How do you know if you are in the right job, on the right path and asking the right questions about where you should be going? Managing Oneself can help you ask the right questions to analyze your situation and change course if necessary.
In Managing Oneself, Harvard Business School Press, 2008, Peter F. Drucker shares his best tips on how to manage yourself in your business career. These seven tips by Drucker can help you determine how and when to change the work that you do.
(1) Ask, “What are my strengths?” Use metrics to measure your actions against the results. For example, if you change your actions, write down what you expect the result to be, and then when that time arrives, objectively assess if you met the result you sought to achieve.
(2) Ask, “How do I perform?” You need to find out if you learn best by listening or by reading and then obtain your information in that format.
(3) Ask, “What are my values?” Who do I want to see in the mirror? Find people who share your same values in the workplace.
(4) Ask, “Where do I belong?” Initially, you may only know where you do not belong.
(5) Ask, “What should I contribute?”
(6) Ask yourself if you are managing your work relationships well. For example, if the boss is a reader, submit written reports. If the boss is a listener, discuss what is in the report.
(7) Ask yourself what you will do when you retire. Plan activities now.
Rating: $$$$$ out of 5. Nothing is more important than placing yourself in the correct environment to succeed.
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you to manage yourself better by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.
Friday, April 15, 2016
Thursday, April 7, 2016
7 Skills that Help You Earn Money: The Education of Millionaires by Michael Ellsberg: Quick Book Summary
Many of today's young millionaires are not college graduates. Michael Ellsberg studied them to find out what they know that many college graduates don't know.
Michael Ellsberg suggests a quick way to test the value of a college degree today can be found by placing an ad on Craig’s List. After one such ad was placed in San Francisco for a job paying ten dollars an hour that involved customer service and data entry, candidates showed up with newly minted J.D. degrees, Ph.D.’s, six MBA’s, including one MBA from Harvard. Although the Harvard MBA was interviewed, he did not get the job.
In The Education of Millionaires, Everything You Won’t Learn in College About How to Be Successful, Portfolio/Penguin, 2012, Michael Ellsberg, lays out what recent college graduates have known for a while now: the value of a college degree today is not the same as it was fifty years ago.
That old adage of go to school, study hard and get good grades, and when you graduate, you will be able to find employment that pays well enough to land you in the middle-class is no longer always true if it ever was. Ellsberg acknowledges that a college degree has intrinsic value, but it is no longer a guaranteed entry ticket to a better life after investing about four years of your life and many thousands of dollars.
If a college degree does not have high intrinsic value today, what does? Ellsberg posits that learning seven skill sets will put you on the right path to gainful employment. Although education is still necessary, the type of education that helps you to earn an income is often self-education.
(1) Align how you make money with what provides value and meaning in your life.
(2) Become good at networking and finding great mentors.
(3) Learn to market yourself.
(4) Learn how to sell.
(5) Learn how to invest in your own success by boot-strapping.
(6) Build yourself up as a brand.
(7) Develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
This book contains a lot of valuable information for young people who are struggling with how to find a job that does not involve taking someone’s order, or some other basic entry- level work that can be done without a college degree.
If you are a young person in college, a recent graduate who hasn’t found a job in your field, or the parent of a young person in college, this book is valuable in that it can help you make sense of the new business environment that must be navigated to become financially successful in a world that is rapidly changing.
Rating: **** of 5. Applying information from this book can help you earn money. Use your discretion about which sections apply to your situation.
Copyright @ 2016
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you become successful and earn money by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this free book summary and review. Comments are welcome.
Michael Ellsberg suggests a quick way to test the value of a college degree today can be found by placing an ad on Craig’s List. After one such ad was placed in San Francisco for a job paying ten dollars an hour that involved customer service and data entry, candidates showed up with newly minted J.D. degrees, Ph.D.’s, six MBA’s, including one MBA from Harvard. Although the Harvard MBA was interviewed, he did not get the job.
In The Education of Millionaires, Everything You Won’t Learn in College About How to Be Successful, Portfolio/Penguin, 2012, Michael Ellsberg, lays out what recent college graduates have known for a while now: the value of a college degree today is not the same as it was fifty years ago.
That old adage of go to school, study hard and get good grades, and when you graduate, you will be able to find employment that pays well enough to land you in the middle-class is no longer always true if it ever was. Ellsberg acknowledges that a college degree has intrinsic value, but it is no longer a guaranteed entry ticket to a better life after investing about four years of your life and many thousands of dollars.
If a college degree does not have high intrinsic value today, what does? Ellsberg posits that learning seven skill sets will put you on the right path to gainful employment. Although education is still necessary, the type of education that helps you to earn an income is often self-education.
(1) Align how you make money with what provides value and meaning in your life.
(2) Become good at networking and finding great mentors.
(3) Learn to market yourself.
(4) Learn how to sell.
(5) Learn how to invest in your own success by boot-strapping.
(6) Build yourself up as a brand.
(7) Develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
This book contains a lot of valuable information for young people who are struggling with how to find a job that does not involve taking someone’s order, or some other basic entry- level work that can be done without a college degree.
If you are a young person in college, a recent graduate who hasn’t found a job in your field, or the parent of a young person in college, this book is valuable in that it can help you make sense of the new business environment that must be navigated to become financially successful in a world that is rapidly changing.
Rating: **** of 5. Applying information from this book can help you earn money. Use your discretion about which sections apply to your situation.
Copyright @ 2016
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you become successful and earn money by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this free book summary and review. Comments are welcome.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
10 Ways Millionaires Think Differently - The Top Ten Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class, Quick Book Summary
If you learn how to think like a millionaire and then take action on those thoughts, will that make you a millionaire?
In The Top Ten Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class, by Keith Cameron Smith, Ballentine Books, 2007, Smith discusses ten distinctions in how middle-class thinking differs from how wealthy people think.
Here is a quick overview of the ten distinctions:
(1) Millionaires think long-term; whereas, the middle class thinks short term.
(2) Millionaires discuss ideas; whereas, the middle class talks about things and people.
(3) Millionaires embrace change; whereas, the middle class feels threatened by change.
(4) Millionaires take calculated risks; whereas, the middle class avoids risks.
(5) Millionaires continually learn; whereas, the middle class stops learning with school.
(6) Millionaires work for profits; whereas, the middle class works for wages.
(7) Millionaires believe they must be generous; whereas, the middle class believes that they can’t afford to be generous.
(8) Millionaires have multiple sources of income; whereas, the middle class has only one or two sources of income.
(9) Millionaires focus on increasing net worth; whereas, the middle class focuses on increasing paychecks.
(10) Millionaires ask empowering questions; whereas, the middle class asks questions that diminish power.
This is a fun, short book that can change how a person thinks about financial matters.
Rating: $$$$ out of five. It contains good, general ideas, but it takes knowing how to execute these ideas to turn them into money.
Copyright @ 2016
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you think millionaire thoughts by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.
In The Top Ten Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class, by Keith Cameron Smith, Ballentine Books, 2007, Smith discusses ten distinctions in how middle-class thinking differs from how wealthy people think.
Here is a quick overview of the ten distinctions:
(1) Millionaires think long-term; whereas, the middle class thinks short term.
(2) Millionaires discuss ideas; whereas, the middle class talks about things and people.
(3) Millionaires embrace change; whereas, the middle class feels threatened by change.
(4) Millionaires take calculated risks; whereas, the middle class avoids risks.
(5) Millionaires continually learn; whereas, the middle class stops learning with school.
(6) Millionaires work for profits; whereas, the middle class works for wages.
(7) Millionaires believe they must be generous; whereas, the middle class believes that they can’t afford to be generous.
(8) Millionaires have multiple sources of income; whereas, the middle class has only one or two sources of income.
(9) Millionaires focus on increasing net worth; whereas, the middle class focuses on increasing paychecks.
(10) Millionaires ask empowering questions; whereas, the middle class asks questions that diminish power.
This is a fun, short book that can change how a person thinks about financial matters.
Rating: $$$$ out of five. It contains good, general ideas, but it takes knowing how to execute these ideas to turn them into money.
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you think millionaire thoughts by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.
Monday, April 4, 2016
8 Tips from The Skinny on Willpower, by Jim Randel: Free Book Summary and Review
Do you have a goal you want to achieve?
If you could learn some simple strategies to develop your will power, could you reach your goal sooner?
In The Skinny on Willpower, How to Develop Self-Discipline, Jim Randel, Clover Leaf Publishing, 2009, Randel created a stick-person book everyone can easily understand that shows how to use simple strategies to develop self-discipline. The book can be read in under an hour.
Here are a few tips to get you started until you read the book:
* Be fully committed to your goal.
* Accept that the journey could be difficult.
* Reduce the number of times you will need to exert willpower.
* Identify your goal and the processes needed to get there as specifically as possible.
* Divide a large goal into small, manageable parts.
* Monitor and control your thoughts.
* Visualize the end goal.
* Turn positive activity into habit rituals.
Self-discipline is a key ingredient to achievement. This book explains most of the major research on self-discipline in simple stick-figure diagrams you can easily understand and use.
Rating:$$$$$ out of 5. Nothing gets done without self-discipline. This book might be the most important book you read if you want to achieve more in life and you currently lack the discipline needed to reach your goals.
Copyright @ 2016
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this free book summary and review. Comments are welcome.
If you could learn some simple strategies to develop your will power, could you reach your goal sooner?
In The Skinny on Willpower, How to Develop Self-Discipline, Jim Randel, Clover Leaf Publishing, 2009, Randel created a stick-person book everyone can easily understand that shows how to use simple strategies to develop self-discipline. The book can be read in under an hour.
Here are a few tips to get you started until you read the book:
* Be fully committed to your goal.
* Accept that the journey could be difficult.
* Reduce the number of times you will need to exert willpower.
* Identify your goal and the processes needed to get there as specifically as possible.
* Divide a large goal into small, manageable parts.
* Monitor and control your thoughts.
* Visualize the end goal.
* Turn positive activity into habit rituals.
Self-discipline is a key ingredient to achievement. This book explains most of the major research on self-discipline in simple stick-figure diagrams you can easily understand and use.
Rating:$$$$$ out of 5. Nothing gets done without self-discipline. This book might be the most important book you read if you want to achieve more in life and you currently lack the discipline needed to reach your goals.
Copyright @ 2016
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this free book summary and review. Comments are welcome.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
The Millionaire Fastlane by M. J. DeMarco: Free Book Summary and Review
Would you like to get rich while you are still young enough to enjoy the money? This book is one of my favorite business books. It offers advice that can help you achieve your goals more quickly.
In The Millionaire Fastlane, M.J. DeMarco, Viperion Publishing Corp. 2011. DeMarco shares his experience of building his own internet company and then selling it to become a millionaire. He also shares some tips on how you might be able to accomplish this as well.
The first step to creating wealth while you are still young is to create a system that provides income for you exponentially, not linearly. For example, a company that sells products over the internet worldwide operates exponentially, while working at a job provides linear income.
DeMarco divides people into three categories according to the wealth they are likely to achieve during a lifetime of work. Those on the sidewalk spend all they earn and end up with nothing or less than nothing if they carry a lot of debt. DeMarco describes those in the slow lane as the people who dutifully work a 40-hour workweek, save at least 10 percent of income in a retirement plan and wait until they reach retirement age to enjoy life. To get into the fast lane, you need to become a producer, and in Demarco’s world, this usually means a business owner.
Five fast lane businesses that produce passive income include the following:
1) Rental systems: these include real estate, storage businesses, royalty payments from books, owning patents or copyrights, etc.
2) Computer software systems: build applications for Facebook, iPhones, android phones, etc.
3) Content systems: books such as this one, and like the Harry Potter series, or Dan Brown’s books can become large money trees.
4) Distribution systems: Selling stuff on Amazon, QVC, or similar networks.
5) Human resource systems: large companies operated with employees.
The law of math is a wonderful chapter that explains that in order to make millions, you must either serve millions in scale or millions in magnitude.
A chapter on how to evaluate choices makes the book a worthwhile investment for everyone no matter what strategy you choose to leverage your income. DeMarco advocates asking these questions when considering any choice:
(1) What are the worst-case consequences of this choice?
(2) What is the probability of this outcome?
(3) Is this an acceptable risk?
Also, Demarco introduces readers to the weighted average decision matrix which is a brilliant way to analyze potential options before choosing.
Further, DeMarco adds some advice on how to create a good system for producing
exponential income.
Overall, this is a good book that can help people think more about their own financial plan and the choices they are making in their lives in a new way.
Rating: $$$$$ out of 5 This book contains a blueprint smart people can use to earn more money.
Copyright @ 2016
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you create systems to earn more money by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome but links that take readers to other websites may be deleted.
In The Millionaire Fastlane, M.J. DeMarco, Viperion Publishing Corp. 2011. DeMarco shares his experience of building his own internet company and then selling it to become a millionaire. He also shares some tips on how you might be able to accomplish this as well.
The first step to creating wealth while you are still young is to create a system that provides income for you exponentially, not linearly. For example, a company that sells products over the internet worldwide operates exponentially, while working at a job provides linear income.
DeMarco divides people into three categories according to the wealth they are likely to achieve during a lifetime of work. Those on the sidewalk spend all they earn and end up with nothing or less than nothing if they carry a lot of debt. DeMarco describes those in the slow lane as the people who dutifully work a 40-hour workweek, save at least 10 percent of income in a retirement plan and wait until they reach retirement age to enjoy life. To get into the fast lane, you need to become a producer, and in Demarco’s world, this usually means a business owner.
Five fast lane businesses that produce passive income include the following:
1) Rental systems: these include real estate, storage businesses, royalty payments from books, owning patents or copyrights, etc.
2) Computer software systems: build applications for Facebook, iPhones, android phones, etc.
3) Content systems: books such as this one, and like the Harry Potter series, or Dan Brown’s books can become large money trees.
4) Distribution systems: Selling stuff on Amazon, QVC, or similar networks.
5) Human resource systems: large companies operated with employees.
The law of math is a wonderful chapter that explains that in order to make millions, you must either serve millions in scale or millions in magnitude.
A chapter on how to evaluate choices makes the book a worthwhile investment for everyone no matter what strategy you choose to leverage your income. DeMarco advocates asking these questions when considering any choice:
(1) What are the worst-case consequences of this choice?
(2) What is the probability of this outcome?
(3) Is this an acceptable risk?
Also, Demarco introduces readers to the weighted average decision matrix which is a brilliant way to analyze potential options before choosing.
Further, DeMarco adds some advice on how to create a good system for producing
exponential income.
Overall, this is a good book that can help people think more about their own financial plan and the choices they are making in their lives in a new way.
Rating: $$$$$ out of 5 This book contains a blueprint smart people can use to earn more money.
Copyright @ 2016
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you create systems to earn more money by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome but links that take readers to other websites may be deleted.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg: Quick Book Summary and Review
Would you like to know how you or your entire business team can become smarter, faster, and better at what you do?
Charles Duhigg, the author who brought us The Power of Habit, studied this question and wrote a book to show us methods that have been proven to work across multiple disciplines. In Smarter, Faster, Better, The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg, Random House, 2016, Duhigg explores eight key concepts that explain why some individuals and groups get more done and how they do what they do better than others. How each of the eight concepts works is explained in a variety of stories so that we can see how we might apply these concepts to our lives.
The eight key concepts to master are:
(1) Being motivated by an internal locus of control;
(2) Teams operate better when everyone has a voice and team members are sensitive to others’ feelings;
(3) Our ability to focus increases when we create mental models;
(4) Having both SMART [specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time sensitive] goals and stretch goals, but remaining flexible to deal with new information leads to better performance;
(5) A commitment culture often outperforms other types of cultures in business;
(6) Decision making improves when we teach ourselves to think of multiple possible outcomes and determine the best choice;
(7) Innovation occurs when we learn to look for ways to see old problems in new ways, and
(8) We absorb data better when we personally manipulate it.
Duhigg is an excellent story teller. Each story he shares illustrates the key concept and shows us how to apply these concepts to our daily lives.
By the end of the book, I was convinced that I, too, could learn to become smarter, faster, and better and you can too.
Rating: $$$$$ out of 5.
Copyright @ 2016
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you and your business become smarter, faster, better, by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. The first link is for the audio book CD. The second link is for the book. The third link is for another book by the same author many readers have enjoyed. The fourth link is for the audio CD of that book I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.
Charles Duhigg, the author who brought us The Power of Habit, studied this question and wrote a book to show us methods that have been proven to work across multiple disciplines. In Smarter, Faster, Better, The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg, Random House, 2016, Duhigg explores eight key concepts that explain why some individuals and groups get more done and how they do what they do better than others. How each of the eight concepts works is explained in a variety of stories so that we can see how we might apply these concepts to our lives.
The eight key concepts to master are:
(1) Being motivated by an internal locus of control;
(2) Teams operate better when everyone has a voice and team members are sensitive to others’ feelings;
(3) Our ability to focus increases when we create mental models;
(4) Having both SMART [specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time sensitive] goals and stretch goals, but remaining flexible to deal with new information leads to better performance;
(5) A commitment culture often outperforms other types of cultures in business;
(6) Decision making improves when we teach ourselves to think of multiple possible outcomes and determine the best choice;
(7) Innovation occurs when we learn to look for ways to see old problems in new ways, and
(8) We absorb data better when we personally manipulate it.
Duhigg is an excellent story teller. Each story he shares illustrates the key concept and shows us how to apply these concepts to our daily lives.
By the end of the book, I was convinced that I, too, could learn to become smarter, faster, and better and you can too.
Rating: $$$$$ out of 5.
Copyright @ 2016
You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you and your business become smarter, faster, better, by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below. The first link is for the audio book CD. The second link is for the book. The third link is for another book by the same author many readers have enjoyed. The fourth link is for the audio CD of that book I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it. I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review.
Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.
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