Networking Insight

Book Review: Wild West 2.0 by Michael Fertik & David Thompson

Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier was written by Michael Fertik and David Thompson. Michael is the founder and CEO of ReputationDefender, the world’s first comprehensive online reputation management and privacy company. He has appeared on TV shows such as Dr. Phil, the Today Show, Good Morning America, and 20/20, has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, USA Today, and Forbes. David Thompson is general counsel and Chief Privacy Officer of ReputationDefender. He founded his first Internet business in 1997 and advises seed-stage startups.

The book discusses the free-for-all environment of the Internet in which the usual rules don’t apply. The Internet, like the Wild West, doesn’t have any law enforcement to stop someone from defaming your character. In fact, very few social conventions exist to prevent this from happening and nothing exists to remove smears from the Web. All it takes is one disgruntled person to do damage to your reputation.

The book:

• Draws intriguing parallels between the Internet’s culture of expansion, speculation, and lawlessness and the gold rush mentality of the Old West frontier.

• Uncovers hair-raising stories of attacks made under a cloak of anonymity.

• Reveals new threat, including websites that broadcast your phone number, political contributions, family history, and more.

• Provides tips for locating every reference to you or your business in blogs, forums, and social networking sites.

• Supplies a plan to defend yourself now by preemptively creating layers of truthful online content.

• Shares the professional secrets of reputation repair, ranging from quick fixes for minor problems to massive rebuilding after calculated attacks.

The book is divided up into the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Welcome to the New Digital Frontier

Chapter 2: Your Online Reputation is Your Reputation

Chapter 3: The Internet is the New Wild West

Chapter 4: The Forces Driving Online Reputation

Chapter 5: Anonymous Cowards

Chapter 6: Google Gone Wild: The Digital Threat to Reputation

Chapter 7: Why People Attack Each Other Online

Chapter 8: Types of Internet Attacks

Chapter 9: How to Measure Damage to Your Internet Reputation

Chapter 10: Your Reputation Road Map and Online Reputation Audit

Chapter 11: Getting Proactive: The Best Defense is a Good Offense

Chapter 12: Recovering from Online Smears: Restoring Your Reputation After the Damage Has Been Done

Chapter 13: Protect Your Small Business and Your Professional Reputation

As you can see, the book offers a wealth of knowledge about how to manage your online reputation.   Your reputation is everything and is extremely important for your personal and business brand. Without a good reputation, it will be difficult to build relationships and generate business. Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier is your guide for navigating your online reputation.

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Book Review: Marketing in the Moment by Michael Tasner

Marketing in the Moment: The Practical Guide to Using Web 3.0 Marketing to Reach Your Customers First was written by Michael Tasner who is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and charity advocate who helps people achieve their dreams in life and goals in business. In 2000, he founded Taz Solutions, which he has built into a leading Web marketing firm with more than 100 contractors involved in all areas of online/Internet marketing strategy, marketing, and web site design.

Tasner’s book is a guide to the explosion in Web, mobile, and social media marketing channels. With all of the tools out there now, it is hard to figure out which ones work.  With this book, the author explores the various options and provides a practical action plan so your firm can use the tools the most effective way.  We are transitioning from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, which is the rise of a more intelligent web through factors such as browsing habits, customized information, mobility, microblogging, and on-demand collaboration.

The book is divided up into the following chapters:

Chapter 1: The Mindset Shift: From Web 2.0 to Web 3.0

Chapter 2: Are You Ready for Web 3.0 Marketing?

Chapter 3: Content Marketing: Understanding and Capitalizing on the Drastic Shift Taking Place

Chapter 4: Mobile Marketing: Tapping Into Billions of Cellphone Users

Chapter 5: Virtual Reality Worlds: The Hows and Whys of This Unique Marketing Universe

Chapter 6: Video Marketing: Taking Video to the Next Level

Chapter 7: Web Applications: How to Effectively Use Apps in Your Marketing

Chapter 8: Open-Source Code: How to Find and Use Others’ Hard Work for Maximum Impact

Chapter 9: Collaboration: Connecting and Sharing Data Lightning-Speed Paces

Chapter 10: Web 3.0 Companies

Chapter 11: Your Action Plan: Putting It All Together and Taking Action

As you can see, the author explores all of the various methods that are used today by businesses and individuals. In order to fully maximize the web’s marketing power, the author encourages you to be utilizing all of these options.  By doing so, you will be ahead of your competition and other marketing professionals.

Throughout the book, the author provides checklists, to dos, case studies, and tips.  By organizing the book in this manner, you have a good guide as to what works and how to implement it fairly quickly.

For a good overview and hands on guide to the new marketing tools on the Web, Marketing in the Moment: The Practical Guide to Using Web 3.0 Marketing to Reach Your Customers First is worth the read.

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Book Review: No Excuses! By Brian Tracy

No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline was written by Brian Tracy who is a New York Times bestselling author of Eat that Frog!  Brian has been interviewed by CNN, The Today Show, Time, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and many other news outlets. Prior to founding his company, Brian Tracy International, Brian was the Chief Operating Officer of a $265 million dollar development company. He has traveled and worked in over 80 countries on six continents, consulted to more than 1,000 firms, given motivational speeches and seminars to more than 4 million people, and written 45 books.

Tracy’s book is about self-discipline, which he learned firsthand. He didn’t graduate high-school and after starting his career as a laborer, he realized that he was limited.  By focusing on the power of self-discipline, he was able to change his life and achieve much success. 

Tracy writes the book in a refreshing and easy to learn approach. Each chapter is short and ends with action items. The book shows you how you can achieve success in all three major areas of your life: personal goals, business and money goals, and overall happiness.

The book is like having a one-on-one coaching session with Tracy. Below are a few of the items that you will learn throughout the 21 chapters about self-discipline:

• Establish your true purposes in life and make them realities
• Examine your career and excel in that profession
• Increase your savings
• Overcome anger issues
• Conquer weight problems once and for all
• Become an expert time manager
• Foster deeper, long-lasting relationships with your spouse, family, and friends
• Grow spiritually
• Deal with fear
• Work through problems in your life

For an easy read that could change your life, pick up a copy of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline.

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Book Review: Happiness at Work by Srikuma Rao

Happiness at Work: Be Resilient, Motivated, and Successful - No Matter What was written by Srikumar Rao who created the course “Creativity and Personal Mastery”, which has helped to transform the lives of students and executives at many leading schools and corporations. He has taught at Colombia Business School, London Business School, Kellogg School of Management, and Haas School of Business at UCLA. In addition, he has spoken to and conducted workshops for firms such as General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Google, and Microsoft. 

In this book, the author shares his teachings at some of the world’s most prestigious business schools. The underlying message in the book is that “happiness works” for everything that you do in your personal and business life.

The book is broken up into 35 short chapters of lessons. Below are a few of these chapters:

• What you need is a paradigm shift
• Why positive thinking is bad for you
• Think your problem is managing time? It’s not!!!
• Why affirmations can actually hurt you
• How big is your pile?
• Is anything for real?
• What to do when fear strikes

Throughout the book, the author provides inspiring stories and thought provoking exercises drawn from ancient wisdom, world history, and business. By reading this book, you will learn how to reclaim your happiness and begin to create your vision for success. In this book, you will learn how to:

• Greet each day with a sense of purpose
• Commit intensely-and joyfully-to everything that you do
• Stop defining your life with “good” or “bad” labels
• Create your own miracles-no matter what life throws at you
• Attract positive people, energy, and actions into your universe

Happiness at Work: Be Resilient, Motivated, and Successful - No Matter What is easy to read since each chapter is short and very practical. By reading this book, you will come away with some new inspiration on how to lead a more successful life.

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Book Review: The Success Principles by Jack Canfield

The Success Principles(TM) was written by Jack Canfield who is the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, which includes 40 New York Times bestsellers, and co-author of You’ve Got to Read This Book! Jack is an internationally renowned corporate trainer, keynote speaker, and popular radio and TV talk show guest. 

In this inspiring book, Jack shares 64 principles that he’s studied, taught, and lived for more than 30 years.  Each principle consists of a short chapter that is easy to read and very practical.  Throughout the book, you will learn how to tackle daily changes, increase your confidence, live with passion and purpose, and reach your goals.

The book is broken up into the following major sections:

I. The Fundamentals of Success
II. Transform Yourself for Success
III. Build Your Success Team
IV. Create Successful Relationships
V. Success and Money
Vi. Success Starts Now

With each section, Jack shares various principles that will help you tackle each topic. Each section and principle builds upon itself so it is good to read all of the principles in order. Below are several principles that are discussed:

1. Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life
2. Experience Your Fear and Take Action Anyway
3. Keep Your Eye on the Prize
4. Embrace Change
5. Stay Focused on Your Core Genius
6. Hire a Personal Coach
7. Be Hear Now
8. Be a Class Act
9. Develop a Positive Money Consciousness
10. Find a Way to Serve
11. Empower Yourself by Empowering Others

Throughout the book, the author sprinkles in real-world stories of CEOs, world-class athletes, celebrities, and everyday people to illustrate his points and to motive the reader.   What you will read in this book can help you both in your personal and business life.  While The Success Principles(TM) is quite long at over 400 pages, it is very inspirational book and one that is worth reading more than once.

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Book Review: Creating Success from the Inside Out by Ephren Taylor

Creating Success from the Inside Out: Develop the Focus and Strategy to Uncover the Life You Want was written by Ephren Taylor who founded his first company at age 12, became a millionaire at age 16, and was the CEO of a public company by age 23. Currently, he runs City Capital Corporation, which builds affordable urban housing and produces biofuels through its subsidiary Goshen Energy Resources.

In this book, Ephren shares his inspiring story about entrepreneurship and the desire to succeed. He has accomplished so much by the age of 25, which is more than a lot of people accomplish their entire lives.  Taylor shares his success concepts and tools to help you reach your dreams.  His success came from solid values, principles, and the persistence of his desire to reach his goals.

Throughout the book, Taylor speaks to today’s youth and wants to inspire them to succeed and take control of their lives early on.  We all have excuses as to why we give up and quit. Through Taylor’s entrepreneurial spirit, he created opportunities for himself and didn’t listen to the naysayers. Below are a few ideas that you can take away from his book:

• Accept NO excuses and let nothing stand in the way of your dreams
• Get over your fears and self-doubt and choose success
• Develop the decisiveness and determination to achieve your goals
• Just say no to conventional wisdom
• Start a business as a tool to reach your dreams
• Find motivation in something other than money
• Achieve true and complete wealth by giving back to your community

By reading Creating Success from the Inside Out: Develop the Focus and Strategy to Uncover the Life You Want, you will be inspired by a young entrepreneur whose business acumen and life’s values go way beyond his years.  Taylor’s book is a good read for people of all ages who would like to re-evaluate their situation and need some motivation to move their dreams forward.

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Book Review: The Dip by Seth Godin

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) was written by Seth Godin who is also the bestselling author of Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Ideavirus, Purple Cow, Free Prize Inside!, All Marketers Are Liars, and Small is the New Big.  In addition, Seth is the editor of The Big Moo, and founder and CEO of Squidoo, and writes a popular business blog that can be found at www.sethgodin.com.

Like all of Godin’s books, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) is short and straight to the point. In this book, he explores how people can get into temporary setbacks with work or projects but can get out of them if they keep pushing. Successful people are able to get out of these dips by staying motivated and focused.

In fact, Godin says that “winners do quit and quitters do win”. It takes self-realization to know when to give up and try a new path. For winners, they work through the dip so the bigger the barrier the bigger the reward. On the other hand, losers don’t stick out the dip and just give up.

Godin’s book will help you figure out if you are actually in a dip and motivate you to get past it and become stronger. The book doesn’t really have any chapters but is broken out into the following two main sections:

•    Being the Best in the World is Seriously Underrated
•    If You’re Not Going to Get to #1, You Might as Well Quit Now

For a fun and easy read, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) delivers. The book can be read in just a couple of sittings because it is only 80 pages long.

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Book Review: Y-Size Your Business by Jason Ryan Dorsey

Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business was written by Jason Ryan Dorsey who is an award-winning entrepreneur and keynote speaker often referred to as “The Gen Y Guy”.  In addition, he has been featured as a Generation Y expert on shows such as 60 Minutes, 20/20, the Today Show, and The View.

The book is a result of Ryan’s work around the world with business leaders as a speaker, consultant, and generational expert. As a Gen Y member himself, Ryan provides an insider’s perspective on how this generation acts and thinks about their careers.

The book is broken up into the following chapters:
Chapter 1: Hiring Gen Y Makes Dollars and Sense
Chapter 2: Behind the Scenes (and Screen Names)
Chapter 3: Four Generations, One Workplace, Lots of Issues
Chapter 4: An Overview on How to Y-Size Your Business
Chapter 5: What Gen Y Really Looks for in a Job
Chapter 6: Attract Quality Gen Y Employees Faster than Free Pizza at 2 AM
Chapter 7: Day One Is All-Important
Chapter 8: Orientation: Confirming Our Fit within Your Culture
Chapter 9: Keep Gen Y Engaged @ Work
Chapter 10: Develop Gen Y Talent by Making “Good Enough” Unacceptable
Chapter 11: Professionalism Is More than Bling
Chapter 12: Motivate G Y by NOT Giving Us a Trophy
Chapter 13: Retain Gen Y – and Our Enthusiasm
Chapter 14: Lead Me to Loyalty
Chapter 15: Build a Talent Pipeline Like American Idol

Generation Y is the fastest growing segment in the American workforce, which comprises of the 18-32 year old demographic.  As you probably are aware already, this generation can pose challenges to companies because they approach the workplace differently than past generations.

Examples include:

•    Constantly on their cell phones
•    Send text messages to their bosses
•    Expect company to have a green initiative
•    Expect firm to provide community service opportunities
•    Want constant feedback from bosses
•    Don’t dress professional

Regardless of how this generation may appear, they are still very motivated and truly want to make a difference in a company.  Managers just need to know how to work with them to meet their expectations and to find ways for all generations to work well together.

In his book, Ryan shows you how Gen Y can give you a competitive advantage and position your firm for long-term growth. As you can see from the chapter titles, Ryan provides step-by-step guidance and strategies on how to attract, retain, and motivate Gen Y employees to be productive performers for your organization. Throughout the book, Ryan shares real world examples of techniques that have worked for firms.

Ryan’s sense of humor throughout the book makes it an enjoyable read. Not only is Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business educational, but also inspirational for firms who want to embrace Gen Y to take their firms to the next level.

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Book Review: The Law of Forgiveness by Connie Domino

The Law of Forgiveness: Tap in to the Positive Power of Forgiveness--and Attract Good Things to YourLife was written by Connie Domino who is a nationally acclaimed life coach, trainer, registered nurse, support group facilitator, motivational speaker, and educational counselor who teaches public health nursing at the University of North Carolina. In addition, she is the author of Law of Attraction: Develop Irresistible Attraction.

Connie was motivated to write this book because of the results of her successful workshops on forgiveness. She has witnessed that this powerful law works so she wanted to share it with more people.

The book is broken up into the following chapters:

Chapter 1: My Personal Journey in Understanding Forgiveness
Chapter 2: Enacting or Invoking Forgiveness
Chapter 3: Scientific Evidence for the Power of Forgiveness
Chapter 4: Using the Law of Forgiveness to Heal Our Relationships
Chapter 5: But I’m Still Angry…Working Through the Cycle of Healing When Forgiving
Chapter 6: The Law of Forgiveness at Work
Chapter 7: Using Forgiveness for Health and Healing
Chapter 8: Mad at the World: Using Forgiveness to Reach a Higher Consciousness and Live Your Best Life
Chapter 9: The Big Picture: From Personal Forgiveness to World Peace

Connie begins the book by explaining how she became a believer in the law of forgiveness, which is important for understanding her perspective.  Because of her successful journey of helping others, she is excited to share her learning with the masses through this book.

While many people may be skeptical of the concept of forgiveness, she brings science into the discussion to help validate some of her claims.  Even more interesting is that she discusses throughout the book several real world examples of people who have benefited from forgiveness.  Case studies are helpful for the understanding and learning of what Connie writes.

In this book, the Law of Forgiveness will show you how to:

• Understand the science behind the forgiveness technique
• Use the forgiveness technique to manifest your goals and dreams
• Unleash the power of personal forgiveness – with simple steps in the comfort of your own home
• Learn to forgive while you work through the cycle of healing

The Law of Forgiveness: Tap in to the Positive Power of Forgiveness--and Attract Good Things to YourLife is a self-help book that can inspire you both personally and professionally. According to the author, if you practice forgiveness, then you can unlock the power to attract what you really and become a happier person in all aspects of your life.

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Book Review: BAM! by Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead

B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World was written by Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead who are business experts. Barry is a nationally recognized small business expert who has founded and ran several businesses for almost 20 years. Previously, he has written the books You Need To Be a Little Crazy: The Truth About Starting and Growing Your Business and Bounce!: Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success.  You can read more about Barry at www.barrymoltz.com

Mary Jane has been satisfying customers for the past 25 years in the technology industry.  She has held executive positions in sales, marketing, and operations for IBM and other advanced technology businesses. As the founder and owner or MJC, Inc., she is a freelance writer specializing in business writing for advanced technology firms, associations, and economic development organizations.

The book is broken up into the following chapters:

Chapter 1: The Myth Busters
Chapter 2: Defining Customer Service the Way a Customer Does
Chapter 3: Determining the Value of Customer Service
Chapter 4: Why Don’t We Deliver the Customer Service We Say We Want to Deliver?
Chapter 5: The BAM!-good Customer Manifesto
Chapter 6: How to Deliver BAM!-good Customer Service in a Self-Service World
Chapter 7: For Customers Who Color Outside the Lines: Delivering for the Best and Worst Customers
Chapter 8: Take Action: What Do I Do Now?

In this book, the authors discuss the common myths of customer service and teach the reader why these don’t hold true anymore.  The authors set the stage for the entire book by starting out with an explanation of these myths. Throughout the book, the myths are referenced and you are taught how to debunk them and move your business forward.

Below are a few of these myths:

• The customer is always right.
• Customers don’t care about great service; they just want the lowest price possible.
• Comment cards and customer surveys accurately measure customer service.
• Companies achieve customer service by under-promising and over-delivering.

The book features exercises, tools, and worksheets. You will learn the following:

• How to bust the 20 myths of customer service that hold back your company.
• How to assess the economic value of each customer.
• How to customize a two-way customer service manifesto.
• How to treat your best customers so they stay and fire the harmful ones so they leave.
• How to add customer service to company DNA – action plans for CEOs, line managers, and customer service reps.
• A comprehensive Customer Service Thesaurus.

B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World is very timely because our society is such a self-service world due to the Internet and customers having their own needs and ways they want to be treated by organizations. By reading this book, you will better understand the importance of delivering great customer service and why you need to take it very serious.  Better yet, the authors provide you a tactical approach of how do achieve better customer service, which will result in making more money and your customers feeling satisfied at all times about your firm.

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