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.

The post Entrepreneur’s Trap is a How-To Guide for Stressed-Out Business Owners appeared first on Small Business Trends.

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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We had just started dating and decided to drive down to D.C. from Philadelphia, where we lived at the time.  You know the kind of spontaneous road-trip I’m talking about? It’s the one where you have this great idea and decide on the spur of the moment to throw a few things into a bag, jump in the car and head out for a romantic weekend.

It was glorious for about 90% of the trip, until I made a wrong turn into the worst part of D.C.  It was getting dark, we were lost and Tony said, “Where’s your map?” I just looked at him blankly and said, “Map? Uh, let me see if I have one.”

Well, let me tell you that was a moment.  I wasn’t sure if our relationship would survive it at the time.  But since then, I’ve learned how to read a map and both our travel and our relationship have been on relatively smooth sailing since.

Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how powerful a map could be.  But when you really need to get to a destination and you aren’t quite sure where you’re going, a map is your best bet.

The Roadmap to Profitable Growth has Business Wisdom at Every Turn

The reason I shared one of my personal map stories (yes, I have more) is that it’s a lot like being in business. I guess John Mariotti, Author of Roadmap to Profitable Growth saw the same connection between maps and business.  In the introduction to Roadmap to Profitable Growth, he explains:

Too many people get lost and wander aimlessly because they have no “roadmap” for where they wanted to go or if they did, they failed to use it.

While so many books today seek to intellectualize or romanticize the business-building and business-running experience, Mariotti does nothing more than speak from his experience of running several world-class organizations. He served as the CEO of Huffy (when Huffy was the darling of marketing case studies) and Rubbermaid Office Products.

What I’m trying to say is that this book is a pragmatic business owner’s handbook.  It’s not grounded in any kind of lofty research nor does it contain dozens of case studies from big brands that you can’t possibly relate your smaller business to.  Instead, it’s filled with practical lessons gained from real-world, on-the-job experiences Mariotti has learned from and now shares with you.

What Makes Mariotti An Expert Worth Listening To?

I first met John Mariotti almost 13 years ago through a mutual friend who invited me to be a part of John’s Enterprise Group, a coalition of time-shared advisors™ which he founded 18 years ago after having been the President of two companies and then Chairman of World Kitchen.

John has written eight business books, a mini-book and even a prescient novel about cyber terrorism.  In addition to all of his books, he’s written hundreds (maybe even thousands) of articles which have been published on Forbes and here on Small Business Trends.

What makes him worth listening to is his experience of managing big businesses, small businesses and everything in between.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if he hasn’t seen it all, he’s seen at least the 80% that counts.  And more than that, Mariotti isn’t afraid of acting, failing, learning and trying again to gain better results.

What I respect most about Mariotti is his openness, honesty and pragmatic sensibility when it comes to running a business.

A Few Fun Tidbits From the Book

Like I said, I happen to have known John for quite a few years and was comforted to see so many of his favorite phrases and stories in this book mashed and combined with classic quotes from folks like Peter Drucker.

Here are just a few of the “Mariotti mantras” that any business owner can appreciate:

• Planning and acting is better than waiting and acting.
• Complexity is created with the best of intentions.
• PP*2 Does not equal FF — (Preserving the Past) and (Perfecting the Present) does not equal (Finding the Future).
• Nothing is more important in business – and in life – than people.

There are many more of these simple phrases and explanations of how to use them to successfully run your business and make good decisions inside this small book of 122 pages.

Read It and Reap

I would say that this book isn’t just for business owners.  In today’s age where everyone is expected to be entrepreneurial – chances are, you’ll want to have a copy of this book and read it often.

Roadmap to Profitable Growth is a book that you’ll read once all the way through, dog ear some of the sections that are worth returning to and then go back again and again to simply make sure that you’re still on the right path to profitability.

The post Review of “Roadmap to Profitable Growth” appeared first on Small Business Trends.

When you think about all the companies that shifted and transformed how we consume products and services, you’ll notice that it was the creativity of the business model that made the difference – Blockbuster, Netflix, the Internet, Circue De Soleil and countless others that I’m sure you’ve thought of.

I realized this a long time ago and have always looked for some kind of book or resource that would give me this magical list of business models that I could choose from.  I never did find a good one – until now.

About two weeks ago, I went into the local book store on a whim and was immediately grabbed by Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur.  It literally took a village to put this book together as it was co-created by 470 Practitioners from 45 countries and designed by Alan Smith.

Business Model Generation is a high quality book; slick, high quality paper, full color and graphics that will knock your socks off.  It’s definitely not what you might associate with a book about dry and boring business models.   I’m not sure if Wiley, who published the book in 2010, or maybe the authors thought that the subject required an extra “Ooomph” of graphics to attract readers or if this was an experiment. But whatever the reason, I can tell you that this is a book that I would have picked up regardless of what it looked like.

Just as I Suspected – There’s a Model for Developing a Business Model

Aside from the sheer visual and tactile experience, you’re going to love Business Model Generation for the simplicity and accessibility they create around the subject of deconstructing and reconstructing business models.  Of course, there’s a model for that and the book is written, designed and constructed around this model. Here’s a quick overview.

Canvas: The first element is the Canvas.  This is a sort of map or chart of all the elements that you will need to create your business model and it includes:

• Customer Segments – who you are selling to
• Value Propositions – what you’ll be selling
• Channels – how the offer is delivered to the customer
• Customer relationships – how you will connect with your customer
• Revenue streams – how you will make money
• Key resources – what you’ll need to make it all happen
• Key activities – what actions HAVE to take place
• Key partnerships – who will help
• Cost structure – how you’ll pay for it
• Patterns: The next level is to use the canvas as the platform to brainstorm as many possibilities as you can for each component.  This is the most critical activity because truly elegant, creative and profitable business models come from this kind of thinking.
• Design: Profitable business models aren’t born, they are created and designed with purpose.  This part of the process gives you tools to give your ideas structure.
• Strategy: The next phase is to take your model into the real world.

Business Model Generation by the Numbers

I don’t normally share this kind of information, but this book is different because it’s an example of a true global effort:

• The book took 9 years to write.
• It had 470 co-authors.
• There were 8 prototypes.
• The contributors spanned 45 countries.
• There were 1,360 comments on the book.
• 137,757 views of the method before publishing.
• It consumed 4,000 hours of work and 28,456 Post-It™ Notes.

There are many more numbers involved here. I just thought I’d share just a few of what made this book an experience all the way around – to create, to read, to use and to share.

Do I Need to Read This Book?

• Do you see yourself as having an entrepreneurial spirit? (Yes/No)
• Are you constantly thinking about how to create value and build new business or transform a business? (Yes/No)
• Are you trying to find innovative ways of doing business to replace old outdated ones? (Yes/No)

You know what comes next don’t you?  If you said “Yes” to any of these – this is a book for you.

We all work the most basic of business models. Some charge by the hour and others sell products and have set up some kind of pricing or process for doing business.  But seriously, be honest, how many of you have actually dedicated serious strategic thought of how your business is going to best achieve its mission in the world and make money?

If you are a fan of the classic Blue Ocean Strategy then you may recall that a solid and creative business model can transform an industry and knock out the bulk of your competitors simply because they have invested and built an infrastructure that the competition simply cannot get around.

Business Model Generation is one of those books that’s going to serve as a reference and a guide to help your business make more money, serve more customers and become a bigger expression of your mission.

The post “Business Model Generation” Offers Profitable, Creative Ways to Make Money appeared first on Small Business Trends.