A summary of things you should know about How To Ruin A Business Without Really Trying according to MJ Gottlieb: Introduction In this episode MJ Gottlieb shares his book, HowRead More
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]]>In this episode MJ Gottlieb shares his book, How To Ruin A Business Without Really Trying, where he shares what every entrepreneur should not do when running a business.
In his book Gottlieb gives you 55 of the most painful and destruction mistakes and failures many entrepreneurs make when running a business today. The goal of his book is to help you learn from other entrepreneurs’ mistakes while taking the ego out of the equation allowing you to enjoy the freedom of your own experience.
This book is perfect for aspiring entrepreneurs who are thinking about starting a business and need a stepping stone to help promote faster growth in the beginning.
Most of the books that are out there tell people what to do. I believe that this is really the first book that tells people what not to do. And the reasoning behind that is that I don’t believe entrepreneurs like to be told what to do.
You can absolutely jump from one section to the next and it doesn’t necessarily have to be read from front to back.
I would say doing your due diligence. I think that doing your due diligence is one of the most recurring themes of the book.
The book is separated in to two sections. The first section is 39 case studies starting with the top do nots and never evers. These are the most common and prominent mistakes entrepreneurs make and I do that by highlighting the mistakes that I have made. Every case study has the mistake that I made and then it goes into the right thing to do which is what I know about it now and how I would go about doing things differently. Even though I came from the fashionable background it is applicable for all business whether you are product driven or service driven.
The second part of the book has everything to do with people that are in pursuit of the deal, raising capital, the different types of investors, the whole process of looking for money, the value of resources compared to just money, different problems with technology and different ways that we can take advantage now of the technology that we have. Sections also contain things that you would never learn in a business class such as something like Murphy’s Law. It is full of information that happens in the real world of being an entrepreneur that you really can’t be taught in business class.
“The jack of all trades is a jackass.” – MJ Gottlieb
I have been typically in the offline business for about 20 years having owned and operated five fashion brands since 1991. The last one I owned was up until 2007. I recently wrote a book about all the mistakes I made in hopes that aspiring entrepreneurs can actually learn from those mistakes.
I had just lost my second business and I was writing down all the mistakes that I had made just to get it out of my system. A friend of mine said it was great that I was doing it but asked if I had any idea the value that this information can have for those people that are looking to start a business. He said to call it What Not To Do When Starting A Business and then years later I made it into a book.
How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Buy How To Ruin A Business Without Really Trying by MJ Gottlieb on Amazon today
Visit HustleBranding.com to learn more about MJ and his company
Visit HowToRuinABusiness.com to learn more about the book
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For questions contact MJ by email here
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: Business in Blue Jeans by Susan Baroncini-Moe | All In Startup by Diana Kander | People Tools For Business by Alan Fox
Relevant advice and tips: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Business Failure
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]]>5 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make With Marketing and Branding Marketing, when done correctly, is considered as an investment to a business. Since entrepreneurs can’t splurge huge amounts of money on theRead More
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]]>5 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make With Marketing and Branding
Marketing, when done correctly, is considered as an investment to a business. Since entrepreneurs can’t splurge huge amounts of money on the promotion of their products and services like larger brands, they need to be very particular about their marketing plan to ensure that not a single marketing dollar gets wasted. A great marketing plan can bolster the market reputation of a business and can help it win the trust of its targeted audience eventually, whereas a bad marketing plan can hurt its business prospect in more than one way.
Building a brand image is never easy. It takes years to build a solid brand but it takes just a few seconds to ruin it. Don’t believe us? Well then, try posting something nasty via your company’s social profile and you will see how the reputation of your company comes crumbling down [safety notice – don’t try this at home/office].
The thing is that most entrepreneurs have no idea about promoting their brand and for that reason, they try different things only to find themselves in deep trouble at the end. Sometimes they prioritize product development over marketing and branding and sometimes, they just ignore the concept of branding altogether. Here are some 5 mistakes entrepreneurs make with marketing and branding:
You Have no Idea About Your Targeted Audience
Imagine a scenario that you are selling anti-aging products and you are targeting mainly teenage boys. The probable outcome of this bizarre marketing initiative is easy to predict – a big Disaster. You need to realize the truth that you simply can’t target everybody around. You need to identify your targeted audience first before even thinking about marketing products. Culture, age, sex, geographical locations etc all play pivotal role while choosing your targeted audience.
You Don’t Care About What People Are Saying About Your Brand
Some business owners tend to remain oblivious to the fact that people might be discussing about their brand right now on different social media sites. You may never know that an irate customer might be venting his anger by spitting venom about your brand on Facebook or Twitter and if you don’t intervene right now or don’t redress his problem, things might go out of your hand. You need to keep a hawk eye on different social media channels otherwise a small issue can get snowballed into a major crisis.
You Are Trying to Be Everywhere
Some business owners are of the opinion that they should be active on social media channels. Now, there are over hundreds of social networking sites available and that means, there is no way you can be active on all of them. Try to identify those platforms that draw large number of your targeted audience and be active on those platforms. Limit the number of official social account to 4 or 5.
You are Trying to Do Everything By Yourself
Some business owners try to do everything all by themselves. It is good to keep eyes on everything but it will drain all your energy at the end of the day. Moreover, sometimes it is good to appoint a professional rather than doing all by yourself and messing things up miserably.
Your Business Does not Have a Website
You gotta be kidding, right? Why would a business not have an official website in the digital world today? To boost the brand presence of your business on the web, your business needs to have a website. There is no way around it. You need to invest some marketing dollars on design, hosting and content. Make the website live as soon as possible otherwise all your attempts to bolster the brand presence of your business will fall flat on the ground.
If you are looking for some great books that provide insights into marketing and branding, I recommend the following 5 reads:
Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days by Jay Conrad Levinson and Al Lautenslager – Listen to my interview with Al here
Business in Blue Jeans by Susan Baroncini-Moe – Listen to my interview with Susan here
Startup Mixology by Frank Gruber – Listen to my interview with Frank here
Everyday Entrepreneurs by Ken Horn – Listen to my interview with Ken here
How To Get Unstuck by Barry J Moltz – Listen to my interview with Barry here
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