The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business


Josh Kaufman - 2010
    The consensus is clear: MBA programs are a waste of time and money. Even the elite schools offer outdated assembly-line educations about profit-and-loss statements and PowerPoint presentations. After two years poring over sanitized case studies, students are shuffled off into middle management to find out how business really works.Josh Kaufman has made a business out of distilling the core principles of business and delivering them quickly and concisely to people at all stages of their careers. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. In The Personal MBA, he shares the essentials of sales, marketing, negotiation, strategy, and much more.True leaders aren't made by business schools-they make themselves, seeking out the knowledge, skills, and experiences they need to succeed. Read this book and in one week you will learn the principles it takes most people a lifetime to master.

They Ask You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today's Digital Consumer


Marcus Sheridan - 2017
    Regardless of your budget, you are almost certainly overspending on television, radio, and print ads, yet neglecting the number-one resource you have at your disposal: the Internet. Content marketing is no longer about keyword-stuffing and link-building; in fact, using those tactics today gets your page shuffled to the bottom of the heap. Quality content is the key to success, and you already have the ingredients in-house. This book shows you how to structure an effective content strategy using the same proven principles that have revolutionized marketing for all types of businesses, across industries.Author Marcus Sheridan's pool company struggled after the housing collapse; today, they're one of the largest pool installers in the U.S., turning away millions of dollars in business they simply cannot accommodate every year. How did he manage it? He answered questions. This book shows you how Marcus's strategy can work for your business, and how to use your keyboard to bring customers through the door.Boost your company's web presence with methods that work Build a level of trust that generates customer evangelism Leverage your in-house resources to produce winning content Utilize tactics that work, regardless of industry or sector When people have questions, they ask a search engine. If you have answers, the right content strategy will get them to the top of the search results and seen by millions of eyes every day. Drop the marketing-speak, stop "selling," and start answering. Be seen as an authority, not just another advertisement. They Ask You Answer describes a fresh approach to marketing and the beginning of big things for your business.

Networking with the Affluent


Thomas J. Stanley - 1993
    From the New York Times bestselling author of The Millionaire Next Door, the classic guide on how to network with the affluent client.

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers


Geoffrey A. Moore - 2006
    Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. This edition provides new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing, with special emphasis on the Internet. It's essential reading for anyone with a stake in the world's most exciting marketplace.

The 16-Word Sales Letter™: A proven method of writing multi-million-dollar copy faster than you ever thought possible


Evaldo Albuquerque - 2019
    For years, I've been asking myself: How can a guy whose native language is not even English be one of the best U.S. copywriters in history? Now I have the answer... nicely reduced to a simple, understandable formula. And the best thing is that it’s a usable formula. Anyone seriously interested in copywriting should discover Evaldo's secret.” —Bill Bonner, Founder of Agora. “It’s not often that I come upon a copywriting strategy that feels new to me. And even less frequently do I encounter one that is both new and exciting. Evaldo Albuquerque’s “16 Word Sales Letter™” is such a strategy. I’m going to recommend this as a must-read to all my copywriting proteges.” —Mark Ford, best-selling author and chief growth strategist for Agora. “Evaldo is the world’s greatest copywriter you’ve never heard of. Why haven’t you heard of him? Because while others are selfpromoting ... heck, while they’re eating, sleeping and relaxing... he’s cranking out the next blockbuster. He never stops. He’s a 9-figure sales machine and our business’s secret weapon. This book is your blueprint to how the machine dominates. Read it and put it into action. Your royalty check will thank you.” —Peter Coyne, founder of Paradigm Press, Agora Financial’s largest imprint “I'm recommending this book to everyone in my company, and making it required reading for all new hires. When it comes to books on "writing" I try to read everything new, and no matter how many books I pick up, I rarely find any ideas that are innovative (or even useful), but this book shattered my expectations—I found page after page packed with fresh ideas. It's engaging to read, and very easy to implement the writing techniques. “Evaldo has uncovered a new way to write sales copy that is perfect for today's buyers; I really love this book, and after you turn the first two pages, you'll see exactly why. It’s a must-read primer for anyone who writes sales copy…. Read this book—and learn from one of the best.” —Oren Klaff, best-selling author of Pitch Anything and Flip the Script “Few people know his name. Yet, those at the highest levels of direct response advertising consider Evaldo Albuquerque the Michael Jordan of modern financial copywriting. His new book, The 16 Word Sales Letter™, reveals for the first time the secret to his astonishing success. In split tests, the selling formula Evaldo reveals in his book has won, repeatedly, against ad copy written by the world’s top copywriters. When asked at a recent seminar I gave what are the two best books I’ve ever read on copywriting, my answer was Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz and The 16 Word Sales Letter™ by Evaldo Albuquerque.” —Caleb O’Dowd The 16-Word Sales Letter™ is a copy system that has generated over $120 million dollars for Agora Financial in the last two years alone. It’s a simple formula that could help you generate millions in online sales... No matter how competitive your niche is….No matter what kind of product or service you’re selling…And no matter your level of experience. That’s because it can not only help you identify a new big idea for your market, but also help you structure your sales message for maximum emotional impact. And now, for the first time ever, Evaldo Albuquerque is revealing the details of this system in this brand-new book.

How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age


Dale Carnegie - 2011
    The only diploma that hangs in Warren Buffett’s office is his certificate from Dale Carnegie Training. Lee Iacocca credits Carnegie for giving him the courage to speak in public. Dilbert creator Scott Adams called Carnegie’s teachings “life-changing.” In today’s world, where more and more of our communication takes place across wires and screens, Carnegie’s lessons have not only lasted but become all the more critical. Though he never could have predicted technology’s trajectory, Carnegie proves a wise and helpful teacher in this digital landscape. To demonstrate the many ways his lessons remain relevant, Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc., has reimagined his prescriptions and his advice for this difficult digital age. We may communicate today with different tools and with greater speed, but Carnegie’s advice on how to communicate, lead, and work efficiently remains priceless across the ages.

Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity


Hugh MacLeod - 2009
    Those cartoons eventually led to a popular blog-gapingvoid.com-and a reputation for pithy insight and humor, in both words and pictures.MacLeod has opinions on everything from marketing to the meaning of life, but one of his main subjects is creativity. How do new ideas emerge in a cynical, risk-averse world? Where does inspiration come from? What does it take to make a living as a creative person?Ignore Everybody expands on MacLeod's sharpest insights, wittiest cartoons, and most useful advice. For example:-Selling out is harder than it looks. Diluting your product to make it more commercial will just make people like it less.-If your plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail. Nobody suddenly discovers anything. Things are made slowly and in pain.-Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether. There's no point trying to do the same thing as 250,000 other young hopefuls, waiting for a miracle. All existing business models are wrong. Find a new one.-The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours. The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will.After learning MacLeod's forty keys to creativity, you will be ready to unlock your own brilliance and unleash it on the world.

Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business


Paul Jarvis - 2019
    Not as a freelancer who only gets paid on a per piece basis, and not as an entrepreneurial start-up that wants to scale as soon as possible, but as a small business that is deliberately committed to staying that way. By staying small, one can have freedom to pursue more meaningful pleasures in life, and avoid the headaches that result from dealing with employees, long meetings, or worrying about expansion. Company of One introduces this unique business strategy and explains how to make it work for you, including how to generate cash flow on an ongoing basis. Paul Jarvis left the corporate world when he realized that working in a high-pressure, high profile world was not his idea of success. Instead, he now works for himself out of his home on a small, lush island off of Vancouver, and lives a much more rewarding and productive life. He no longer has to contend with an environment that constantly demands more productivity, more output, and more growth.   In Company of One, Jarvis explains how you can find the right pathway to do the same, including planning how to set up your shop, determining your desired revenues, dealing with unexpected crises, keeping your key clients happy, and of course, doing all of this on your own.

What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story


Michael Bosworth - 2011
    Until now, this has been considered an innate talent. What Great Salespeople Do challenges some of the most widely accepted paradigms in selling in order to prove that influencing change in buyers is a skill that anyone can learn.The creator of Solution Selling and CustomerCentric Selling, Michael Bosworth, along with veteran sales executive Ben Zoldan, synthesize discoveries in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and other disciplines, combining it all into a field-tested framework-helping you break down barriers, build trust, forge meaningful relationships, and win more customers.

Sandler Success Principles: 11 Insights that will change the way you Think and Sell


David H. Mattson - 2012
    Now they are revealed for you to learn and use in your own business and career. A remarkable and sometimes painful part of the process is uncovering the truth about yourself, including how your self-image was shaped sometimes carelessly and perhaps even cruelly. As you grasp the influence of these “old tapes,” you see how you have unknowingly sabotaged your potential for being at the top tier of sales professionals. You may be astonished to discover what inner dialogue and even demons you now may choose to control and override. The results? You enjoy a significant advantage over those you seek to impress and persuade, and master a predictable way to reach and exceed your career, business and financial goals. The enormous benefits of self-knowledge and imaginative new tools for self-management are at the heart of the challenging and exhilarating lifelong process of implementing the Sandler Success Principles.

Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs


Brian Halligan - 2009
    People are getting better at blocking these interruptions out using Caller ID, spam protection, TiVo, etc. People are now increasingly turning to Google, social media, and blogs to find products and services. Inbound Marketing helps you take advantage of this change by showing you how to get found by customers online. Inbound Marketing is a how-to guide to getting found via Google, the blogosphere, and social media sites. - Improve your rankings in Google to get more traffic - Build and promote a blog for your business - Grow and nurture a community in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. - Measure what matters and do more of what works online The rules of marketing have changed, and your business can benefit from this change. Inbound Marketing shows you how to get found by more prospects already looking for what you have to sell.

Sam Walton: Made In America


Sam Walton - 1992
    And it's a story about believing in your idea even when maybe some other folks don't, and about sticking to your guns." It's the story of how Walton parlayed a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world. The undisputed merchant king of the late twentieth century, he never lost the common touch. Here Walton tells his extraordinary story in his own inimitable words. Genuinely modest, but always sure of his ambitions and achievements, Walton shares his thinking in a candid, straight-from-the-shoulder style."Here is an extraordinary success story about a man whose empire was built not with smoke and mirrors, but with good old-fashioned elbow grease."

Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations


William Ury - 1991
    You’ll learn how to:• Stay in control under pressure• Defuse anger and hostility• Find out what the other side really wants• Counter dirty tricks• Use power to bring the other side back to the table• Reach agreements that satisfies both sides' needsGetting Past No is the state-of-the-art book on negotiation for the twenty-first century. It will help you deal with tough times, tough people, and tough negotiations. You don’t have to get mad or get even. Instead, you can get what you want!

The Essential Drucker


Peter F. Drucker - 2000
    Drucker has been analyzing economics and society for more than sixty years. Now for readers everywhere who are concerned with the ways that management practices and principles affect the performance of the organization, the individual, and society, there is The Essential Drucker -- an invaluable compilation of management essentials from the works of a management legend.Containing twenty-six selections, The Essential Drucker covers the basic principles and concerns of management and its problems, challenges, and opportunities, giving managers, executives, and professionals the tools to perform the tasks that the economy and society of tomorrow will demand of them.

Buying Trances: A New Psychology of Sales and Marketing


Joe Vitale - 2007
    This thoroughly documented and easy-to-read book is the first of its kind. Vitale gives you the keys to their minds. All you have to do is turn the keys. They said 'yes' to you long before you said a word and they were begging to buy from you shortly after you uttered your first sentence. Buying Trances is an exciting ride to the edge of the mind. His finest work to date." -Kevin Hogan, author, The Psychology of Persuasion and Covert Hypnosis "This book maps marketing's final frontier-the customer's mind-and exposes the buying trance. Frankly, this may be the smartest marketing book ever written." -Dave Lakhani, coauthor, Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want "As with all of Vitale's books, there are magical secrets chucked out like a mad Vegas poker dealer on every page. Not only will you learn to put people into buying trances with this book, the act of reading it will put you in a trance and force you to master it." -Mark Joyner, #1 bestselling author, The Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less "Vitale's expertise in hypnotic marketing combined with his extensive research challenges the reader on many different levels. He forces you to delve deeper into the benefits of creating a buying atmosphere and a trance-like desire on the part of your prospect. I found this an absolutelyfascinating book." -Joseph Sugarman, President, BluBlocker Corporation "Buying Trances is not your run-of-the-mill marketing book. It's an exceptionally well-written, well thought out, high-level work that gives the reader unique insights into how to capture a prospect's attention. Cutting-edge stuff that is a must for every serious marketer to absorb and implement." -Robert Ringer, author, To Be or Not to Be Intimidated?: That Is the Question "Vitale's understanding of how and why people think and act like they do is remarkable. Byunscrambling complex ideas and explaining them in simple language, he reveals how to fashion messages that will turn people into compulsive buyers of our products and services. Now we can take control and create the buying trance. It's a totally refreshing and very effective approach to hugely profitable sales and marketing!" -Winston Marsh, veteran Australian marketer