Book Details
Title: Permission Marketing
Author: Seth Godin
Page Count: 256
First Published: 1999

Many of the big companies will stick to their knitting and remain faithful to the marketing methods that got them where they are today. This creates mammoth opportunities for new companies, for companies with nothing to lose, for companies with the flexibility and initiative to try a very different way of gaining and keeping customers.

Seth Godin, if you haven’t heard, is a marketing master. He’s written eleven books on the subject, runs the most popular marketing blog in the world, and for years has provided insight and depth to a continuously evolving realm of business. At the time of this book’s printing, Seth’s company Yoyodyne, the first internet-marketing company, was acquired by Yahoo. In 2006 Godin launched Squidoo, the 240th most popular website on the Internet and in 2008 he spearheaded a six-month alternative MBA program for 9 participants. Seth Godin is smart and prolific, and if you’re interested in business certainly someone worth paying attention to.

Permission Marketing, one of his first books, was published in 1999 and provided a fresh look at how individuals and organizations can better approach potential customers.

Click here to receive the first four chapters of Permission Marketing (one-third of the book) for free!

What I Learned

The fundamental concept in Permission Marketing is this: instead of merely interrupting people with traditional advertisements and focusing on maximizing the number of customers you have, “ask permission” from people to market–develop a relationship with your customers and focus on their life-time value as participants in whatever message you are trying to spread.

Marketers today face a number of problems. Higher quality products make it harder for us to distinguish amongst brands, and advertising clutter makes us less and less willing to pay attention. When was the last time you really heard a radio commercial or read a magazine advertisement?

While traditional “interruption marketing” is about the moment, about hunting for customers, “permission marketing” is about the process, about farming for customers in the long-term. By being obvious and clear with your marketing, by giving away products/services for free and using promotions with relevant overlay, you become better positioned to “turn strangers into friends, friends into customers.”

Like all of Godin’s books, his concept isn’t particularly difficult to digest. Permission Marketing is a quick and interesting read, especially if you think about how far ahead of the game he was, talking about all this stuff over 10 years ago!

If you missed the link above, click here to receive the first four chapters for free.

Notable Quotations

Each of us is born with only a certain amount of time on this earth, and figuring out how to use it wisely is one of life’s primary activities. (p. 10)

Every idle moment you possess is seen by some business somewhere as an opportunity to interrupt you and demand more of your attention. (p.13)

The cost of making a first-rate TV commercial is actually far more, per minute, than that of producing a major Hollywood motion picture. (p.32)

Permission Marketers are totally obvious about their objectives with the consumer. They make it crystal clear what they will be doing with the data they collect and exactly why it’s beneficial to the consumer to give this data.

“Do you want fries with that?” are perhaps the six most profitable situational permission marketing words in history.

Every communication must be crafted with the goal of ensuring that it’s not the last one. (p. 142)

…testing works best when you assume nothing. (p. 237)

Miscellaneous Notes

-the current American education system is modeled after an Industrial Revolution-type assembly line

-the word “spam” (referring to junk e-mail) comes from a Monty Python sketch in which everything on the menu includes Spam

-in 1999…for $100, a marketer could buy 6 million pieces of email, addressed and delivered (yikes)

-Godin raves about Amazon.com [great example of a company focused on permission marketing]

-Godin refers to Microsoft.com having a horrible web design in 1999–check it out here

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

Book Details
Title: Deep Survival
Author: Laurence Gonzales
Page Count: 318
First Published: 2003

The principles apply to wilderness survival, but they also apply to any stressful, demanding situation, such as getting through a divorce, losing a job, surviving illness, recovering from an injury, or running a business in a rapidly changing world.

It was the summer of 2004, just outside of Aspen, Colorado in the Maroon Bells wilderness. Two friends and I were hiking the Four Pass Loop, a 25.4 mile trail that traverses four different mountain passes, each over 12,400 feet.

I’m no stranger to the outdoors. I was suitably apt for the challenge. My friends Brandon and Perry, both accomplished hikers, were right there with me. We had plotted and scouted out the hike beforehand, deciding to spend an extra day attempting to summit Snowmass Mountain, at 14,092 feet Colorado’s 34th highest peak.

In the summer, in Colorado’s mountains, the middle of the afternoon is the most likely time for the orographic lifting of warm, moist air. If you find yourself above treeline (11-12,000 feet) in the afternoon, you can expect storms. Quick-moving, wild and violent storms. It’s remarkably predictable.

The altitude made us sluggish and lethargic. We had neither a turnaround time nor backup plan. We underestimated how difficult and technical the ascent and descent would be. By the time we reached the summit, it was just before noon–clouds were rolling in. The sky, deep gray, ripped open. Rain and hail and snow, all at once. Lightning flashes and subsequent crackles.

As we scrambled down the other side of the mountain, I slipped. Luckily my 50lb backpack wedged itself into some rocks, so I only rolled about 15ft. My knees and arms were bloody, my adrenal glands operating at full capacity. It was only at that moment, staring at the red streaks on my limbs, the mixed precipitation still crashing down, that I realized–I could have died. This could have..been it.

After that experience, I never thought about survival the same way again. I understood how quickly one can be thrust into another environment.

##

In his book Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales explores survival–why is it that only 10-20% of people can stay calm and collected in the midst of a survival emergency? He interviews F-18 Hornet fighter pilots, cites drowning statistics in Hawaii and mentions a Japanese Imperial Army sergeant (Shoici Yokoi) who lived in the jungle, by himself, for 28 years before being told that World War II was over.

It’s a quick and entertaining read, a personal tale about the author’s relationship with fear and survival. Ultimately, Gonzales explains, a deep knowledge of the world around us is the best survival out there. “In certain kinds of systems,” he writes, “large accidents, though rare, are both inevitable and normal. The accidents are a characteristic of the system itself.”

What I Learned

I learned that when a decision to act must be made instantly, it is made through a system of emotional bookmarks. In nature, in business, in relationships–we all have to make tough decisions. It’s important to understand how the brain, the only organ with no clear function, Gonzales explains, processes these decisions. How to slow your thoughts down and make an intellectual and emotionally rational decision.

Psychologists who study survivors–of shipwrecks, plane crashes, prison camps, you name it–conclude that the most successful survivors are those open to the changing nature of their environment. Be flexible. Laugh. Stay curious and interested in what’s happening around you.

Would I recommend this book to you all? Absolutely. It’s full of unique tales of survival, and Gonzales is quite good at explaining the science behind the stories.

Notable Quotations

Survival is a continuous spiritual and physical act that spans a lifetime…nothing can truly be said to happen by chance, which is just a word we invented to explain the troublesome boundary between order and chaos.

There is evidence that laughter can send chemical signals to actively inhibit the firing of nerves in the amygdala, thereby dampening fear. Laughter, then, can help to temper negative emotions.

Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a “beginner’s mountain.” It’s a concept that doesn’t work, like beginner sex.

Psychologists who study the behavior of people who get lose report that very few ever backtrack.

Miscellaneous Notes

-U.S. Army Ranger School is INTENSE—we’re talking eight weeks, 3.5 hours of sleep a night, eating only 2,200 calories a day on average

-St. Elmo’s fire: sailor term for when the negatively charged lower portion of a thunderstorm attracts a positive charge from the Earth as it moves over it. Anytime that charge reaches anything that can conduct electricity, such as a person, it moves up through the person and creates what’s known as a corona discharge (called “buzzing”)

-Risk homeostasis—people tend to keep the risk they are willing to take at about the same level; if the conditions are perceived as less risky, the person will take more risk, and if the conditions more risky, less risk is taken. [example: when antilock brakes were introduced it lead to an increase in traffic accidents!]

-Case study in not updating your mental model—Xerox. It ignored cues from a changing world and from inside its own Palo Alto research facility, nearly destroying itself in the process.

-Add “survival school” to my bucket list!
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

Book Details
Title: The 4-Hour Workweek
Author: Timothy Ferriss
Page Count: 308
First Published: 2007

People can’t believe that most of the ultrasuccessful companies in the world do not manufacture their own products, answer their own phones, ship their own products, or service their own customers.

I was happy to see this book on the PMBA list. Not only had I read it a couple of years ago through the recommendation of a friend, but I also remember liking it. A lot. It’s fun to reread a book you like.

The 4-Hour Workweek, broadly speaking, is about lifestyle design. What is lifestyle design? It’s a “quiet subculture of people…who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility.”

A powerful philosophy if you think about it. People optimizing their lives through two tactics; 1) clever application of technology and 2) strict discipline. Tim Ferriss guides us through this discipline in chapters brimming with detail. Personal experiences and case-studies reveal strategies that Tim and others have used to generate income and free up time, strategies like geo-arbitrage, the 80/20 principle and keeping a low-information diet. If you’re interested in lifestyle design, they say that The 4-Hour Workweek is your bible. Would I recommend it to everyone? No, probably not. But if you’re like me and interested in pursuing an unconventional and exciting lifestyle, this book is a good exercise in lateral thinking.

Read For Free: Introduction to The 4-Hour Workweek

What I Learned

This book is chock-full of wisdom. Sweeping philosophies like, “the opposite of happiness is…boredom,” and calculated strategies like “How to Get $700,000 of Advertising for $10,000.” The most important lesson I took from reading this book, though, is this: anything can be measured/tracked/analyzed. If you have a goal, for example, of improving your health, you can quantify it. Does good health mean being able to run six miles without stopping? Does it mean bench pressing your own weight? Anything can be deconstructed into small, quantifiable tasks, whether its improving your own health or building an international business.

Notable Quotations

Retirement planning is like life insurance. It should be viewed as nothing more than a hedge against the absolute worst-case scenario: in this case, becoming physically incapable of working and needing a reservoir of capital to survive.

Lifestyle Design is thus not interested in creating an excess of idle time, which is poisonous, but the positive use of free time, defined simply as doing what you want as opposed to what you feel obligated to do.

The most important actions are never comfortable…To have an uncommon lifestyle, you need to develop the uncommon habit of making decision, both for yourself and for others.

Principle number one is to refine rules and processes before adding people. Using people to leverage a refined process multiplies the production; using people as a solution to a poor process multiplies problems.

Miscellaneous Notes

-step outside your comfort zone every once in a while (comfort challenges on pg. 60,81,89,109,137, etc.)

-explore drop-shipping relationships with manufacturers

-can anything in your life be delegated to virtual assistant? think outside the box, technology makes almost anything possible

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

Book Details
Title: On Writing Well
Author: William Zinsser
Page Count: 308
First Published: 1976

But all of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. They are driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don’t just write what comes naturally. they sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write. The problem is to find the real man or woman behind the tension.

If you want to learn how to write with precision and purpose, with warmth and humanity, then William Zinsser is your man. A long-time writer, editor and teacher, Zinsser has put together a volume of clear and fundamental principles for all kinds of writing—from travel and science to business and sports.

“The essence of writing,” he explains early in the book, “is rewriting.” It took Henry David Thoreau eight years and seven drafts to finish Walden. Now, after having read this book, I have a better understanding of Thoreau’s passionate commitment to the written word. Learning how to write effectively is damn hard work.

Zinsser preaches that in order to refine your writing, you must know 1) what the essential tools are and 2) what they are designed to do. Master the techniques, grammar and vocabulary and then develop a voice and express your personality. Easier said than done, right? Aside from the specific technical advice he provides—the difference between “that” and “which,” for example—Zinsser teaches us the tools and how to use them, how to dissect paragraphs and sentences with meticulous logic.

What I Learned

I learned that most adverbs are unnecessary, that travel writing is often full of “syrupy words” and “groaning platitudes” and that good writing should be lean and confident. I learned to think about sound and alliteration and rhythm and why one might choose to use “tranquil” over “serene.” I also learned that the English language has a vast supply of vibrant vocabulary—fresh and odd words that, if used appropriately, can leave the reader buzzing for more. Words like “coax” and “gumption” and “swagger.”

I paid particular attention to Zinserr’s travel-writing advice. How to look for inspiration everywhere—on billboards, menus and signs, in the local paper and on television. The most important aspect of travel-writing, Zinsser preaches, is to isolate the qualities of a place that make it distinctive. Even if it seems like everyone else has written about a particular place—because they have—there’s always room for your voice, your experience, your way of filtering and interpreting the world around you. Find that voice and sing.

Notable Quotations

Anybody who can think clearly can write clearly, about any subject at all.

…the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.

If you’re not a person who says “indeed” or “moreover,” or who calls someone an individual (“he’s a fine individual”), please don’t write it.

You’ll never make your mark as a writer unless you develop a respect for words and a curiosity about their shades of meaning that is almost obsessive. The English language is rich in strong and supple words. Take the time to root around and find the ones you want.

…you should always collect more material than you will use. Every article is strong in proportion to the surplus of details from which you can choose the few that will serve you best.

Many people assume that professional writers don’t need to rewrite; the words just fall into place. On the contrary, careful writers can’t stop fiddling.

Don’t alter your voice to fit your subject. Develop one voice that readers will recognize when they hear it on the page, a voice that’s enjoyable not only in its musical line but in its avoidance of sounds that would cheapen its tone: breeziness and condescension and clichés.

Miscellaneous Notes

-it’s OK to imitate; all great writers are also great readers

-when travel-writing, keep a tight rein on my subjective self; avoid clichés and generalizations!

Have you read this book or any other books on how to write more effectively? What are your thoughts?

Book Details

Title: The 80/20 Principle
Author: Richard Koch
Page Count: 269
First Published: 1998

Most people fall into one or more of the following traps. They spend a lot of time with people they do not much like. They do jobs they are not enthusiastic about. They use up most of their “free time” (incidentally an anti-hedonistic concept) on activities they do not greatly enjoy.

The 80/20 Principle, which seeks to tackle the inefficiencies mentioned above, can be traced back to the work of a 19th century Italian economist. Vilfredo Pareto, in his analysis of income and wealth, discovered a unique imbalance in the distribution of English wealth—namely that most of it (~80%) was concentrated amongst a small number (~20%) of households. Once he started looking at data from other countries and in other time periods, he found the same mathematical imbalance to be quite predictable.

Today, Pareto’s theory is commonplace, and this book unravels its various applications. The key idea is that there is an inbalance between causes/inputs/effort and results/outputs/rewards. It’s a quick read, and while I would recommend it to anyone interested in business, I would also recommend it to anyone interested in personal productivity. It’s amazing, in just a few pages, how I started to think differently about all of the inefficiencies in my life.

What I Learned

My biggest takeaway: that most people need a “time revolution.” It’s not that we’re short on time (did you know time management is $1 billion industry?). It’s the way we treat it, the way that most of us don’t use our time effectively. By better exploring our productive inertia—how am I functioning in the 20% of time when I am most effective?—we can better adapt our lifestyle to become more effective users of time.

Examples of The 80/20 Principle

In business:
20% of products account for 80% of sales.
20% of customers account for 80% of profits.

In society:
20% of motorists cause 80% of accidents.
20% who marry comprise 80% of divorcees.

At home:
20% of clothes will be worn 80% of the time.
80% of the television you watch will be among 20% of the channels.

What other examples can you come up with?

Notable Quotations

Ultimately, the information revolution will help to destroy the profession of management itself, thus enabling much greater direct value creation by “doers” in corporations for their key customers.

Business people seem to love complexity. No sooner is a simple business successful than its managers pour vast amounts of energy into making it very much more complicated.

…not many decisions are very important.

The scope for entrepreneurial arbitrage is always underestimated.

It is very difficult to make good use of your time if you don’t control it…The point is to choose your partners and obligations extremely selectively and with great care.

It is not enough to know a lot about a little. You have to know more than anybody else, at least in something. Do not stop improving your expertise until you are sure you know more, and are better in your niche, than anybody else.

Miscellaneous Notes

-when reading non-fiction books, especially in the PMBA series, concentrate on 20% of the most important facts and skim through the remaining 80%

-80/20 wisdom suggests that 80% of investment wealth comes from 20% of one’s allocated investments—not sure how comfortable I am with embracing this attitude, but worth thinking about

-really annoyed with the author after he mentioned, for the third time, that this was the first book about the 80/20 Principle…who cares? he should let the book speak for itself

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?