Business Books

The "Three steps to yes"is an excellent guide on how to overcome everyday life obstacles with professional guidance from Gene Bedell.It is not just another book from "self-help"series. "Three steps to yes" is a chest with valuable instructions and all required materials for preparation of keys to doors of life that are locked either by us(knowingly or unknowingly) or by some other force.Great book, if you would have more than five stars to rate, I would mark the top number.

I hadn't really thought much about the psychology of persuasion. As one who has a natural sales talent, I had never really given careful consideration to what I should be trying to accomplish when I want to influence someone. This book thoroughly describes the steps one can follow to help accomplish your goals of attaining desireable outcomes in your dealings with others. Moreover, the author makes it abundantly clear that unless you are competent, fair, and make sure that the person you are trying to influence satisfies their personal needs, you will not be successful. An excellent book...

3 Steps To Yes is truly a magnificent work!

Mr. Bedell's book came highly recommended and not only did it live up to its praise, it far surpassed it!
As a student of positive persuasion, I've read numerous books on this subject; many of which are excellent. This book is the best (along with Carnegie's "How To Win Friends . . . ") as, not only is the information top-notch; the author's instruction is simple-to-apply, and immediately applicable. His stories, used as examples from which we all can learn and benefit, are interesting, compelling, and I know it allowed me to see myself utilizing these wonderful win/win methods in my own life. Parents will especially love his advice regarding persuading children in a way that will benefit everyone involved. In fact, although there are lots of helpful business examples throughout the book, if you are a parent or plan to be one, you'll want to own this book for that reason alone.

This is one of those books that you'll most likely want to buy as gifts for loved ones and anyone else you wish to be successful in their lives.

Three cheers for Gene Bedell. He's written a wise and easy-to-read book with genuinely great advice on how to "gently" persuade the important people around you -- co-workers, bosses, children, spouse. Bedell has simplified the seemingly complex process of persuasion into three logical, simple steps that anybody can use. Plus, the steps actually work. I used his approach in a faculty meeting recently and -- bingo! -- everybody jumped on board to support my ideas. A bonus: Bedell writing is timely, and his examples and anecdotes are current and funny. This one's a keeper.

I've been in sales and marketing for a long time. Probably read most of the books on the subject. So many times we read and gather all the information, but have just that, clumps of information. This book takes all the clumps and smooths them all together. Easy to read and comprehend. A MUST HAVE for anyone hoping to sell a product but is tired of all the old sales tricks, you know the ones, as produced in "The Closers". If you just follow the lead set in this book, you will find yourself building relationships where many referrals will follow. Fantastic book. Wish I had it at my disposal 5 years ago.

this book should be a companion reader to the "OZ principal" in order to "see it" you need to know what your looking for. this book gives good insight to what your workers are thinking and feeling.

Over 50,000 employees tell why company morale and productivity are low and loyalty nonexistent in 30 Reasons Employees Hate Their Managers: What Your People May Be Thinking and What You Can Do About It. In synthesizing the surveys of over 50,000, this book helps pinpoint common problem areas, solutions which apply to the real world and work, and insights on the psychology of these solutions. A focus on each issue and how to resolve it lends practical analysis to the matter, making this a top pick recommended for both managers and business libraries seeking to quickly identify problems and enact changes based not upon time-consuming trial-and-error, but tested real-world experience.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book is simple, practical and easy to read. Citing data from Discovery Solutions wide normative database created from years of employee surveys, "30 Reasons Employees Hate Their Managers" highlights many of the more prevelant problems facing management today and offers clear tips and solutions to help make things better.

This book belongs on your bookshelf.

This book will be helpful to any manager. Bruce Katcher identifies organizational vulnerabilities that are often unknown to managers and executives. Each of the 30 chapters offers psychological insights and practical solutions to management problems from an outstanding organizational psychologist. I believe that Bruce Katcher's book can be a spring-board for the careers of readers. It presents valuable lessons that could take a life time to learn.

Mark Campbell, Author, "Five Gifts of Insightful Leaders"
www.mjcampbellassoc.com

The fact is that most employees don't really hate their managers. But lots of them are frustrated. In this glass-half-empty book, veteran organizational psychologist Bruce L. Katcher plumbs the survey research he has gathered over almost two decades to distill the 30 biggest frustrations of working men and women, including managers. More importantly, for each frustration he cites, Katcher offers up solutions that are as easy to implement as they are sensible. The wonder is that solutions like these are not more widely practiced. With books like this pointing the way, maybe one day they will be.

This book was just okay. I'm not sure I would recommend this to a friend. Some of the information was helpful but the book could have benefited from more proofing and editing. There were several instances that the wrong picture was pictured...and they should have just put the color pictures throughout the book as needed instead of having a section of color pictures in the middle of the book. I was also not impressed with some of the before and after pictures.

If you are selling your home, this book will help you get ready. It has a variety of ideas. Some are complicated, some are expensive, but many are simple and easily implemented. The author helps you understand you are not selling your home, you are selling a house to be someone else's home. If this is the only thing you get from this book it is worth the price and time you invest in buying and reading it. I higly recommend it.

Teri B. Clark shares her expert tips on how to make your house look like a model home to showcase its potential to prospective buyers. Each page is filled with tricks of the trade and advice from professionals, and each chapter is summarized with a numbered tip list for easy reference. The book also includes before and after photos, as well as true stories of houses that sold for more than the asking price.

I recommend this book to everyone, regardless of whether they have a house to sell. Who doesn't want their house to look like a model home? Or, at the very least, sparkling clean, less cluttered, and more stylish? Teri B. Clark has written a do-it-yourself, fix-it-up, reorganization, cleaning, and decorating manual all rolled into one! The best part about her cleaning tips is that all of her methods entail using natural products such as orange oil and baking soda--very Earth and wallet friendly. There is an entire chapter on how to stage your home on a shoestring budget, which is ideal, especially in the current marketplace. She has ingenious ideas, and she demonstrates with data that a small investment can bring a large return. This is a tremendously useful book for all homeowners.

Even if you are not planning on selling your house any time soon, this would be a good book to have around. In fact, by the time you get through following all of the advice here, you might not even want to sell, but if still do, there is a very good chance that you will indeed see the benefits of getting up to10 percent more from the sale.

This book looks at everything from the inside out, and from top to bottom. It is probably not the type of book you would just sit down and read from cover to cover, though you could because its style is easy to read as well as informative. Some of the best features include "This Could Be You" success stories interspersed throughout the book. These achieve their goal to inspire the reader. While these are balanced with the rest of the text, at times some of the other inserted text boxes almost become annoying. For example, the Professional Bonus Tips are helpful, but sometimes they seem to be overused. This is especially evident in the chapter, "Putting It All Back together," where it seems that most of the chapter is made up of text boxes instead of text.


Aside from this formatting issue, the tips are valuable and range from advice about how to pay attention to the smallest details such as wiping clean light switch covers to more significant aspects of staging, such as depersonalization in order to appeal to the largest number of perspective home buyers.

Before and after photographs are used to illustrate some of the main points. These include color insets and some smaller black and whites throughout. Sometimes the quality of these are not all that great--in a few cases the before and after photos are not take from exactly the same perspective in the room. Still, most of the photos do help to get the point across, so they are generally are useful.

All in all, this book is inspiring. It makes me want to get off the couch and transform my own home even though I had no plans of selling. I suspect it can have the same the effects on you as well.

This book is full of helpful advice when undertaking the tremendous task of selling and moving out of your house. Some of the advice is common sense, but they offer great ideas.

Often times, the problem involving in getting organized is where
to start . . . you may be like me and have many projects going
at the same time, accompanied by even more pieces of paper.

So where do you begin? One approach is to get hold of Jeff
Davidson's book, THE 60 SECOND ORGANIZER . . . Davidson, an author and professional speaker,
presents many useful techniques--60 in all--that don't
take a lot of time to implement . . . but do pay powerful
dividends when utilized.

Many you've probably heard before . . . however, the problem
is that you may well never have put them into practice . . . the
author shows you how, for example, when he says:

* You can fight junk mail by saving all of it for weeks. Then
hire a high school student at minimum wage to send a
form letter to every party who has sent you mail more than
once. Explain carefully that you have no interest in their offer.

When it comes to seeking perfection in everything that you do,
I really liked this bit of advice:

* Studies show that the additional time you spend to take a
project from the 95 percent mark to the 100 percent mark
is, in most cases, not worth it. Striving for perfection, i.e.,
ensuring that the final 5 percent is correctly done, often
takes as much time as the initial 95 percent of effort
required! Gosh, no wonder it felt so difficult!

Lastly, when it comes to writing a book or completing some
other task that will take a good amount of time, Davidson
almost makes it easy when he advises how to do this:

* I have written 32 books, but I wouldn't have finished book #1
if I tried to "write an entire book." Rather, my goal in approaching
each book is to write one chapter at a time. Since most chapters
are made of two or three subsections, I simply aim to finish one
subsection, then another, then another until I finish a whole
chapter. The rest of the day seems like a vacation.

The next day, I go back and start another chapter, approaching
one subsection at a time. All the while, I acknowledge that I
have a contract to honor and that a publisher is breathlessly
waiting for my material. We pick a date in advance, and I agree
to turn in the manuscript no later than that day.

Now that I've finished THE 60 SECOND ORGANIZER, I'm all
set to read another book the author wrote: THE 60 SECOND
PROCRASTINATOR . . . all I have to do is stop procrastinating,
then I'll be ready to begin it.

Jeff Davidson is an achiever who writes from an authoritative stance. Anybody who has published more than 3,300 articles, been featured in 68 of the top 75 newspapers in the country, had his speeches published six times in "Vital Speeches of the Day", and has been a professional speaker to numerous well-known corporate clients definitely has something worth listening to.

This book is refreshing reading in that it brings you back to the basics of maintaining focus. In arguing that it's worth the effort to stay organized, Davidson notes, "If you think getting organized is time consuming, try disorganization."

By nature my tendency has been to be a saver, i.e., hold on to things because I may need them someday. Davidson and other writers are causing me to see it's time for a paradigm shift. In the information age, updates occur regularly and with the Internet such data can be acquired online. Collecting materials in this generation takes a new twist when the new realities are considered. Notice I'm cautious in the way I phrase this. I'm still a saver at heart, but I'm learning to eliminate clutter. I think the point is valid. It takes time to change.

This segues perfectly into his sixth point which discusses growing beyond what you've experienced in the past. Be open to possibilities you've never known before. Chapter seven examines the cliche "work smarter." He tells you how to do it. The discovery Vilfredo Pareto made in 1897 is the topic of point 8 in this book. I'm intentionally not revealing what it is to make you curious.

Through reminding us of the basics of getting organized, such as "divide and conquer" various tasks, we're encouraged that the goal is reachable. Overall this book is packed with solid insight that can be applied.

In the never-ending quest to be more personally productive and organized, I got the chance to read 60-second Organizer: Sixty Solid Techniques for Beating Chaos at Home and at Work by Jeff Davidson. For those who aren't ready to commit to a "system" of organization, this is a perfect place to start getting things done...

Contents:
Part 1 - Embracing Powerful Perspectives: Relax - Organizing Is Not So Bad; Learn Your ABCs; Capture Your Best Thoughts; Determine "Who Created That?"; Make Profound Choices; Live and Actually Learn; "Work Smarter" for Real; Heed Pareto and His Principle; Forget about the "Right Mood"; Reward Thyself
Part 2 - Enveloping Provocative Practices: Forsake Excuses for Not Becoming Organized; Defeat Perfectionism; Start Simply; Organize According to Your Milestones; Handle Tough Things First; Immerse Yourself for 60 Seconds; Ask Yourself "Will It Be Any Easier Later?"; Organize Based On Your Priorities; Stake Your Claim
Part 3 - Listing and Charting Your Way: Recognize Fallibilities; Mark Your Calendar; Separate Long-Term and Short-Term Tasks; Develop a Clarifying Checklist; Map It Out; Chart Your Path; Plot Your Way; Add Subtasks to Your Chart; Organize with Flow Charts; Track Your Progress
Part 4 - Reclaiming Your Places and Spaces: Start from Scratch; Conquer Your Desk; Make Your Shelves Work for You; Win the Paper Chase; Face Files with Smiles; Establish Rotating Tickler Files; Pile It High; Pare Down and Win; Reduce Junk Mail; Read with Aplomb
Part 5 - Organize Travel, Meetings, and Online Activities: Manage Your E-mail; Organize Online Research; Create More Organized Meeting, Really!; Maintain Effective Meetings, the Whole Way!; Meet to Achieve Results; Organize for the Road; Handle Commuting and Travel Contingencies; Be Productive on Public Transportation; Fly Friendlier Skies; Book Your Flight Right
Part 6 - Making Your Home Your Castle: Destroy Enemy Outposts; Pick a Regular Day and Time; Approach Spaces Strategically; Adopt a Replacement Policy; Improvise When Storage Space Is Limited; Organize Your Gift Shopping; Organize Your Purchases and Related Paperwork; File Taxes on Time and Without Grief; Hire an Organizing Professional; Divide, Literally, and Conquer
Summary; Bibliography; About the Author

It seems to be all the rage to follow an organizing system these days, a system that presents a complete package of how to get and stay organized. But realistically, it takes a lot of effort to overcome that inertia, and often the system ends up gathering dust on a shelf. Davidson's book is great in that it gives you a number of tips to get organized, and it's not an "all or nothing" thing. You can start in any area that is a problem in your life, such as your workspace or your storage/junk piles. The 10 tips in that particular area of the book are quick to read, easy to understand, and you can quickly try out the recommendation. For instance, if your filing system is broken (or nonexistent), Part 4 of the book gives you plenty of ideas on how to clean up the existing mess as well as keeping it cleaned up. Rotating tickler files, single location for file, and questions to ask before filing all help to keep the important stuff, throw out the trash, and keep the process going.

If you've read any books on organization before, you'll probably recognize some of the material presented here. But it never hurts to review great ideas, and what didn't strike you as important a year ago may be exactly what you need now. Well worth the time commitment to read and review...

This is one of two "60 Second" booklets written by Jeff Davidson that I recently read, the other being The 60 Second Procrastinator. With all due respect to how much can be accomplished in one minute, most (if not all) of those who need to get organized are procrastinators and most (if not all) procrastinators need to organized. In my opinion, few (if any) of them will read books such as these and then apply - and (key point) continue to apply -- what they have learned from them. (Davidson is also the author of more than a dozen other books, including seven Complete Idiot's Guides.) He may not share this opinion. However, here's another opinion with which he presumably agrees: On occasion, a single insight ("tip," "secret," "key," etc.) can help to elevate one's standard of living and/or improve one's quality of life.

In this volume as in the other 60 Second booklet, Davidson offers "sixty solid techniques" for "beating chaos at home and at work." They comprise a series of thought-provoking statements and direct questions that can help many readers to gain new perspectives on the micro and macro dimensions of their lives.

Obviously, there are many reasons why people have problems completing getting and then staying organized, and those reasons vary from one individual to the next. That said, self-improvement initiatives must be anchored in a strong faith in what can be accomplished. Henry Ford was right: "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." It would be a fool's errand to attempt to act upon, immediately, all of Davidson's sound advice. He correctly suggests selecting a few especially troublesome areas and concentrate on them. In this context, my metaphor of preference is locating and then picking "low-hanging fruit."

Of course this booklet could conceivably be helpful to almost anyone but I think it can be especially valuable to those now enrolled in schools, colleges, and universities as well as to those who have only recently begun a career. Davidson thinks clearly, writes well, and is by nature a pragmatist rather than a theorist. How to rate it? I realize that there are dozens (hundreds?) of other sources that provide more fully developed ideas about how to avoid or overcome procrastination. However, for chronically disorganized people, any advice given is probably best presented as clearly and as simply as possible, and I do not damn Davidson's booklet with faint praise when saying that. His is not a definitive source nor does he make any such claim. If each reader finds only one suggestion that helps her or him to become - and then remain - better-organized, Davidson will have achieved his primary and indeed worthy objective.

I hate paper. And nowadays, the stuff that comes in the house can't just be sorted to be dealt with or thrown out, you have to SHRED a lot of the trash. Holy hell, what a pain THAT is. If you let any of it sit, you have a huge pile in no time. And online billpay is not really reducing any of this mess. In fact, I find that the mix of paper payments and online just makes a confused mess.

The author has sixty ideas to get organized. I've incorporated quite a few of them (pare down email is one: I now unsubscribe to anything I don't want to read regularly and another is pare down; 1 magazine subscription.) He suggests a calendar and how to organize your desk for action. All these things really work.

Excellent little book, no fluff.

Ahead of the Curve: A Guide to Applied Strategic Thinking (Hardcover)

Are you an active force in shaping your future or simply being on the receiving side of the inevitable "jolt" of change? Stowell and Mead suggest a practical approach to becoming a strategic force in an organization's future. The strategic leader lays the groundwork for future opportunities. Examples of powerful questions set the context for establishing a cultural of reflective and analytical thinking. This starts by "stepping back" from daily activity and discovering what strategic thinking means to each individual and member of any leadership, management or natural work team: how are you adding value to your organization in the long term.

A practical model is presented to help us visualize our work environment from a strategic perspective. Of the four zones described (Operator, Planner, Inventor, Strategist) on a horizontal axis of time and a vertical axis of imagination, the Strategist operates in environment of strategic opportunity, thinking both broad and long term. The Strategist has an uncanny ability to anticipate, recognize and convert changes into opportunities. Strategy is about improving your position to make a difference in the organization. The secret is recognizing how to apply this way of thinking on a daily basis to the most mundane of activities in order to uncover new ideas, proving value and moving ahead of the curve.

What can we do to make this applied approach work? We must find a way to mentally step back and have a conversation about the future with a mentor, team member, supervisor or trusted advisor. Observe how the organization and its parts fit together, gain a perspective of perspicacity. Develop habits that will strengthen the strategic mind: Seek out knowledge and information; be curious; be self-motivated; be collaborative; be playful with ideas; go on a learning journey.

A C.L.E.A.R. target provides a basic rule: Nothing about strategic thinking is all that complex. A good target that is well defined has a certain profile. Controllable, Linked, Energizing, Actionable, Result-Oriented. The importance of this goal model to me is the focus on the energizing and action focus of the entire book. The initiative must be exciting, fun and rewarding, but must at all costs lead to reasonable implementation or you gain nothing. If not result-oriented, then you have wasted finite resources and are simply marking time. Finally, the future is not as far away as you think - so get ahead of the curve and avoid the jolt of running into the wall of change you did not anticipate. This book is worth having at your desk and reviewing in a reflective intentional manner.

Dennis Rogers, Director of Strategic Learning, Division of Strategic Development, Social and Rehabilitation Services, State of Kansas.

As much as this title is about strategy, in my opinion, it is also about being innovative and acting on innovation - what the author might call "strategic thoughts". If you are thinking about how to satisfy the future needs of customers, I think you would like this. It has a plenty of good information.

I bought this book after reading one of the Amazon reviews. After reading the book, I was impressed in the value and concepts it offered towards the idea of strategy. From a Senior Management perspective, this works for both the organization as an entity and those "individuals using it daily" as was mentioned in another review. Strategic gold.

I've read through a number of books on strategy and feel this is one I can put to good use and speaks to me. It discussed how to "apply" strategy rather than just telling you what it is. Most of the other books on strategy are academic and seem to be solely informative. This is something you could give to front line management and senior team who could all relate. If you want to learn how to think strategically, this is for you. If you want a more traditional text book style read on strategy, you might want something else. This could be a good companion if you choose that route.

Before reading this book, I didn't think that the word strategy applied to me and my role as a mid-level manager. But since I've read Ahead of the Curve, I use strategy and apply the strategic priciples I learned in every aspect of my life. It has given me a new outlook on how I can contribute to my organization. Not only does the book guide you through identifying your strategic target, or goal, but then walks you through a strategic process to achieve your initiatives. As a side note, I found the book kept my attention the whole way through with interesting examples, helpful quotes, and eye catching images. The authors did a great job at keeping my attention and securing me as a reader of their other books! Win-Win Partnerships: Be on the Leading Edge with Synergistic Coachin

I read this when I was a youngster, and recently found this again. Its very nostalgic scifi story telling at its finest. About a young man (Andy) who builds a whole family of Robots from spare parts and old cans.

And then of course the SciFi plays in when all the robots are struck by lighting and come to life to help Andy and his friends survive a flood that also occurs at the same time.

Highly recommended for young and old!

A wonderful book that is full of adventure, intelligence, a wry sense of humor (almost reminiscent of the Henry Reed books) and fun! Not my number 1 favorite - that honor is held in a tie by "Bonnie's Boy" a wonderful (out of print) story of a young boy and his dog (still makes me cry!) and Kin Platt's "Sinbad and Me" another treasure that's out of print for some inexplicable reason. However, "Andy" is in my top five, and like others here, one that I could never get out of my head. Some of the language and technology is dated, of course, but the characters are wonderful and the story is extremely engaging.

Thank goodness that I saved my copy from childhood - who could imagine it would still be with me now? (You should have heard my shout of joy when I found it amongst some old belongings a couple of years ago!!)

My kids are going to read it soon, and I'm looking forward to talking it through with them as they read it.

I would LOVE a movie on this book - a great idea and easy to do now with "simple" FX.

Good luck to those searching for it, it's worth the wait.

It's funny, I've read hundreds of books over the years but this book has stayed on my mind since I was a kid. Andy Buckram's Tin Men was that wonderful mixture of fun, science, and luck. Andy was the kind of kid you always wanted to be. He was Boy's Life and Popular Science come to life. I'm sorry to see this terrific book is out of print. I still have my original copy, but I just can't find it anywhere. I'm afraid I lent it to some kid who never returned it. I can only hope it makes them appreciate reading as much as it did for me. Here's hoping for a reprint, and soon!

Like the rest of the reviews, this is the one book that stands out in my memory. I have been searching for this book for years. I got a copy the other day in auction at eBay. I paid about $15.00. I also found a place through Amazon called "Book Rescue" that sometimes has a copy. The price at Book Rescue is a bit higher ($80-$100) but I think any price is worth it for this wonderful book. I wonder if we start a chain letter, would we be able to get it back in print. I would love to see this in every school library in the USA. Books just arnt what they used to be!

I checked this book out of my elementary school library 30 years ago and it inspired a lifelong love of reading. I finally found a copy at one of the public library branches recently and my son thought it was great. Funny how it has stood out over the years out of all the childhood books I've read, just as it has for the other reviewers. It really should be brought back into print.

I searched for an alternative to your typical soporific journal of effective leadership/management "nuggets", and I found this book instead. Outstanding book with great lessons. This book stayed glued to my hands for the 3 days it took me to digest it in its entirety. Regardless of your management experience, many lessons are to be learned from this easy read.

I have been a supervisor for over 15 years and could totaly relate to what Justin (the main character) experienced. This book is well written and the short chapters make it very easy to follow. I also laughed, cried and experinced numerous emotions while reading this book as mentioned in another review. This is the first book a have read in a few years and I finished it in 4 days as I could not put it down. I would strongly suggest that all supervisors new and experienced read this book.

Practical business skills woven into a heart filled story that benefits all relationships.

Learning happens best when it's something we can relate to. In Ask Dr. Mac, author Greg Giesen weaves a story that almost every person in management and human resources can relate to well. Relating is easy for many because the story is all too familiar...the employee who is thrust into management without adequate preparation, thrown into the deep end of the pool with no swimming lessons. Instead of floundering and improvising for every decision, Giesen shows us how "authentic leadership" can be developed by sharing the sound principles of effective human relationships and management. Based in part on a real life mentor, who, like the author, I was privilaged to have known, Ask Dr. Mac provides a guided path through the trackless and sometimes confusing wold of the new manager. Greg Giesen adds to this wisdom the welath of knowledge that has come from his own long and highly effective career as a business consultant. Read it, and put it to use!

I laughed, I cried, I learned!
The characters and storyline are well developed making this an interesting read, not dry like so many management books. The leadership and relationship skills can, and should, be utilized by everyone - not just new managers.

Deannas' Husband Jay says....Best book to get started in the Fire Service. It's a must have on you bookshelf. Look for the newest book to come out...It's going to be the best!!

This book is a very good overview of the fire service and the steps necessary to make you a more desirable candidate. I highly recommend.

This book was recommended to me when I first became interested in the fire service. After reading it, I feel that I have a better understanding of what I can do to better my chances of getting hired. The book covers many important topics like: the importance of education, the process of testing (including written examinations, interviews, backgrounds and how to prepare your resume), what to expect in the academy, what to expect during probation and on your first day on the job.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about the fire service. Thank you Chief Lepore!

As a professional Firefighter and Motivational Speaker, I am finally able to reference a "how-to" entrance book that gives the Fire Candidate the edge they need. Author Battalion Chief Paul Lepore has broken through the barrier of what it takes to become a Firefighter. I've successfully used this book for a one year now, and this book only to prescribe a pathway for a life in the Fire Service to young candidates.

In my twenty-five years in the Fire Service, this is the best book available that can be used universally across the nation among all Fire municipalities.

Paul's passion for the subject and willingness to pass his knowledge along to others shows through with this book. Paul's advice and guidance is coming from someone doing the job everyday that he's mentoring in this book. This isn't theoretical armchair advice. Paul lives the life of a fire fighter day in and day out and knows what fire departments look for in candidates. This book is worth every penny of its cover price.

I am new to network marketing and was looking to learn strategies from an experienced and successful direct seller. I found that and much more in this book. Like most network marketers I had the motivation and excitement but after enrolling began asking myself "ok, now what?" I found the answers in this book as Christensen takes the guesswork and mystery out of direct selling. It is easy to relate to Christensen as she tells her story of how she began in this industry. If the steps are followed, the reader will not have to reinvent the wheel but rather will have a clear set of principles to follow allowing them to stay on course to financial freedom.
Christensen's honesty is presented throughout the book as she explains that direct selling is not a "get rich quick" scheme and work and rejection go along with the territory. This can all be overcome by following the steps outlined in the book as well as the interactive activities to help you grow your business and think like a winner.
With Christensen's impressive experience in direct selling as well as her amazing success anyone interested in direct selling should own this book.

I got this book to help me with my business - direct sales or not this book will help anyone starting a business. It's organizational, life planing and very straight forward. It's a quick read which is GREAT
Go for it.

GREAT book and as a Founder and CEO of ChicBoutique At Home I include many of Mary's books with the Starter Kit. This is one of the best ones as it has detailed step by step for a Networker to work the business. It's great for novice and experienced Networkers. Highly recommended.

Mary Christensen is the best. I read Mary's first book "Make your First Million Network Marketing" and it was so inspiring that when I had the opportunity to see Mary speak I jumped at it. Be a Network Marketing Superstar really got me excited about getting my business moving. It has greatly improved since reading her books. Follow her guidance and you will make more out of your business. Remember what she says, "There is no "I" in team, but there is in win." Help yourself and your business by reading this book.

Este libro supera cualquier expectativa que su nombre pudiera implicar. De forma muy sencilla, practica y efectiva, la autora nos da lecciones basicas para truinfar en el mundo de la venta directa y multi nivel. Si estas involucrado en la venta directa, este libro es VITAL para ti y todo tu EQUIPO.

M Port fills in the spaces from his first book "Book Yourself Solid" while adding numerous new comments and suggestions that really add value to the experience.

Although "Beyond Booked Solid" can be a stand-alone read, I suggest that to get the most from the experience you read both books.

Both books are part of my collection of business books that I refer to regularly.

Even though I don't have a copy of "Book Yourself Solid" I followed my intuition and decided to purchase "Beyond Booked Solid" about 10 days ago and so glad I did. One reason for my thinking was if I found some of your suggestions helpful in "Beyond Booked Solid," it would probably free me more to become booked solid.

What I want to pass on is:
1. I did buy your book and it's loaded with great suggestions and questions to help me (and other readers) take the actions I need to achieve better results and think bigger, without a doubt. I'm really enjoying and finding value from your content.
2. I love the workbook. It's very useful and a way to help me and other readers implement the ideas you present in a useful, reader-friendly format.
3. Here's the kicker Michael that you made this user-friendly workbook available to the reader for free and as an instant download. Michael this free workbook is truly a gift and tremendous added value to those who purchase your book. Thank you! It was such a pleasant surprise and I'm getting so much more from your book as a result of this workbook. This really was an unexpected gift, I had no idea about it when I purchased your book, only as I started to read through it.

Thanks for a great book.

First, let me just say that I've implemented the information in Book Yourself Solid - Michael's first book - into my business over the past six months, and I'm still doing so everyday. The results have been phenomenal. So much so, that we're now much more selective with the types of clients we're working with and the type of work we're doing. That sort of focus and deliberateness just wasn't present in our business before discovering Michael's book and his coaching sessions.

Of course, I was wondering what to do as I started to get more work than I could handle. "Beyond Booked Solid" provides the answers. Continuing with the lessons from his first book, Michael teaches you in a well-written and easily accessible way how to build an architecture for your business and implement systems that truly do free you to think much bigger about your business. I can actually see - based on the work I'm doing from the exercises in the book - that it's OK to take me out of the equation of the day-to-day operations so that I can focus on the other aspects of my life that are important to me - most notably spending time with my wife and kids and doing the sort of things I love to do. In this day and age, there really is no excuse for an entrepreneur to spend 12 hours a day slaving away on jobs that others can do better and more efficiently. Michael teaches you to identify those areas, develop systems to handle those and encourages you to get a life.

In fact, I'm finding that while Booked Yourself Solid was sort of a nuts and bolts to marketing and growing your business in your own unique way, Beyond Booked Solid presents a more holistic approach to business as it relates to your life and quality of living. Now that you've got the thriving business, this book shows you how to create the systems and practices to make your entrepreneurial endeavor ever more viable and valuable while at the same time crafting the life you've always wanted.

I'd highly recommend both books.

If you read Booked Solid and now find yourself swamped with too much work at the end of day or you are simply an entrepreneur or sales focused business owner without an angle for designing systems and processes you know you must have, then this book is required reading. As usual Michael's openness and honesty about the systems he uses for business and for life and the detail he puts in the book is a welcome change from many other publications.
Rob Hartnett Author Small Business, Big Opportunity

I bought the book based on a recommendation from an ezine that I follow on sales. The review in that ezine was glowing.

I found the actual book to have little new material, and in fact, to be too long winded and pedantic.

Don't waste your money.

Frank Hood