I wanted to share this with the community. This appears to have originated on another forum, (wickedfire) by a member known as Eliquid. I take no credit for this whatsoever, simply passing along the information. I will copy it here for the benefit of other INSIDERS:
Direct link:
http://www.wickedfire.com/enlighten...oks-business-advice-marketing-money-help.html
Another member of that forum compiled this info into a PDF:
http://www.ticovista.com/dev/eliquid-4k-post-wickedfire-vol-i.pdf
------
I thought long and hard what my 4k post should be. I could have done the long standing porn threads but I already have a few of those.
I could have done an epic case study, but I have also done those here on Wickedfire too.
Then it hit me, post something that could actually help inspire people to be sucsessful. I don't "read" much, you will mostly find me listening to audio books instead or getting the "summery" and cliffnotes of great books written by other people. Why read all of the book unless I just need to when I can get the "meat" of them and do just as well in my limited time?
With that in mind, I present to you some of the best tips, clips, and ideas from a collection of books that focus on:
a. business
b. investing
c. marketing
d. motivation and productivity
e. technology
Some of this might not apply to you and some might seem "common sense" to some of you, but all of these tips and clips have actually been used by me and shown to be useful in some fashion for me. As with anything, your milage will vary. I got a lot of these from sivers.org
Business:
The Lean Startup - by Eric Ries- Startup success is not a consequence of good genes or being in the right place at the right time. Startup success can be engineered by following the right process, which means it can be learned, which means it can be taught.
- An extremely fast cycle time, a focus on what customers want (without asking them), and a scientific approach to making decisions.
- Startups exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically by running frequent experiments.
- Planning and forecasting are only accurate when based on a long, stable operating history and a relatively static environment. Startups have neither.
- The goal of a startup is to figure out the right thing to build - the thing customers want and will pay for - as quickly as possible.
- Learn to see every startup in any industry as a grand experiment. The question is not “Can this product be built?” In the modern economy, almost any product that can be imagined can be built. The more pertinent questions are “Should this product be built?” and “Can we build a sustainable business around this set of products and services?” To answer those questions, we need a method for systematically breaking down a business plan into its component parts and testing each part empirically.
- “Until we could figure out how to sell and make the product, it wasn’t worth spending any engineering time on.”
- What differentiates the success stories from the failures is that the successful entrepreneurs had the foresight, the ability, and the tools to discover which parts of their plans were working brilliantly and which were misguided, and adapt their strategies accordingly.
- The lesson of the MVP is that any additional work beyond what was required to start learning is waste, no matter how important it might have seemed at the time.
- As you consider building your own minimum viable product, let this simple rule suffice: remove any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly to the learning you seek.
- Five dollars bought us a hundred clicks - every day. From a marketing point of view this was not very significant, but for learning it was priceless. Every single day we were able to measure our product’s performance with a brand new set of customers. Also, each time we revised the product, we got a brand new report card on how we were doing the very next day.
- Use a system called the Five Whys to make incremental investments and evolve a startup’s processes gradually. The core idea of Five Whys is to tie investments directly to the prevention of the most problematic symptoms. The system takes its name from the investigative method of asking the question “Why?” five times to understand what has happened (the root cause).
One Simple Idea - by Stephen Key ( offline hustle for licensee your idea to big companies, patents, etc )- Did you know you can licensee ideas to big companies? This is known as open innovation and costs companies less in their own R&D.
- Take your hustle offline and come up with an idea for an existing or non-existing product and get a provisional patent application. You can come up with an idea, the patent, and the process for less then $500 in 30 days.
- The best companies are those ranked 3-4th in their market and you show them how your idea can make them 2nd or 1st.
- Here is an example: “What if a combination lock had letters, instead of numbers, so you could spell out your secret code?” He now has a successful product, Wordlock, which is sold in tens of thousands of stores around the world.
- always have a nondisclosure agreement signed
- learn how manufacturing is actually done. 1 good basic resource is howstuffismade.org
- Only in the United States, patent protection is granted to the “first to invent,” meaning the first who conceived of and practiced the invention. In almost all other countries, entitlement to a patent is established by the “first to file,” which is awarded based on the date of the application, regardless of the date of the actual invention.
- The number one rule of this game is first to market wins. So if you don’t get your idea to market quickly, someone else probably will.
The Obsolete Employee - by Michael Russer ( book about outsourcing, freelancing )- You are hiring an independent contractor who is an expert at what they do (rather than a jack of all trades). Make sure you hire specialists and avoid those that offer many different types of services.
- List several projects that, if completed, would make a big impact on your business.
- Precisely spell out what you want done, how it is to be done, and the desired measurable outcome once it is done.
- Do not make the mistake of dumping more and broader scope of work on them, as time goes on.
- Start with the small steps of hiring VAs for specific, measurable tasks. After you have two or more working with you and everything is going smoothly, consider hiring an executive level VA to grow your virtual team beyond that point.
Hiring Smart - by Pierre Mornell ( hiring the right people )
Direct link:
http://www.wickedfire.com/enlighten...oks-business-advice-marketing-money-help.html
Another member of that forum compiled this info into a PDF:
http://www.ticovista.com/dev/eliquid-4k-post-wickedfire-vol-i.pdf
------
I thought long and hard what my 4k post should be. I could have done the long standing porn threads but I already have a few of those.
I could have done an epic case study, but I have also done those here on Wickedfire too.
Then it hit me, post something that could actually help inspire people to be sucsessful. I don't "read" much, you will mostly find me listening to audio books instead or getting the "summery" and cliffnotes of great books written by other people. Why read all of the book unless I just need to when I can get the "meat" of them and do just as well in my limited time?
With that in mind, I present to you some of the best tips, clips, and ideas from a collection of books that focus on:
a. business
b. investing
c. marketing
d. motivation and productivity
e. technology
Some of this might not apply to you and some might seem "common sense" to some of you, but all of these tips and clips have actually been used by me and shown to be useful in some fashion for me. As with anything, your milage will vary. I got a lot of these from sivers.org
Business:
The Lean Startup - by Eric Ries- Startup success is not a consequence of good genes or being in the right place at the right time. Startup success can be engineered by following the right process, which means it can be learned, which means it can be taught.
- An extremely fast cycle time, a focus on what customers want (without asking them), and a scientific approach to making decisions.
- Startups exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically by running frequent experiments.
- Planning and forecasting are only accurate when based on a long, stable operating history and a relatively static environment. Startups have neither.
- The goal of a startup is to figure out the right thing to build - the thing customers want and will pay for - as quickly as possible.
- Learn to see every startup in any industry as a grand experiment. The question is not “Can this product be built?” In the modern economy, almost any product that can be imagined can be built. The more pertinent questions are “Should this product be built?” and “Can we build a sustainable business around this set of products and services?” To answer those questions, we need a method for systematically breaking down a business plan into its component parts and testing each part empirically.
- “Until we could figure out how to sell and make the product, it wasn’t worth spending any engineering time on.”
- What differentiates the success stories from the failures is that the successful entrepreneurs had the foresight, the ability, and the tools to discover which parts of their plans were working brilliantly and which were misguided, and adapt their strategies accordingly.
- The lesson of the MVP is that any additional work beyond what was required to start learning is waste, no matter how important it might have seemed at the time.
- As you consider building your own minimum viable product, let this simple rule suffice: remove any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly to the learning you seek.
- Five dollars bought us a hundred clicks - every day. From a marketing point of view this was not very significant, but for learning it was priceless. Every single day we were able to measure our product’s performance with a brand new set of customers. Also, each time we revised the product, we got a brand new report card on how we were doing the very next day.
- Use a system called the Five Whys to make incremental investments and evolve a startup’s processes gradually. The core idea of Five Whys is to tie investments directly to the prevention of the most problematic symptoms. The system takes its name from the investigative method of asking the question “Why?” five times to understand what has happened (the root cause).
One Simple Idea - by Stephen Key ( offline hustle for licensee your idea to big companies, patents, etc )- Did you know you can licensee ideas to big companies? This is known as open innovation and costs companies less in their own R&D.
- Take your hustle offline and come up with an idea for an existing or non-existing product and get a provisional patent application. You can come up with an idea, the patent, and the process for less then $500 in 30 days.
- The best companies are those ranked 3-4th in their market and you show them how your idea can make them 2nd or 1st.
- Here is an example: “What if a combination lock had letters, instead of numbers, so you could spell out your secret code?” He now has a successful product, Wordlock, which is sold in tens of thousands of stores around the world.
- always have a nondisclosure agreement signed
- learn how manufacturing is actually done. 1 good basic resource is howstuffismade.org
- Only in the United States, patent protection is granted to the “first to invent,” meaning the first who conceived of and practiced the invention. In almost all other countries, entitlement to a patent is established by the “first to file,” which is awarded based on the date of the application, regardless of the date of the actual invention.
- The number one rule of this game is first to market wins. So if you don’t get your idea to market quickly, someone else probably will.
The Obsolete Employee - by Michael Russer ( book about outsourcing, freelancing )- You are hiring an independent contractor who is an expert at what they do (rather than a jack of all trades). Make sure you hire specialists and avoid those that offer many different types of services.
- List several projects that, if completed, would make a big impact on your business.
- Precisely spell out what you want done, how it is to be done, and the desired measurable outcome once it is done.
- Do not make the mistake of dumping more and broader scope of work on them, as time goes on.
- Start with the small steps of hiring VAs for specific, measurable tasks. After you have two or more working with you and everything is going smoothly, consider hiring an executive level VA to grow your virtual team beyond that point.
Hiring Smart - by Pierre Mornell ( hiring the right people )
- Every applicant you interview, tell them you feel they are not "top notch" or the right person for this job no matter what. The ones that reject your comment and try to sell themselves are the ones you want to keep.
- Curiosity is a valuable asset in an employee. It demonstrates a desire to gratify the mind with new discoveries, to learn about novel and extraordinary things.
- Microsoft assumes that the best candidates are not looking for new jobs. In fact, candidates who approach Microsoft are actually less attractive to the company.
- Be the first to talk in the interview and ask all your questions upfront, then let the interviewee speak. This forces you to listen and also gives you a chance to watch their mannerisms and if they remember everything you said.
- Call references at what you assume will be their lunchtime - you want to reach an assistant or voice mail. Jones is a candidate for (the position) in our company. Your name has been given as a reference. Please call me back if the candidate was outstanding.” If the candidate is outstanding or excellent, I guarantee that eight out of ten people will respond quickly and want to help. Take such a response as a green light.
- Give conflicting opinions early in the interview. Then see if the candidate agrees with both opinions throughout the interview.
- 65 percent of executive candidates lie about their academic credentials. Forty-three percent lie about their job responsibilities. Forty-two percent lie about previous compensation.
The Profit Zone - by Adrian Slywotzky ( increasing profit in your business )
- Curiosity is a valuable asset in an employee. It demonstrates a desire to gratify the mind with new discoveries, to learn about novel and extraordinary things.
- Microsoft assumes that the best candidates are not looking for new jobs. In fact, candidates who approach Microsoft are actually less attractive to the company.
- Be the first to talk in the interview and ask all your questions upfront, then let the interviewee speak. This forces you to listen and also gives you a chance to watch their mannerisms and if they remember everything you said.
- Call references at what you assume will be their lunchtime - you want to reach an assistant or voice mail. Jones is a candidate for (the position) in our company. Your name has been given as a reference. Please call me back if the candidate was outstanding.” If the candidate is outstanding or excellent, I guarantee that eight out of ten people will respond quickly and want to help. Take such a response as a green light.
- Give conflicting opinions early in the interview. Then see if the candidate agrees with both opinions throughout the interview.
- 65 percent of executive candidates lie about their academic credentials. Forty-three percent lie about their job responsibilities. Forty-two percent lie about previous compensation.
The Profit Zone - by Adrian Slywotzky ( increasing profit in your business )
- The devout pursuit of market share may be the single greatest creator of no-profit zones in the economy.
- The curse of growth arises when a business grows by stretching its business design to serve customers that the business design was not intended to serve.
- Value migrates toward activities that are more important to customers - activities where profit is possible.
- Which customers I choose depends on which customers will allow me to make a profit.
- Customer priorities are the things that are so important to customers that they will pay a premium for them or, when they can’t get them, they will switch suppliers.
- build a PRODUCT PYRAMID PROFIT. The profit is concentrated at the top of the product pyramid. Build a “firewall” brand at the bottom of the pyramid: a strong, low-priced brand that is produced at a profit, however slim. The purpose of this brand is to deter competitor entry, thereby protecting the enormous profit margins at the top of the pyramid. When a firewall brand isn’t built, competitors have the opportunity to come in at the bottom and then work their way toward the top, where the profits are. Witness the history of the U.S. automotive market from 1965 to 1995. Japanese competitors first occupied the base with cars designed to be profitable, even at low price levels. They then moved up (Honda’s Acura, Toyota’s Lexus, Nissan’s Infiniti) to where the higher profits were.
- The curse of growth arises when a business grows by stretching its business design to serve customers that the business design was not intended to serve.
- Value migrates toward activities that are more important to customers - activities where profit is possible.
- Which customers I choose depends on which customers will allow me to make a profit.
- Customer priorities are the things that are so important to customers that they will pay a premium for them or, when they can’t get them, they will switch suppliers.
- build a PRODUCT PYRAMID PROFIT. The profit is concentrated at the top of the product pyramid. Build a “firewall” brand at the bottom of the pyramid: a strong, low-priced brand that is produced at a profit, however slim. The purpose of this brand is to deter competitor entry, thereby protecting the enormous profit margins at the top of the pyramid. When a firewall brand isn’t built, competitors have the opportunity to come in at the bottom and then work their way toward the top, where the profits are. Witness the history of the U.S. automotive market from 1965 to 1995. Japanese competitors first occupied the base with cars designed to be profitable, even at low price levels. They then moved up (Honda’s Acura, Toyota’s Lexus, Nissan’s Infiniti) to where the higher profits were.
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