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Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Lead Ladder - Marcus Schaller


  • Hardcover: 144 pages
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (August 25, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0071479090
  • ISBN-13: 978-0071479097
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches 
This is a very short and easy book to read. It summarises the necessary details and guides the reader on a step by step journey in building leads. The content is cast in a way that it follows a salesman who has failed in his sale business and is starting to build it from scratch with the help of a friend.

The Lead Ladder is characterised by a pyramid shape where the base forms the reach, then leads, then one-to-one consultations then to clients. At every step higher, the number drops and the service is more personalized and differentiated. Schaller advises to 'work backwards' in determining the number of clients needed then calculating the size of your reach. This determines the type strategy in collecting leads.

It is important to focus on a particular niche or market as well so that your marketing message is not lost on the reach. The message must be focused enough to answer any potential clients' questions or needs.

Managing leads database is critical and followup is a must. Being consistent will win you clients as different clients move up the ladder at different speeds.



Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Diablo - The Kingdom of Shadows




  • Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Star Trek (July 30, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743426924
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743426923



Diablo: The Black Road


  • Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Star Trek (April 1, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743426916
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743426916




Monday, August 25, 2008

Diablo - The Sin War

6 *

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 427 KB
  • Print Length: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Pocket Books (April 27, 2007)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B000QBYF54




Diablo - Moon of the Spider

5*

  • Publisher: Pocket Star (December 27, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743471326
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743471329
  • Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
A book on necromancers and how they struggle to maintain the Balance of Good and Evil.

This book sees the resurrection of Astrogha, servant of Diablo with the help of a legendary necromancer. But a young necromancer guided by fate is pitted against him.




Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Permission Marketing - Seth Godin

8*


  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (May 6, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0684856360
  • ISBN-13: 978-0684856360
Published in 1999, this book is ahead of its time and one can see many of its principles employed in the world today especially on the Net. Godin speaks of the evolution of marketing from an Interrupting one to a Permission-based one. This is because the world is increasingly being flooded by advertising but the attention of individuals have not grown in comparison. Attention has become a commodity.

To keep mass marketing alive, it is proposed to (1) advertise in odd places, (2) make advertisements more controversial and entertaining, (3) keep advertisements fresh by churning them more and (4) replace them with direct mail and promotions. The latter only catches the attention for a while if relevancy is not kept up. In all, there is a vicious cycle if the old marketing ways are still employed - spending more to have more interruptive advertisements which cause people to 'tune out' and make advertisements less effective, which leads to more spending on even more advertisements to catch attention.

Permission Marketing is like courting - anticipated, personal and relevant. It is about stretching the life of the customer and leveraging on the experience of a previous sale to make the next sale. It is about the customer volunteering to want information instead of bombarding them with excessive data. Interruption is essential as a prelude to permission (granted if it is relevant). With permission, use frequency to hammer in concepts and cause familiarity which in turns breeds trust. Once trust is in place, it is increasingly easier to make repeat sales.

There are several levels of Permission stated:

1. Intravenous
Magazine subscriptions and hospital treatments are examples. Customers allow the suppliers to make decisions for them. Deep trust is implied.
2. Purchase on Approval
Negative option or automatic opt-in. An example is credit cards.
3. Points
Loyalty points are an example. Keeps customers engaged and returning . There are various forms of points system. Points can have a certain value r a chance to get something.
4. Personal relationships
Not scalable but powerful.
5. Brand trust
Leads to extensions of the same brand on different products.
6. Situation
Leverage on selling other products when customer is buying another product. "Want to upsize your meal?"
7. Spam

Permission is non-transferable, selfish, a process and cancellable anytime. Non-transferable because it is personal and needs relevanc. Selfish because it is consumer-centric and they are in control of whether they want your product. A process because it is a dialogue that improves or mars the relationship. Cancellable as the consumer is in control.

Myths about marketing on the web (revised)
1. Traffic hits is the best way to measure success
2. Great content is why people return
- relevancy is more important
3. Technology makes you sell better
- nope. they only make it easier or more efficient.
4. Search Engines are key to traffic

The web makes it easier for direct marketeers because of the speed of response, low cost of frequency and publishing, testing is faster. To evaluate a Permission Marketing program, note these points:
1. What is in it for consumers?
2. How much does incremental permission cost?
3. The level of permission earned and how is this being increased.
4. How much does incremental frequency cost?
5. Response rate
6. Permission viewed as an asset
7. Leveraging on Permission
8. Lifetime of permission granted
9. Is retention a lot easier/cheaper than getting fresh permissions?

The book also has case studies on permission marketing by organisations - how they failed and suceeded. Excellent book to own.




The Big Moo by Seth Godin

5*

  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Amazon Remainders Account (October 20, 2005)
  • ISBN-10: 1591841038
  • ASIN: B000GIW464
  • Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 1 inches

Compiled like the Chicken Soup for the Soul, the Big Moo is a aggregation of writing from pioneers in different areas in the ways of being REMARKABLE. Godin talks about the need to be different, to be the purple cow amongst the brown. Even so, you must need a Big Moo to change the game and be that pioneer of a new trend.

There are amazing stories - some simple, some deep. And they are all insights to how these remarkable people think. Subject include dealing with failure, having persistence, playing as opposed to mere working, being creative, be extraordinary in the ordinary, doing things NOW, being extreme, pushing the envelope, overcoming fear (vs anxiety), making wrong decisions etc.

It's not exactly a wealth of information but rather, it is a wealth of experiences that the reader can tap on. Perhaps you can garner something new from it or goad you on to greater things.

5*


Sunday, June 15, 2008

How Full Is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath

7 stars



  • Hardcover: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Gallup Press; 1 edition (August 10, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1595620036
  • ISBN-13: 978-1595620033
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches

At first glance, you would have thought this thin book has little substance. 128 pages with almost every alternate page of a quote with a picture of a bucket, you might think you have been ripped off. However, happiness in life often lies in simplicity and one does not have to find all ways and means to be happy. This book is about that. Just a simple theory about a life that is a bucket and how happy you are depends on how full is your bucket.

The theory originated from Don Clifton, a psychologist who focused on the positivities in life to to promote happiness. The theory of the Dipper and the Bucket centralizes on the fact we have buckets to fill but often, we use our dippers to empty them. The book is split into 6 main chapters and their summaries are as follows:

Chapter 1: Negativity Kills
The chapter begins with history on how American POWs were treated in North Korean camps. Deaths were not caused by torture but an emotionally draining experience of killing relationships. Prisoners were infused with so much negativity that they lost the meaning to live.

Chapter 2: Positivity, Negativity and Productivity
Productivity is powered by positivity. Lack of appreciation, disengagement, unproductiveness can be caused by negativity. And this can spread from one person to another. Hence the dipper theory.

Chapter 3: Every Moment Matters
A good relationship should have a 5:1 positive-to-negative interaction ratio. It's always better to have more positives but an upper limit exists. This is because positivity must be grounded in reality.

Chapter 4: Tom's Story - an overflowing bucket
This part is a short autobiography of the author on his trials and how positivity helped him weather them.

Chapter 5: Making it Personal
There is no one single way to impart positivity to others. You must individualize each attempt,, catering to the target person's character.

Chapter 6: 5 strategies for increasing positive emotions
1. Prevent Bucket Dipping
2. Shine a Light on What is Right - instead of focusing on what went wrong, see what went right
3. Make best friends - have great relationships
4. Give unexpectedly
5. Reverse the golden rule

You can visit www.bucketbook.com for questions, tests and other reading material.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Million Dollar Habits - Brian Tracy

9 stars




  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Entrepreneur Press; 1 edition (May 2, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1599180294
  • ISBN-13: 978-1599180298
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 i


Despite the title focusing on 'million dollars', Brian Tracy manages to put together an excellent well-rounded book on the topic on personal excellence and how to get there. The main concept of it is that habits get us to where we are and they can be learnt. Brain reveals to us tips on develop ingcrucial lifelong habits to better our life in all aspects - career, personal relationships, finances, fitness etc.

7 Steps to a new habit
  1. Make a decision
  2. Never allow an exception
  3. Tell others (be accountable)
  4. Visualisation
  5. Affirm self (self talk)
  6. Persistent practice
  7. Reward to reinforce
The idea is not to overload oneself and take one step at a time, a habit at a time so we won't be overwhelmed. The following are categories of habits that can be developed according to one's wants and aspirations.

Habits to Succeed
- self-discipline
- be an optimist
- be mentally hardy
- know what you want
- be future oriented
- focus on your goals (do goal setting)
- excellence orientation/mastery
- know your key skills
- Develop your weakest skill that is material to your career (weakest skill = slowest pace)
- lifelong learning (read, learn from experts, courses/seminars)
- action oriented
- mix around with the right people

Habits of Millionaires
- take charge of finances
- frugality
- Law of attraction
- Wedge theory (save 50% of future increases)
- Insure

Habits to be paid more and promoted faster
- focus on jobs that are easy to do and easy to learn
- contribution orientation
- seek opportunity vs security
- find/do your ideal job
- Start earlier, end later
- Ask for more responsibility
- Take initiative
- Look like a winner
- Focus on customer service (internal and external)
- Be a good team player
- Help others to improve
- imagine you are self employed
- Be positive and cheerful

Habits of Top Business People
- Clarity
- Set goals and objectives
- Focus on marketing and sales
- Think like a customer
- Flexibility
- 7 points: Plan, organise, find the right people, delegate, inspect, measure, keep others informed.
- be open
- 7 foundations: productivity, customer satisfaction, profitability, quality, employees, organisational development, innovation

Habits for Marketing and Sales Success
- Specialize in one area
- Be different from the rest
- Determine your best potential customers (focus)
- Focus and concentrate on Sales efforts
- 7 Ps: product, price, place, promotion, packaging, positioning, people
- Meet, exceed, delight then amaze your customers
- Referrals and resales are key to profitability

Habits of Personal Effectiveness
- personal strategic planning
- Personal productivity (work hard, fast, smart, efficiently, better, on your strengths
- Focus (why am I paid? What are the high value activities? What only I can do? What is the biggest single contributing thing that i do for the company? What is the best use of my time?)
- Do the important only - Pareto, overcome procrastination, ABCDE method

Habits for Getting Along with Others
- make others feel important
- fearless and spontaneous
- be a relationship expert
- 5 points: acceptance, have gratitude, compliment always, build other's esteem, listen
- prioritize relationships esp with family
- learn forgiveness

Habits for Health and Well-being
- maintain ideal weight
- get rid of 3 white poisons: sugar, salt, flour
- eat right, slowly (> 20mins), timely (heaviest at the start and mid)
- do it slowly and steady
- Exercise
- Relax FULLY when it's time
- Sleep and rise early
- Drink lots of water
- Moderation
- practice solitude

Habits of Character and Leadership
- develop your character
- imagine and act like that ideal
- develop a vision
- aspire
- courage
- responsibility
- honesty and integrity
- 3 primary virtues: Prudence, Just, Benevolent
- Loyalty
- Faith
- Persistence
- Gratitude

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Rules of Office Politics - Dr Rob Yeung

8 stars



  • Hardcover: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Cyan Communications (January 1, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1904879853
  • ISBN-13: 978-1904879855
  • Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.7 x 0.9 inches
"Rules of Office Politics" is an excellent guide to increasing one's awareness of office politics in any career. Office politics is unavoidable and needs to be managed.

A good insight, shared by Dr Yeung which I think is most important, is that office politics need not be unethical. A general impression of office politics is one of backstabbing or sacrificing others for one's benefit. To be well-versed in office politicking can be used to understand relationships better and leveraging on them for the benefit of others.

This short and sweet book is split into 3 sections:

1. Assessing the political landscape
- understanding the realities of work
- use the grapevine as a source of information
- observe, listen, ask questions
- be a confidant, keep secrets
- perception is more important than reality
- figure out who are the key people and what issues that matter
- focus on a few key people
- network
- know the rules of the game that the senior management play
- take your time

2. Building significant relationships
- identify goals and plan
- build teams
- know which button to push for each individual, be flexible
- play to others' needs
- accumulate favours
- deepen relationships
- know who has access to the big shots
- have a good mentor
- build credible reputation and develop a profile
- champion company ideals
- Leverage on situations, networks
- Use non-verbal leakage to convey messages
- be humble
- seek criticism not praise
- help your boss (manage him)

3. Confronting adversaries
- know how you are vulnerable
- concentrate on those who matter
- know the other's intentions
- collect evidence
- get second opinion
- steer away from official channels first
- pull adversaries to your side
- continual reinforcement
- prepare an exit strategy

To really appreciate the essence, I would encourage reading the book in its entirety and reflect on the concepts.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Marketing to the Social Media Web - Larry Weber

7 stars



  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley (June 22, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0470124172
  • ISBN-13: 978-0470124178
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches

"Marketing to the Social Media Web" gives any business owner a good reason to leverage on the internet to grow their business. It talks of the current trend where the internet is on the rise to take a bigger pie in any business' revenue. The book expounds on the paradigm shift all marketers have to make and how all these new tools change how people buy things.

To summarize, the learning points of the book are as follows:


1. The Web is not a one-way street for a monologue
Communication in a digital environment is an evolution from the traditional way of communication. It allows new possibilities in a globalized but shrinking world.

4 main strategies centres on reputation aggregrators, blogs, online communities and social networks.

Marketing must be more consumer centric. Customers are more vocal, hence marketeers need to participate in their conversations instead of a monologue.
Instead of broadcasting, the media needs to aggregate information for consumers to choose and pick.

The content must be compelling.
2. The marketer's new focus: Community and content
A community of interest and content is where real feedback is and where people are truly interested in a product. The control of information shifts from marketer to consumer. Hence marketing has to be honest and transparent because people can talk abt it.

Some opportunities to market (strengthening and expanding relationships):
- targeted brand building
- lead generation
- partnerships
- R&D via collaboration
- empolyee communications
3. Making the Transition to the social web
1. change marketing mindset - dialogue instead of monologue
2. A living brand - away from brand essence and brand recall. A stronger dialogue. better engagement
3. Segmentation by what people do, feel and think - for targeting
4. Targeting by behaviour instead of traditionally demographics - groups of interests and behaviours instead of narrow one-to-one
5. Communicate interactively - compelling environments to engage
6. Customer generated content - increasing visual content
7. Viral marketing - make pple share
8. Reviews by customers instead of only the experts, voting
9. Sponsor instead of publishing content, more meaningful dialogue
10. bottom up strategy - from the customers
11. let users decide
4. 7 steps to build your own customer community
1. Observe and create a customer map
2. recruit community members
3. evaluate online conduit strategies (below)
4. Engage communities in conversation
5. measure the community's involvement
6. promote your community to the world
7. improve the community benefits
5. Making use of 4 online conduit strategies
1. Reputation aggregator strategy (in search)
2. Blog Strategy (or podcasting)
3. E-community strategy
4. Social Networks strategy

Affiliate Millions - Anthony Borelli, Greg Holden

6 stars


  • Hardcover: 253 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley (April 13, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0470100346
  • ISBN-13: 978-0470100349
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
This is a wonderful book for anyone who have never touched affiliate marketing before or have no knowledge about the subject. It is a book for beginners and goes through step by step on how to create compaigns and making a business out of it. A important point to note is that affiliate business tactics change in a short time and some of tools highlighted in this book might be obsolete in a couple of years. Some of the concepts might still aid anyone or give good advice to a current affiliate business owner.

The first portion of the book tells of the author's inspiring story of getting into the business and that anyone can follow suit. It also teaches the basic concepts of search and affiliate marketing. The second part emphasizes on building the campaigns. The last section talks about improving and managing the business, including the tax portion.

I note that this business is only suited for those who are willing to fork out a small sum of money to try pay per click advertising. And you need persistence. There will be falls so the idea is to persevere.

The Crisis of Global Capitalism - George Soros

4 stars


  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1 edition (December 2, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1891620274
  • ISBN-13: 978-1891620270
  • Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches

This book is highly philosophical and takes a while to digest. It is not the typical investment book but rather the detail elaboration of the concepts Soros has borrowed and modified in his life. The concepts protrayed are a reflection of his investment philosophy and his view of the capitalistic world today.

"The Crisis of Global Capitalism" is split into 2 halves - the first half deals with the concepts themselves and are highly conceptual, the second half applies these concepts to the present capitalist system and highlights practical examples.

In short, Soros does not believe in equilibrium to exist as a final state but rather uses 'reflexivity' to describe how the market works. Reflexivity is the 2 way feedback mechanism between perception and reality. The former drives movement in the market. In a way, social forces and perception largely determine economics.

Soros believe that the current system will break down one day because of the huge growing perceptual differences that causes large swings. One day, the swings will go beyond the point of return (like a rubber band), causing the system to snap and crumble. Soros believes that it is necessary for an open society (another concept) where a proper feedback mechanism is in place to keep the swings small or at least in check.

*Note that my summary here is based on my interpretation of his writings and may not be representative. This is because I recognise my inadequacy to understand fully his concepts well.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Saving Fish from Drowning - Amy Tan



  • Paperback: 528 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books (September 26, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 034546401X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345464019
  • Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.5 inches
Amy Tan can be hilarious with her prose.

Saving Fish from Drowning leaves the reader with a lot to reflect about especially about life. Sometimes we intend the best and impose our standards on others - trying to 'save' others from themselves or from their current predicaments, but in the process, we do worse for them.

This book is about a 'ghost' telling a story about her companions travelling to Burma. They got 'kidnapped' by a tribe in a case of 'mistaken identity' where one of them was recognised as a saviour.

Funny, witty and sometimes sad.

Great book to read.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Whole New Mind - Daniel H Pink

8 Stars


  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (March 24, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1573223085
  • ISBN-13: 978-1573223089

In this book, Pink talks about humanity's transition into the next age.

Ages: Agricultural (strength) --> Industrial(Machines) --> Information(knowledge worker) --> Conceptual(holistic thinking)

Our transition is fueled by the 3 As:
1) Abundance - from fulfillment shifting from utility(meeting basic needs) to experential(meeting wants)
2) Asia - outsourcing and growing competitiveness
3) Automation - increasingly sophisticated computers to replace routine jobs

Pink discusses that in order to stay relevant and ahead, we just develop our mind holistically - shifting our emphasis on the left brain more to the right brain.
The differences between the 2 halves are:
1. One controls the opposite side of the body
2. Left - sequential, right - simultaneous
3. Left - text, right -context
4. Left - details, right - big picture

To develop the right side to meet the increasingly vigourous needs of the future, Pink suggests to hone our 6 senses of the right brain. These 6 senses are separate but they are closely linked and overlapped. Pink also adds a portfolio segment at the end of each 'senses' chapter on how to develop that particular sense.

(1) Design
It is illustrated that the world is moving beyond functionality to something that adds in an engaging experiential component to life. Design can only make the difference between 2 products with the same function. To develop this, we can diversify our learning, don't conform to the masses, be choosy and to learn how to be creative.

(2) Story
We remember details better if they are part of a bigger story due to the emotion factor. Such engaging experiences will only attract.

(3) Symphony
This is the ability to synthesize than analyze. Seeing relationships, connecting different parts, recognising the bigger picture and creating new from old are ways to be different. This is something a computer cannot do. We ought to practice drawing, being metaphorical and keep asking 'why nots' instead of 'why'.

(4) Emphathy (feel bad with; different from sympathy - feel bad for)
The ability to connect with people is increasingly being recognised as a necessary trait in a globalising world. This can be seen in the need for people-skills in job recruitment as well. We can hone this skill by volunteering and putting ourselves in people's shoes constantly.

(5) Play
It is a trend that people are seeking work that are more 'play'. Passion is the key word. Entertainment is one of the largest industry and merging it with work to value-add gives greater incentive for people to seek this course.
Humor is equally important to develop meaningful relationships and creating better lives.

(6) Meaning
There is an increasing connection with our work and something spiritual. The need to connect with something deeper gives meaning to our experience in life. We can hone this by dedicating work to some cause or to show gratitude daily.

The book is summarised into 3 questions:
1. Can someone do what you are doing for cheaper?
2. Can a computer do what you are doing faster?
3. Are you offering something what others cannot?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Punisher



  • Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (March 2, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345475569
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345475565
  • Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
A good leisurely read to refresh what has been shown in the movie. Sadly, it does not fill in on any extras that can shed more light about THE PUNISHER.

8 Secrets of the Truly Rich - Bo Sanchez




In this book, Bo corrects the false belief of equating materialism with being rich. This is a sticking point with many Christians who seek to give of themselves and be 'poor in spirit'. It is actually good to be rich as we can give more if we are. And God will always want the best for us and give us abundance in life. Money is crucial if we want to do much for God and ourselves, most aptly summarise in quoting him here:

"Money is not the most important thing in the world but it affects every important thing in the world".

People don't get rich because (1) they don't want to subconsciously, (2) they are financially stupid and/or (3) they don't ride something to wealth.

Bo shares his 8 secrets in bite-sized chapters summarised below:

1) Be totally responsible for your success
Where we are now is due to our choices, thoughts and habits. We can change this by creating a new pattern of success. But first we must take ownership of our life and stop the blame on (1) the government, (2) our family background, (3) the devil and (4) God.

2) Enlarge our psychological wallet
- Changing our core beliefs about self and money
- Increasing our money comfort zone by being more comfortable with larger amounts of money
- Imagining earning more
- Slef-image attracts your level of success
- Solve contradicting desires by being clear on our purpose
- Remove negative family labels
- Train when we are young (it is ok to have money; we have to work for the things we want; it is easy to earn if we focus on it, we must focus on profits, we ought to learn to sell)
- Increasing skill sets to match our psychological wallet

3) Get rid of crazy religious beliefs
- Don't romanticize poverty
- Recognist that the rich can get into Heaven
- Don't hate yourself or indulge in suffering because we so-called 'deserve it'
- Don't over-rely on God; God gave us stewardship for a reason
- Don't disguise laziness as faith
- Don't be obsessed with miracles like striking the lottery
- Don't be fatalistic; we must work and trust, not doing the latter only.

4) Be completely committed to your dreams
- For dreams, there are the Wish level, Want level and the Committed Level - be at the Commited level because it shows you want it bad enough.
- Be the scriptwritter of your life
- Write your dreams down and read it daily
- Apply the power of attraction/focus to increase the awareness of opportunities and to change predominant thoughts

5) Raise your financial IQ
Like ohter types of IQ, this can be learned and developed in time.
- Look for financial mentors
- Avoid bad debt by (1) writing a deadline for financial freedom day (2) creating new ways of cheap pleasure (3) scheduling steps to financial freedom (4) not borrowing if you cannot afford it (5) negotiating with your creditors
- Get insurance at 10 times your annual expenses
- Build your retirement fund NOW by compounding in investments
- Save 20% of your income
- Invest young
- Read (books and news), Listen (seminars) and Practice (via financial mentors, volunteer in small businesses, do your own small one)

6) Ride something to wealth
- Diversify in multiple streams of income
- Compounding
- Utilize your core gift to earn (Be good at it; Enjoy doing it; Be paid for it)
- Learn to sell
- Have a entreprenuer mindset (Profits are better than wages); if you cannot handle the growth of a business, grow yourself first
- Expand territories and do more
- Have passive income (developing a replicable system)
- Have exponential income by leveraging
- Build a dream team and having synergy
- Spend 80% in marketing and 20% in developing

7) Have a bias for action
- Don't feel self-sufficient (by relying on God too much)
- Look for natural signs and not supernatural
- Make things happen (perfection is never a good strategy)
- Fail your way to success (the more you do, the more success you get)
- Take bold massive action (not small steps always)
- Hustle - always be on the ball for solutions

8) Win in all areas
Areas like relationships, maturity and emotional level, using your core gift, health, wisdom, money, spiritual
- Follow your inner compass (which is God's voice and love)
- Define your own success and don't compare
- Give our best and to compete with self only
- Give more so you receive more
- Sacrifice wealth for others- to see the poor as family and not charity
- Have God as your champion partner because He takes care of all your miss shots.

7 Secrets to Real Freedom - Bo Sanchez





Bo talks about addictions in life and how we can be free of them in this book. He first recognises the fact that we are all sinners and hypocrites but then, knowing so, we can choose to not to be over time. Most of all, it is always our minds that limits our freedom. This book is great for people who are religious in nature who are looking for a Christian perspective on being free from crippling habits.

An addiction is defined by Bo as (1) a habit that cannot be stopped, (2) something that done repeatedly and (3) a habit that is harmful to life. Bo says that there is no one way to be free but many ways.
His book is divided into 7 parts and many small digestible chapters on how to get rid of addictions. They are as follows:

1) Discovering what you really need
- To recognise your hidden addiction (Eating, dieting, starving, spending, smoking, anger, worrying, complaining, coffee, sleeping, cleaning, working, lusting, religion, games, TV etc)
- To understand your hidden addiction is trying to do - (1) avoid a pain (2) fulfill an underlying need. Bo mentions that we all have a 'love tank' that needs to be filled.
- We can get rid of such an addiction by any various ways like - maturing, spiritual conversion, healing the past, dealing with the present, group therapy etc.

2) Focusing on Ambition and not Addiction
- "What you focus on grows" - we ought to focus on our goals and solutions instead of faults and barriers
- We must tame impatience and impulsiveness (delaying gratification)
- Our goals must be MAGIC (Measureable, Ambitious, Godly, Imaginative, Complete)

3) "Loving the Sinner and the Saint within"
Bo says that before we can deny ourselves, we must have a self that we accept and love in the first place.
We can love ourselves by:
a) Forgiving ourselves (We must not be 'proud of our sins' by hanging on to them)
b) Accepting weaknesses (There is nothing to forgive in weaknesses; we only forgive sins. Weaknesses are gifts to us for making us humble, making us more merciful to others and bonding us with other people who are suffering).
c) Feeling our feelings (instead of acting on our feelings) - this make us more aware of what we are going through and validates our emotions instead of dismissing them.
d) Trusting our needs - God always wants us to enjoy life, in the right way. We have to identify what drains us in meeting our needs (emotional, family, professional life, physical, financial, spiritual)

4) Shaping our outer world before it shapes us
The two most powerful forces in our lives are our relationships with others and the media. Hence to recreate our outer world, we
a) Say "NO" to toxic people who
- encourage our addiction
- hurt us
- manipulate you
- control you by force
- pass their responsibilities to you
- whine and invalidate you
b) Say "YES" to terrific people who
- nourish you emotionally, spiritually and intellectually (been there done that/mentor)
c) Control your media by what you read, watch and listen
One good quote/explanation from the bible was the good samaritan. He not only took care of others but he made sure he took care of his own needs (settling his own business) by enlisting other people(innkeeper) to help him help others.
It is always good to hang out with people you think you ought to learn from. You mirror the net worth of the people you mix around with.

5) Redefine yourself
"God made you so He knows you the best. For any broken parts, it makes sense always to go back to the manufacturer."
Bo talks about self-portraits in this part. Our self-portrait should originate from God and we are a child, a friend and a champion of God. We ought to focus on this divine self portrait and never give it up because it is who we truly are.
I figure it takes reflection and discernment here to figure who we truly are and how our talents can be used for the good of everyone. When our talents are deployed to the best use, we will feel accomplished even though they might be small things.

6) Get rid of Toxic faith which kills, harms and robs
5 symptoms of such faith are distorted images of:
a) God (that He is judgemental). God is never preoccupied with sin. Our relationship must be based on love and not shame.
b) Faithfulness (that it must be legalistic). We must not be so rigid that we let rituals overrule love.
c) Self (that we are condemned). We are the most loved by God.
d) Faith (which is hyper). Faith does not solve everything. God plays his part and so must we.
e) Faith system (which sometime abuses us). Our faith systems facilitates our relationship with God and not destroys it.

Real faith is about being loving and ready as God is. He is always patient and trusting, and ever waiting us to be ready to welcome Him.

7) Take Charge
We must be responsible for our own mess instead of blaming others. More often than not, we blame God for putting us in this circumstances (when it is actually the result of our choices); we blame the Devil for the evil in our lives (when we are actually giving Him more power to do so); we blame others for doing bad to us (when actually we allow them to do so by giving them power).
We ought to make things happen instead of complaining most of the time.

Bo talks about Learned Power and Learned Helplessness. Both of which we reinforce one day at a time, one choice at a time.

Sometimes we also blame ourselves but that makes us lose the power over our own lives. Having power means taking responsibility. Shaming only works against the self. Any examination of conscience msut focus on receiving love that will heal instead of harping on the sin that we have the change - the more important of the two is love and not the sin.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Clueless in Starting a Business - May Lwin, Adam Khoo, Jim Aitchison



  • Paperback: 162 pages
  • Publisher: Pearson Education Asia (August 31, 2003)
  • ISBN-10: 9812445072
  • ISBN-13: 978-9812445070
  • Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.7 x 0.4 inches

This book has many examples of business that started from scratch with the chapters towards the end focusing on mission statements and vision values.

The 3 co-authors managed to squeeze the bare essentials of starting out in a business in this little book. It serves more to inspire and convince readers to be entrepreneurs, but to do so would need more in-depth study and planning.

The most valuable segment I consider would be the equation in 'Growing Your Business'.

Here are the highlights:
Motivation for starting a business
Characteristics of a entreprenuer includes taking ownership, taking action, thick-skinned, opportunistic, goal-oriented, people person
1. Ask yourself "Why" - Some reasons: to have passive income, to be financially free, to pursue your passion, monetizing your hobbies, to be more flexible etc
2. What? - Always try to do something that has already been tried but creatively filling the gaps
3. Start NOW!
4. Myths of starting a business - young, saving sufficient capital, having necessary experience, being smart, having good qualifications
Getting Started in a business
1. Decide what type of business - sole proprietry or partnership
2. Decide which industry and what business
3. Determine gap in supply
4. Define the difference
5. Inspire the self
Write out the business plan in detail covering
- cover letter
- content page
- executive summary
- organisational chart
- production or service
- marketing plan
- financing plan (provide numbers with consideration)
- operations and control
- plan of growth
- appendix
Opening your business
- Location - this book emphasized much on FengShui
- Staffing needs
- Equipment
- Supplies
- Values and Mission Statement
Growing your business
This part can be summarised into this equation for growing the customer base.
Prospects * Conversion rate = Customers * Average Sales Value * Repeat rate = Sales Revenue
Increasing the individual variables
1. Prospects - advertisements, surveys, web, email, flyers, networking, talks, seminars, cold calls, database (you can buy them), referrals, samples
2. Conversion Rate - early bird, premiums, lucky draw, discounts, credit payments, benefits list, testimonials, moneyback guarantee, good presentation, NLP
3. Average Sales Value - bundling, increase prices, suggest the most expensive one first, sell add-ons, buyers checklist, focus on quality, tell the full range of products and services
4. Repeat rate - regular newsletters, greeting cards, keep in touch, loyalty membership, redemption points, exceed expectations

Get Paid More and Promoted Faster - Brian Tracy


  • Hardcover: 110 pages
  • Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1st edition (August 9, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1583762078
  • ISBN-13: 978-1583762073
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches

Short and sweet! Easy to read and digest.

1. Decide what you want exactly
- Idealisation
- Do you regret what you are doing now?
2. Select the Right company
- High growth
3. Choose the Right Boss
- Clarity
- Communicative
- Caring
- Comfortable
4. Develop a Positive Attitude (especially applicable for performance under stress)
- Make it a habit
5. Create a Successful Image
- Dress like the top management
6. Start Earlier, Work Harder, Stay Later
- Commitment to work
7. Push to the Front
- Ask for things to do
8. Ask for what you want then work towards it after being told how to get it
9. Guard your integrity as a sacred thing
- Truthfulness
- Dependability
- Loyalty
10. Think about the future (future-oriented)
- Have your goal in mind
- Idealisation
11. Focus on goals and having clarity
- Decide what you want
- Write it down
- Set a deadline
- List them down
- Transform this list to a plan
12. Concentrate on Results
- Focus on high value activities
- Focus on what others cannot but only you can give
- Make the most valuable use of my time
13. Be a problem solver
- Focus on solutions and not problems
14. Unlock your inborn creativity
15. Put people first
- Reciprocity and gratitude
16. Invest in yourself continually
17. Commit to excellence
- Key result areas (make the maximum impact)
18. Concentrate on the customer
- Meeting then exceeding expectations
- Delighting then amazing the customers
19. Focus on the bottomline
- Revenue
- Costs
20. Develop positive and not negative power
- Expert power
- Personality power
- Position power
21. Get the job done fast
- Always act fast (be known for it)
- Don't procrastinate

Perfect Phrases for Negotiating Salaries and Job Offers - Matthew J Deluc and Nanette F Deluca


  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (November 21, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0071475516
  • ISBN-13: 978-0071475518
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches

This book is filled with examples of phrases for negotiation. The intial portion is devoted to negotiation preparation depending on the circumstances one is in: employed, jobless (long or short term), entry level etc. The later portion centers mostly on examples in a wide variety of cases. It would be perfect for those who need to memorise phrases but it is great for those who formulate their own phrases for comparision.
Preparing for Salary Negotiation
The 2 rules for negotiations are - Do not negotiate if you don't want the job and Be careful of what you ask for.
1. Assessing own situation - jobless, retrenched, in a current job, new entry etc
2. Assess self - skill sets, experience
3. Assess the market, industry and economy to appreciate the limitations of the employer
4. Assess own needs
- Define compensation holistically: money, bonus, benefits in terms of health and vacation, perks and other intangibles (Separate the must-haves, nice-to-have and give-aways)
- Measure the cost of the new job: appearance, transport and time, lifestyle and other commitments
Guidelines for Negotiation
1. Use silence as a tool
2. Control disclosure
3. Be firm
4. Consistency
5. Remember what is important to you
6. Find out when they need an answer
7. Ask for offer in writing
8. Keep the door open
Phrases for Negotiation
This portion covers the following scenarios:
1. Dealing with salary questions before and during recruiting (and selection) process
- salary range (pros and cons)
- age
- interviews with HR for lateral moves
2. Negotiation of the total compensation package
- Always ask in writing
- Never accept on the spot
- Higher salary, bonus, options, shorter review period, starting rates, flexi hours, home working, lesser-days work, perks, memberships, training, contract, severance, tuition refund, childcare, benefits, time off, sabbaticals, religious activities
- Counter offers under new employers and current employers
- Finalisation - accepting, rejecting, multiple offers
- Following up even none offers
3. Negotiation at current job
- Performance reviews
- Salaries
- During terminations - asking for downsizing, pay decrease, date to leave, reference letter, staying as consultant, outplacement assistance
- Asking for a raise/promotions citing no longer feeling challenged, time, vacant higher post. (This can be done after the completion of the project, market conditions, personal issues, internal inquiry, another offer coming in, replacement of position)
4. Other special circumstances
Appendix includes compensation checklist and assessment and some sample letters for reference.

The Rules of Job Hunting - Rob Yeung



  • Hardcover: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Cyan Communications (January 1, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1904879861
  • ISBN-13: 978-1904879862
  • Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.6 x 0.9 inches

Though being a small book, it packs a punch when dealing with job hunting holistically, covering the reasons for finding a job, creating great CVs, networking, itnerviews and negotiations. Rob manages to focus on the important aspects of job hunting, targetting the essentials that boosts your profile and removing redundancies that can drag you down.

Here's the summary in parts which captures most of his message:
1. Understanding oneself
- Strengths and Weaknesses
- By gathering feedback from others
- Knowing exactly what you want (life, goals and dreams) instead of casting a wide net for any job
- Know your priorities in a job in terms of: autonomy, support, family, responsibilities, location, colleagues, company size, social contribution, order, advacnement, ethics, security, leadership, moeny, recognition, mobility, creativity, variety
- Have a vision statement
- Have a plan that is SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound)

2. Creating a great CV
The benchmark here is to have 1 in 4 CVs that can land you in an interview.
- Always tailor to the required job
- Compact but with white spaces too
- Start from scratch, include relevant and recent details of working experiences only
- Keep it simple
- Decide the most appropriate format: Use a chronological format if continuing the same career path; Use a functional format for changing industries to target the required and transferrable skill sets
- Quantify your results
- Summarize your CV into a profile statement (different from vision statement)
- Exclude hobbies unless they have accolades
- Exclude martial status
- Have a proper email address
- Get a 2nd opinion on your CV in context of the job
- Append a good cover letter

3. Networking for opportunities
- List all the people you know in a sitting (from the closest to the furthest) and see who you can call
- Always call people for information (in terms of contacts and referrals) and not for jobs
- Develop a sense of ettiquette
- Always be ready for an interview
- Maintain visibility by always following up
- Have 3 types of referees: Factual, Personal Character, Credibility at work. Make sure these referees are notified of the job applied for.
- Set targets in networking
- ACE your emotions by Accepting, Capturing and Expressing

4. Being unforgettable at interviews
The four most important traits one need to present during the interview are:
1) Chemistry
2) Confidence
3) Capacity for growth
4) Competence

- Remember that the 1st (1st impression) and last 5 minutes (recency effect) are the most important
- Prepare 7 stories of success (especially for entry level) to cover topics on: problem solving, communication, customer/client, leadership, strategic planning/commercial, coaching and development, innovation/change.
- For competency-based questions, use "I or me" focusing on STAR (situation, task, action and results)
- Use your weakness/failure to your advantage, attributing failure to uncontrollable factors; divulging a minor weakness to reveal a strength that is needed for the job. Most important is the way that the weakness was dealt with.
- If the weakness is apparent, simply highlight it at the onset (like pregnancy)
- Talk long term
- Use body language - Listening, right tone, volume, pitch, speed
- Mirror interviewers
- Dress one notch better
- Defer money matters till later (next meetup)
- Prepare for any aptitude test
- Discuss other offers but no names
- Ask questions regarding challenges, autonomy, culture, requirement
- Be positive and optimistic
- Followup letter with reference to openings in other areas and addressing key points in the interview
- Ask for feedback after for learning sake.

Top 10 Questions that are asked:
1) What are your strengths?
2) What are your weaknesses?
3) What motivates you?
4) How would others describe you?
5) Main achievements?
6) Performance targets and how well you perform against them?
7) What are you proud of?
8) Why should we hire you?
9) What can you contribute?
10) What are your passions?

5. Considerations on taking up the job
- Defer spontaneous offers
- Measure your worth - benchmark and negotiate
- Considering the total package (be creative): Bonuses, relocation, profit-sharing, commission, benefits, medical, leave of all kinds, personal development, memberships, perks, flexible hours
- Establish the parameters of the job: reporting hierachy, job requirements, teamwork, starting date, performance criteria
- Reflect and compare this with the initial objectives set out
- Read the small print
- Consider an 'exit strategy'
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