The story goes that Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister and wartime leader rose to the top despite having no formal qualifications at all. This was not a good move on my part when talking to my parents about what I wanted to do with my life and how school didn’t matter. It was a good line nevertheless, but it failed to recognise that his family had money and connections that no doubt assisted him on his way. But it doesn’t account for the fact that there was a time prior to 1940, when he became Prime Minister, that he was a nobody politically. He’d been to war himself, but his overall perception was that of someone who wasn’t likely to achieve the highest office in the land. That he did, is almost as amazing as the subsequent story of his career and his inspirational lead of Britain during some of its darkest days.
I only mention this because there is a perception that qualifications are everything. Parents push children to do better than they did at school, with the hope that they can then do the same for theirs. And in this pushy world the currency is exam grades. Exam grades are everything, and the harsh reality is most will not get the highest grades possible. Most of us (me included) will never see an A-grade in any subject that they take. It’s only the brightest and most able that will achieve this, but this is to ignore the vast majority of the schooling population.It’s tough being an average schooler. You’re in the middle, not getting any attention from your educator. The brightest are paraded as shining examples, and the ones that struggle get extra attention so as to bump up the schools rating in the exam lists. The ones in the middle who get on with school never get a look in, and despair that they won’t get any support when they need it.

The recurring theme of this book is that by focussing on exam grades, you do not necessarily get success. Success is a more rounded result that requires lots of practice, dedication and doesn’t mean that you are the best in the class. If that were the case, many of our big companies wouldn’t exist. Business founders have a dream, and build their vision and skills  but they are not always the elite of their classes. Some visions have to be had by people that are not conditioned by the qualification regime.

How to prosper is a very important book in that it confirms that there are different ways to success, and being top of the class is not always the best way.

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There are many, many books in the marketplace about starting a business. There are books on how to raise captial, how to make sure that your idea is viable and how to fill in all of the forms you need to incorporate a company so that it has legal footing. Yet, the idea floated by this latest book is an interesting one. How do you take a concept and grind through all the fundamentals issues with that concept, and end up with a business that works – over a period of little more than a weekend.
“Startup Weekend – How to take a company from concept to creation in 54 hours” is such a book, and itself has an interesting genesis. This is not a prescriptive book that gives you all the steps that you need to start a business. What there is, is a book telling you that if you have a set of people with a can-do proactive attitude, the progress that you can make in creating a business is rapid.

Reading this book, it seems as though it is in places an advert for practical ‘Startup Weekends’ rather than a serious business book, and this can distract from those that expect it. Nevertheless, if you can filter out those bits of the book that relate to events, and focus on what the participants are trying to achieve there is good value to be had.

The ‘Startup Weekend’ concept has only been tried a few times, with participants attending to achieve the goal of setting up a viable business. It is noticeable that it is proud of this fact, and this is to the books credit. However, this book is weighed down by the lack of objective goals that the reader can take away and practice. Some, such as “The Magic of 60 Seconds” provide the reader with an effective way to pitch ideas to a potential investor. It would have been better to pepper the book with more nuggets such as this.

Overall I found this book to be not what I expected. I would like to see a further issue that would slightly change focus into a prescriptive checklist over a similar time period. I am not sure how that would work, considering that some of the processes are external and can be (relatively) slow to conclude – such as company formation and all of the legal documents that need to be signed. It would be interesting if it was physically possible to put all the aspects described in “Startup Weekend” to the test, and to see if it was possible to do all that this book says in 54 hours.

In the meantime, this book is a powerful and valuable lesson in what can be achieved if you put the right people in the same room, with the intent of achieving a single goal. Startup business may never be the same again.

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In a knowledge-based economy it is not just what you can make that will provide income, it is also what you know. With the arrival of the internet to the mainstream over the last decade or so the opportunities to capitalise on this ideology have multiplied. It is now possible to sell products to people via the internet that couldn’t exist in the physical world. It is this possibilty, as well as harnessing the power of the internet to sell physical products that make life in the 21st Century incredibly exciting.
Cresta Norris’s book “Blog, Podcast, Google, Sell” has been written to show the reader how straightforward it can be to exist online and make some money out of it. With the book split up into four main sections, the reader is taken through from the basics of dealing on the internet, to more sophisticated techniques to get the best out of your efforts.

This is a book that you can’t skim read. There is so much information, you have to slow down and digest what Cresta Norris is trying to tell you. It is worth the effort though. With its structured approach it is easy for the reader to understand what is being suggested.

This book doesn’t skimp on the many different ways to get your message out. With quality content that makes a difference, you can choose from blogging, podcasting, twittering and many more ways. “Blog, Podcast, Google, Sell” provides the choices of how to create your content, but also the method of online delivery.

The key, it seems to a successful online presence is not just the content but the many ways that you can promote and provide this. This book has it all. If you’re having problems getting your message out, then this book will transform your online existence.

 

Applications, or “Apps” are big business. There doesn’t seem to be a piece of the marketplace that isn’t covered by one, either for your iPhone, your Android smartphone or for any other of the mobile operating systems. Money can be made using these little programs, but how?

“The Small Business Guide to Apps” by David Howell attempts to answer this question in an ebook from the Brightword Publishing house. It doesn’t tell you how to write an app, but looks at the economics and the reasons why your business might need one.

Included in this guide is a short history of the App and how different platforms (iOs, Android, Palm, Blackberry, Windows) have coped with different approaches to the same problem, namely ‘Do we need an App for that?’.

The key message that comes from this book is that it is not clear-cut. Whilst an App might seem like a cheap way of locking your customers into a  particular brand or product, the better ones have been developed properly. And that costs money. It is always important to ensure that the costs of developing an App do not exceed the benefits that this will give to the company.

With the usual high Brightword Publishing standards present, this is a competent and highly usable ebook. There are practical examples of App development from people who have done it, as well as a handy resources page (with links throughout the book as well) for those of us who think we’d like a go. One slight ommission is that there is no place for Symbian, Nokia’s discarded operating system. Although this has recently been replaced by Windows, it is a shame to lock out a system that is still in widespread use. Having said that, the principles in this book apply readily to Symbian as to the other OS mentioned.

If you are serious about developing an App for your business, then this is a good, solid introduction to the subject and something that should be on all would-be developers reading list.

 

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