Entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, innovation and culture are hot ticket items for my clients. So I keep an eye out on the startup books that come out on a regular basis.
Covers a lot of angles
The book is superb. It touches on so many books that we cover for our clients. It covers Ken Robinson (our education system), it covers “Mavericks at work” and “Poke the Box” (passion), it covers “Killing Giants” (the future is small business), it covers Chris Anderson (long tail, makers), it covers the “Flash Foresight” (the future), it covers Taleb (be anti-fragile), it covers Marketing 3.0 (culture as the new marketing), and it even throws in some Eckhart Tolle (live in the now). All written in a “How to be a fierce competitor” way.
Complete no-nonsense
Straight talking. Nothing complex about technology, social media, strategy but some very simple home truths which are tough to argue.
Our time is now
The starting point of the book is that the industrial revolution is over, the information technology revolution is about to be over, and we are entering the entrepreneur revolution. We are moving from hands and heads to hearts. The future is customer intimacy, delivered by entrepreneurs supplying amazing value, love what they are doing and get paid for it.
Free at last
All the new technology available is allowing everyone to follow their passion, heart and dreams. And following your passion makes you able to compete with the big boys. It also allows you to be in charge of your destiny without being controlled by The Man (free at last).
Are you a clinger or a surfer?
The key question here is whether you are a clinger (wasting your life, holding on to the industrial revolution type of living, living in the past) or a surfer (follow the joy, opportunity and empowerment).
Global Small Business
It introduces the term “Global Small Business”. Because technology now enables you to go global overnight. And then he explains how:
- Start, go out and do it, start engaging, meet people, make a mess
- Save regularly
- Drop the friends who bring you down
- Don’t let money rule you (money fear is your lizard brain telling you to flee)
- Create ongoing serendipity (create your luck)
- Switch off the news (go read a book 😉
- Keep a journal (learn!)
- Blank out the time in the coming year you want to go on holidays (work-life management)
- Understand the system and get structured
- Build a team
- Stretch yourself
- Get resourceful
- Be accountable
Lean in
Once you have that setup, then lean in, go for it with all your being and start building your reputation. And because you are enjoying yourself, the spark, the energy, the curiosity and passion will bring the rewards, one way or the other.
Ascending Transaction Model
The icing on the cake is how Daniel Priestly gives you the business model that works, called the Ascending Transaction Model (ATM). Which consists of a gift, a quick win product, a core product and a logical next step. Each step has increasing revenue potential. With all the steps having a high emphasis on excellence, customer delight, client success and sales.
Selling
To quote directly:
“Secretly, many small business owners have a negative association to selling, and they wish they could simply do extra marketing, extra servicing or extra networking rather than having to have the sales conversation.
Unfortunately, this is a fantasy. Omega, Ferrari, Google, HSBC and Apple all invest in sales training, so their staff know how to have structured sales conversations with their prospective buyers. If the world’s biggest brands, with the world’s hottest products, need to have sales conversations, then so does every small business.”
Home truths
He leaves the best for last and leaves you with a few home truths:
- You get what you pitch for (you are what you project)
- Influence comes from output, not confidence (you have to do the hard work and produce)
- Income follows asset (become your own franchise and create (personal) IP and assets)
- Get known for the success of your clients
- You are in partnership with everyone (ensure mutual win-win all the time)
- Ideas are worthless. Implementation is everything
- Being imaginative is NOT being creative
All the things you want from a good book.
It gave me a jolt, forced me to look at our business model, reinforced my belief in entrepreneurship (for me and my children) and taught me a few new things. All the things you want from a good book.