The Freestyle Entrepreneur

THE MARKETING REVOLUTION IS HERE
I’m a dinosaur, pushing 60 years of age.  I grew up in an age when marketing meant bending, twisting, shouting, cajoling, sex-appealing, manipulating, and pleading to get people to BUY!  BUY!  BUY!  It was a one-way message:  from the seller to the would-be buyer.  We talk.  You listen.  Any questions?  Not [...]

Curious which are the worst airline pilots?  (Korean.)  Ever wonder why some musicians are wanna-bes and others are superstars?  (Ten thousand hours.)  Or why the majority of National Hockey League players are born in January or February? (Age cut-off dates when they were children.)  Do you know why New York’s top merger lawyers are Jewish?  [...]

This is one of those books, The E-Myth Revisited,  that you almost love to hate.   
You hate it because the author, Michael E. Gerber, has a smarmy I’m-right-you’re-wrong attitude about him.  (His examples tend to be stories about borderline stupid business owners who he sets straight.) 
You love him (well, maybe love is way too strong [...]

SHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times
By Gary Keller, with Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan
(McGraw-Hill, 2008, $21.95).
Estimates put the number of 1099 workers as high as 40% of the post-recovery economy.  As more people lose their jobs, they are striking out on their own. And National Employment Report finds that businesses with [...]

By Bob Seelert
Published by Wiley, 2009. $24.95
Today, the words “business” and “wisdom” are rarely seen in the same sentence. But for Bob Seelert, Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, the two go hand-in-hand. At a time when our economic systems need to energize people and produce leaders at all levels, Seelert brings us Start with the [...]

Crucial conversations –
Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High
By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
Foreword by Steven Covey
McGraw-Hill, 2002, Paperback $16.95
Reviewed by
Bill Willard
From my own work with organizations, including families, and from my own experience, I have come to see that there are a few defining moments in our lives and careers [...]

Book Review
The Back to Basics Book of Money
–A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace
By John R. Ingrisano
Paperback, Copyright 2009
Text: $15.99 & Workbook: $14.99 Set: $24.99
www.b2bbookofmoney.com.
Reviewed by
Bill Willard
News Flash: The newly married typically have long, bumpy roads ahead of them under the best of circumstances. An economy that stinks out loud does nothing to [...]

The Back to Basics Book of Selling
A Guide to a Successful Sales Career
25th Anniversary Edition
By John R. Ingrisano
www.TheFreestyleentrepreneur.com
Paperback, $19.94
Reviewed by
Bill Willard
Selling is a numbers game, a thought perhaps best expressed in the famous 10-3-1 sales ratio. That is, for every 10 live bodies you talk to, 3 will be interested; 1 will buy. But selling [...]

Book Review
Think Like A Champion –
An Informal Education in Business and Life
By Donald J. Trump, with Meredith McGiver
Vanguard Press, 2009
Hardcover, $24.95
Reviewed by
Bill Willard
www.Freestylentrepreneur.com
More than just the product of an indifferent barber, Donald Trump is a self-made, deservedly self-confident businessman instantly recognized wherever he goes. He is, in fact, a Brand unto himself!
Trump’s interests include real [...]

Book Review
The Fearless Fish Out of Water –
How to Succeed When You’re The Only One Like You
By Robin Fisher Roffer
www.fearlessfishoutofwater.com
Paperback, $24.95
Reviewed by
Bill Willard
Almost everyone has a “fish-out-of-water” story to tell. A report in Parade Magazine, for instance, explains that the promotional tagline “Characters Welcome,” which airs during USA Network shows like Monk and Psych, signifies [...]

PRESS RELEASE/BOOK REVIEW FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John R. Ingrisano (920) 559-3722
Book Review
Back to Basics Key to Sales Success
The Back to Basics Book of Selling: A Guide to a Successful Sales Career by John R. Ingrisano. $19.94, Lulu Books.
Successful selling is not about the gift of gab or being quick with a joke. Nor is [...]

Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume 1 — The Basics: Golfing Buddies Go Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard, Forrest W. Breyfogle, III, Bridgeway Books, 2008, 143 pages.
Golf may once have been The Sport of Kings, but with some $28 billion in annual sales now attributed to contacts and relationships initiated on the golf course, [...]