Longer Days » Resources

The Best Business Books You’ve Never Heard Of

Brian Gladu — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:43:07 +0000

There are more great business books than you have time to read and I’m sure you’ve heard of them: The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge, The Goal by Eli Goldratt, and anything by Peter Drucker.

But what about the books that don’t become popular because they didn’t have the right publisher, didn’t time things quite right, or didn’t have the right buzzwords in their title?

Here are three great business books I never would have heard about were it not for dumb luck (and yard sales)…

The Six Disciplines for Excellence by Gary Harpst

Amazon.com sales rank: #118,701

Why this book hasn’t been at the top of the business category – and stayed there for a very, very long time – I’ll never know. On Amazon.com it is ranked 118,701 while “Who Moved My Cheese,” arguably the worst business book ever written ranks at at a frightening 166 (Does anyone read that book after buying it? It’s the only book I’ve felt was a waste of time to read).

Perhaps its cover isn’t as eye-catching as others or maybe its title isn’t obscure enough. Perhaps it should have thrown in a tantalizing subtitle about social media and Web 2.5. Whatever the case, if you own a small business you need this book.

It is about how to create a defined business strategy and then execute on it. If that doesn’t sound sexy… well… it isn’t. But, it’s a necessary thing and even a beautiful thing once you wrap your mind around what a difference it would make to be at the helm of an organization with its eye on the ball and all its resources pursuing a competitor crushing, money-raking strategy that cements your company as the market leader.

The guys have an excellent small business blog going as well…

The Wizard of Ads by Roy H. Williams

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #240,939

If you have a Kindle reader you can buy it (and the other two in the series) for only $2 each. A thought-proking, fun read. Rather than focusing on data and numbers, Roy presents anecdotes and stories that remind us of core marketing principles we easily forget but should always keep in mind when we communicate with our market.

Peak Performance: Aligning the Hearts and Minds of Your Employees by Jon Katzenbach

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #468,973

This is the opposite of the One Minute Manager. This is for people serious aboutgetting the most out of their employees by helping them get the most out of their job. It’s about aligning people with their work and helping them find intrinsic motivation to do their best. The author argues that setting financial goals (numbers) based on company growth goals are difficult for employees to connect with and presents five “balanced paths” to helping people connect with their work.

What are some underrated, unpopular business books you’ve only found by chance?

18 iPhone Apps for Small Business Owners and Entrepeneurs

Brian Gladu — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:51:31 +0000

Notelife – A flexible repository for: the miscellaneous information that we encounter throughout the day but don’t have time to process, great ideas as they strike (notes, audio, and pictures), and even getting work done on the move (draft emails, blog posts, etc.).
Omnifocus – After trying, literally, every task management app on the iPhone, I have decided on Omnifocus because of its location awareness. Being a small business owner I do work at home and work at the office and having a task management app that excludes irrelevant work is priceless.
Dropbox – Have all the files you need with you at all times and peace of mind knowing they are safely stowed away on your computer and backed up in the cloud. (Integrates with many of the following apps…)
Quickbooks Online – Not technically an iPhone app, they have a web-based iPhone site that gives you access to your books if you use their online service – which, as an aside, I find quite capable relative to the desktop version after recent improvements.
Bills ~ on your table – Never miss a payment again. Keep track of upcoming payments due to vendors and government agencies. Organize by category, view stats, beautiful interface, cloud sync, and more.
Carbonfin Outliner – Perfect for planning, syncs with the cloud, and is easily accessed for later transfer to your project management solution of choice.
Dragon dictation – Dictate and then email it. Great for when you are driving or just need to get something short out of your head fast.
Calengoo - The best app for accessing your Google Calendar (trust me on this one – head and shoulders above the competition).
Documents to Go Premium – Edit and create Office documents on the go. Geek bonus: Google Docs access.
ScannerPro – If you keep receipts in your wallet long enough, the ink rubs off and the IRS gets angry. Immediately scan them and, geek bonus, store them in your Dropbox.
PomodoroPro – I’ve already discussed the specific benefits of the Pomodoro method – this app keeps you focused, motivated, and productive by timing your Pomodoro’s and keeping a daily total.
GoodReader – They have perfected the PDF reading experience on the iPhone. Geek bonus: keep your PDF library in Dropbox and connect to it through this app.
1Password – You’ve got enough to worry about it… tracking down your log in information shouldn’t be burning any time or brain cycles.
Lynda.com – Downtime? Learn some new software.
Lumosity Brain Trainer – Sharpen your mind.
Breathpacer – When you are relaxed and calm you can focus and do your best work.
Momento – Keep a business journal and use tags to group threads of important information you have documented such as hires, new clients, predictions, ideas, etc.
LinkedIn – What app list would be complete without social networking?

Looking forward to the iPad…

Is “Live Chat” for your website effective?

Brian Gladu — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:59:17 +0000

Yes, extremely. We get just as many leads through our website’s live chat feature as we do from phone calls. It also seems that the visitors who chat with us are further into the buying process for whatever reason.

Live chat offers a number of advantages over the phone for us:

It’s really nice being able to think through what you are going to say. “Delete” just isn’t possible over the phone and being able to read through a response before hitting “submit” is sometimes priceless.
You can still multitask. Talking on the phone requires more attention. Prospects on our live chat can ask questions as needed and we are free to work on other things in the meantime.
We can offer after hours support without being at the office. The particular live chat client we use, Alive Chat, can send chat notifications to our mobile phones. In fact, I’ve had a number of chats on my iPhone. One of the major reasons we went with Alive Chat over its many competitors is that it has a great Mac app.
The chat history is saved and becomes part of the clients file. We are collecting information that stay with the client throughout the buying process and after. Notes taken during phone calls on paper tend not to make it that far.
Auto compilation of frequently asked questions. Our chat history gives us data on what information we need to better integrate or highlight on our website.

I recommend putting a live chat on your website to all our clients – especially if your site has a medium to low volume of visitors. You’ll connect with prospects you otherwise wouldn’t.

Best homepage / start page for small business owners:

Brian Gladu — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:54:22 +0000

Here’s a homepage that loads quick, gives you access to Google, and will keep you on focused on what’s important:

http://www.bettermy.biz

Grasshopper vs. Google Voice: Phones for Small Business Owners