Tag Archives | business

Your Best Just Got Better By Jason Womack

By Jacob S Paulsen on March 11, 2013 in Book Review

I recently completed reading “Your Best Just Got Better” by Jason Womack. This book is full of golden nuggets of productivity and personal growth. When the author says, Work Smarter, Think Bigger, and Make More; it means that with all seriousness. The book flows together to help readers move through a progressive education designed to take you from the beginning to the end. At the same time each section stands alone to give you actionable insights to make you better at what you do.

Also, Jason’s sincerity comes right through the pages. You can tell that he cares about his clients and he cares about helping the reader grow. I’ve been reading personal development books for a very long time but there are still new ideas in this book and lots of good reminders.

One of my favorite insights is the idea of writing down ideal days. Jason suggests that you envision what a perfect day for you would look like. Write it down. I’ve heard this before but never taken the time to do that. Jason mentioned in the book that he has written down 100s of ideal days and lived many of them. This may sound a little silly but in context of what the book teaches it makes perfect sense.

I also love Jason’s suggestion of pondering and creating an inventory of “I’m At My Best When.” When you truly understand what factors lead you to be at your best you can start to manufacture greater productivity.

Read this book and you will learn these and 100 other great ideas to make you better than you are now.

Book Review: The Zigzag Principle by Rich Christiansen

By Jacob S Paulsen on May 23, 2012 in Book Review

I read this book as part of the 12 Books online book group during the month of May 2012. I admit that when I first read the title I was a little confused. I love anything to do with entrepreneurship despite my rather poor track record thus far. The reason I was so excited to read this book is because the author has just an established track record in starting successful companies. Rich has launched over 30 companies with less than $10K in capital and among those over 10 went on to be BIG successes.

The book is really about helping entrepreneurs understand that the best way to get somewhere isn’t always a straight line. In my reading, this major concept took a little while to sink in but as I moved from chapter to chapter I really discovered that the material is designed to give an entrepreneur a new type of road map that allows one to chart a course that is most likely going to lead to success.

The three main zigs and zags were critical components that talk about things that most of us understand are critical to success. Getting to profitability quickly, failing efficiently, adding resources, scaling the business, setting goals, and motivating a team. Most students of business are already familiar with these necessities but having them as part of an effective road map is the key to getting off the ground.

As I reflect on my reading of the book I feel like there were a few golden nuggets that will really stick out to me as I move forward in my career.

First, as elementary as it sounds, I think a key insight for me was the need to get to profitability before scaling the business. All too often I think people (myself included) are too eager to make the business big before we discover the key system that generates profits on a consistent basis. The Zigzag Principle taught me that you always focus first on a profitable and dependable model before you invest in scaling the business.

Second, Rich’s insights about living a life of balance were really compelling. I have fallen victim one too many times to the attitude of “just this one big project” and I’ll be able to spend more time with the family (or insert other life goal). There will always be one more project, trial, or other issue. As individuals we have to determine what our real goals are and create “guardrails” that keep us on our path and within our boundaries in business and every other aspect of life.

A great read and a great experience with the author as part of the book group. If you are reading this before March 25, I would invite you to join me in a live Q&A with the author. http://www.12booksgroup.com/may2012webinar

Google Plus Making a Big Splash… Will you Plus One this Blog Post?

By Jacob S Paulsen on July 11, 2011 in Featured, Marketing, Online

Google Plus has arrived in a big way. You might have noticed the little +1 buttons in your Google search results for the last few weeks but nobody really had much of an idea what it was about until now. In a nutshell Google Plus is another attempt by Google at launching a usable social network. You might be asking how this is different than Orkut or Google Buzz and you would be right to see similarities but there is a distinct difference and its that difference that also makes it greatly appealing to businesses when in comparison with Facebook & Twitter.

What Makes Google Plus Different

Well, to consumers the basic difference is that it is from Google and that alone is enough to get it out of the gates. For advertisers and online marketing professionals the difference is that simply put, they have combined the social networking with their own core competency… search. Facebook & Twitter don’t have the option to put “like” buttons and “retweet” buttons on Google’s search results pages. Since Google controls over 60% of the online search volume this gives Google Plus a huge audience and relevancy right out of the gate. This is also the single greatest reason why businesses will care about Google Plus.

While search engines like Google have been trying for a long time to factor in social popularity into search algorithms, only Google Plus is perfectly positioned to directly affect SEM. Consider that it would be easy and sensible for Google to give higher rankings to websites and pages that have high social popularity via Google Plus. That can’t be done in the same way or with as much ease with Facebook likes.

Google Plus for Business and Marketing

If you are a business owner or webmaster the biggest thing you can do right now is to integrate a Google Plus button into your website and blogs. This can be done quickest with the Digg Digg plugin for WordPress. For now you will have to settle for this since Google Plus as a social network is currently for consumers only.

In a post from Christian Olsten, Product Manager on the Google Plus project, he remarks:

“We have been watching Google+ take shape over the last week and we’ve seen some really great companies get involved. But frankly we know our product as it stands is not optimally suited to their needs. In fact, it was kind of an awkward moment for us when we asked Ford for his (or was it her?) gender!”

They are working on it. They have big plans to make Google Plus an easy place for non-person entities and businesses to interact with current and potential customers. For now, go here if you would like to be considered in their beta program.

Jacob S Paulsen

A Great Business Book or App by John Eckberg

By Jacob S Paulsen on April 20, 2011 in Marketing, Personal Development

A wonderful author and friend of mine has published a new book which gives great insight and inspiration to leaders and business people everywhere. “Pot of Gold: Business Book Nuggets for Leadership, Work and Career” by John Eckberg is a collection of business book excerpts. John has had an amazing life interviewing business success stories across the country. When I first spoke to John he was working as a business columnist at a newspaper in the mid west. He autographed my copy of his first book “The Success Effect” which contains wonderful interviews with entrepreneurs and leaders such as Donald Trump and Deepak Chopra. I enjoyed it greatly and John gave me the opportunity to preview a draft of the upcoming Pot of Gold book that he was working on at the time. The insights are powerful and it represents a unique collection of inspirational thoughts.

I recently also found that John has been able to release an iPhone app which gives you access to that same content found in the book. The app is very affordable and the user interface is user friendly. I like to added feature which allows you to add your own quotes that you may pick up as you go through the day.

Links:

Download the e-Book: Pot of Gold: Business Book Nuggets for Leadership, Work and Career

Download on Kindle: Pot of Gold: Business Book Nuggets for Leadership, Work and Career

Download the App on iTunes: Success by John Eckberg – iCrysta

Thank you John for continuing to inspire others toward greatness!

Jacob S Paulsen

How You Lose Fans and Followers on Facebook & Twitter

By Jacob S Paulsen on April 14, 2011 in Marketing, Online

I subscribe to the blog of Matt McGee, a search engine optimization expert of keeps a great blog for small business owners. Today I stumbled upon some research that he shared a little while ago about the reasons why consumers unfollow and unlike businesses on Twitter and Facebook. I think this is very insightful information. I have the tendency to run the risk of upsetting my followers because I’m an automation geek. My style of marketing is bent around putting things on auto-pilot and leveraging as many tools as possible. When it comes to social media that really can’t work. Its crucial to every organization to remember that a commitment to social media is a commitment to engaging and socializing with customers.