The 80/20 principle

This special 10th anniversary edition of the bestselling “The 80/20” principle contains an entirely new chapter ‘The Yin and Yang of the Principle’ in which Koch responds to the thousands of reader responses to the book – including a rap song! – and uses this new material to reach a new level of awareness and understanding of the true power of the principle. And it is powerful: the 80/20 principle – the fact that 80 per cent of results flow from 20 per cent of causes – is the one true principle of highly effective people and organisations. “The 80/20 Principle” shows how you can achieve much more with much less effort, time and resources, simply by concentrating on that all-important 20 per cent. “The 80/20 Principle” is the key to controlling our lives. If we can latch on to the few powerful forces within and around us, we can leverage our efforts to multiply effectiveness. Most of what we do has trivial results. A little of what we do really matters. So if we focus on the latter, we can control events instead of being controlled by them, and achieve several times the results.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/80-20-Principle-Secret-Achieving/dp/1857883993/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292949515&sr=1-1

The magic of thinking BIG

Millions of people throughout the world have improved their lives using “The Magic of Thinking Big”. Dr David J. Schwartz, long regarded as one of the foremost experts on motivation, will help you sell better, manage better, earn more money, and – most important of all – find greater happiness and peace of mind. “The Magic Of Thinking Big” gives you useful methods, not empty promises. Dr Schwartz presents a carefully designed program for getting the most out of your job, your marriage and family life, and your community. He proves that you do not need to be an intellectual or have innate talent to attain great success and satisfaction – but you do need to learn and understand the habit of thinking and behaving in ways that will get you there. This book gives you those secrets!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Thinking-Big-David-Schwartz/dp/1416511555/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292949280&sr=1-1

How to make millions with your ideas

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy has filled this book with most of the business and marketing expertise people are spending thousands of dollars at his seminars to hear. Which makes this volume the best business value ever! This book is soooooo good and filled with valuable ideas that you have to take a breather every few pages just to digest it all–the ideas come at you so fast. If you don’t think you can still make good money in your own business, starting with little or no capital, Kennedy will change your mind right away. Highly recommended.

Dan Kennedy is a “marketing guru” who shares strategies and techniques that I find practical and enormously helpful. His specialty is information marketing, including creating infomercials for Guthy-Renker. He has more clients than he can serve, and enjoys teaching entrepreneurs how to improve the results of their businesses.

In this book, Kennedy makes it clear that having a good idea is not sufficient for success for most entrepreneurs. Ideas can be bought, licensed or “borrowed.” The ability to market the idea and to create a business around it are more important to business success.

Based on practical experiences he acquired building his own businesses, Kennedy gives the eight best ways to (still) make a fortune from scratch in America, gives 45 millionaire-maker strategies, and opens his million-dollar rolodex of references for marketing, product sources, mail order and direct marketing, information products, business management and additional assistance.

Here is an example of one of Kennedy’s strategies: “Remember that what you take for granted, because it is common knowledge to you, is a revelation, a secret of immense value to someone who does not know or understand it. Do not undervalue what you know.”

Kennedy also gives practical advice on when and how to sell the business, including how to receive many times the “formula value” for the sales price.

Kennedy’s $3,495 per-person Millionaire-Maker Direct Marketing Super Conferences principally focus on the strategies and information in this book, available in paperback for $12.95. The book is an exceptional value.

Every entrepreneur would benefit from devouring and applying the information in this book! If you have a business and don’t have a copy, buy one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Make-Millions-Your-Ideas/dp/0452273161/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292949122&sr=1-1

The E-myth revisited – why most small businesses don’t work & what to do about it.

Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited should be required reading for anyone thinking about starting a business or for those who have already taken that fateful step. The title refers to the author’s belief that entrepreneurs–typically brimming with good but distracting ideas–make poor businesspeople. He establishes an incredibly organised and regimented plan, so that daily details are scripted, freeing the entrepreneur’s mind to build the long-term success or failure of the business. You don’t need an MBA to understand or follow its directives; Gerber takes time to explain buzzwords and complex theories. Written in a clear and well-paced manner, The E-Myth Revisited is like receiving advice from an old friend. —Sharon Griggins

http://www.amazon.co.uk/-myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-About/dp/0887307280/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292949057&sr=1-1

Think & grow rich

Think and Grow Rich is a motivational personal development and self-help book written by Napoleon Hill ^[1] and inspired by a suggestion from Scottish-American businessman Andrew Carnegie. It was first published in 1937 during the Great Depression.^[2] It remains the biggest seller of Napoleon Hill’s books – a perennial best-seller after 70 years (BusinessWeek Magazine’s Best-Seller List ranked Think and Grow Rich as the sixth best-selling paperback business book 70 years after it was first published). ^[3] Think and Grow Rich is listed in John C. Maxwell‘s A Lifetime “Must Read” Books List. ^[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_and_Grow_Rich

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Grow-Rich-Napoleon-Hill/dp/1604591870/ref=pd_sim_b_3

The richest man in Babylon

This book educates the reader about the way to improve one’s personal finances. It uses a parable format to explain how two friends learnt how to improve their poor financial situation. They sought the advice of a friend whose wealth appeared to be limitless. Amongst the parables are references to modern day examples. It was the letter sent by the English University Professor that I found most inspiring.

The writing style is old English. This does make it hard to follow at first. It will take a chapter or two to ‘get to grips’ with the style. From there on it is easy and will soon become easy to read. It is not a long book so will start slow and finish fast.

I can highly recommend anyone to read this book. The advice offered is simple. If followed it will inevitably lead the reader to an improved financial future. I felt empowered and richer as soon as I read the final words. I will not be offering this book for resale as I continually refer to the sound advice that has lasted thousands of years.

Simple steps to impossible dreams

In SIMPLE STEPS TO IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS, Steve Scott provides inspiring steps for achieving success in every area of life. Whether your dreams are to start a business, lose weight, or build better relationships, they can all be within reach if you learn to use the same strategies and techniques that have been successfully used by the world’s dreammakers for centuries. Scott helps readers define their most important goals, pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses and use their newly aquired insights to make the ‘impossible’ real. The keys are in the ‘Power Secrets’, a set of specific strategies and techniques that enabled Steve Scott to fulfill his impossible dreams. These techniques, brought to life in dozens of interactive quizzes and real-life examples, show readers how to break down common obstacles and awaken the inner passion that fuels the productivity, persuasiveness, and persistence that lead to the realisation of one’s dreams.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-Steps-Impossible-Dreams-Successful/dp/0684848694/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292948001&sr=1-1

Talent is over-rated

What if everything you know about raw talent, hard work, and great performance is wrong? Few, if any, of the people around you are truly great at what they do. But why aren’t they? Why don’t they manage businesses like Jack Welch or Andy Grove, play golf like Tiger Woods or play the violin like Itzhak Perlman? Asked to explain why a few people truly excel, most of us offer one of two answers: hard work or a natural talent. However, scientific evidence doesn’t support the notion that specific natural talents make great performers. In one of the most popular Fortune articles in years, Geoff Colvin offered new evidence that top performers in any field – from Tiger Woods and Winston Churchill to Warren Buffett and Jack Welch – are not determined by their inborn talents. Greatness doesn t come from DNA but from practice and perseverance honed over decades.And not just plain old hard work, but a very specific kind of work. The key is how you practice, how you analyze the results of your progress and learn from your mistakes, that enables you to achieve greatness. Now Colvin has expanded his article with much more scientific background and real-life examples. He shows that the skills of business negotiating deals, evaluating financial statements, and all the rest obey the principles that lead to greatness, so that anyone can get better at them with the right kind of effort. Even the hardest decisions and interactions can be systematically improved. This new mind-set, combined with Colvin’s practical advice, will change the way you think about your job and career and will inspire you to achieve more in all you do.

The trick to money is having some

The “Wilde man” does it again, with another in-your-face, flippant book that tosses dogma to one side and makes you see how simple life’s rules really are. He’s outrageous, and probably intends to be, just to get you to step out of traditional drone-like (“tick tock”) thinking and create your own life and realities. Something to offend everyone in this book (as usual), and something to break through the daily snooze and fracture your (unhealthy) complacency.

If you are NOT willing to make uncomfortable (at first) changes, don’t read Wilde. If you are willing to consider the outrageous, his books are a bargain too good to miss. His wit alone makes each of his books worthwhile. This one reveals the money game to be largely an internal quest for self-acceptance, and vitality, and points out that energy is what’s valuable in today’s society.

The one minute millionaire

Bestselling Chicken Soup author Mark Victor Hansen and financial guru Robert Allen offer a practical inspiring lesson in creating true wealth whether you aspire to become a millionaire or simply beat credit-card debt and have enough money to live on … Continue reading →