A summary of things you should know about Startup Mixology according to Frank Gruber

Introduction

In this episode Tech Cocktail’s own Frank Gruber takes you inside his book Startup Mixology. His book is the perfect all-in-one strategy for serial entrepreneurs who plan on creating multiple businesses over time.

The Book’s Unique Quality

I wanted to create a book that had, start to finish, the ingredients or elements that go in to starting up. I tell the story about the harsh reality so that as you are starting up you realize that you’re going to hit those ups and downs. I explain how to get out of those dips and using celebration to help push you through and guide you as you continue to propel towards your goal.

The Reader’s Takeaway

The point of this book is to help inspire people that may be on the fence about applying some of these things to either their startup journey or internally in their company. My goal is if they have an idea that they want to launch, hopefully this is a good guide to start. It won’t be an easy path but this book will help you understand that. It should be a great starting point for anyone who has an idea and doesn’t know where to start or maybe is afraid to.

A Deep Dive Into The Book

Part one is getting started and how to think like an Entrepreneur. The first four chapters are about thinking like an entrepreneur, coming up with ideas and turning those into actions. Also, how to formulate a company by getting all your documentation in place, business documents, everything filed and ready to go with both the accounting and legal side.

Part two is about the product. You start with coming up with a marketing fit, take that idea and launch it to your audience. You can start with a simple launch, with a small group of enthusiastic people and build from there. I also talk about how you measure success and how important it is to know what you need to build a business. I give the example of how Uber has done really well and grown very quickly.

Part three is about team and people. Team is crucial with starting and running a business. I show you how to find those people and what you should be looking for. We focus a lot on culture in this chapter. Culture is really everything when it comes to building a team that can execute and make sure everyone continues to move ahead. We also focus on celebration and being able to acknowledge the fact that something happened and how important that is. It’s also important to treat everyone with respect along the way and I think it’s something we sometimes forget.

Part four is sales and marketing. One chapter is sales and the other is marketing. Figuring out your marketing and sales is very important and these two chapters talk about that.

Part five is about money, bootstrapping and funding. We bootstrapped for seven years, didn’t pay ourselves for a long time and you can go pretty far with that. And we also talk about the different aspects or raising money as well. Both viable options, it just depends on your business and what your goals are.

Part six is about growth and change. Chapter 16 is about failure and failure is a big part of starting and running a business. No one wants to fail but if you do you need to learn from it, grow and go figure out what the next step is. If the company doesn’t make it, that’s not you, that’s the company. You will be fine and you need to move on from that. Managing expectations are very important and that’s why this chapter is in the book.

The final chapter is about success and it covers what success looks like, how to scale and gives a story on success. In the conclusion we share about what the path has looked like for us and talk about other resources that are available through the book.

Notable Quotes From The Book

“The best day to start is today. Not tomorrow, not the next day, today.” “Get it going and you’ll figure it out along the way.” – Frank Gruber

The Credibility/Inspiration Of The Author

I am the CEO and co-founder of Tech Cocktail. Tech Cocktail is a news and events organization that is focused on startups, technology and entrepreneurship. I try to help better connect both online and off as well as connecting brands with that audience. We try to make the startup journey more memorable and fun.

It took me ten years to figure out how to jump off the entrepreneurial diving board and I wanted to jump start this for other people. It tells a little about my story but also tells the stories of companies like Uber, Zappos and WordPress and uses their stories to illustrate the ingredients that go in to starting and running a business.

Other Books Recommended By The Author

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

More Information About This Book and The Author

Buy Startup Mixology by Frank Gruber on Amazon today

Visit Startupmixology.Tech.co to get extra exclusive content

Visit FrankGruber.co to learn more about Frank

Follow Frank Gruber on Twitter

More Information About This Episode

Download the full transcript here

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud

Related books: All In Startup by Diana Kander | Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers by Gabriel Weinberg | Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters

Relevant advice and tips: 5 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make With Marketing and Branding | 5 Important Things That Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know About Starting a New Business

What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.

The post A Preview of Startup Mixology with Frank Gruber appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.

5 Reasons Why Every Entrepreneur Should Read Books

Be it a children’s fable, a book of poems for the hopeless romantics, or a how-to guide, a book is one companion you cannot do without, whatever stage of life you are in. But is it any good for an entrepreneur? The simple answer is – yes.

Whether you are planning to start a new business or are already managing one, reading can be a great habit. If you haven’t inculcated it yet, it’s high time to do so. Also, don’t let time constraints hinder you from reading. It will only do you good.

Why is reading a good habit for entrepreneurs? Here are 5 reasons for this.

Reason 1: It enhances conversational skills: Well, Dale Carnegie’s ‘How to Win Friends & Influence People’ remains a bestseller still today! Whether it’s in the personal or professional space, communication is of paramount importance for success.

And when it comes to entrepreneurship, a little communication error can lead to big trouble.

‘Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High’ by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler is another good example of how a book can enhance your conversational skills and help you win over challenging situations.

Reason 2: It helps understand leadership: Are leaders born? Or, are they made? What makes a great leader? What differentiates a good leader from a great one? A book can give you the answers you seek. And help you identify and hone our leadership capabilities.

‘Strengths Based Leadership’ by Tom Rath is an excellent choice in this regard.

Based on a broad survey of great leaders and their followers, this book is quite an eye-opener. Another good read is ‘Leaders Eat Last’ by Simon Sinek. Here he takes up the question of the way leaders achieve what they seek.

Reason 3: It offers business insights: Whether you need to craft an organizational blueprint, guide the people in your team or handle the numbers, the right books can help you attain the knowledge you want to effectively manage every aspect of your business.

A good example is the bestseller ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins.

In it, he elucidates what distinguishes a good company from a great one. And how a good one can become great by following the right methods such as identifying their best qualities, confronting harsh business realities, building and maintaining pace.

Reason 4: It facilitates work-life balance: When you start a business on your own, your entire focus is on it. And often your personal life suffers. This imbalance created by the pressures of work and life compelled Arianna Huffington to write ‘Thrive’.

In it, she redefines success, with the third metric of well-being, along with power and money.

Co-founder and President of Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington was the epitome of success, if you consider it from the perspectives of power and wealth. But her physical and mental self were suffering. That’s when she discovered the third metric of success – well-being.

Reason 5: It keeps you on track: ‘The E-Myth Revisited’ by Michael E. Gerber is a soul-stirrer for entrepreneurs. In it, he identifies the biggest myth of entrepreneurship – that it is something heroic, a superhuman effort to overcome obstacles and attain success.

It’s a reality check; it takes you through the stages of a business, from its birth to success.

Another superb book is ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’ by Tim Ferriss. If you don’t take the title quite literally, you can sure gain knowledge about how to work smart instead of how to work hard. And achieve success with this method too.

Just take your pick and learn from the people who have been there, done that.

The post 5 Reasons Why Every Entrepreneur Should Read Books appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.