by Paul Simister
on January 4, 2017
The full title of this book by David Borgenicht & Mark Joyner is
The Worst-case Scenario Business Survival Guide: How To Survive The Recession, Handle Layoffs, Raise Emergency Cash, Thwart An Employee Coup and Avoid Other Potential Disasters!
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars. This means Worthwhile.
Here is my review.
A helpful guide for any business owner with a business in trouble
David Borgenicht has written a series of Worst Case books and, in the introduction to this one, admits that the others are written more for entertainment than practice. This book is different and is intended as a serious guide for a business owner with a business in trouble.
It is split into five main sections:
Financial emergencies
HR emergencies
Productivity emergencies
Sales and marketing emergencies
Executive emergencies
In each section, the two author have asked various business experts on their tips before writing what they call Basic Training. These are practical but sometimes easier to say than do. At the back of the book are suggested”what to say guides” for various situations.
I have a few concerns.
First, a company in trouble needs to be aware of its legal obligations. There are different levels of trouble but, if insolvency is threatened, you must know where you are. There are serious penalties for trading beyond the point of no return. If you need to reduce your employees, it must be done in the right way.
What you do to get out of trouble depends on what caused the problems. The book is tactical, looking at how to reduce the impact of the symptoms rather than strategic, which involves looking at and fixing the underlying problems.
The book also ignores financial control. You need to understand what it will take to get you back above the break even level and you need to be forecasting your cash flow, probably for at least 3 months to make sure you’re not digging a deeper hole in a few weeks time.
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by Paul Simister
on January 3, 2017
The full title of the book by Rod Sloane is
121 Marketing Ideas To Grow Your Small Business
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it X Stars.
Here is my review.
A list of ideas that lack structure
The title of the book summarises this book well. In general, there is a page to a page and a half of explanation after each tip that gives limited information about each.
From what I could see, they are listed in a random order whereas a book like Instant Cashflow has more tips separated into useful categories like generating leads, converting leads, increasing order values and getting the customers to buy again.
There is crossover between tips. Tip 25 is make business cards available to all staff, Tip 64 is about making your business card work for yourself while tip 101 is carry business cards at all times. This “haven’t we already talked about this” feeling happens a few more times. There isn’t an index that brings these together.
Finally, the book dates back to 2007 so it ignores more recent developments like social media. From the other reviews, I expected more.
Tips books can be a useful way to remind you that there’s plenty of more things that you could do to promote your business but I don’t think it’s the place to start if you’re new to business. You need a good grounding in the basic themes with a book like Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide, written by John Jantsch who wrote the first section of this book.
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by Paul Simister
on December 31, 2016
This book, Google AdWords Expanded Text Ads by Martin Bruno has been deleted from Amazon.co.uk and I have lost my book review.
I gave it Three Stars.
by Paul Simister
on December 22, 2016
The full title of this book by Jay Abraham is
The Sticking Point Solution: 9 Ways to Move Your Business from Stagnation to Stunning Growth in Tough Economic Times
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars. This means it is Worthwhile.
Here is my book review.
Disappointing book, lacking structure and organisation
I’m a big fan of Jay Abraham. He received help from Internet marketing guru, Rich Schefren, and I’m a big fan of his too but I thought this book was very disappointing for the people writing it.
Of course, my expectations were high, perhaps too high because I think Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition is essential reading for entrepreneurs and business owners. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on December 18, 2016
The full title of the book by Colin Mills is
Scale Up: How to Take Your Business to the Next Level Without Losing Control and Running Out of Cash
In my review posted at Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 3 Stars.
Here is my review.
A long promotion for the role of part time finance director
It’s promoting the role of the part time finance director (FD) or chief financial officer (CFO) in general and the FD Centre / CFO Centre in particular. It’s so promotional in fact that I feel it’s cheeky to ask potential customers to pay for it.
Fast growing businesses face challenges in terms of 1) keeping control of what’s happening in the business as the founder/owner has to delegate and 2) managing the strain on cash flow that is caused by growth. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on December 18, 2016
The full title of this book by Jimmy Akela is
10 Tips for Scaling Up Your Business When Life Gets Crazy: Use These Tips and Get Your Business Ready to Scale Up and Get Growing!
In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars. This means it is Worthwhile.
Here is my review.
Short and sensible but nothing special
This book is very short but it’s hard to argue against the ten tips which mainly look at issues of finance, team and the entrepreneur’s mindset.
It’s the kind of report that is normally given away for free as part of a lead generation process. If you’re facing the problems of scaling-up, you’ll want a much more substantial book. If you can read it for free because you have a kindle unlimited subscription, it’s worth looking at.
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by Paul Simister
on December 18, 2016
The full title of this book by V.F. Joseph is
Marketing for Your Small Business: What an Advisor Would Tell You How to Attract Customers to Scale Up Your Business for Growth
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Two Stars.
Here is my review.
A very short book about marketing
This book says it contains everything a business advisor will tell you about getting customers. If true, you’re talking to the wrong business advisor.
It is a very short book which rushes through the following topics:
Marketing strategy
Market research
Understanding customers
Pricing
Advertising & promotion
Social media
I have three issues with the book
1- it is too short to be valuable. There are benefits in being concise but this goes too far.
2- some of the writing is clunky.
3- the subtitle indicates the book is for business owners who are in the process of scaling up (well beyond start up) but the book doesn’t tackle those issues. It can apply just as well to start ups.
There are some excellent marketing books for just a few pounds more if you’re after a general marketing book. I recommend Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch.
However, there’s a lot in favour of finding a book focused on your particular trade or profession. Just do an extra search on the author because there are some who churn out the same book and use the find and replace function in Microsoft Word to switch trades. These promise far more than they deliver in my experience.
Alternatively, dig deeper into the subjects you want extra help with because I recommend you master one technique and get it working consistently well before adding another technique for reaching out to customers.
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by Paul Simister
on December 16, 2016
In my review posted of
Go Forth & Multiply: 7 Day Profit Boosting Plan
by Robert Mark Hurn posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars.
Here is my review.
The contents is much better than the feel of the book
The worst part of this book is its feel. It’s been self published and the author has used a company that seems to have a different binding technique. It’s hard to describe but it’s one of those books that you expect the pages to fall out if you read it much or if the spine gets broken.
The book itself has plenty of pages for notes and personal pledges to try to turn it into a workbook. Good intentions but it also pads out the contents over more pages. I doubt many people will use these pages as intended because of the binding issue. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on December 16, 2016
The full title of the book by Lanze Thompson is
The Consumer Value Model: Know The Perceived Value of Your Products & Services and Convert Inquiries Into Purchases
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 1 Star.
Here is my review.
Too small to read
This is a topic I’ve read quite a bit about so I was interested to see how the author could contribute to the issues involved. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on December 15, 2016
The full title of this book by Eddie Ashton is
No Website No Problem: 2 Internet Marketing Business Ideas to Make Money Even Without Your Own Website
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars. This means Worthwhile.
Here is my review.
Two ways that make a bit of money each day on big Internet websites
This is two books in one.
The first is selling Amazon affiliate products by doing a video review and posting it on Amazon. [continue reading…]
