The UK's Liveliest Small Business Newsletter
Old archive | New site
|
|
Brick No113: Five must-read books
By Matt Weston, Friday 19 November 2004 The day today Ah, the big day has arrived. Unless you've just crawled out from under something heavy, you'll know today is the day of our very first National Business Bricks Meet-Up. It's not like I didn't remind you. Over 200 other small business owners, all business bricks readers, all in one room . . . and a chance to put a pretty face to that lowercase name that appears in your inbox every Tuesday and Friday. But not all of you could make it. Not all of you are within striking distance of the Big Smoke for openers. (And nor should you want to be. We'll try to hold the next one somewhere where people speak with flat vowels, like they should.) Secondly, not everyone can drop the baby, till or laptop for two hours on a Friday. So today I thought I'd give those of you who'd have liked to have made it along, but couldn't, something to chew on. Last time I left you, for a two-week hiatus during the summer, I left bearing a reading list. Not a definitive Top 10, but a through the keyhole look at my bedside bookshelf. Today, I'm going to repeat the trick. (And perhaps, if you're really lucky, next Tuesday you get to root through my sock drawer.) Five must-read books (1) "The Art of the Start" by Guy Kawasaki. This is vying with Seth Godin's "Free Prize Inside!" (see http://snipurl.com/free_prize_inside) as my book of the year. Kawasaki is founder of venture capital firm Garage.com ("We startup startups"), and made his name at Apple. Best bits: pages 6-9 on turning a 50-word mission statement into a 3-word mantra, and pages 128-131 . . . the top 10 lies that entrepreneurs tell investors. (Download Chapter 1 here.) (2) "The Seven Day Weekend" by Ricardo Semler. Reader Nick Ingamells first put this my way. Semler is the maverick Brazilian entrepreneur who took Semco from a small family business to Latin America's fastest growing company (40 times its original size). Semi-autobiographical, this has more fresh angles than a kaleidoscope, with chapters headed "In Whack", "Management by Debating Your Dog" and "Too Much Talent Is As Bad As Too Little". (3) "Scientific Advertising" by Claude Hopkins. David Ogilvy said, "Nobody should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times. It changed the course of my life." Hopkins has been dead 70 years, but this trailblazing book is dripping with life. Packed with anecdotes, and guidelines for what he dubbed "salesmanship-in-print". NB: I'm linking you to a reprint that also includes his blow-away biography, "My Life In Advertising". (4) "The Bootstrapper's Bible" by Seth Godin. If you're starting your business with zero or near zero funding, you need to bootstrap. "The Bootstrappers Bible" was the best selling e-book on Amazon a few years ago. And until the end of November only, Godin is giving it away on fr*e download from his new site ChangeThis. A gimme. (5) "Blink" by Michael Gladwell. Published on New Year's Day, this can't even go on your letter to Santa. But you can pre-order it at Amazon. Gladwell penned the awesome international No1 bestseller, "The Tipping Point", so I'm going on past reputation here. "Blink" is about snap judgements. It takes in art fraud, music talent scouting and police processes to explain why some people can make decisions in the blink of an eye, and why some can't. Bric-A-Brac (1) EMAIL GAGA. Apologies if I've left emails unanswered this week, it's been a hectic few days. I've read everything, and will start clearing the logjam next week. But keep sending feedback, as always! (2) LOCAL MEET-UPS. If distance stopped you making today's meet-up in London, check out our local meet-ups page. And if there's not a group round your way, why not start one? Remember to sign up: back to top |
|
|
Link to us | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | ©2005 Business Bricks Ltd
Designed by Mint Digital