Category: Book Review

In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries makes the case the businesses, small and large, need to be run with a more entrepreneur spirit in order to be innovative and stay competitive.

He outlines 5 main principles:
1. Entrepreneurs are Everywhere
2. Entrepreneurship is Management
3. Validated Learning
4. Innovative Accounting
5. Build Measure Learn.

One of the things that resonated with me is the concept of building a “Minimum Viable Product.” Many businesses spend years and millions of dollars in research and development only to waste money creating the wrong product. The Lean Start-up approach is to create a product with as few features as possible, start having people use it, and use the data and feedback to iterate on the future direction of your product. It could mean completely changing how your product is used and marketed or adding/deleting features core features to make the product better. It’s the constant learning that allows your business to adapt and become successful.

Check out the theleanstartup.com for additional resources.

This is a book for people trying to get the most out of life by working smarter, not harder. It’s a book full of what is now known as “Life Hacks.” Tim Ferriss starts with a story about how he was running his vitamin supplement website by himself. After a few years, he found himself overworked, exhausted and without the time to enjoy any of the modest success he was having. He decided he needed to clear his head and go on a month long trip to Europe. He outsourced his responsibilities and created processes for his website to remain running in his absence. After his trip was over, he found things actually ran better without him and he made more money without much effort. So, he decided to keep it going.

Tim argues that the best thing you can do with your career and life is to create a passive flow of income so you can focus your time on the things you are passionate about. For him, this meant traveling and picking up new hobbies and skills like learning foreign languages or ball room dancing. By careful planning, he was able to hunt down deals on travel and hotel enabling him to live in exotic locations while only working 4 hours a week from his laptop. He gives plenty of practical tips for accomplishing this, such as hiring a virtual assistant of out India to inexpensively manage your work schedule or ideas for creating new online businesses.

If you work for someone else, Tim outlines ways you can transition to working from home by convincing your boss that your performance is more important that your presence in an office. Once out of the office and away from distractions from co-workers and pointless meetings, you can be hyper-productive and accomplish your workload in a fraction of the time and free your time up so you can have your desired lifestyle.

I don’t think all of Tim’s ideas will work for everyone but he definitely gives some interesting things to think about.

Rework is a collection of thoughts written by the founders of Basecamp. The theme that runs through out the book is re-thinking the what it means to be productive in this new technological age we belong to. They argue that the best employees are self-motivated and autonomous. Often the companies they work for create problems by forcing them to come to on office and work 9-5pm where they are easily distracted by non-essential tasks created from bosses or other employees. For example, if a manager sets up a 1 hour meeting and invites 20 people, he or she isn’t just spending 1 hour, they are collectively using 20 hours of the company’s time. Often in meetings, people can go off on tangents and talk about non-essential topics that other people don’t need to be there for. To be productive, why not schedule a 13 minute meeting, cover only the essential information, then have separate communication on issues relevant to specific people. They argue that the best thing is to minimize the number of interruptions to help individuals stay focused on their work. This could mean allowing your employees to work from home or letting them work the hours that fit best for them.

I think they bring up some good points and interesting ideas to consider. Good read.

Here is a TED Talk were Jason discusses some of the topics from the book:

I recently read a book by Gary Vaynerchuk called “Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion.” Gary talks about how the internet has created great opportunities for individuals to be entrepreneurs by developing a niche and name for themselves. He tells the story of how he started “Wine Library” where he does a daily review of a variety of different wines in order to help his family’s liquor store. Through his efforts, he’s been able to increase their sales from $3 million up to $30 million in a period of a few years.

He talks about how life is too short to do things you’re not passionate about. Don’t get yourself stuck in a boring job. It may mean a few years of hard work moonlighting 7pm-2am but eventually your investment in following your passions will pay off in a happier and productive life.

The book is a short read and a good reminder to get yourself motivated.

Here’s a video from a few years back where Gary talks about the concepts from his book. Warning: He curses like a sailor. Not for sensitive ears.