b.cognosco

The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing for Small Business

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 22:03:19 GMT

The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing for Small Business: Low-Cost/High Return Tools and Techniques That Really Work
by Tom Antion
John Wiley & Sons, 2005
0-471-71870-X

This is the best small business marketing book I've ever read, and I've read quite a few. I've never read a "meatier" book on the practical how-tos of building a web-based marketing machine for your small business. Author Tom Antion talks about everything, and doesn't hesitate to give you his opinion on what works and what doesn't. By everything I mean just that - ranging from basic technical info about picking a web host to detailed analyses of shopping cart services, managing customer lists, automating everything, finding suppliers, running affiliate programs, packaging, selling, testing, e-zines/e-newsletters, viral marketing - well, everything.

Most books that purport to tell you how to build an online business are full of stuff either so basic or so obvious it's useless. Others are filled with great strategies but fail to give you enough info to implement them. This book avoids both problems. It's filled with cheklists and practical info you can put to use right now - "Do this. Don't do that. Worry about this. Don't worry about that."

There are separate chapters on how to create an effective site, the website sales process, the mechanics of web sales, creating and distributing an e-zine, and product development. The chapters on website sales are remarkably informative. Another big theme in the book is publishing - self-publishing eBooks, newsletters, etc. Tom has used the publishing+speaking strategy to grow a very lucrative business. What he has to say here won't be of much help to someone lacking expertise or knowledge that others will find useful, but it's invaluable to anyone who wants to promote themselves as an expert for whatever reason.

Tom also provides links to all sorts of tools. No doubt there are many for which he gets some sort of affiliate commission, but there's nothing in this book to give the sense that Tom is shilling - it reads like a bible of small-biz marketing - whenever he lists products or services he lists lots of suppliers and lets the reader know to check them out on their own and make a choice. He covers stuff that I never even thought about, and provides somes useful insight into areas I thought I already understood.

I know this reads like a sales pitch, and I guess it is. But I'm not on any of Tom's affiliate programs (I would, however, appreciate you buying the book via my Amazon affiliate link.) I'm truly impressed. So here's a little background on how I found the book.

Tom recently delivered his day-long Butt Camp seminar here in Atlanta as part of the National Speakers Association (NSA) convention. Greg Smith, a friend who has a very successful employee retention consulting practice called Chart Your Course International, attended the seminar and was so impressed with what he learned he bought several copies of the book to give away. That's how I got my copy. I had never heard of Tom Antion, but the NSA is a credible organization and I knew anyone giving a day-long seminar there would have something to offer. Plus, I've known Greg for several years and when he offered me a copy of the book while raving about its contents I had to put aside any remaining reservations and dig into it. If you go to Tom's or Greg's site, don't be put off by the appearance. Tom's site is pretty "sales-y", and so is Greg's (who recently redesigned his entire site for that purpose.) But these sites work for the audience and products these guys are trying to reach. The same techniques may or may not be right for you, and if you ignore this book because you don't like the look of a couple of web sites you're cheating yourself.

I recommended this book to an attorney friend who is looking to build up an effective marketing campaign for estate and tax planning. His comment after a couple of days was, "Man, I had to quit underlining stuff because I was underlining the whole book!" If you're looking for a "bible" for developing a marketing machine for your small business there is no better book on the market right now than Tom Antion's. Go buy it. You won't be sorry.

The Daily Drucker

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 23:44:49 GMT

The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done
by Peter F. Drucker with
Joseph A. Maciariello
HarperBusiness 2004
0-06-074244-5

I was browsing in my local independent bookstore over the weekend when I went in to get my Saturday morning coffee. I don't buy enough books there so I was looking around to see if they had something I wanted. This special volume of Peter F. Drucker caught my attention. It's a great little book with each page containing a short, but still substantive, exerpt from Drucker's copious work. There's a pge for every day of the year, and a little journal-style bookmark ribbon to keep your place

I don't much care for books of daily inspirational readings because, well, they're usually crap. But not Drucker. He's the real deal - the best business thinker of our time and someone who has forgotten more about strategy, change, leadership, management, information work, and innovation than most self-proclaimed experts will ever know. Better, he speaks in plain words without consultant-isms or the jargon of academia.

Reading The Daily Drucker is kind of like reading the Bible and, if you or someone you know is a student or practitioner of anything business, this book would make a great holiday gift. While there is certainly nothing holy about this book, Drucker's insight and practical, no-nonsense way is inspiring. We could do a lot worse than starting the day with a dose of Drucker.

Copy This! The Story of Kinko's

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 01:29:24 GMT

Copy This! Lessons from a Hyperactive Dyslexic Who Turned a Bright Idea Into One of America's Best Companies
by Paul Orfalea, Ann Marsh
Workman Publishing Company 2005
0761137777

This weekend I've been reading the autobiography of Kinko's founder Paul Orfalea. Probably because of my background in printing and my work with Kinko's as a customer, vendor, and consultant over the years my expectations for the book are different from the casual reader, but even so I've been pleasantly surprised. Orfalea offers a practical, pragmatic approach to business, backed by the frenetic and entertaining story of his life. It's refreshing to see such a down-to-earth blend of customer focus, respect for employees, and sharing the wealth. Throughout the book, Orfalea's focus is people, people, people - how to support them and how to give them power over their destiny. His theme is really "You can do this. It's just not that hard."

Orfalea, who has both dyslexia and ADHD, built a multi-billion dollar company using voice mail as his primary form of communication because he never learned to read effectively. (Tip for Skype Journal: Want to talk about a Skype Strategy? Pick up a copy and read Chapter 5 where he describes his innovative use of voice messaging to stay in touch, spread ideas, and even introduce co-workers to each other.)

Among other interesting tidbits I realized while reading (these are not explicit in the text):

Kinko's was the first major volley in the personal publishing revolution - in the 1970s they were the first significant business to open the printing press, via the photocopier, to the masses.
Kinko's was the first major casualty of the copyright wars - their loss, to eight textbook publishers, in a $3.5 million lawsuit in the early '90s set the tone for numerous limitations on fair use that were to follow.

I haven't finished the book yet, but it's definitely one I will give to some struggling young people I know. Orfalea's message - that while traditional education is good and valuable, if it doesn't work for you there are other ways to success - is powerful and needed by those who are increasingly left behind by our failing education system.

Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 05:00:00 GMT

Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society
Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers
2005 Currency Doubleday 0-385-51624-X

The central tenet of this book is the presentation of a new theory, the Theory of U, which consists of the three principles of Sensing, Presencing, and Realizing. As the authors move, disjointedly, through the book they expose the seven core capacities and activities they claim make up the three principles.

Suspending
Redirecting
Letting Go
Letting Come
Crystallizing
Prototyping
Institutionalizing

I have not read every change and organizational learning volume ever authored, and there is occasionally a quote or idea I do not recognize. But I have read enough on Buddhism, talked at length with enough Buddhists, and visited enough temples to recognize Buddhism when I see it. Thats what this is, wrapped in enough in modern quotes, cultural references, and soft-science to possibly confuse the uninitiated. But thats what it is.

There are a number of unfounded assertions and unsupported propositions, such as author Betty Sue Flowers statement that the economic myth weve been in for most of the past century isnt serving us well either. Such global indictments are not self-evident, and need to be supported. How does one claim that the incredible advances of the 20th century in productivity, purchasing power, life span, health care, and leisure time for example experienced by 100s of millions of people, in market-based economies, over a 100 year span of time is a myth?

If such claims are going to be taken as anything more than fanciful flights to La La Land you need to offer substantial support, including your criteria, your reference points, and whether there are any valid counter positions. This book never offers any of the above, providing only anecdotes and/or random quotes to support its global assertions. One such example a regional health care system in Germany offers a model for doctor-patient communication that only academics will find meaningful. The rest of us will find the demarcations rather trite. Doctors can talk to you about:

what is broken
why its broken
how your behavior may or may not contribute to the break
and then the fourth level, where they become your psychoanalyst, best friend, and spouse.

If you are not already getting levels 1-3 you should find a better doctor. How the authors get from level 3 to level 4 is beyond me, as is why they think this sort of relationship is something everyone wants.

This is just one of many examples of underlying assumptions the authors have made which have no basis in reality. Yet its difficult to argue with much of the book because it is so experiential. The authors who are all highly intelligent, highly educated academics genuinely feel they are on a journey of deep personal transformation. The book is rife with their emotive insights as they weave fragile webs of connectivity between tiny slivers of thought, philosophy, and (minimal) data.

But what the book ultimately proposes is far from original, and the authors conceit in claiming invention of a new metaphysics around the Theory of U is a sign that they have gone too far down the rabbit hole of academic delusion (usually brought on by infinitely deeper research into infinitely smaller ideas.)

The reality is there is nothing here with which to argue, nothing of substance with which to take issue. In the true spirit of the authors learnings, Im not even sure this book exists. If you think Buddhism, or its myriad new-age variants, will save the world then you may find some value here, but you can find much better volumes with a little effort. If you are not already convinced of such things this book offers nothing that will change your mind.

I bought Presence based on a single, rave review by a weblog author and the credentials of the books four authors. Had I put in even a little effort to read the Amazon reviews before buying I would have saved myself $30. Still, I should have known better when the opening anecdote of the book is the story of a group cry at a South African management retreat. There is lots of crying in this book, like author Joseph Jaworskis story of going to Baja, becoming one with a whale, returning to share the story with his three colleagues, and then having a good group cry over the profoundness of the moment. None of this was inherently bad, but it was quite disappointing. Do yourself a favor. Dont buy books based on a single review of a biased (and we all are) weblog author. That is doubly true if the biased weblog author is me. You've been warned.

How To Read A Book

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 22:54:25 GMT

Mortimer Adler and Charles van Dorens book on reading methodology never fails to draw a laugh when I take it out in public. Yet its one of the most useful, and well-used, books on my bookshelf. This is a practical book, filled with solid, step-by-step instructions to help you read quickly, actively, and effectively. Adlers approach can be summed up as Dont focus on reading everything as fast as possible. Rather focus on knowing the right speed, and knowing which material should be read each way. Among the topics covered:

Inspectional Reading
- How to read any book in 30 minutes or less
- What to read during this stage
- How to find the key points
The four questions every reader should ask
- What is the book about as a whole?
- What is being said in detail, and how?
- Is the book true, in whole or in part?
- What of it?
Analytical reading
- Categorizing and X-raying a book
- Finding the key terms and understanding them
- Finding the authors message
Criticizing a book
- Agreeing or disagreeing with an author
Note taking, tagging (in the offline sense), and making a book your own.
Building a reading framework
Syntopical reading
- Understanding the conversation between authors
- Finding the relevant agreements and disagreements between them

Over the years Ive read a number of books by Colin Rose, Bobbi DePorter, Tony Buzan, Joyce Wycoff, and others that claim to improve reading speed and comprehension. Though each of them provides useful tips, none offers as thorough and effective a framework as Adler and van Doren.

But detailed frameworks are not easy to master. I frequently find myself taking the book out for reference, even though Ive read it a number of times. Each time I read, or re-read, a particular section, I come away with a new insight about how to evaluate, critique, or compare books. To me, this is the hallmark of a great book.

The latter sections of the book contain instructions on applying Adlers process to specific types of reading non-fiction, imaginative literature, stories and plays, history, science and mathematics, philosophy, and social science. If I have never read, or havent read in some time, one of these genres its helpful to review just the section on that genre before I start.

Be aware of the books style as, at first, it can be a bit off-putting. While not a complex book, it is written in classic prose that is, its somewhat verbose. Today we would call it over-written, but it was originally authored in the 1940s, and updated in the early 1970s well before the modern, web-centric era of short, pithy text and summaries. This doesnt bother me. I still find Adlers erudition and style entertaining. But I recognize it may bother some readers. Still, I think it worth working through if your goal is to be the most effective reader possible.

The book could easily serve as the text for a semester-long course in effective reading at the high school or undergrad levels. I wish Id had such a course. If Adlers techniques were taught to all high school students wed have a far more literate and thinking population than we seem to have today.

Even if you live in the world of the web, Adlers techniques for deriving the authors meaning, understanding propositions and assertions, and thinking critically about what is said are valuable. They can help you avoid the common confusion between a fact and a mere assertion, and better question whether the author has used sound logic.

Contempt: How the Right is Wronging American Justice

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 17:56:32 GMT

Catherine Crier was on the Tim Russert Show last night, talking about her new book, Contempt: How the Right is Wronging American Justice. No histrionics, no name-calling, no "sky is falling" demagoguery. Just thorough research, substantive opinions, and insightful views about what the future holds. Among her observations:

The Burger Court of the early 1980s was considered "conservative" at the time, with Burger and several of the justices having been appointed by Republican presidents.
That same court is now considered quite liberal.
The conservatives have waged a carefully planned, highly successful, long-term plan to shape the court system, beginning in the 1970s. The first fruits of this plan emerged in 1994 with Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America.
Arguments over strict vs. liberal interpretation of the Constitution are silly. The Founders wrote very specifically in some areas, very generally in others. Clearly, the broad areas were done that way for a reason.
Judicial Review wasn't well understood 200 years ago. It still isn't. We keep working through it a little at a time.
Today conservatives are expanding further, beginning to look at state courts and supporting the campaigns of elected judges who have conservative views.
The Democrats, aka liberals, have been unable to mount any substantive counter offensive. They are disorganized, factionalized, and unable to stay on point and on message.
There is no indication the balance of power will shift in the foreseeable future.

I've seen Crier on the news, but never on the other side of the interview table. She was excellent - one of the most informative, rational, and balanced viewpoints I've heard on the changes we're seeing in the judicial system. This book has been added to my wish list.

Note to MSN: You're in the web search dark ages. I tried to dig up more info on this interview (I didn't see the whole thing.) I started with google, but it took me (relatively speaking) forever to find a link to Russert's show. When I did I couldn't find anything substantial on MSN's site. I couldn't get the schedule for yesterday. A search for Catherine Crier got no hits. As far as I could find, there were no transcripts, no archives, no nothing. Very poor.

Classical Education at Home

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Fri, 27 Sep 2002 21:27:24 GMT

David Weinberger got an ear full at the local curriculum night. I'm not going to buy into his theory that all the bad stuff comes from above, but the "gub'mint", both federal and state, can take a lot of the blame. I don't know where he lives, but in GA the public schools are a disaster -- just abysmal.

Edumacation. It's a bad thing when you come back from the feel-good Meet the Teachers night at the local, progressive public school and need a drink. After hearing what's in store for our 11 year old in sixth grade, Ann and I were shaken, angry and depressed.

[...] The culprits here are easy to identify since the staff of our local school is dedicated, loving, smart and thoughtful: It's raining stupidity from above. "Test and blame" is the message coming from the feds, the commonwealth and even the town.

Home schooling anyone? [Source: JOHO the Blog]

So we did home school. And there are more and more people doing just that, because of the quality of education the public schools provide. One problem in home schooling is the deep-rooted streak of Christian fundamentalism -- all the curriculum and materials are geared toward educating the child more about Christianity than anything else. If you hold other beliefs, are home schooling for non-religious reasons, or if you just want a broader view, it can be difficult to find suitable materials.

Assembling your own curriculum can be frustrating, and added to the stress of running a home school you get some highly stressed home school parents. So most choose to go with a prepared curriculum. But I found a fantastic book for this problem some years ago.

The Well-Trained Mind, by Jessie Wise and her daughter Susan, provides instruction on how to build a curriculum. But more importantly, it helps you understand how and why a curriculum should be structured in a certain way, and provides a framework around which a solid, classical education can be built.

When I first read this book I was a little sad that I was never taught this way and only now, in my 40s, am learning much of what I should have known years ago. But I got over that and soon was reveling in just how good a K-12 education could be. In the time since we stopped home schooling our kids I've loaned this book to several friends considering home schooling. All have found it an enlightening guide to using home schooling to teach their children how to "love more of the world," -- not less.

Copy Fights: The Future of Intellectual Property In The Information Age

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Sat, 17 Aug 2002 19:32:06 GMT

Where to look for the right idea? I've been reading a very interesting book published by Libertarian think tank the Cato Institute. The current copyright debate is quite a conundrum for libertarians -- being both avowed property rights advocates and avowed free speech/free market advocates.

The book, titled Copy Fights: The Future of Intellectual Property in the Information Age (ISBN 1-930865-24-4) is a collection of papers, esays, and presentations from the Nov. 2001 Cato/Forbes ASAP Technology and Society conference. It is a fascinating look at both sides of the argument, and an interesting cross-section of ideas regarding what to do about it.

I don't know what the right idea is, or where it will come from. I am a strong proponent of copyright, but an equally strong believer in free speech and the need to balance the rights of the creator against the needs of society. I am highly incensed at the lying, screaming, whining self-serving manipulations of the music industry, but I don't quarrel for a minute that creators should be rewarded.

This book is as good a summary of the complex issues, and as good a round-up of the major players, as I've seen. Highly recommended.

THE US VS. THEM OF DIGITAL MEDIA

Earlier this week, I posted something about digital rights. I'm afraid this debate is now between the lawyers and politicians, and frankly I've lost track of "the right idea." [...]

[...]I've heard all the stuff about being accused of being a pirate, etc. That name calling isn't the part of the debate I'm asking about. Are there practical solutions that permit both sides to get what they want? If anybody knows where I should look to come up to speed on this, please let me know. Thanks. [Rodent Regatta]

Flawless Consulting: How to Get Your Expertise Used

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Tue, 23 Jul 2002 18:37:07 GMT

Flawless Consulting by Peter Block is one of the better how-to books on consulting I've read. Following my theme of not looking for a job, maybe what I'm really doing is looking for many jobs. I spent a couple of years in the late 1990s working for a small consulting company, so I know how hard it is to do the job right and get paid. There are all sorts of trade-offs between:

telling the client what they want to hear so they'll pay you and telling them what they need to hear so you can do your job
getting the client to take responsibility for the project and losing control
providing a plan that looks good and one that actually works for the long term.

Block provides a well-structured book, taking you through the culture and mindset of consulting. He uses a scenario approach to make his points, and provides a variety of check-off lists and tools. He spends a good number of pages on contracting (very important) and on the 50/50 split in client/consultant responsibility that is required for success. Along the way are lots of good tips for how to handle project meetings, work corporate politics, etc.

It's a bit expensive, at $42, but I recommend it for anyone thinking seriously about doing independent consultant work.