Beautiful book. Whyte gave so many of these basic words a deeply human connection, in ways that will change how I perceive them going forward. Whyte is able to articulate our most hidden emotions connected to these words, and provide comfort that we're not alone in dealing with them. The passages are deep, but not difficult to understand. The words are listed alphabetically, no doubt for easy reference when we likely return to them for support.
This was sat on for a bit to cool off after finishing, and I still feel that this is a memoir, and not written to teach the reader anything about influence. I finished the book knowing heaps about the author's life and good deeds, but with zero notes or feelings of inspiration. I believe it's due to two things:
1. Teaching elements are almost nonexistent. The "4 'I's of influence" (interest, investment, intent, I) seem to just serve as categories for the stories. They aren't ever expanded on, or even recapped at the end. There are sometimes a couple of sentences at the end of stories, asking how you can relate to them. The rest of the book is personal stories.
2. The stories aren't relatable. They feature getting favors from top performers in their fields, star athlete children who attend West Point and who would rather go to bible …
This was sat on for a bit to cool off after finishing, and I still feel that this is a memoir, and not written to teach the reader anything about influence. I finished the book knowing heaps about the author's life and good deeds, but with zero notes or feelings of inspiration. I believe it's due to two things:
1. Teaching elements are almost nonexistent. The "4 'I's of influence" (interest, investment, intent, I) seem to just serve as categories for the stories. They aren't ever expanded on, or even recapped at the end. There are sometimes a couple of sentences at the end of stories, asking how you can relate to them. The rest of the book is personal stories.
2. The stories aren't relatable. They feature getting favors from top performers in their fields, star athlete children who attend West Point and who would rather go to bible camp than party with friends, friends who will fly in from around the country to mentor a child, a monthly meeting with friends where they fly to a different city every single month to ask each other how they're doing, and having an extensive network of professional connections who can give jobs to those in need. The author claims he can "sleepwalk through life" and still influence 2.8 people per day, and I can't tell if that's just a flex or is supposed to inspire non-millionaire-evangelists who work a 9–5.
It felt like performative piety, sorry. My thoughts were solidified when wondering why the following information would even be calculated, let alone written and included in a book about altruism:
"By the time I turned thirty, I was a top salesman living in a million-dollar condo in the South End. I had traveled to more than eighty countries and lived in Europe, Asia, and Australia. I had checked every box, won every award. I had even achieved my goal of being worth more than all my cousins put together."
Review of 'The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This was a nice perspective on creative expression and routines. Tharp talks extensively about her career as a top choreographer, relaying the lessons she's learned along the way. Despite having no current interest in dance I enjoyed this. Her profession is unique and interesting, which serves to highlight how broadly applicable a lot of creative advice is. Luck, multitasking, art, preparation, loneliness, fear, copying, confidence, ruts, detachment, denial, and failure were some of my note topics.
"How smart companies can use subscriptions to win customers, increase cash flow, and ignite growth …
Review of 'The automatic customer' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
An organized analysis of the advantages, challenges, and varieties of subscription models. Just like Warrillow's Built to Sell, this book is concise and full of great info. His wisdom and brevity is impressive.
Review of 'Profit First A Simple System to Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
Decent (but overly-complicated) advice for financial framework for a small business, hidden among 200 pages of weapons-grade cringe.
Like Rich Dad Poor Dad, Profit First teaches the "pay yourself first" strategy. Also like Rich Dad Poor Dad, most of the book is complete fluff around a couple of decent ideas, and most fluff serves to upsell the author's business or hype you up for simple concepts. Spoiler: The author is going to tell you to open up 7 new bank accounts, amid fart jokes and requests to send him selfies on Twitter.
If there were ever a book to justify Blinkist, this would be it.
What an interesting book. I loved this. Liu combines multiple fields of study to provide a comprehensive look at how to more accurately identify luck and skill, and how make luckier decisions. It's been a couple of months since I read it, but I think the characteristics, misinterpretations, and biases of luck are covered in the first half. The second half discusses serendipity and strategy in a business setting, concluding with the conventional and unconventional wisdom of luck.
There's plenty of good information here. No doubt the many bulleted lists contain solid advice, gained over many years through the author's highly relevant career. Personally though, too many key takeaways felt like platitudes, and there were some odd cases of repetitiveness. An anecdote about a student listening to a podcast was mentioned twice, statistics about mentors were brought up 3 or 4 different times, and Dr. Anthony Fauci was re-introduced more times than I can remember. Some of the topics are failure, adult learning, risk, persistence, mentorship, soft skills, and time management. Maybe I've been reading too many books in the genre for this to stand out.
"The business world is moving away from "belly to belly" interactions and traditional advertising. The …
Review of 'The conversion code' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
As difficult as it is to take someone who says "The lion doesn't ask the lamb for food" seriously, this is full of interesting digital marketing data. It has the "profit at any cost" hustle culture type of vibe, but if you can stomach the talk about NFTs, Gary Vee, and constant requests to DM the author, there are some great marketing insights in here. The chapters on web design and content marketing were personal standouts.
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living is a self-help book by Dale Carnegie. It …
Review of 'How to stop worrying and start living' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I shouldn't still be surprised at how evergreen the works of authors like Hill, Carnegie, and Schwartz are. Mindset and communication skills are always valuable, relevant, and something we could use a refresher on every so often.
I was amazed at just how many anecdotal and published stories Carnegie includes in here. His ability to gather and organize so much info on the subject of worry in the 1940's is hard to fathom. There's a huge variety of stories and personal self-improvement methods, from minor struggles to Depression-Era trauma. Along with many methods to curb worry, other topics were mentality, mind-body connection, criticism, forgiveness, failure, happiness, and philanthropy.
Review of 'How to Get Paid for What You Know' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A detailed guide for creating an online knowledge-based business. Many monetization models are mentioned briefly, such as advertising, sponsorships, freelance work, coaching, memberships, and affiliate programs, but the main strategy taught here is a combination of ebook and digital course sales. To facilitate those sales you're taught how to find your idea, craft a product, website creation, content marketing, email marketing, funnel creation, and eventual automation of the sales process.
Great detail is provided for how to write and structure your digital content. There is excellent advice for content marketing that could be applied to a variety of other business models. Useful methods and outlines are given for blog posts, product descriptions, sales pitches, and email campaigns. I found a lot of this handy, like his content bucket organization and article outlines. I also appreciated that the author dedicates a chapter to what to do once your business is up …
A detailed guide for creating an online knowledge-based business. Many monetization models are mentioned briefly, such as advertising, sponsorships, freelance work, coaching, memberships, and affiliate programs, but the main strategy taught here is a combination of ebook and digital course sales. To facilitate those sales you're taught how to find your idea, craft a product, website creation, content marketing, email marketing, funnel creation, and eventual automation of the sales process.
Great detail is provided for how to write and structure your digital content. There is excellent advice for content marketing that could be applied to a variety of other business models. Useful methods and outlines are given for blog posts, product descriptions, sales pitches, and email campaigns. I found a lot of this handy, like his content bucket organization and article outlines. I also appreciated that the author dedicates a chapter to what to do once your business is up and running, including some core things to focus on for growth. Minor cons were some Jesus smuggling and affiliate linking, but what can you do. Overall this is a great guide for creating and monetizing an online presence.
Encouraging motivation with some helpful methods for handling fear and discomfort. Methods you might consider basic? Maybe. Methods that could be pivotal to hear at the right time? Definitely. Visualizations, having a clear plan, working through and rationalizing your fears, and how high achievers utilize discomfort were some of the topics covered.
Review of 'How to Turn Your Passion into Profit' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Phenomenal walkthrough of the small business journey. This was my first business-themed course with TGC, and I had no idea what to expect. I was worried that it was going to be too abstract or theoretical. But McMullin is thorough, pragmatic, and personal in all 5 of the course steps. She asks unique questions relating back to your core motivations, lists many specific software services and products, and creates two fictional small business owners to follow along the course to provide real examples.
Each step builds on the previous, so that when you're at stages like choosing your business model, creating or packaging your offers, and developing your marketing and sales strategy, you already have a foundation to answer many of the questions involved in making those decisions. The instructor's vast experience in working with small business owners is felt throughout. For example, instead of creating an "ideal client profile" …
Phenomenal walkthrough of the small business journey. This was my first business-themed course with TGC, and I had no idea what to expect. I was worried that it was going to be too abstract or theoretical. But McMullin is thorough, pragmatic, and personal in all 5 of the course steps. She asks unique questions relating back to your core motivations, lists many specific software services and products, and creates two fictional small business owners to follow along the course to provide real examples.
Each step builds on the previous, so that when you're at stages like choosing your business model, creating or packaging your offers, and developing your marketing and sales strategy, you already have a foundation to answer many of the questions involved in making those decisions. The instructor's vast experience in working with small business owners is felt throughout. For example, instead of creating an "ideal client profile" (often a static and limiting concept), she provides a list of questions to ask to create a dynamic range of your potential customer base. 6 types of business models are covered to appeal to everything from online coaching to wholesale.
Review of 'HBR\'s 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself (with bonus article "How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton M. Christensen)' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
11 articles which will no doubt have hit and miss entries for most, due to their diversity. My notes were on the nobility of management, true humility, cultivating resilience, focusing on strengths, renewing energy, failure, effective management, and shifting into a fundamental state of leadership.
Positioning demystified. This compact guide was so helpful, and a joy to read. You'll view your market, customers, messaging, and products in a clearer way. It's all essentialized down to what good positioning is, its six components, and the 10 step positioning process. 3 sections, many numbered lists, some visual aids, and bolded standalone phrases help drive everything home.
