We love a good read at Golddust Marketing. Nothing beats hunkering down with an engaging book, a cuppa and a biscuit or two. So what are the tomes that float our Golddust boat? The latest Stephen King? Maybe a bit of light-hearted chick-lit? Is Hannah a Hobbit fan? No, dear reader. Hannah is actually a fan of the business book. You know the ones – some claim that they can make you a six figure sum by the time you reach Chapter 3, others offer advice on closing the sale, gaining new business or just being your best self in the business arena.
As September marked National Read A Book Day, we thought we’d take a look back at the business books Hannah has read this year, with a short review of each. If you’ve read any of them, we’d love to hear your feedback – you could even WIN one of the books on Hannah’s list by simply having an opinion!
So, grab a cuppa, mute your phone and read on ……
Many people say that reading is a dying art. It’s all too easy to lose several hours by mindlessly scrolling on your phone or getting sucked into throwaway reality TV of an evening. At the beginning of 2021, Hannah decided that this was the year to read more. After all, reading is good for the mind – it can stretch your creativity and plant seeds that germinate into best practice and self-improvement.
Reading can also expand your knowledge, turning it from DUST to GOLD.
Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestly
‘Oversubscribed’ is the second Daniel Priestly book I have read. The premise is that if you do everything the same as every other business, your business will probably not reach its full potential, and may even struggle to grow. The best way forward is to position yourself in such a way that you are oversubscribed.
1. Don’t let the market set your price – Think Apple
2. Being different is a good thing – Think Apple AGAIN! lol
3. Be generous with ideas and charge for implementing – you’ve basically got to show that you know how to do it, it’s not mystical and your customers can trust you.
4. Customer satisfaction is key. Without sounding like fan-girl the book is a short 4-5hour read and Priestly does an excellent job of detailing how to position a business in such a way that you can work less, but earn more by giving the smaller number of customers the best experience possible.
The Compound Effect – by Darren Hardy
‘The Compound Effect’ helped me to address the bullshit hype often shoved down our necks that can lead to feelings of not being good enough and the sickening feeling of being overwhelmed. Get rich quick schemes are becoming the norm and neglecting how true progress is made. My fave quote from the book was – “You alone are responsible for what you do, don’t do, or how you respond to what’s done to you.”
I also found it fascinating that according to Albert Einstein, compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. So, if we are applying compound interest to our lives, we are making small decisions and taking small simple actions consistently overtime.
In short, the compound effect is about making small decisions every day until the little snowball at the start rolls into a boulder of snow by the end. Do you wanna build a snowman? There are a lot of books out there with this at the core but I’m now set on being consistent. Go on – take a small step toward your goal today – be that PROUD you 🙂
Key Person of Influence – Daniel Priestly
The ‘Key Person of Influence’ teaches you how to become an influencer within your target market or area of expertise. It claims to be “the 5-step method to become one of the most highly valued and highly paid people in your industry.”
Often (maybe it’s being British) I find it hard to tell people what I’m up to for fear of coming across as arrogant. This book helped me rethink approaches to personal branding. What I really liked about it is that you don’t just geta lecture on the information that you need, but it also gives you the methods and steps that you need to take to implement it.
I found it a really easy read as the book has been written with the reader in mind. It has no fluff and no regurgitated paragraphs. I found it a valuable read for anyone wanting to become an influencer in their chosen industry and be challenged to action what they are reading.
How I Built This – Guy Raz
Guy Raz’s book ‘How I Built This’ is a WALL STREET JOURNAL #1 Bestselling Business Book so it’s highly likely that it’s also on other people’s lists.
The book offers insights and inspiration from the world’s top entrepreneurs on how to start, launch, and build a successful venture. It’s more like a collection of advice and how-to’s based on the many interviews Guy Raz has done on his podcast over the years.
I found it a really easy read as it is written as mini stories and anecdotes. It covers loads of things like trusting your gut, raising funding and is it always the right thing to do, recruiting employees, fending off competitors, to finally paying yourself a real salary. If you are a business owner or have ever dreamed of starting out on your own, this book will have a nugget or two for you.
It’s basically the best bits from Guy Raz’s podcasts. I would have also liked to have heard from entrepreneurs that tried but failed. A section on failure and the lessons from that would make the book more unique.
The Sales Bible – Jeffrey Gitomer
Jeffrey Gitomer’s book ‘The Sales Bible’ is all about what it takes to be successful, that can help people who sell for a living, do it more successfully.
It’s helped me to refocus on things I knew but hadn’t properly thought about putting into practice. Many notes were taken and after reviewing them, a few have been actioned… so in my opinion it was a worthwhile investment of my time, although the book could have been half the size and still made the same impact. It is repetitive (I’m not sure if that’s on purpose to reinforce elements!?) and you can tell Jeffrey is a tad in love with himself, but he has walked the walk so worth hearing his advice and adapting what you can take from it.
I’d say just keep an open positive mind and that not all of it will be your gospel!
The Chimp Paradox – Steve Peters
I went back to an old faithful, ‘The Chimp Paradox’ – and got even more out of it on the second time of reading. This is not strictly a business book but, instead, a book about psychology and human behaviour, written by a very serious and credible scientist … but written in an entertaining and engaging way that is accessible by anyone with three brains!
It’s helped me understand why I act like I do, and I now have a better understanding of the options I have for self-development.
So, have you read any of Hannah’s recommendations? We’d love to hear your thoughts – or any recommendations for business books that you think are worthy of a few evenings in an armchair. Feel free to share your stinkers too – the ones to avoid at all costs – and save us all a few quid in the process!