Business Books

This book is very useful for everyone. After all, each of us meets with many challenges everyday.

As an executive coach I constantly work with executives who are under enormous stress and who often face radical change in their organizations. Being resilient is a key competency for their survival and success. I found Dr. Siebert's book to be an incredible resource and teach tool for my clients. It gives them a useful five element model to understand the key dimensions of resilience and offers practical strategies and practices to build their own resilience. I recommend this book to anyone under stress and wanting to be able to effectively manage changes that life brings. It has made me look at my own life and provides a checklist to assess my own resilience.

After a challenging year in which I have dealt with injury, financial devastation, and diabolical bureaucracy, it was great to be reminded, once again, that the reason I have thrived is largely because I exhibit 100% of the personality traits of a 'survivor'! The exercises included in this book are brilliant and I have recommended the book to many people, including my rehabilitation physician - who has thoroughly enjoyed my approach to everything but is still trying to figure me out! Should be required reading for all high school students and for anyone who is serious about tapping into real human potential. Thanks Al !

I intend to use this as reference material for my Master of Public Health project. The book is practice, incisive, and accessible.

This book has been reviewed in detail enough. I can only add my own personal experience. Seibert wrote a simple concise book that pulls no punches and provides an effective plan to help change one's mindset from that of a depressed anxious victim to that of a person who dosen't let things control how they feel without putting up a heck of a fight first.

I have read several of the "Rich Dad Poor Dad" books, and have been enlighten with the information that was provided, and it has helped me personally deal with my financial issues. Plus, seeing my future is very different after reading these books.

Mike Maloney's book is an easy read & proves his point about investing in silver & gold. An essential read for improving your Financial literacy in the 21st century.

I found this book to be such an easy and informative read. I feel so much more educated on the money system and how it works. I also appriciate haveing the history side of it too. Thank you for a very helpful book.

This book caught my eye prior to boarding a plane. I suppose it was launched at a time when gold and silver were making record highs and these precious metals seemed extremely attractive to the everyday investor.

I found the initial history lesson interesting but a little drawn out.

I have read most of Kiyosaki and his advisor books and after a while they all seem to sound the same. This one was more interesting but Maloney obviously felt obliged to laud Kiyosaki's other books as totally amazing and the best books he has read. I find this difficult to believe. He is a learned gent and has read many quality books on The Fed etc. so I found this a bit irritating.

I read this book after the financial crisis had already unfolded but Maloney predicted it (or something similar) with eery truth around pg. 112. In a nutshell the book says that the only true currency is gold and silver and the cash (the dollar) is just a fiat currency, in the more can be printed. In times of distress people flock to precious metals and these prices go crazy. That hasn't quite happened during this crisis so it's not that simple. I flew through this book and it is easy reading but I finished it feeling less convinced than many other readers here. The great website reference at the back pushes it up to four stars though.

Although I have not yet read the entire book, there's one thing that EVERYONE is missing.
All the gold bugs can rush and buy, but the problem is, if there's an economic meltdown, gold and silver will be illegal!
This allows the government and feds to "buy" low, and sell high.
In the great depression, it was illegal to carry gold and silver.

Although there are not yet ANY laws prohibiting gold or silver, it is still not safe!

The reason?
I have heard that the Patriot Act (or as I call it unpatriotic act), has a section where it makes it LEGAL for federal officials and government to go into your house, take any gold and silver they want, as well as any currency they want, without even doing so much as asking or notifying you. (You may want to google it or read the bill for yourself at congress.gov, or whatever website)

So what's the REAL solution?
I like the idea of buying diamonds. Not only are they safe from this law (as far as I know), but if you want to HIDE them, it's easy to do so, and they're not easy to detect.
As a last resort, you can hide them in your mouth, or under your tounge, and if they ask you to open up your mouth and look under your toungue, you can swallow it...
Of course, it won't be a very pretty dimond on the way out!

Diamonds can cut through anything, even gold and silver, (or steel bars, if you're really paranoid that martial law is coming, and you want to plan an escape).
I still think there is value in gold and silver, and this book is still excellent so far, and will be useful in deciding how to buy gold and silver, and understanding why currency is designed to lose value, except for period in which they contract the money supply and seize assets.

Although diversification is not something the rich do, in this case, I think you need to make an exception, unless you can somehow protect that gold&silver from the Patriot act, perhaps through a corperate entity. Or something.

What a find -- everyone needs this book! It's filled with pages and pages of great information that can save you money and aggravation. Many thanks to this author.

So informative. I was unaware of all the ways I could be scamed. I hightly recommend this book, very educational for young and old.

I found the book Scam-Proof Your Life to be very thorough in covering all catagories noted in the Table of Contents.I especially liked the "go-to" sources for filing complaints. I found, however, that the inserted information in each catagory interrupted the flow of the commentary and disturbed my "train of thought". Overall, there is a wealth of useful information in this book.

Scam-Proof Your Life is a really good book with lots of information that will teach you ways to protect yourself against the scams and frauds we face everyday. It seems like we are constantly faced with people trying to cheat us out of our money. This book is both fun to read, and very informative, and will make you aware of some of the scams used by these criminals to steal your money!

This book should be required reading for the entire country. A crisp and invigorating read, 'Scam Proof,' by Sid Kirchheimer, is packed with information on topics ranging from Telephone Service to Identity Theft; chapters 3, 7, and 8 are especially informative. The length to which the credit card companies will go to fleece Americans borders on the criminal. Furthermore, the similarities that exist between the unfair but legal practices of some of America's most powerful institutions and the ambitious professional conmen of the day are unsettling. Get ready to feel paranoid and disappointed, because this book is an eye opener.

Are you a coach or lawyer struggling to attract the right clients in these difficult economic times? "Seal the Deal!" by Suzi Pomerantz is a tremendous resource to help you focus all of your networking, marketing and sales initiatives.

I'm a consulting psychologist and executive coach in the San Francisco, California Bay Area specializing in helping companies and law firms assess, select, coach and retain emotionally intelligent leaders and lawyers. A lot of my marketing efforts have been more passive (article writing, website, media interviews etc.). "Seal the Deal" got me to change my mindset to spend a lot more effort in these tumultuous times on sales.

I love Suzi's coach approach to relentlessy set up appointments with potential clients. I am also fully supportive of her high level of professionalism regarding having the confidence to be appropriately paid for your consulting and coaching services and not offering free "sample sessions".

I have been recommending "Seal the Deal!" to many of my executive coaching and leadership development clients. My clients also report that Suzi's sage advice is helping them achieve higher levels of success.

"Seal the Deal!" is the perfect antidote to feeling stressed out about the economy and focusing your energy more productively on getting new business. Suzi's voice goes with me now whenever I make a sales call!

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist & Leadership Coach
Trusted Advisor to Law Firm Partners

This book would have been really helpful early on in my career, but it's never too late to change mindsets about growing our businesses. Pomerantz has captured a unique style of conveying this extremely helpful business building advice - through teleclass format and conversation. I felt like I was in the room too, with questions waiting to be answered. What a great study. I highly recommend this as the text book for building business from the ground up. In other words, do it right the first time.
Lee Smith
Seattle, Washington
Co-Author of Legacy Leadership: The Leader's Guide to Lasting Greatness

This book has translated into a complete mindset shift for me!
As soon as I had finished it, I wondered who to call. I picked up the phone to call a lead I thought I had lost 6 months ago. Thirty minutes later I had a deal!!! I would never have thought of calling that person again prior to reading Suzi's book.

What worked very well for me?
It is specific to consultants and coaches (I am a coach).
I can very easily see myself in situation and therefore the format of a teleclass transcript worked very well for me. To give you an example, one morning when reading in the metro I caught myself answering to Jeremy (one of the participants of the teleclass in the book) that Suzi had given him the answer to his question two pages before....
The advices she is giving are very practical and hands on.
France could certainly use a french translation.
Thank you so much Suzi, you made a difference to my business.

This book is written specifically by a coach for life/business coaches and mental health therapists. It is so well written with details and techniques to support the actual sale when seeking new clients. As a coach, I see that Ms Pomerantz knows exactly what I need to have the courage and fortitude to make the calls I need to make to have the meetings I need to have in order to secure the clients I need for my business. I also appreciate the sample scripts and the worksheets provided to support me in designing my own scripts and process for 'sealing the deals'!!

Entrepreneurs looking for a way to differentiate themselves in an overcrowded marketplace have a new handbook, and it's needed by the many service professionals who soon realize that substantial industry expertise and impressive talent are simply not enough.

In Seal the Deal, Suzi Pomerantz takes talented entrepreneurs behind the business-building curtain and gives them a formula for six-figure success. By teaching the reader how to use marketing, sales and networking in strategic concert, and how to weave individual success strategies into a comprehensive, proven success formula, Seal the Deal empowers entrepreneurs with a logical and manageable system for substantial growth.

Jennifer Kalita The Home Office Parent: Raising Kids and Profits Under One Roof

I love Julie Morgenstern's new book "When Organizing isn't Enough". Being a big fan of "Organizing from the Inside Out" and "Time Management from the Inside Out", I still felt like I could use some direction. This book was useful in getting me thinking about important things from a different angle. My life is a work in progress, and no one book is going to magically "cure" all the challenges, but this book is another tool to assist me in crafting a more purposeful life.

You need to join the online community in order to take the SHED Profile. (There is no visible way to get there from the SHED homepage...) It's then under "SHED Tools".

This book works because the author more effectively deals with the psychological aspects of clutter and cleaning up - especially the pain of *gasp* actually getting rid of stuff.

What made the book so effective for me is the acknowledgment that some of our stuff isn't junk but rather hidden treasure. I was also able to forgive myself for the money "wasted" on some things because as the author said, the item served a purpose at the time I bought, but now I am in a different place in my life and I don't need it anymore.

You will probably get something different from the book - whatever it is that you need. But like me, you will find that this book really works (I have culled about 200 books from my collection so far).

When Organizing Isn't Enough: SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life I never thought that organizing and getting rid of collected junk and treasures had some much to do with other matters. Once I read this book I was able to get right to work and finally had a clear understanding what needed to be kept and what didn't.

I can't say enough about how great this book is! I had been in a rut for quite some time, and I didn't really know what to do next. Then I saw this book, and being a fan of Organizing from the Inside Out, I decided to give it a try, though I was kicking myself the whole way home from the bookstore because I bought "yet another" self-help book and I already had a ton of them. Thankfully I didn't listen to my reservations this time, because this is one of the best self-help books I have ever read.

I forced myself to work slowly through the process, reading one part, answering the questions and taking actions, then reading more. And now I stand back, looking at my clean house and schedule, and I have so much energy. Furthermore, I have tons of ideas for moving my life forward in new, exciting directions, things that never would have occurred to me with all of the obsolete clutter in my life.

As I mentioned, I had a bunch of self-help and organizational books (SHEDed those!!) and I felt this one helped me more for several key reasons:
*Picking a "theme" for the next phase of my life. I had spent months agonizing over which career I wanted to do, to no avail, so picking a general theme and not having to make any specific decisions immediately helped me enormously.
*Differentiating between "junk" and "obsolete stuff." My house was pretty much junk-free, but I had a lot of obsolete stuff. For example, I had a huge book "collection" (over 350 books), most brand new, that were still perfectly good, that I would never, even in two lifetimes, have enough time to read. SHEDing these books (keeping only the treasures) lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. Morgenstern also guides readers to reflect on why they have acquired the clutter they have, which was very helpful to me. When I reflected on why I had acquired so many books it was easier to get rid of them, and I don't think they will build up like that again.
*Providing exercises after the fact. Most organizing books stop with a clean, organized house, but Morgenstern doesn't let readers off the hook that easy. She provides very helpful exercises for moving toward the life you imagined before and during SHEDing.

After reading this book and working though the process (which has taken me months) I actually feel "unstuck" and I have plenty of ideas for bringing my theme to life. I can't recommend this book highly enough; it's more than just a de-cluttering book, it's a life-changing book, giving you tips and techniques for getting out of the rut and propelling your life forward. Well done Julie!!

Lee Salz in his book Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager hits the selling nail right on the head! With a clear writing style that speaks directly, and expertly, to the reader, and plenty of graphics and visual aids to augment his points, Lee details in no uncertain terms what today's sale professionals need to know: how to win at this lonely, challenging profession even when your boss does little or nothing to help you, or even keeps getting in your way. This book will help you sell!

All of us who have been in sales can appreciate this book. My sales career started at 15 when I sold Fuller Brush door to door and I progressed through the years to work in telemarketing and sell life insurance. I think the Peter Principle, that you rise until you reach your level of incompetence, is proven out in sales. Great sales people don't always make great sales managers. Anyone who has seen the TV show The Office can appreciate that. I used to have a manager who used to say "just sell, sell sell." Or another who said "just keep telling your story to anyone who will listen." What I like about this book is that Lee Salz promotes a system. You have a methodology to follow. I believe if you want to be successful then you should model successful people. That is what I teach my clients who are professionals and consultants who can't find enough clients. This is a great sales read. This is proven stuff that really works.-- Henry DeVries, author of Client Seduction and the upcoming Pain Killer Marketing and the founder of the New Client Marketing Institute

Pain Killer Marketing: How to Turn Customer Pain into Market Gain

Dodo notes on how this book is both painfully true and insightful;

1) Too many (dodo) sales managers and (dodo) companies give reps neither the training nor the individual coaching they need to succeed.

2) Too many reps blame their lack of success on these dodo managers.

3) Reps develop dodo brains when they won't accept responsibility for their own success and get the skills and brainpower they need to make more money.

Lee Salz's book is meant to keep you from selling extinction. While most of us could use some serious sales training, if you'll just make the initial investment in this book, it'd be a great way to improve performance - in spite of the dodo managers flocking around your career.

When will you realize that you have to adjust to the corporate lack of support for your success?

Your first adjustment is to read, act on the advice of this book, then take flight over the heads of dead and dying dodo reps and managers who are ground bound by their weak, extinct thinking.

Get going, get growing, now.

"I've read dozens and dozens of books on effective selling. I've attended numerous sales training programs. What Lee Salz has done is take the best ideas related to effective selling, combined them with new and creative techniques, and using his own extensive experience, crafted an exceptional book that is a must read for anyone in sales. Sales Dodo will have you looking at the selling process in a new way, whether you are a salesperson or someone who manages salespeople. My only question is...Lee, where were you 20 years ago when I started my career? If I had read your book then, I would have eliminated a ton of mistakes and my income would have been a lot higher!"

Sam Richter
President
James J. Hill Reference Library
Author
Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling

I wish this book wasn't necessary, but it is. Too many sales managers are incapable of giving you the guidance and direction you need to be successful in your sales career.

So, as Lee Salz so vividly points out in his book, you have to take personal responsibility for your own success. The author provides you with an excellent framework on which to build your own sales process which includes:

* Crafting a clear picture of your ideal client.
* Understanding how decision makers buy.
* What it takes to stand out from the crowd.
* How to navigate through a complex decision process.
* What to do if you get stuck.

If your dodo sales manager isn't giving you the help you need, check out this book. Salz fills in the gap and gets you back in control of your career.

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies

Ms. Hawkins nails this spirituality thing. Her book clearly tells us why spirituality in the workplace is not only appropriate, but good business. And she gives clear instructions on how to achieve it both personally and corporate-wide. Of course, she's not talking about coercing anyone to a specific belief, but making opportunities for people to incorporate their beliefs into their daily work ethic. Sound advice. I took her advice to heart and began incorporating the spiritual life into my own work and writing with zeal at www.WorldWantingPeace.com. Thanks so much Ms. Hawkins.

"SPIRIT INCORPORATED truly has exciting business principles for professionals in International Banking and Finance. In a global financial market too often driven strictly by 'bottom line' profits, country tax incentives, P/E ratios, down sizing, insider rumours, and market speculation, instant and sudden wealth is being created (and lost) through overnight M&A's and market IPO's, with little thought given for human considerations. SPIRIT INCORPORATED brings back the human spirit to the often dehumanizing business calculations seen by too many as a 'Zero Sum Game.' I have applied these exciting principles and philosophies while living and working in Europe, the Middle East, and the Republic of South Africa. Kathleen Hawkins, I applaud you!!!" -- Mark Douglas, B.A., M.B.A., International Business Manager, Johannesburg, RSA

"Spirit Incorporated turns the daily grind into a premium blend of ethics, integrity, and job satisfaction." -- Don Dible, coauthor, Chicken Soup for the Dental Soul

"I am in awe. SPIRIT INCORPORATED is the first book on spirituality that I have read that is so REAL and doable. So many of the others give you ideas but they are sometimes hard to apply to real life. I keep having to stop reading SPIRIT INCORPORATED to write down ideas that I want to remember and don't want to lose. What a great book by a great writer!" Patricia Boyd, Consumer Real-estate Advocate, Certified Finance Specialist, and author of How to Buy and Sell Your Home Without Getting Ripped Off! PBSem@aol.com

"Kathleen has packed Spirit Incorporated with so much truth and so many practical examples that I hope this book is marketed as widely as possible." -- Jim Collison, President of the Employers of America: the National Association for Workplace Leaders, and the Senior Editor of Smart Workplace Practices

This book is a thoughtful and comprehensive summary of most every critical aspect of the start-up process. As an entrepreneur who has started several companies over the years (and as an author of a book on the subject of entrepreneurship myself), I can say that I wish that I had a copy of this book early in my entrepreneurial career. If you studied this book and came to understand its content, you would be well prepared for the start-up process.

In reality, most readers will not plow through 500 pages of material to prepare themselves to be entrepreneurs. Instead, they will get going and reference the material in this book to explore the details of their current activity (whether it's getting started, putting a team together, writing a business plan, securing a round of financing, etc.) The book also helps entrepreneurs to better anticipate next steps. The bottom line is that this is a solid reference book for entrepreneurs and one that nicely complements other books on the subject.

There are over twelve thousand books available on the subject of entrepreneurship, ranging from the truly execrable to the really good. But Michael Stathis' The Startup Company Bible is one that I can recommend to every entrepreneur and every early stage investor.

As an active angel investor in the US, I have read dozens of books aimed at entrepreneurs. Usually I end up cringing at the misperceptions, bad advice and third-hand information they contain. The great thing about Stathis' work is that he gets everything right. And to do that over 600 pages of dealing with all the intricacies of starting and financing a business is quite an accomplishment.

If you are an entrepreneur who is considering seeking angel or venture capital financing, this book will help you understand what the picture looks like from the other side of the table, and what things you can do to strengthen your company...and thus improve your chances of getting funded.

This was purchased not to start a company (yet), but to increase my effectiveness in business dealings with startups. As director of business development for a pharmaceutical contract research organization (CRO), I work with VC, PE and Angel funded companies routinely to assure their product development goals are met. This book provides insight into key strategic issues on how these companies, my clients, are structured. Highly recommended.

As someone who worked in, worked with, and funded start-ups and now teaches the subject I've found two common categories of start-up books: those by academics that have been written in a vacuum and thus seem clinical and out of touch with reality, and those written by successful entrepreneurs who use the pages to relive their glory days. Stathis, on the other hand, balances the conceptual with the practical, providing prospective entrepreneurs with a thorough, well-rounded, yet technical step-by-step guide to starting a business. From the everyday minutiae - or what Stathis considers the boring, nevertheless crucial details - to more strategic concepts that can help ease the entry path, this book addresses the necessary tools to starting and running a new business. The appendices to the 400+ pages are a great addition, exposing entrepreneurs to what confidentiality agreements, stock option plans, etc. actually look like. This book should be not just a starting point for people considering starting/owning their own business, but a companion throughout the entrepreneurial journey. The title of Startup Company Bible is truly deserving.

This is a book with great strengths and great weaknesses. If you are a seasoned entrepreneur, this is a useful resource at a fair price. If you are just thinking about starting your first company, be wary of this book; if you use it to chart your course, it could drive you onto a reef. In the hands of the naive, it will cause a lot of damage.

Strengths:

- Comprehensive - it covers a very wide range of topics
- Honest - the book tries to be forthcoming and avoid biases
- Based on Experience - Much of the book is based on the real world

Weaknesses:

- Organization - the organization is simply awful and there are few navigation resources to help you find your way through tangled threads of thought
- Myopic - this book assumes that you want to use Venture Capital - the most expensive money on the planet
- Inconsistent Quality - this is the most severe problem (more on this below).
- Ad Hoc - beyond ad hoc organization, much of the content (tables, chapters...) is ad hoc. It's impossible to tell when a list is supposed to be a list of examples, or when it's supposed to be comprehensive.

In the hands of someone who has started companies before, this is a great handbook and could be a good coaching tool to help others. In the hands of a beginner, it would be incredibly dangerous, since the inconsistent quality makes using it a potential disaster.

Inconsistent Quality: The book lacks quality on several levels.

On the elementary level, it's full of typos. No editor is named, either because there was no editor, or because there was not a single senior editor to sign the work.

On the broad level, there are so many examples of inconsistent quality that it's hard to know what to cite. The intellectual property discussion is, for the most part, quite good, and offers valuable advice that is often omitted. But, at the same time, this discussion is very sloppy in its terminology, so the same people who need the advice could be misled.

On the "sophisticated" level, there is an odd mix of truly useful teaching, and vapid babble. This is most evident when the book quotes business schools, like Harvard. Anyone who has actually run a business and then spent time around a business school knows that many of the professors have never actually DONE anything, and they don't know that they don't know. So, you see B-schools publish books and articles that don't say anything and the authors don't seem to know they have not said anything. These are "vacuum publications" because they are void of any real content. In this book, you'd hope that the vacuum publications would be absent, but sadly there are some quoted, cited, and in some cases, even their figures

A new edition could make this a great book - you can see a great book in there somewhere.

If you'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints this book might just be for you.

The analog to Socially Responsible Investing, Vice Investing rests on the elementary economic idea that at any given time a meaningful proportion of consumers will lose the psychological and all-around economic battle against monied corporations seeking to systematically exploit their pre-disposition to the seven deadly sins: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Anger, Lust and, of course, Avarice.

Ms. Waxler takes readers on a deft walk through some of the finer points of investing in the tobacco, gaming, weapons, alcohol, sex and drug industries. Notably, she introduces readers to the SINDEX-69, a representative group of 69 stocks that cater to consumers' various vices.

Thank god there are people like Ms. Waxler out there who can write about a topic that is intimidating but does not have to be. Just from reading the book, I want to meet this young lady. She would be a riot to spend an evening with and I am sure my worth would skyrocket soon thereafter.

Hurrah to Ms. Waxler for doing the impossible--writing an investment book that is not only smart and savvy, but witty and--dare I say it--a page turning. This is one of those books that you read and then buy a dozen to give to friends. My friend is using it in her MBA papers. It just makes sense.

This should be the 14th review. As you can infer from the review title, I didnt find the book impressive. So I had been very surprised to see that it had earned 13 full marks from 13 previous reviews. I checked that 12 of them were from anonynmous or one-review-only readers. Well expected! Should Amazon set up something to undermine the manipulation by the authors, the publishers or their associates? As a serious customer highly influenced by Amazon reviews, or victimized in many similar cases like this one, I strongly support so.

Now let's go back to the review. Content wise, this book did provide good background info of Tobacco, Gambling, Weapons/Defense/War, Booze, Sex and Drugs Industries, and major listed companies within each for your consideration. However, the "Lessons" section in the end of each chapter failed to provide significantly insightful analysis nor high return/risk ratio recommendation in my humble opinion. In short, quite differentiated but definitely not one on the top 20 priority investment/trading book list.

This book is written with great insight and wit. As am amateur investor I valued Ms. Waxler's insight. The book is so appropriate to the decadent world we live in. She is right on!

The Street Smart Entrepreneur is a well-written book that draws upon Goltz's experiences in the workforce. In his book, he details the useful lessons he learned, some of which may seem like common sense, but others could be quite surprising, such as how entrepreneurs are not necessarily the best person to hire new employees. Because of its reliance on Goltz's own experiences, The Street Smart Entrepreneur possesses solid credibility. It's as good as Guerilla PR: Wired, which also supplies valuable lessons on business leadership and entrepreneurial tips.

This is probably the only entrepeneurial book I have ever read, but I would highly recommend it to anyone contemplating going into retail. The lessons Jay Goltz shares in this book are important, whether you're a 'lone ranger' going-it-alone retailer, or an administrative type. How, as a picture framer and administrator, he juggles all his balls in the air, and hats he wears, is impressive indeed. My own hat goes off to him. An aquaintance of mine (like myself, a picture framer)recommended this book to me, and I'm glad he did. The author speaks in broad enough terms so that you certainly don't need to be a picture framer to apply the valuable lessons he's sharing. Definitely worth reading for anyone at all interested in getting it right in business. Go Jay!

Goltz writes a reader-friendly page-turner packed with intelligence you can use right away, and timeless enough to keep in your middle drawer as a reference.

It seemed everyone buying my book was also buying "The Street-Smart Entrepreneur," so I decided to give it a read.

I think "The Street-Smart Entrepreneur" Jay Goltz should be read by all serious entrepreneurs. The book is divided into 133 short sections, each giving a lesson Goltz learned in building a large, picture-framing company in Chicago.

Entrepreneurs owning manufacturing companies will benefit the most from reading this book. But, nearly all entrepreneurs will find much of value.

Some of my favorite lessons:

* Don't demotivate your employees and hire carefully. Goltz suggests a "BATH" criteria for hiring employees. Do employees Buy into your company's concept and way of doing business? Are they Able? Are they Team players, who are also ready to take individual responsibility? Are they Hungry? (Not for lunch, but to excel and succeed.)

* Distinguish between "work fors" and "work withs." Goltz tells us that not all employees want the same level of responsibility. Some just want to be told what to do. Others want to contribute more and are willing to work with you in building your business. The optimal extent of oversight and guidance depends upon the type of person the employee is.

* Don't stop delegating just because screw-ups happen. Especially, distinguish between poor performance and accidents. Let good employees who make mistakes know you don't hold it against them and that accidents are just part of the cost of running a business. Poor performance, however, can't be tolerated. Goltz says mediocre employees belong with the competition.

Goltz writes: "There's nothing to be gained by screaming at employees who make an occasional mistake or standing by while they eat themselves up with guilt or embarrassment. ...I don't want my employees ...worrying that I'm angry at them."

Goltz emphasizes you shouldn't just sit back and expect employees to come to you. Go to them and find out what's up.

* Have a good computer-accounting system and effective ways of doing things.

Goltz writes: "...Have good systems in place that give you the numbers you need. You know how much inventory you have, how much you sell each month, what your receivables are, and what your expenses are."

* Understand out-of-control growth can kill a company. Goltz emphasizes controlled growth that can be funded is better than explosive growth that leads to bankruptcy, because the company can't pay its bills.

Goltz notes: "There's a mathematical formula to determine how much you can grow and remain self-funded. To do that calculation, you first have to figure out how much money you need to invest in your business to generate a sales dollar. As your business grows, you will need more money to finance your inventory, receivables...."

"The Street-Smart Entrepreneur," however, is easy-to-read, with no mathematics. Goltz suggests having your accountant help with such a calculation, if you desire one.

* Listen to what your customers say they want and need. Don't just assume you know what your customers want. Especially, focus upon figuring out who your best customers are and finding more like them.

* Learn to say "No" to unprofitable customer orders and don't be afraid of losing a bit of business due to your prices. Goltz says you can't provide the best of all three of price, customer service, and quality. Rather, aim to be the best at two of the three.

* Read business publications and adapt other people's good ideas to your business. Goltz emphasizes talking to other business owners, customers, and anyone who can provide insight into your business endeavor.

* Don't worry about coming up with a brilliant, unique idea. Goltz writes: "If you want to be successful in business, execute well."

* Do keep an eye out for industry trends. Goltz said he noticed that his customers' cars were getting smaller, but their picture frames were getting bigger, so he offered delivery service.

* Take care of your health. Goltz says we need to balance family and personal demands with business demands.

* Develop a thick skin. Goltz writes: "If you're in a position of authority, no matter how nice and fair you are, some people will dislike you. ...There are many times when, for the good of your business, you will have to say or do things that upset people. It's naïve to think if you fire someone who has been doing a bad job, he/she will say, 'Oh, listen, I totally understand. If I were in your shoes, I'd do the same thing.'" Kick butt, when necessary.

* Deliver value to your customer. Goltz says: "To me, customer service is an issue of ethics. The reason why your business should give customers great service isn't because you will lose business otherwise, but because you have promised to deliver a product or service in exchange for their money." Further, many entrepreneurs just feel better when they offer great products and services.

* The competition isn't the enemy. Don't spend your time watching them. Goltz says mediocrity is the enemy. Spend time improving your products and your customer service. Mediocrity doesn't just happen, it sneaks up on a company.

While many of Goltz's lessons are valuable for all entrepreneurs, some are a bit more specialized and are of most value to companies producing physical, industrial products or services. For example, Goltz tells us to be sure your employees are properly classified for worker's compensation. The wrong classification could cost money. This applies more to industrial workers and people whose jobs might pose physical danger or an appearance of danger than, for example, an accountant.

Goltz also tells us his utility rates are partly determined by his maximum electricity usage during the day. So, rather than turning all lights and machinery on at once in the morning, he staggers turning stuff on over the first two hours. This is more useful for a manufacturer than for a small, computer programming company.

I highly recommended this book to entrepreneurs.

Peter Hupalo, Author of "Thinking Like An Entrepreneur"

It's refreshing to read business advice from someone who runs a successful business for a living. Goltz's book is based on reality, not theory. My wife and I have owned our business (25 employees) for 21 years and combined we have read dozens and dozens of business books. It is rare when we both enjoy the same book. I found myself myself laughing out loud, nodding my head in agreement and taking notes. It's an enjoyable read and the advice is well worth the price of the book.