era.” This book outlines exactly how this era has disrupted business as usual. This is a time where human needs, human values and human connections will define your success or failure. The currency of “Relationship Era Marketing” is not awareness; it’s belief.

Discover How Successful Companies Are Measured 

It’s not enough to say that things are changing. You already know that. What “Can’t Buy Me Like” does is get to the root of what triggered the change. It’s also about why you need to have a firm grasp of these events so that you can make the necessary changes and run your business better.

You may be tempted to write all of this off as a passing fad or some kind of social media-driven drivel. This would be a huge mistake. The concepts of “authenticity” and “customer connections” may have started out that way, but they have become the DNA of successful and profitable businesses.

The book goes into detail of companies that were simply going through the motions of top-down marketing campaigns. Example: McDonald’s — it created a mess by asking for authentic customer stories without building the required trust and engagement from their customers to pull it off. Or United Airlines — it destroyed 25 years and billions of dollars of Gershwin ads when over 12 million people viewed the “United Breaks Guitars” YouTube video from a dissatisfied customer.

The lessons in this book are clear and lasting.  You have to pay to play in today’s likeability arena. And paying means paying attention.  It means paying attention to the core values of your company and actually living those values beyond the posters and ads that you put out in the marketplace.

You’ll read about how companies that have put their values where their ad dollars are have come to reap the rewards:

• Patagonia earned credibility with their “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign. That campaign explained their company’s commitment to their “Common Threads Initiative” and urged their customers to be conscious consumers.
• Panera Bread doubled their per store sales by focusing on creating a welcoming environment. At the same time Panera spends just 1% of sales on advertising. (I know what they mean, I prefer Panera to Starbucks simply because there is free wifi and they don’t blast distracting music.)
• P&F’s Secret Antiperspirant grew by simply rallying behind the idea of female fearlessness.

What Will “Can’t Buy Me Like” Do for Your Business?

If you get anything from this book, it’s that the days of “corporate speak” and top-down message control are over. The good news here is that this frees you up to really build a profitable business around your true commitments and the reasons that you started your business in the first place.

When I talk to my clients, I often have the impression that they think they have to be “professional” and they have to do things “the right way.” It finally dawned on me, after reading this book. Much of that mindset comes from the now obsolete ways of top-down marketing.

I’ve been telling everyone who will listen that your marketing has to be a true reflection of who you are and what you are committed to. When you try to put a face on your brand that is anything less than that, you will either go broke trying or fail.

If you’ve been looking for the right way to inject your true values and personality into your marketing, then you have to read “Can’t Buy Me Like.” You’ll walk away with a whole new outlook and future for the life of your business, and for the business of your life.

The post Read “Can’t Buy Me Like” for Insights About The Relationship Era appeared first on Small Business Trends.

How many times have you heard or thought that yourself?  Usually, this phrase comes up when you’re being a little too critical or hard on yourself.  But did you ever consider that this is actually true?  I don’t mean figuratively, I mean literally true.

We all know that our brains and our evolutionary wiring hasn’t quite kept pace with our culture or environment. Our brains still act as if we’re in the stone age; hunting and gathering and running from saber-tooth tigers, while the biggest threat we face in the Western world is a long line at the Starbuck’s that might make us late for our next meeting.

You’re Stressed Because Life is Just Too Easy and Pleasant

It didn’t take long for this book, “Your Survival Instinct May Be Killing You, to grab my interest.  As soon as I opened the envelope from the publisher, the title grabbed me. But it was the idea that our stress is really triggered by the fact that we’ve lost touch with discomfort that pulled me into reading this book.

This seemed counter-intuitive to me, so I had to read more.  I mean, how can all the advancements in our culture that were designed to keep us “safe” actually contribute to more stress and anxiety? For the answer, you have to understand how our brains are wired and what triggers this survival instinct.  And for that, it helps to learn a little about the author.

Marc Schoen (@marcschoen) is an assistant clinical professor at UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine, where he teaches and conducts research on decision making under pressure, mind-body medicine and hypnosis.

Toward the beginning of the book, he tells the story of what prompted his curiosity about how our inability to process discomfort impacts our reactions to stress.

He relates how Mikeal, a Finnish man, had been hiccuping for more than two years, every fifteen to twenty seconds.  As it turned out, the hiccups were a result of Mikael’s poor management of his discomfort. Mikeal had experienced several significant losses in his life.  For some people, hiccups are a reaction to being upset or fearful.  And in most cases, they resolve themselves fairly quickly, but for some, as in Mikael’s case, they didn’t.  Instead, they created a new pattern and eventually turned into a vicious, unresolved cycle.

The book is filled with many different stories and examples where our inability to deal with discomfort literally transforms into a physical malady.  As you read through each one, I’m sure that you’ll see a little bit of yourself in several of them.

How to Override Your Brain’s “New” Wiring

Your Survival Instinct is Killing You is almost a handbook for identifying those areas where you are managing your discomfort poorly and then helping you put new patterns in place so that you can recondition your brain to deal with your life more effectively.

Schoen discusses the five main steps to boosting your performance under pressure:

1. Lower your “agitance” levels: Agitance is a measure of your inner speed or activation levels.  When your agitance level is high, then you are likely to freak out more when you experience discomfort, and this triggers your fight or flight mechanism.
2. Manage your discomfort: The next step is to realize that it’s your feelings about discomfort that play as the trigger for the stress reaction.  Recognize that you can’t eliminate discomfort, you can only manage your reaction to it.
3. Build your discomfort muscle: Once you are aware of all the areas where you may feel discomfort, you can train your brain to deal with it.  In other words, instead of letting your brain run amok by simply reacting, you can manage how you will react to stress.
4. Discomfort becomes a source of power: Now you are ready to transform the discomfort from being a source of stress to being a source of power and control.  This puts you, not your brain, in control of the outcome.
5. Strengthen your discomfort threshold: Use the discomfort-dealing tools that are offered in the book to increase your tolerance to discomfort and ultimately, become more successful.

Your Survival Instinct is Killing You actually contains practical exercises you can do to begin rewiring and training your brain to deal with discomfort.

Can “Your Survival Instinct is Killing You” Cut Healthcare Costs?

I’m being a little facetious with the headline, but maybe not as much as you might think. I’ve personally experienced where a company’s healthcare costs literally doubled when they were sold to an equity company that radically changed the culture of the company.

When employees who were used to working 40-hour weeks were suddenly thrust into 80+ hour work weeks, more of them started having stress-related health issues. Prescription costs increased as more managers started taking anti-depressants and sought treatment for cardiovascular issues.

If you find yourself and your employees under performing when under pressure or overreacting to seemingly harmless situations, you may just be suffering from an overreacting survival instinct. Your Survival Instinct is Killing You is a must read for today’s multitasking, crazy-busy business owner.

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