At the beginning of the year, I set a goal to ready 8 business books and I have officially met that goal! In August, Logan and I were making one of our many drives to Utah and we set 10 BIG goals for the next 2 years to stretch us and make us work hard to achieve them. One of mine was to read 50 books. So let’s see how this goes! I’m 3 books in and currently reading my 4th.
Purple Cow by Seth Godin was the first book of the two that I read. This is the second book I have read by Seth Godin and both have left me feeling like I wanted it to be more than it was. The books have really good main ideas, but for me I didn’t need to read the entire book to understand the main point that came up on page 20. However, looking back I felt like I did read this book really quickly and turned a lot of page corners to remember certain points and ideas. The idea of the book is making your business a purple cow. Not sure about where you live, but I live in Idaho- in the country nonetheless- and I see a lot of cows often. They never catch my attention because I see them all the time! Seth’s idea is that if in your business you can become a purple cow, you will draw attention and people will remember that purple cow business. One point I really liked is when talking with a doctor who calls his patients with all results from routine tests, even if it’s not bad news. When asked why he did that simple thing, the doctor said because that’s what he would want someone to do for them. If you want to really connect with your customers and audience, think of them and how they would want to be treated! Another idea thought that I took away from this book is that sometimes it only takes a few small changes in business to create growth. They just need to be the right changes and you find those by watching what is working and what isn’t!! And again, thinking of your customers. One final thought from the book, “You can’t out Nike- Nike.” Being a mere imitation of someone’s business is going to do nothing for your business! You have to find WHAT MAKES YOU A PURPLE COW!! Overall, I would say the book was OK and worth the quick read.
Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell was the book that last week I got a little over halfway through and I had to quit. I couldn’t really keep going because it wasn’t really pulling my in anymore. Granted, it did take me MONTHS to get to this point. We’ve been so busy and I had to read a couple other books in between so I had to pause my reading on this. I did enjoy the first part of the book and I felt like I had some good takeaways earlier in the book, but it got to a point where I felt like I could no longer apply anything after reading 50 pages so I stopped. That’s the first book that I’ve ever stopped, like ever. And I love to read so it was hard for me to “give up” on a book, but I was over it! One of the two main points from the book that I liked- in order for your business to grow and reach a “tipping point,” you have to reach the right people. The right people will push your business to you and you want them to be your ideal client. They will tell others about their experience with you and will rave about your business for you. The other point I liked goes hand in hand with that word of mouth referral though. In order for those word of mouth referrals to keep going, you must first provide an excellent experience and deliver that experience time and time again.
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