Catapult Your Business to New Heights- Sure-fire strategies to Increase Profit
October 28, 2009 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Books, Featured Articles
Book: Catapult Your Business to New Heights- Sure-fire strategies to Increase Profit
Author: Glory Borgenson
The author pin-points the reasons for business failure in the first few chapters. She also has a think about Stress. She is convinced that business owners allow stress to get to them, using the early death of her father at 53 as an example. This book is filled with exercises to make sure you get the point and figure out what you really want to do.
One chapter makes you go into details about how you envision your business to be. The questions encourage you to think bigger and challenge you to be aware of your current beliefs. In another chapter she tells you to make room for more profit in your life by reducing the stress. I told you, she has a thing about stress. She really means getting rid of the tyranny of the urgent and spends time explaining what that is and how to get rid of it. Then at the end you have an exercise that will help you change your way of doing business.
This book is for business owners willing to work and look at them. There is no gloss over and no place to hide. Either you read and book and do it or you don?t. If you don?t, then of course you cannot expect to see any good results. There is a chapter to learn business systems, which will really serve new business owners. Borgenson covers leading great teams, delegation and marketing and sales. All with exercises that will actually make your work through it, not just think about concepts.
If you are brave and are willing to do the work, this book very well might get what it promises in the title. There are many important concepts to learn from the book. This book is an L.A. 8
From Concept to Consumer: How to turn ideas into money
October 19, 2009 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Books, Featured Articles
Book: From Concept to Consumer: How to turn ideas into money
Author: Phil Baker
This author comes in the been there/done that category. He has actually done what he writes about. Baker is an expert on product and market development and Far East manufacturing. He has had a role in developing products for Apple, Seiko, Polaroid and many others. I won?t spoil it for you; however you will be pleasantly surprised to see what helped to develop. He warns the reader that creating a successful product is more than just coming up with a great idea. If you are working on your idea and do NOT have a huge company behind you, then this is perfect for you.
Baker tells you the basics of what you need on your team: a person in Finance, Engineering, Industrial Design, Marketing and Manufacturing. You cannot create the dream without a team. I like that he just doesn?t tell you to grab 5 other people who don?t think like you do. He explains product development with segments on Concept Design, Pre-production and Product and a few more elements that are needed.
Baker? segment on marketing is a little light and asks you to estimate if you can capture 5% or 30% of the market with a caveat that it takes time to capture a market. You get someone on your team that does marketing, and then they should be able to handle that for you. Baker shares why you should outsource and answers manufacturing questions that left unanswered would sink your entire project. I love that he covers PR for your product. So few business books ever do, unless of course they are about PR.
I recommend this book for the person at home or in his office inventing something new. If you learn from someone who has been successful at it, you can duplicate their success. This book is full of meat and I rate it an L.A. 8!
How to set up your new business
October 14, 2009 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Books, Featured Articles
Book: The Essential Business Handbook:
The Nuts and Bolts of Getting Up and Running Fast
Author: Beth Andrus
This book is a great reference book for all new small businesses. Everything you need is in easy to read chapters that are not over flowing with personal stories and information no one cares about. Andrus tells you what to do and why. Then she gives you a few resources to get it done. Don?t let the cartoon image of Andrus fool you. If you completed one item from each chapter, in less than a month you would be up and running.
Andrus writes in a simple style however she includes some very important information that people need. Every business must create a solid foundation; each brick of that foundation is covered here. All of the things you can find, however you are going to have to look several different places to get it all. Her explanation of resale number alone makes it worth it to get your book. Reading the California state government information booklet on resale numbers and how to calculate the tax is far more complicated that it should be. Andrus breaks it down with an easy to understand example.
Trademarks usually gets people stuck in the mud when starting their business. If you read Andrus chapter, you will be able to move beyond that even if you decide to go after a trademark. I also highly recommend the chapter on Cost Accounting. This is not exciting stuff when you are an entrepreneur, yet you must deal with it or pay the consequences later. She has a check list and glossary. No matter what your education level, you can enjoy this book. By enjoy the book, I mean, get the information, put it to use and get your business started. If you have a business already and are not achieving the success you want, this book can serve as a basic check up for your business.
This book is highly recommended for young or first time business owners. This book is a an L.A. 9!
