Koncocoo

Best New Business Enterprises

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
In Zero to One , legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things. Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we’re too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice. Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places. What Thiel is after is the revitalization of imagination and invention writ large…" – The New Republic "Might be the best business book I've read...Barely 200 pages long and well lit by clear prose and pithy aphorisms, Thiel has written a perfectly tweetable treatise and a relentlessly thought-provoking handbook." This is a classic.” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan “Thiel has drawn upon his wide-ranging and idiosyncratic readings in philosophy, history, economics, anthropology, and culture to become perhaps America’s leading public intellectual today” - Fortune "Peter Thiel, in addition to being an accomplished entrepreneur and investor, is also one of the leading public intellectuals of our time. "The first and last business book anyone needs to read; a one in a world of zeroes."
Reviews
"For example "we never invest in entrepreneurs who turn up for the interview in a suit" or "four of the founders of PayPal had built bombs as children." Memo to Peter Thiel: you are successful despite your prejudice against people who don't share your sartorial taste, and your partners made it to adulthood despite having been poorly supervised as children. He was not beaten by a better provider of software, he was superseded by a shift in technology toward powerful mobile devices, tablets and the cloud, all of which, in turn, were motivated by other entrepreneurs' desire to obtain monopoly profits. So Steve Jobs dominated many of these arenas for long enough to enjoy monopoly profits and other people will some day take this all further. Even the government is in on the act, Peter Thiel claims, or else it would not be granting patents to inventors or freedom from competition from generic drugs to the pharmaceutical companies that first develop new medications. My mom taught me that "necessity is the mother of invention:" GM did not develop the Volt till it was up against the wall, Archimedes discovered how to screw water upwards during the Roman siege of Syracuse, the Germans developed jet propulsion, the swept wing and the rocket we later sent to the moon when they had pretty much already lost WWII. And then we have the cases where, as the author says, it's clear that you need to incentivize people to innovate (drugs spring to mind, where the US has a lead) and that's where patents come in. And it was crystal clear to everybody with a modicum of common sense that both Intel and Microsoft were not helping the world along when they used dirty tricks to hurt AMD and Netscape. The author takes us on a (rather gratuitous) trip from Plato and Aristotle to Nozick and Rawls via Epicurus, Lucretius, Hegel and Marx to discuss when optimism is and isn't warranted and the bottom line is that you're only allowed to be an optimist if you have "definite optimism" based on a specific Design (my capital D) for a business. Peter Thiel takes a massive swipe at the Malcolm Gladwells of the world who overemphasize chance, serendipity and fate with facile arguments about the similarity in Steve Jobs' and Bill Gates' birthdates. It's the Nassim Nicholas Taleb idea, and he duly appears on the back cover to endorse the book. For the best book on the subject I'd swerve around NNT's work and turn to Benoit Mandelbrot's masterpiece, "The (Mis)behaviour of Markets." The fourth idea is no more original, but Thiel puts it well: "there are many more secrets left to find, but they will yield only to relentless searchers." The fifth idea is you need to pick your partners i.e. your investors, your fellow managers and your (ideally 3) directors very carefully in order to make sure you all want the same thing out of the company (and it had better not be immediate rewards). But once they have their first billion and don't need to run their ideas by anyone else to get them funded they very often go do something stupid (dunno, like go mine asteroids) with exactly the same fervour they previously applied to the sensible endeavour that made them rich. The more grounded ones keep their further investments close to home and direct their creativity toward giving lectures and writing books."
"Along with business strategy, Thiel outlines how successful innovation shapes society and shares an intriguing vision. Rather than offer scripts or formulas, Thiel discusses the logic of starting a company that will make a truly meaningful and unique impact on the world. Blake did a great job of adapting and presenting the contents, many of which were delivered when Thiel taught at Stanford. Keeping in mind that companies growing 1000x often carry entire portfolios, Peter gives a good argument for successful moonshots and grand visions. He also highlights the dangers of trying to disrupt entrenched competitors and avoid extra resistance and burn rates on marketing. Rather, Tesla began by making powertrains, then started with high end luxury models to which no solid alternative existed. His strong argument for monopolies are both for novelty and to develop early market dominance should competitors arise later. I found a Monopoly Index by Forbes that showed these types of companies outperforming the Dow and S&P by 33%, which was a pleasant result of some due diligence. Even if you make a product that’s a 3x improvement over a market leader, you aren’t creating anything truly new, and well funded competitors are likely to catch up. It looks at economics, globalization, artificial intelligence, and historical trends along with founder characteristics and the qualities of great salespeople. If you like diving really deep into the mind of a founder across many life experiences, check out Tony Hseih’s Delivering Happiness."
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The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. "The Lean Startup has a kind of inexorable logic, and Ries’ recommendations come as a bracing slap in the face to would-be tech moguls: Test your ideas before you bet the bank on them. —Mitchell Kapor, Founder, Lotus Development Corp. "At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from Eric's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business." —Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook and Asana “Ries' splendid book is the essential template to understand the crucial leadership challenge of our time: initiating and managing growth!” —Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business, University of Southern California and author of the recently published, Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership. ". — Tim O'Reilly, CEO O'Reilly Media “Eric Ries unravels the mysteries of entrepreneurship and reveals that magic and genius are not the necessary ingredients for success but instead proposes a scientific process that can be learnt and replicated. Ries's ‘read and react’ approach to this sport, his relentless focus on validated learning, the never-ending anxiety of hovering between ‘persevere’ and ‘pivot’, all bear witness to his appreciation for the dynamics of entrepreneurship." —Randy Komisar, founding director of TiVo and author of the bestselling The Monk and the Riddle “How do you apply the 50 year old ideas of Lean to the fast-paced, high uncertainty world of Startups? It provides actionable ways to avoid product-learning mistakes, rigorously evaluate early signals from the market through validated learning, and decide whether to persevere or to pivot, all challenges that heighten the chance of entrepreneurial failure.” —Professor Noam Wasserman, Harvard Business School “One of the best and most insightful new books on entrepreneurship and management I’ve ever read. Seriously stop and read this book now.” —Scott Case, CEO Startup America Partnership “In business, a ‘lean’ enterprise is sustainable efficiency in action. These tools will help organizations large and small to sustain innovation by effectively leveraging the time, passion, and skill of their talent pools.” — Andrea Goldsmith, professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, and cofounder of several startups “Business is too important to be left to luck. This book is the guided tour of the key innovative practices used inside Google, Toyota, and Facebook, that work in any business.” — Scott Cook, Founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit.
Reviews
"This is an amazing book on innovation and getting your ideas into an MVP quickly."
"This book is fabulous."
"Second time reading this book and it is a great book to read a second time, to remember his insights and to help formalize the thoughts I have many days at work."
"This is my first enterprise book I have ever read and learning about the Lean Startup that is now becoming a big thing was very helpful with this book."
"Not the be all and end all on the subject and the serious reader will want to dive into some of the other books on the subject."
"An eye-opener about how to succeed or fail in hi tech."
"If you are looking to create a startup business yourself, bring innovation to your workplace or consult on either behalf, this is a fantastic read."
"In fact, hardware is hard and my research hasn't found anything remotely useful in applying lean start-up principles to hardware. Diarrhea of the word processor resulted in a 365 page definition of a lean start-up, where it could have been boiled down to less than 100 pages (minus 1-star for waste...Distill it down to an A3 using Lean Thinking). (Minus 1-star: As a hardware guy and having extensive experience in lean it's blatantly obvious Ries is just starting his lean journey and his last section (Accelerate) is superficial, survey, regurgitation of some of the lean tools and ideas). Reference More Actionable Books: Running Lean - Ash Maurya. Art of the Start (Ch.1) - Guy Kawasaki. Reference Free Material: Steve Blank's Website & Blog. Simon Sinek - Start with Why."
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The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog. *Starred Review* It’s fairly evident that this is a collection of blogs, loosely strung together, united in their varied perspectives on start-ups, CEO-dom, and business in general. Though Horowitz is a cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and his credentials reside mainly in Silicon Valley, he’s imparted some valuable insight on hard lessons learned that apply to any manager, whether in the executive suite or not.
Reviews
"In the end, it's the leaders who are responsible for creating the work environment and culture."
"I believe this is a must book for tech entrepreneurs in addition to Zero to One... many won't value the content if they are just starting their entrepreneurship journey but for someone like me, who read it a decade after my first startup, I really wished that I had read it a lot earlier l. (Too my defence this book was not available then)."
"He gives thoughtful advice for any CEO, founder or member of a leadership team on how to hire talent, manage culture, navigate crisis with grace and how to inspire people during tough times."
"Great book, and actually pretty interesting reading for a business book."
"Definitely one of the best business books I've read."
"It's not a set of rules how to become rich, stop procrastinating etc. It's the real Ben's experience of working without sleep, 7 days a week, preparing for bankruptcies etc."
"Well done and thanks for sharing the insights."
"This is a new thing for me, I'm reviewing a book 70% into the book. I'm so impressed with this book and have learned so much from Mr. Horowitz I could actually care less if the next 30% of this book has any relevant information."
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Best Small Business Taxes

Small Time Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble
In clear, easy-to-understand language, the author covers: Getting permits and licenses How to finance a business Creating and using a business plan Choosing and protecting a business name Deciding whether to incorporate Establishing a complete bookkeeping system Hiring employees Federal, state, and local taxes Buying a business or franchise Dealing with—and avoiding—the IRS Doing business on the Internet Handling insurance, contracts, pricing, trademarks, and patents. A University of California lecturer, he is the author of five books on business and taxes. Written for small businesses, self-employed individuals, employers, professionals, independent contractors, home businesses, and Internet businesses, Small Time Operator. is the most popular business start-up guide ever.
Reviews
"I'm using this book mainly to reduce my taxes since I have a relatively high income with high income taxes and this book seems to contain the most detail and various ways I can deduct my taxes. The getting started chapter goes over business types (service, retail, manufacturing), business success info and advice, business location (mall, home, rural, industrial, zoning), financing (business loan types, grants, raising capital), legal structures (sole proprietor, LLC, etc. ), I just found out he wrote a different book that only covers tax deductions - had I known this, I would have bought that book. There are so many deductions that are explained, I'm glad that I bought this book so that I don't have to hire someone to tell me and do my taxes for me. The home business chapter is my second favorite since it also has tax-specific advice about home business. This is a great book for people who already have a pretty solid traditional small business and hope to improve upon it by expanding their business through expanding sales and hiring employees. Taxes are a headache, reading this book is a headache - but that is mostly because taxes are a complicated issue for most laypeople trying to start a business."
"I probably should write this review after I've finished reading it."
"Anyone starting a small business could really use this!"
"Phenomenal book!"
"Great information for a beginner."
"this book helped me review many things im going through my accounting class and helped me learn about many things more to be one step ahead, i would really recomend this book."
"Has a lot of detail and a well structured table of contents to make searching for a particular topic a breeze."
"I had a copy of this book from the 1970's and loved it to pieces."
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Best Small Business Bookkeeping

Small Time Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble
In clear, easy-to-understand language, the author covers: Getting permits and licenses How to finance a business Creating and using a business plan Choosing and protecting a business name Deciding whether to incorporate Establishing a complete bookkeeping system Hiring employees Federal, state, and local taxes Buying a business or franchise Dealing with—and avoiding—the IRS Doing business on the Internet Handling insurance, contracts, pricing, trademarks, and patents. A University of California lecturer, he is the author of five books on business and taxes. Written for small businesses, self-employed individuals, employers, professionals, independent contractors, home businesses, and Internet businesses, Small Time Operator. is the most popular business start-up guide ever.
Reviews
"I'm using this book mainly to reduce my taxes since I have a relatively high income with high income taxes and this book seems to contain the most detail and various ways I can deduct my taxes. The getting started chapter goes over business types (service, retail, manufacturing), business success info and advice, business location (mall, home, rural, industrial, zoning), financing (business loan types, grants, raising capital), legal structures (sole proprietor, LLC, etc. ), I just found out he wrote a different book that only covers tax deductions - had I known this, I would have bought that book. There are so many deductions that are explained, I'm glad that I bought this book so that I don't have to hire someone to tell me and do my taxes for me. The home business chapter is my second favorite since it also has tax-specific advice about home business. This is a great book for people who already have a pretty solid traditional small business and hope to improve upon it by expanding their business through expanding sales and hiring employees. Taxes are a headache, reading this book is a headache - but that is mostly because taxes are a complicated issue for most laypeople trying to start a business."
"I probably should write this review after I've finished reading it."
"Anyone starting a small business could really use this!"
"Phenomenal book!"
"Great information for a beginner."
"this book helped me review many things im going through my accounting class and helped me learn about many things more to be one step ahead, i would really recomend this book."
"Has a lot of detail and a well structured table of contents to make searching for a particular topic a breeze."
"I had a copy of this book from the 1970's and loved it to pieces."
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Best Venture Capital

Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist
How to raise money; What terms matter and which ones don’t; How to negotiate a fair deal for everyone; What makes venture capitalists tick, including how they are compensated and motivated; How companies are valued by venture capitalists; How all current structures of funding work, including convertible debt, crowdfunding, pre-sales and other non-traditional methods; How these particular issues change through different stages of financing (seed, early, mid and late); and How to avoid business and legal pitfalls that many entrepreneurs make. And as in the previous editions, this book isn’t just a one-sided opinion from venture capitalists, but also has helpful commentary throughout from a veteran CEO who has raised many rounds of financing from many different investors. “When I was a founder, VCs hoarded information about how venture capital terms worked to stack the deck in their favor. Along came Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson who started giving away the game by publishing how things worked on their blog. “Having worked with Brad and Jason during the Internet bubble, I witnessed first-hand the experience they gained by doing deals that covered the entire range of issues an entrepreneur faces today. The authors' frank style and incisive insight make this a must-read for high-growth company entrepreneurs, early-stage investors, and graduate students. This book goes far beyond the nuts and bolts of term sheets and venture capital to give invaluable insights into the importance of building relationships based on trust. “I have been lucky to have Brad Feld as a mentor as a VC, and watch him advise companies as a board member. Brad and Jason demystify the overly complex world of term sheets and M&A, cutting through the legalese and focusing on what really matters. Having an educated entrepreneur on the other side of the table means you spend your time negotiating the important issues and ultimately get to the right deal faster." Brad and Jason are highly respected investors who shoot straight from the hip and tell it like it is, bringing a level of transparency to a process that is rarely well understood. - Emily Mendell, Vice President of Communications, National Venture Capital Association.
Reviews
"I am a 2x entrepreneur who has raised over $20M in VC funding, so when i say this is a must-read IF you want to raise money I am speaking out of experience. I wish I had this book in 2007, when I was trying to raise money. VCs are in the business to accomplish two things: (1) preserve their LP capital (i.e. don't lose money). As an entrepreneur you end up working for the VCs and will get wealthy if your company ends up being one of the 0.01% of VC companies that have very successful exits. so lets look at the main two things covered in this book that describe how VCs make money: VCs get their money from pension funds, alternative asset funds, government organizations, and basically any large sources of capital that is looking for risk-adjusted better-than-average returns. There are many other ways to raise money - loans, venture debt, private equity, and good ol' sales... Granted, this might not be the fastest way to grow your company and presents the risk of being overtaken by a well-funded company. But if you know that the market is big enough for more then one player (even if you're #2), and you want to keep a larger amount of your hard-earned money and reduce the influence of VCs then think twice about the VC option."
"This is the second time in my life I find myself doing the rounds to collect proper money from investors. The authors, seasoned VC entrepreneurs, have a gift for writing and that’s what carries you through the book. So I’m reading this and the only thing that keeps me from saying “OK, boys and girls, this covers everything, it’s the gospel” is the simple fact that if I was a VC I’d write a book that makes the case for the VC’s interests rather than the entrepreneur’s. If for some mysterious reason you don’t want a preview, on the other hand, look away now, because what follows is my summary of the key points: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Chapter 1: “The Players”. • You need to be talking to a Managing Director or a General Partner. • You need a good, experienced lawyer: this is an awful place to skimp. • Mentors are great. Chapter 2: “How to Raise Money”. • You need an elevator pitch, an executive summary and a 10-slide powerpoint presentation. • “We haven’t seen a business plan in more than 20 years”. • Your financial model must get the potential expenses right; forget about nailing the revenues. • Do your homework on your VC and don’t press any clearly advertised wrong buttons. • If you feel like your VC is a proctologist, run for the hills. • Ask your VC for references from entrepreneurs. Chapter 3: “Overview of the Term Sheet: • It’s not a letter of intent; it’s a blueprint for your future relationship with your VC. • Two things matter: economics and control. Chapter 4: “Economic Terms of the Term Sheet”. • Understand the difference between pre-money and post-money. • The VC will try to stick the options pool in the pre-money valuation. • You must have a Plan B to be able to negotiate good economic terms. • Competition aside, valuation will depend on the stage of the company, the team’s experience, the numbers, the suitability for the VC and the economic environment. • Liquidation Preference arises because VCs come in with preferred stock and means the VC gets its money first. • Fully Participating stock receives its participation amount and then shares in the liquidation process on an as-converted basis. • A cap can be put on the participation. • Under “pay to play” provisions, investors who do not participate in the next round get converted to common stock. • Typically, employee stocks and options will vest over four years and disappear if somebody leaves. • Consideration must be given to treating the vesting as clawback with an IRS Section 83(b) election. • Acceleration of vesting upon change of control is a key feature, don’t leave it out! • Antidilution provisions may be requested by the investor for the case where new common stock is created after the financing. Chapter 5: “Control Terms of the Term Sheet”. • At the beginning it will be 1. 2nd VC, 5. outside board member. • Don’t allow observers on your board. • Make sure the Protective Provisions allow you to borrow a reasonable amount of money. • Your investors need to vote as a single class. • There will be a drag-along provision (majority of shares on as-converted basis is the law in Delaware). • There will be a conversion clause (so VCs can vote alongside common stock when they must). • An automatic conversion clause can be there to force VCs to give up on their preferred ahead of a sale. Chapter 6: “Other Terms of the Term Sheet”. • Dividends might be requested by dorky VCs with Private Equity background. Chapter 8: “Convertible Debt”. • Convertible converts at a discount to the next financing. • You should put a reasonable time horizon on an equity financing as a condition, or you will find the debt converted before you had time to do the financing. • Follow-on investments can still be made during the investment term of the fund. • If a fund is approaching the end of its life, you don’t want them to invest in you and most probably they can’t anyway. Chapter 10: “Negotiation Tactics”. • Get a good result, do not kill your personal relationships and understand the deal you struck. Chapter 11: “Raising Money the Right Way”. • Don’t ask for an NDA. • Don’t negotiate your deal at the beginning (that looks awful) but don’t leave it last either."
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Best Small Business Franchise

The Franchise MBA: Mastering the 4 Essential Steps to Owning a Franchise
This comprehensively researched and deftly written franchise guide brings together experience and fact to give you the tools you need to understand which franchise is right for you. His insights and knowledge are sought after by industry veterans and prospective franchise owners.
Reviews
"Nick does an outstanding job of going through the process of discovery and helping prospects understand what should be done to successfully find the right franchise for them."
"That's where The Franchise MBA comes in -- this book provides a clear roadmap for properly uncovering "right fit" franchise options and then conducting a thorough and productive investigation."
"The best part of this book is that it starts with asking you to know yourself better."
"i'm sure if you know nothing about franchises then this would be helpful."
"This book was a good read and does set the priorities for what to look for when shopping for a franchise."
"Well written, informative book."
"The Franchise MBA is an excellent primer for anybody looking to understand the franchise environment, whether it be as an aspiring franchisor or franchisee."
"Very good introduction for anyone who is considering franchise ownership."
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Best Business Consulting

Case Interview Secrets: A Former McKinsey Interviewer Reveals How to Get Multiple Job Offers in Consulting
In Case Interview Secrets, you'll discover step-by-step instructions on how to dominate what many consider to be the most complex, most difficult, and most intimidating corporate job interview in the world—the infamous case interview. "Victor gave me a clear understanding of how to structure a case interview using a highly logical approach. This helped me get offers from BCG and a boutique firm and make it to McKinsey's final round before opting out." "In my first attempt to break into consulting, I failed every one of my interviews with McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Oliver Wyman, Monitor, Booz and probably a few others. On my second attempt two years later, I followed everything Victor Cheng suggested and took advantage of every resource he provided ... and received an offer from McKinsey!" "After following Victor's guidance, I had a complete breakthrough in my case interview performance and got an offer from Monitor." "As a PhD candidate in engineering, I had an academic background that left me completely unprepared for the case interview process. "Victor taught me how to prepare both technically and mentally, and this is what makes the difference between him and the competitors. "Victor is effective because he focuses on behaviors and habits that make you successful and not just on frameworks.
Reviews
"Valuable resource for anyone wanting to know more about successfully passing case interviews."
"Before you even begin to read - the author offers bonus tools that will assist the reader with achieving their objectives. Additionally, current informative feedback from former readers of the book are inspirational for the consultant job hunter. The author states that " the interview is essentially over even before it has begun"; this reveals how critical it is to answer case questions."
"It seems like a trend now to treat a book sales as side revenue and the real money is made elsewhere from the leads generated by the book. Nevertheless, there is enough content to justify the book price."
"It is such a great tool to help you build essential business skills and confidence as well."
"I found that going through Case in Point first was useful to go through more specific case examples and frameworks."
"Excellent Book which helped myself successfully to secure interviews and corresponding job-offer."
"Being a good consultant is all about discipline, keeping it simple, straight forward and repeatable."
"Ideally, you would want concrete advice, with a lot of concrete case study examples and answers...within ONE book."
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Best Home Based Small Businesses

Get Over Your Damn Self: The No-BS Blueprint to Building a Life-Changing Business
Nonfiction Authors Association GOLD AWARD Winner. Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Finalist Romi Neustadt is passionate about helping others build lucrative direct sales and network marketing businesses that help create lives with more freedom and flexibility, greater purpose and a lot more fun. Romi Neustadt is a former corporate chick (first a lawyer, then a PR executive) who traded in the billable hour for more time and financial freedom through network marketing.
Reviews
"I read this book in two sittings completely raptured by what's inside. Thank you, Romi Neustadt, for pouring into the people you love and the people that will soon be in love with you for you changing their lives one "real and raw" chapter at a time in a book that should be in everyone's lap and the top of every team's reading list."
"I bought this for my daughter and she loves it!!"
"I chose the printed book simply because I wanted to use her book as a reference when specific prospects - I've got notes, highlights and post-its throughout the entire book!"
"I found it motivating for me in my direct selling business."
"I liked the honesty that Romi has inspired for us to get out of our own way!"
"This is a MUST READ for anyone interested in starting their own Network Marketing business."
"As a first time network marketing boss I found this book helpful in so many ways."
"Romi is very inspiring, but she is also quite frank and speaks plainly, even if it involves a curse word or two."
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Best Marketing for Small Businesses

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World
New York Times bestselling author and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk shares hard-won advice on how to connect with customers and beat the competition. Even companies committed to jabbing—patiently engaging with customers to build the relationships crucial to successful social media campaigns—want to land the punch that will take down their opponent or their customer’s resistance in one blow. Even companies committed to "jabbing"—creating content for consumers and engaging with customers to build relationships—still desperately want to land the powerful, bruising swing that will knock out their opponents or their customers' resistance in one tooth-shattering, killer blow. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is a blueprint to social media marketing strategies that really work.
Reviews
"Kinda basic in some parts if you already have some experience in Social Media."
"Gary is a hero."
"JJJRH is the next and final installment with lessons learned in between, real-world examples, and a basic patterned blueprint for success to give brands and businesses, big and small, a fighting chance in this social frenzy."
"I have now read all 4 of Gary Vaynerchuk's books and highly recommend these for professionals who are determined to stay aware, and relevant, in this rapidly changing business climate."
"I was STOKED when I found out that Gary chose my SM campaign, garnering me the "win" as his JJRHBook/Skillshare class challenge contest winner - winning me a 1-on1 Skype with Gary. I'm a firm believer in "speaking those things that are not, as if they were"."
"One of the features I especially loved about this book was the numerous examples of content marketing posts made in a variety of industries, by businesses of many different sizes."
"The phenomenal popularity of social media coupled with the market penetration of smartphones and mobile devices, has very recently and quite remarkably changed human behavior."
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Best Entrepreneurship

The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)
“Hal Elrod is a genius and his book The Miracle Morning has been magical in my life. What if you could wake up tomorrow and any—or EVERY—area of your life was beginning to transform? After enduring the most difficult year of his life, battling cancer, Hal is now in remission and furthering his mission as the founder of The Miracle Morning book series, host of the "Achieve Your Goals" podcast, creator of the Best Year Ever [Blueprint] LIVE event, and Executive Producer of The Miracle Morning MOVIE - a documentary that reveals the morning rituals of some of the world's most successful people.
Reviews
"I almost didn't get the book because I read the 1 star reviews and they said it was a simplistic redo of the same messages many others had done. I heard Hal Elrod on a webinar and was excited to read the book based upon his presentation, there were a lot of 5 star reviews and I decided to get it. To exercise has been on my goals list for five years and I just couldn't get back to it until I read Miracle Morning."
"A few weeks ago I was exhausted in tears thinking I didn't have "me time". What time alone I had at the end of the day I just wasted watching tv."
""Whether you want to make significant improvements in just a few key areas, or you are ready for a major overhaul that will radically transform your entire life--so your current circumstances will soon become only a memory of what was--you've picked up the right book. You are about to begin a miraculous journey, using a simple, but revolutionary process that is guaranteed to transform any area of your life... all before 8:00 am." After 6 minutes of that (near-)death experience, he spent several days in a coma and awoke to discover he had suffered brain damage and was told that he may never walk again. He defied the odds and proved we're all capable of overcoming obstacles while creating the life of our dreams. If you've been looking to jump start your life--or just take it to the next level--there's no better place to start than by dialing in your morning routine and Hal is the perfect guide to help us discover the "not-so-obvious secrets" to rockin' it before 8:00 am! good job of helping us architect our miracle mornings--whether that's a 6-minute plan to start or 60."
"First off, there are a lot of good ideas outlined in the book that I'm looking forward to implementing to improve my mornings and be as productive as I can possibly be. "Thousands of people have reached their potential after utilizing The Miracle Morning." There was so much fluff and shameless self-promotion that had the book not been downloaded on my iPad I would've thrown the physical copy away after ripping out the pages that were actually useful."
"Once on the website, you need to register and get sucked into more commercial advertising and never get the information that was said to be there."
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Best Nonprofit Organizations & Charities

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)
These approaches have been honed from over three decades of advising tens of thousands of CEOs and executives and helping them navigate the increasing complexities (and weight) that come with scaling up a venture. The goal of this book is to help you turn what feels like an anchor into wind at your back -- creating a company where the team is engaged; the customers are doing your marketing; and everyone is making money. Scaling Up shows business leaders how to get their organizations moving in sync to create something significant and enjoy the ride. “Verne’s tools and techniques have been key to scaling up Benetton to become the #1 international fashion brand in India. Scaling Up is that business book. Verne’s tools and techniques have been critical to helping us drive and manage this growth during my 20 years as CEO ― and ultimately to freeing me up as the founder to pursue other interests.” -- Scott Tannas, founder and Vice Chairman, Western Financial Group; senator, Canadian Parliament. “Scaling up a significant business requires precisely the kind of discipline and focus detailed in Verne’s practical and ‘how-to’ driven book.” -- Scott Farquhar, co-founder and CEO, Atlassian. “Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up is one of the finest business books you'll ever read. Whether you're an entrepreneur who wants to scale up, a CEO who wants to take his business to the next level, or a non-profit executive who wants to leave a legacy, this book will be life-changing.” -- Tan Yinglan, Author of Way of the VC – Top Venture Capitalists on Your Board, Chinnovation – How Chinese Innovators are Changing the World and New Venture Creation - Entrepreneurship For The 21st Century - An Asian Perspective.
Reviews
"The idea of focusing on People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash is especially meaningful to me as an entrepreneur who founded a business that has been growing for 18+ years and now has over 100 employees."
"It has given me a number of good ideas for changes I can make to how I run my own business, which has been a 1-man band for the last 16 years."
"This book was great for our organization."
"Verne's insight is superb, fresh view, clear direction, a lot of new books, you are in good hands!"
"I have read a lot of business books, literally thousands, and I would put this book in my top 10 for sure."
"Most businesses in the world turnover less than $1 million and if you want to make it to the 4% this book has solid advice from an experienced entrepreneur on how to become part of the 4%."
"A textbook for how to run and grow a thriving enterprise, it gives you the philosophies, actions, tools, and even the forms to implement it all."
"Excelente teory, dificult to achieve in practice."
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