Geek Book Reviews

Christian Common Cents - My New Blog

2010-03-15T22:28:00.002-05:00

I'm launching a new blog today called Christian Common Cents. As part of the launch I am giving away 3 copies of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Check out the giveaway here and sign up for a chance to win.

Customers Now: Profiting From the New Frontier of Content-Based Internet Advertising by David Szetela

2010-03-01T20:21:00.007-06:00

Customers Now is a book about content based advertising. Content based advertising is quite a bit different than search based advertising, and most people don't take that into account. Many write it off because they are getting the results that they'd like, but they aren't doing it right. There is a big difference between search and content, yet people use the same ads for both campaigns. There are several key points to Customers Now, but I think that this is the biggest, "Remember that content-based advertising is creating demand and finding customers." Search advertising is based on getting people who already know they want what you are selling. Content advertising letting people know you exist, and showing them that you have something they want or need.

Content advertising is about finding NEW customers. Television advertising works because people see things over and over. It gets embedded in your mind. They say you have to see something 7 times to really be reached. That is what content advertising is. It is getting seen by your future customers.

I won't give away the specific details, but David goes in depth on the differences between search ads and content ads as well as step by step instructions on how to create a good content campaign. He points out what is a good ad, and what is a bad one. He also describes how to find the specific keywords and websites to target. He really opened my eyes as to the possibilities of content advertising. Up until this point I had mostly written it off. I find out now it is because I was doing it all wrong. If you are looking to get into content advertising or if you had previously written it off like me, I'd suggest checking out Customers Now.

If you want the dead tree version you can get Customers Now from Amazon. If you're ok with the pdf ebook version you can get it free here. For more information check out his squidoo page.

How Successful People Think by John Maxwell

2010-02-25T19:45:00.008-06:00

How Successful People Think by John Maxwell is a nice quick read. It is only 124 pages so it can be all be taken in pretty easily. The book is made up of eleven chapters that focus on the keys to effective thinking. They are:

Cultivate Big-Picture Thinking

Engage In Focused Thinking

Harness Creative Thinking

Employ Realistic Thinking

Utilize Strategic Thinking

Explore Possibility Thinking

Learn From Reflective Thinking

Question Popular Thinking

Benefit From Shared Thinking

Practice Unselfish Thinking

Rely On Bottom-Line Thinking I won't go in depth on all of these topics but I want to talk about a few things he says in the book. He starts off the introduction with this:

Good thinkers are always in demand. A person who knows how may always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be his boss. Good thinkers solve problems, they never lack ideas that can build an organization, and they always have hope for a better future.

This is very similar to the ideas I talked about in my review of Linchpin by Seth Godin. People have to start thinking outside of the box if they want to be successful. Just fitting in will not work in our current society. How Successful People Think teaches people how to think differently and think the way successful people do.

One of my favorite chapters was the Benefit of Shared Thinking. It is cliche, but two heads are better than one. You may be good at a lot of things, but you don't know everything and there is always someone you can learn from. I would recommend spending as much time as possible talking to people who are more successful than you are. That is something I learned from Dave Ramsey. He said when he was trying to learn how to be successful with money he took as many millionaires out to lunch as he could. Now that he's a millionaire, he said he has started taking billionaires out to lunch. If you want to run your own business, go to lunch with every CEO who is willing and learn all that you can.

If you want to become a better thinker I recommend you check out the rest of How Successful People Think on Amazon. It has a lot of easily actionable ways of becoming a better thinker.

Make Money Blogging by Daniel Scocco

2010-02-16T21:10:00.003-06:00

Make Money Blogging is a great little ebook I recently read by Daniel Scocco from Daily Blog Tips. I really enjoyed the book because it covered much more than just making money with blogs. If you are just starting out it will give you a roadmap of what you need to do to get your blog running. If you are an experienced blogger it will give some new tips and remind you of all the old things you have forgotten to do lately.

The book covers five main areas: Content, Design & Usability, Networking, Promotion and Monetization. I really like that he saved monetization for last, as it is really pointless to consider making money from a blog without doing the other steps first.

Content Content is always the most important thing to a blog. If you don't have good content there is no reason for anyone to visit your blog. If you don't post on a regular basis, there is no reason for anyone to come back. In this section of the book Daniel gives some great suggestions on content creation, posting frequency, and the ever important headline.

Design & Usability The design of a blog is also very key. There are many possible actions that you will want your visitors to take, but if you try for all of them it will make your blog too cluttered. The end result is that they will just leave and not take any action. His key for this section is to focus on a small number of things and reflect that in your design. Personally I value subscribers over anything else and my design reflects that. Look at the sidebar to the right and you will notice the RSS and email subscriptions are the focus. (This is the part where I suggest you subscribe if you enjoy books.)

Networking Networking is a key part of blogging. You can't succeed on the internet being a loner. You also have to be genuine. Creating real relationships will be very rewarding over the course of your blogging career. Do not go at this looking for what others can do for you. People will see through it and ultimately it just won't work.

Promotion Unfortunately writing great content isn't enough for a successful blog. If you never let anyone know that it exists nobody will ever read it. Self promotion can be very difficult for some people, but it is something that you have to do to a certain extent. This is where the networking can come in handy. If you have made real relationships, those people will be happy to help you with promotion when have a really great post you want to share. Notice how everything needs to work together to be really successful.

Monetization Monetization is last because without the other pieces it isn't possible. The real key to Make Money Blogging is that you have to have good content and lots of traffic. Once you have those in place it is much easier to make money. In this section Daniel shares tips for several different monetization methods including google adsense, direct sponsorships, affiliate marketing and a few others. The tips are good for someone who is new to the idea of making money with a blog, but probably nothing earth shattering if you are familiar with the concept.

Overall I enjoyed Make Money Blogging and I would recommend it specifically to anyone new to blogging whether they want to make money with their blog or not.

Rich Dad's Guide To Investing

2010-02-14T22:10:00.001-06:00

Rich Dad's Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki was an interesting take on business and investing. While there are certainly things that can be taken away from it, the book overall is not as well written as I would like. He tended to ramble at times, and he repeated himself way too much. I felt as though the 400 or so pages could have been cut in half. That being said it was still an easy read for me including many interesting anecdotes from his relationship with his "Rich Dad."

While the book claims to be about investing, a large portion of it is dedicated to comparing being an employee to owning a business. He makes it clear that he thinks the only way to get truly rich is to own your own business. While he doesn't give many specifics as to how go about doing this, he does provide a lot of motivation for prospective entrepreneurs. He also goes into great detail on what he believes are the advantages of creating a business. Many of them include the way tax law treats businesses and individuals differently and some of the advantages that can be gained by investing as a business.

There are some great tidbits that can be found if look for them as you go through the book. Here is one that applies for anyone hoping to start their own business, "Rule number one in becoming an entrepreneur is to never take a job for money. Take a job only for the long-term skills you will learn." This I think is great advice for someone who wants to run their own business.

In general, money is ultimately never enough of a reason to do something. You will be much happier if you are doing something you love. For someone who wants to run their own business this is especially true. Take a job that will teach you something or give you the opportunity to work with someone you can learn a business from. In Robert's personal experience he took a job with Xerox in sales because they had the best sales training program at the time. This is the type of thing people should consider when choosing a new job.

While it didn't quite give me what I expected as far as learning about investing, Rich Dad's Guide to Investing was an interesting if long read. It was also good as a motivational book for someone looking to start a business at some point.

Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

2010-02-11T21:07:00.005-06:00

Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey was really a life changing book for me when I first read it 2 years ago. I've since read it about half a dozen times and each time I learn something new and get inspired all over again. If you don't already know, Dave Ramsey teaches about getting out of debt. He has what he calls his 7 "Baby Steps." In The Total Money Makeover he goes over those steps from getting out of debt to building wealth.

1. $1000 Emergency Fund
The first step is to build a one thousand dollar emergency fund. You have to stop using credit when things go wrong so the first step is to get a small cushion between yourself and the world.

2. Get out of Debt
The second step is to get out all of your debt except for your house. Pay off car loans, college loans, credit card debt, and anyone else you owe money. Dave’s method is to start with the smallest debt and move up. He calls it the Debt Snowball. If you do this, you quickly get positive reinforcement to help keep you motivated. Each debt you pay off also frees up more money each month to pay down the next debt.

3. 3 to 6 Month Emergency Fund
The next step is to save up 3 to 6 months worth of expenses. This will give you a bigger cushion from the world, and give you some peace of mind. If you have 6 months of expenses saved losing your job doesn't have to be as scary as it is now.

4. Retirement
Dave suggests putting 15% of your gross pay into Roth IRA’s and 401k’s. Don't start this until after you are out of debt and have an emergency fund. Those are too important to wait.

5. Kid’s College
If you have kids or are planning to have kids, this is the point where you need to start saving for their college. If you don’t, you can move on to step 6, which is…

6. Pay off the Mortgage
Next pay it off the house as fast as you can. This doesn't have to take 30 years. The average for people following Dave's plan is about 7 years. Just think how much freer you would feel with six months of expenses in the bank and no mortgage payments.

7. Spend, Save, Give
Dave says money is for 3 things. It is for having fun, building wealth, and giving away. When you get to this step you can start to build real wealth and be very generous.

I would highly suggest heading to Amazon and picking up a copy of Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover if you don't have one yet.

Linchpin by Seth Godin

2010-02-09T20:15:00.000-06:00

"People follow because they want to, not because you can order them to." This is the essence of leadership, and the essence of Seth Godin's new book Linchpin. The linchpin is not who they are because of their title, they are the linchpin because they have made themselves indispensable. They aren't the boss, but they certainly aren't another cog in the machine. And they are not easily replaceable.

Our economy changed significantly about 100 years ago to a society of mass production factories. We went from everyone owning their own business to everyone working in a factory. Today we are moving out of production jobs, but not out of factory jobs. Everywhere you turn companies act like a factory, whether it be McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, or your job. Face it, most work has turned to factory work. Companies like this, or at least they think they do, because you have become easily replaceable. Our school systems train us for this from the beginning. It is the reality we live in.

We liked these factories for a long time. You found a job and stayed there for thirty years. The company then took care of you in retirement for the rest of your life. Unfortunately somewhere along the way we got greedy and lazy. We decided we were ok with mediocre work and being replaceable cogs in the machine of business. That's when GM stopped being successful and foreign companies starting beating us. The rules have changed.

In today's society where people are trained to be cogs you have think differently to be a linchpin. The cog wants to keep his head down, follow instructions, and show up on time. The linchpin is remarkable, makes judgment calls, and connects people and ideas. The linchpin is the guy who goes out of his way to do what needs to be done. If there is task not being completed, go and do it. Whether that is helping on a project that needs finished yesterday or taking out the trash. Linchpins are the people the boss goes to when he doesn't know who can get the job done. He knows his linchpin can do it.

The linchpin makes their job better, because they change their own job description. They don't wait for the promotion to do better work, they do it because they that is what makes them tick. I'm not talking about being a workaholic, I'm talking about the waitress at that restaurant you go to just because she is there and serves you well. She is a linchpin.

Check out Seth Godin's Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? for more on what he thinks a linchpin is. Then go ahead and become one if you aren't yet. You'll be glad you did.