This is a really great video I came across from @JoeCotellese‘s blog. It really doesn’t need much more explanation.
My top 5 business books to date
I try and thumb through anything between one and four business books a month. Over the years I’ve read some great and not so great ones..
Recently I’ve been doing a lot of reading for a new podcast on TightShip that I’m running. Below is a list of books that I would highly recommend reading if you haven’t already..
Which one should you read first?
It depends on which one suits your situation best…they’re all stellar books and if you have time read them all!
Sticky Branding: 12.5 Principles to Stand Out, Attract Customers, and Grow an Incredible Brand
After successfully growing and selling his family business, Jeremy Miller spent 15 years researching and mastering how to position your company so that your customers choose you first.
Best for: Anyone wishing their prospective customers would call them
After closing $400M in business, and doing 10,000 hours of research Oren wrote this book on how to pitch. He is a master and if you’re trying to win new business this book is winner.
Best for: Anyone doing sales
Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers
One thing that I love is well researched books, Traction has it in spades. If you’re trying to figure out what is going to drive the growth of your business, pick a copy up.
In a line: The Lean Startup for sales
Best for: MD’s, Commercial Directors & Marketing Directors
The first question you’ll probably get asked if you’re starting a new company is if you’ve read ‘The Lean Startup’. This is an essential read to anyone thinking about starting a new company with a new product.
Best for: Everyone
Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)
Don’t let simple cover deceive you. Verne Harnish chaired the ‘Birthing of giants’ programme at MIT for 15 years and is a world expert on growing businesses.
Best for: Businesses that are growing
Talking to Verne Harnish about Scaling Up organisations [Interview]
As part of another project I’m working I’ve been interviewing some very interesting authors and founders. This interview with Verne Harnish is one of the most interesting I’ve done in a long time.
Verne has a huge amount of experience growing and scaling businesses including having chaired the ‘Birthing of Giants’ leadership programme at MIT and now running a global network of growth consultants.
Interview>
UI/UX Design for Startups (and anyone else who’s a non pro) – Part 1
Now I need to start by saying I am not an expert in UI/UX design.
What I have discovered is that within every company or product I’ve started or worked on it’s essential.
When it’s ignored you:
- Lose customers to bad experiences
- Waste money on product development and sales
- Miss obvious opportunities to get & retain customers
- People get angry with your company/brand/product because it’s not as good as it could be
Importance of UX by Bryce Glass from an image of his on Flickr
Where to start
While I’ve had experience building mobile and web apps the purpose of this article is to bring together my findings and tools that I’ve used to help me, like many others I am still only really just starting this journey…
As a basic start the nice people at Usabilitest have just released an easy to use site audit tool for homepages.
It’s based on the 247 UI guidelines found on the Userfocus site which I believe were put together by Dr. David Travis.