A summary of things you should know about The Self-Made Billionaire Effect according to John Sviokla: Introduction In this episode John Sviokla gives an in-depth summary of his and MitchRead More
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]]>In this episode John Sviokla gives an in-depth summary of his and Mitch Cohens’ book, The Self-Made Billionaire Effect, where they discuss how extreme producers create massive value.
In their book Sviokla and Cohen provide extensive research drawn from interviews with some of the most successful billionaires in order to debunk the perceptions people have of high producing entrepreneurs. The goal of the book is to teach you habits designed to improve your business value, how to start thinking like a billionaire, and how to be highly valuable to your employees.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs that set very high expectations when it comes to business goals and are looking for solid ways to provide massive value when it comes to building a business.
This book is the first ever systematic study of a self-made billionaire.
It’s really a book you can jump in and jump out of. The introduction of the book tells you that these people are not who you think they are. 80% of them made their money in highly competitive contested markets.
The one thing I would say is to follow your curiosity about an opportunity area and don’t separate thinking from doing. If you want to pursue it, pursue it yourself.
The core notion that the book talks about is underneath every billion dollar opportunity what you will see is what we call a Producer or a Producer Performer Pair.
A Producer is the kind of person that knows how to design a business from scratch and to get all those design variables and land them well. That’s true whether these people are doing it in pizza, coffee, or high-tech.
As I mentioned before these people are not who you think, they come from all walks of life. Then we look at what makes these billionaires distinctive and what we found were these Five Habits of Mind.
The Five Habits of Mind are inventive execution, epithetic imagination, a relative view of risk, patient urgency, and producer performer pairing. For example epithetic imagination is a combination of understanding where markets going as well as a rational understanding of what the economic opportunity might be.
Throughout the book I give you a deep definition of each of the Five Habits of Mind and pair them with stories to help the reader get a visual of how each one works.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 03:51
“The universe is a fight between habit and novelty and novelty is winning.” Terence McKenna
I am a partner in the PwC consulting division and I hit up our Thought Leadership. I have been there for about four years and about a dozen years before that I was a consultant at a company called Diamond. And for a dozen years before that I was a professor at Harvard Business School in the area of technology strategy in innovation.
The inspiration was I was talking to my co-author Mitch Cohen and PwC is really about helping our clients create value and I told Mitch that we should study the people who created the most value on the planet. We took the self-made billionaires and made a book of all the things people could learn from their success.
Life Unlocked by Srinivasan S. Pillay
Buy The Self-Made Billionaire Effect by John Sviokla and Mitch Cohen on Amazon today
Visit PWC.com to learn more about John and his book
Follow John Sviokla on Linkedin and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
The New Rich by David Moore
Three Feet From Gold by Greg Reid
Strategy Rules by David Yoffie and Michael Cusumano
Relevant advice and tips:
7 Successful Attributes of a Billionaire
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]]>Who is Bo Burlingham and what you can learn from him: Bo Burlingham is a shining example of what can happen when a person does not take no for anRead More
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]]>Bo Burlingham is a shining example of what can happen when a person does not take no for an answer and simply finds a new way to do their own thing. After years working for Inc during the early 1980s as an executive editor, he resigned that position down to an editor-at-large in order to pursue his own interests.
From there, he wrote many successful books about life in the modern business world, giving out helpful tips to all of his readers about how employees can own their own companies. There is a great deal that an entrepreneur can learn from Bo Burlingham, so let’s focus on the five most crucial lessons.
It would have been easy for Bo to get comfortable and settle down at Inc. After rising to the position of Senior Editor, Burlingham could have allowed himself to become satisfied. Most people would have been fine with remaining in that position and thinking of ways to advance the company that gave them the job.
It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make it to any sort of senior editing position at a major publication. Most would not have wanted to see all of that effort potentially go to waste while they take the time to chase after a dream.
However, Bo Burlingham is not most people. Instead of settling in, getting comfortable and allowing himself to fall into complacency, Burlingham decided to strike out on his own path, leaving Inc to publish his own books. Had he not had the courage to do this, he never would have had the time to write The Great Game Of Business, a book that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
Burlingham wrote a book entitled Small Giants. In this book, he does a deep dive into what makes small businesses successful. One of the main reasons he discovered? Smaller companies are more able to train their focus on being the absolute best at what they do. Whereas larger companies may find that it is more important to be everything to everyone, a smaller company spends their resources on performing one particular task.
By specializing, smaller companies are able to stand shoulder to shoulder with their larger counterparts and experience many of the same benefits. People are not looking to make purchases from the largest company possible. The consumer is all about finding the best quality at the most affordable price. The company that provides a top notch service and does not allow themselves to be hemmed in by traditional success definition is the one that will prosper over the long haul.
Small Giants delved into a variety of smaller companies, with the objective of showing readers how all of these companies were able to become so successful, so quickly. Whether it is a record company, a deli or a microbrewery, there are a variety of principles that define prosperous small businesses.
Even a tiny company can go about the same tasks as a corporate giant and experience continued success. While these tasks take place on a smaller scale, a company still must raise the necessary capital, invest the funds wisely and choose the right times to expand their operations or make pivotal acquisitions.
One of the most pivotal that an entrepreneur can take from the works of Bo Burlingham is that it does not matter how big or small a company is. The route to success is the same as it would be for a large company. Small business owners are encouraged to take the lessons that have worked for big companies and apply them to their own situation.
A common mistake made by entrepreneurs is that they do not trust their employees to get the job done. In Burlingham’s book, The Great Game of Business, he outlines the benefits of an open book management style. He did not come up with these strategies in a Fortune 500 boardroom or at a high end business meeting.
Instead, Burlingham investigated the plight of a company known as International Harvester. When all of the employees of this heartland factory stood to lose their jobs forever, they banded together and came up with a solution: the open book management style.
When employees feel like they are truly an integral part of the equation, their performance becomes much better. Burlingham has preached the importance of allowing your employees to know about how the company is functioning as a whole. This keeps them from being taken by surprise when certain events occur.
When Burlingham came together with Norm Brodsky to write Street Smarts, he did so with one goal in mind: showing people that there is no magic list of bullet points that an entrepreneur can hit that will guarantee their long term success. He preaches the importance of your overall mentality when trying to start a new business and displays the importance of street smarts.
Being book smart is not enough. An entrepreneur needs to know how to read people and judge a situation that may not come with a helpful handbook. Burlingham also teaches his readers that there will be mistakes made along the way and that these mistakes do not have to come to define you. It is how you rebound from these errors that determines your level of success.
Preview Finish Big with Bo Burlingham himself
Buy Finish Big by Bo Burlingham on Amazon today
Visit BoBurlingham.com to learn more about Bo and his books
Visit SmallGiantsBook.com to learn more about Small Giants
Visit TheKnack.info to learn more about Street Smarts
Visit EvolveUSA.org to learn how Evolve is using Finish Big to build its organization
Follow Bo Burlingham on Facebook and Twitter
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]]>For an entrepreneur, launching a startup begins with the creation of something from nothing. This creation should take into account what an individual is passionate about and this can beRead More
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]]>For an entrepreneur, launching a startup begins with the creation of something from nothing. This creation should take into account what an individual is passionate about and this can be done by listing the items and prioritizing them to help an individual remain focused on their idea.
When launching a startup, an entrepreneur must make sure that he or she stands out from the crowd especially because of the large number of new businesses that are launched every year. This is the reason that a successful launch is necessary to help an individual have a strong social proof, build a user base rapidly and improve the chances of long-term growth.
The following are five popular ways entrepreneurs can launch a startup:
The target market chosen should be an industry that is growing fast, big and profitable. The selected market can then be won by differentiation where a business gives customers more of what they want and this boosts their willingness to pay or a business that serves as a low-cost producer and charges the lowest price in the industry. When customers buy the products, the entrepreneur should monitor the changing customer needs as well as new technologies and figure out other additional products to build as well as fresh markets to conquer.
The competition should be studied through the performance of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. A list of businesses that offer services and products similar to the one being launched should be done, a review of the marketing materials which includes brochures and ads should also be done.
The marketing tactics and strategy should also be chosen. This involves the sales as well as the marketing channels that can be used which include online, catalog or using dealers. Multichannel marketers usually achieve great success because customers like it when they can shop when and however they like.
Knowing the product’s life cycle is important because the campaign used during the introduction as well as education phase of the service or product needs to be updated as the service or product matures. An entrepreneur should monitor the marketing results carefully so as to notice any diminishing returns that indicate when to revise the service or product, alter the media message or phase out the particular offering.
This is important so that people can start signing up to receiving emails from an email list. This should be done before the official launch. Email is important because it can get people engaged as well as convert them into customers. For the email list to work an entrepreneur must get their contact list together, this can be done by downloading contacts from those on the email or from people spoken to. This data can be put in a customer relationship management system. Emailing people directly with the launch announcement is more effective than posting it on social media.
Having a large list of motivated and qualified email subscribers is important if the business is to grow. This list can be built by using list building strategies as follows:
> The list can be built with article marketing where the content is taken from the entrepreneur’s blog or website and is then submitted to article directories.
> Videos can be used to build the list because videos help to authentically connect with the people who visit the entrepreneur’s site and allows engagement in a compelling manner. Videos also allow an individual to interact with prospects better.
> Pay-Per-Click advertising can be used in list building and is one technique that can attract many ideal as well as highly qualified leads consistently.
This list dictates the number of clients and customers that sign on and this affects the income of the business.
For an individual to optimize their website, it is important that they give the right kind of information that will grab people’s attention as well as leave an element of mystery that will generate curiosity. The content on the website should be useful, link-worthy and entertaining as this increases the chance of the start-up being discovered. Assess the type of content the competition is creating and use gaps in the content as an opportunity to deliver something the competitors have missed or are lazy to perfect. Keywords should be worked into the posts and the blog optimized for the search engines.
Having a page that is a basic “Coming Soon” page, can be used to entice people to sign up. Offering a special bonus can be an effective way to get early subscribers. Make social sharing an important part of your website and lead generation plan as well.
The sign-ups should be monitored on a daily basis and this should be set up in a way that an email is received every time someone signs up. This can be used to send the person a follow-up thank-you note.
Attracting clients consistently requires that the entrepreneur’s marketing message be clear and stand out. When this message is clear, the marketing plan will be so much easier as well as less costly. To communicate regularly it is important to engage the audience immediately. This can be done by sending out emails regularly, as well as offering people something that will be useful to them with each message. This is one way to keep them signed up, and respond positively to the launch. Have email programs that will allow the set up of “autoresponder” sequences that enable the automatic sending to people a particular set of messages once they sign up.
The emails can offer sneak peeks concerning the progress of the business, industry news, fun quips and also how-to.
To launch a startup successfully, align it with relevant companies that have significant reach. With that being said, it is very important that an entrepreneur looks for opportunities in brands that will complement their product offering and provide unique value for the customers. Build relationships with people regarded as influential in the industry. This will open the business to powerful resources, endorsements as well as introductions to other key influencers in the industry.
The Startup Survival System by Kurt Won
New Business Next Steps by Ann Hawkins
Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months by Melinda Emerson
Startupland by Mikkel Svane
100 Days of Growth by Sujan Patel
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]]>A summary of things you should know about The Small Business Lifecycle according to Charlie Gilkey Introduction In this episode Charlie Gilkey takes a dive into his book, The SmallRead More
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]]>A summary of things you should know about The Small Business Lifecycle according to Charlie Gilkey
In this episode Charlie Gilkey takes a dive into his book, The Small Business Lifecycle. Unlike other business books that focus solely on marketing and sales, The Small Business Lifecycle discusses how to grow your business through different lifecycles. This book is unique in that it offers entrepreneurs and small business owner real challenges, opportunities, and inconvenient truths about running a small business.
This book is what to expect when you’re expecting for small businesses and entrepreneurs. We see a lot of books on small business, and a lot of small business books are focused on sales and marketing. Sales and marketing are huge but there is more to business than marketing and sales. My book really discusses how small businesses grow and that’s one of the things that make it unique. Another key element is it’s not about so much the tactics but about where you are and what you need to do to grow to the next step. It’s intentionally concise and short book because it provides a map for growth for your business and that’s really what all it’s meant to do.
It’s both. You don’t have to read it straight from front to back. The overview gives an idea what the stages of the different life cycles are and you can decide where you are and read from there.
Figure out where you are in the business life cycle and focus on those things that matter now. You have to do the right things, at the right time, in the right order.
Small Business Life Cycle is what to expect when you’re expecting for small business owners and entrepreneurs. There are five different stages to the business life cycle.
Stage Zero is The Aspirational Stage, the stage by which everyone that thinks, reads and dreams about starting a business but hasn’t fundamentally started a business.
Stage One is The Entry Stage. This person has moved to starting a business, has a few customers, small number of services and products and they are officially in business.
Stage Two is The Growth Stage and this is where the business has more customers, more products and services but basically they are starting to take off. They have figured out the market to product fit that allows them to actually start growing and scaling. This stage is the most fun part of the journey for small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Stage Three is called The Crucible Stage. In the crucible stage you’re at the position in which you can’t keep going the way you’ve been going and you’ve got to do something completely different to take that next step. Most people find in this stage that there is not nearly as much business under the business as they had thought.
Stage Four is The Cruise Stage. I like to describe it like you’re a supersonic jet. You have your people, processes and positioning in place and you can go really fast but you can’t turn. This is where we see businesses that pull in that good 3% to 10% growth every year, not making any radical changes but it’s a solid business and runs well. This is a life-cycle because what happens is people will get at one point along the journey and go backwards. They’ll get to this stage and get bored.
I take each one of these stages and explain them. Each stage has a certain amount of challenges, opportunities, inconvenient truth and a way forward.
“The more you understand where your business is, the more you can focus on taking meaningful action on the stuff that matters for your business now.” – Charlie Gilkey
I founded and run a website called Productive Flourishing which is about helping creative people take their ideas and make something good happen in the world. It’s not so much for the dreamer; it’s for the inspired doer. Before starting Productive Flourishing I was simultaneously completing my PhD in Philosophy which I am still working on and I was an Army Joint Force Military Logistics coordinator.
I’m a business coach and worked with a range of people who would come to me trying to do things that they were either told to do or read about that were inappropriate for their business. I found that it was just too early for that particular business lifecycle for them to be focused on that particular thing. This book came from speeches where I would try to help entrepreneurs and small business owners really figure out where they were so they could take the appropriate next steps. And it eventually folded into a book where I added more to it. So the inspiration was largely based on observation and the amount of pain that people were in just because they were doing the wrong things at the wrong time.
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Buy The Small Business Lifecycle by Charlie Gilkey on Amazon today
Visit ProductiveFlourishing.com to learn more about Charlie and his book
Follow Charlie Gilkey on Twitter
Download the full transcript here
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: Profit First: A Simple System to Transform Any Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz | The Risk Driven Business Model by Serguei Netessine | Startup Mixology by Frank Gruber
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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