By Bill Sheridan

“This book is comprised of a number of essays written at various stages of my life. It does not really have a beginning or an end. At some point I will stop writing. That will be your cue to stop reading.”—Bill Sheridan

That’s Bill Sheridan’s opening to Depot Street Memories, The Lawler Stories and my cue to expound on this simple yet powerful—and highly readable—book!

In what began as a series of news articles and vignettes penned over several years, Iowa writer, Bill Sheridan, shares what it was like growing up in post-World War II America–1944-1961. In this he provides a look back for those of us who began life as he did, without TV, mega malls, the Internet and nonstop worldwide communications; in an America where, frankly, children were more likely to build and maintain independent character than they are today.

However, Bill Sheridan’s experiences in his small northeast Iowa hometown were a lot like growing up at the same time on New York’s Long Island as I did.

It’s just that young Mr. Sheridan was paying attention!

Comic Irony and Bathos

Life is seldom always pretty or funny–although along with disappointments, fate dispenses its share of humor. Bill has a keen ear for life’s pity and relief, and Depot Street Memories (the family lived on Depot Street) includes rich examples of both.

Among the smiles and pleasant recollections is Bill’s description of Lawler as a “small town that was almost a big family, where people gave youngsters a hand up and wanted to see them do well.” For instance, Bill always admired the creativity of his late-classmate, Allyn Einch, who excelled in quick thinking, and the wise compassion of their 4th grade teacher, Sister Mary Elise, who apparently knew when it made sense to give a kid a break.

Having been caught by the Sister with other boys in a noon snowball fight, Bill’s friend is asked if he’d been throwing them, and if so, if he knew the punishment would be having his fingers smacked? Allyn denied this, so the Sister asked:

Allyn, I saw you out there, so I will ask you again. Were you throwing them?

No, Sister. I wasn’t throwing snowballs.

If you were out there with the rest of the boys who were throwing snowballs, and I saw you with them, just exactly what were you doing?

I was catching them, Sister!

Sister paused, stifled a grin, and moved on without saying another word to him. She did not smack Allyn’s fingers.

Ironic bathos was also hard at work in Lawler. Quoting the late radio broadcaster, Paul Harvey, Bill concedes: “Not all we call progress is progress,” and for every happy encounter with the good people of Lawler, Bill’s childhood included run-ins with a few dim bulbs in life’s marquee!

Bill’s widowed mother, Virginia, was a strong, independent woman. Although Bill wishes his Mom had been more willing to seek help from others, Bill and his siblings worked hard at young ages “to help keep the family ship afloat.” For the boys, that included mowing lawns and shoveling snow:

I recall one time knocking on the door of purported millionaire, Frank Eichoff. He owned a successful hardware store and years later left money in his will to build a fabulous new Mt. Carmel Catholic Church. On that particular snowy day, however, he wasn’t feeling quite as generous.  I screwed up my 10-year old courage and asked him if he would like his sidewalk shoveled. Taking one look at me he growled, “Let the guy who put it there take it off,” and slammed the door in my face.

But as Bill wryly emailed recently: “We Hawkeyes don’t let perfect get in the way of almost tolerable!”

Connecting the Dots

I’m sure we’ve all had experiences like Bill Sheridan describes so well in Depot Street Memories. Still, those future generations whose formative years routinely accustom them to TV, mega malls, the Internet and nonstop worldwide communications will, as Bill puts it, “Never know what it is like to live in a town where those things are irrelevant.”

In my view, when it comes to building and maintaining independent character, there’s a Lawler boy in all of us.

If we’re lucky.

To order your copy, visit:
Bill Sheridan-Freelance Writer
Sheridan Writes, LLC
8106 Brookview Drive
Urbandale, IA 50322

Bill Willard is a commercial freelance writer in Clearwater FL. A high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years, in addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals. Contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular e-blog, “Take Back America” or information about his affordable articles for financial advisors and other small-business owners.

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 interested.  Just buy! 

No more.  And we can blame that on (or thank) the web.  Now, I’m not a faddist, and I’m slow to change.  But I’m convinced – zero doubts — that we are entering nothing short of a revolution in how marketing is done … at least effective marketing.  Remember, “audiences” can now click past our ads, change channels, ignore our direct and indirect messages more effectively than ever before.  “Today, 90 percent of the people who can avoid TV ads through TiVo, DVD recording, or the skip button on the VCR remote do so,” says Larry Weber in Marketing to the Social Web.  

The bottom line:  We aren’t in control anymore (not that we ever were … really).  Marketers can no longer dictate a top-down message.  Today, successful marketers are “aggregators,” not broadcasters.  We don’t so much sell as we build experiences, along with buying opportunities.  Big difference.  The customers are in charge.  And I think that’s good, because that means if we give them what they want – mostly in terms of information, experiences (call that emotive selling) and the power to buy what  they want (choice of customized products), when they want (at 2:00 AM in their jammies, if they like) and how they want (online, instore, inhome, at the beach) — they will buy.

The bottom line squared:  It is a new world.  Opportunities abound.  Just don’t think the old rules still apply.  Better yet, learn the new ones. 

I recommend a good place to start is with Larry Weber’s book, Marketing to the Social Web.  There are lessons to be learned and dollars to be earned on every page.   Excerpts from Weber: 

• “A symptom of how things are changing:  nearly every commercial during the Super Bowl is designed to send viewers to a digital destination.”
• “People don’t want to be sold.”
• “People do want news and information about the things they care about – and they want it right now.”
• “Community building – with communities focusing on a specific common interest – is one of the fastest growing  applications on the Web.”

Work hard.  Make money.  Learn the new rules.  And have fun. — jri
==============================
Blatant commercial time:  Need help learning and profiting from the terrain under the new rules of marketing.  I help my clients identify their competitive advantages, build brand identity, compile strategies for tackling the challenges of marketing, and (finally, oh, yes, almost forgot) increase sales.  Give me a call or drop me an email.  The first visit is on me.  I’ll even buy lunch … even if you’re in Timbuktu.

John Ingrisano
President
Custom Communications
john@thefreestyleentrepreneur.com
(920) 559-3722
March 2, 2010

These are the kind of mind-expanding questions (and their amazing answers) that have made Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success one of the most exciting books I’ve read in years.  

My favorite story is about “The 10,000 Hour Rule,” which finds that level of success is almost directly related to practice time dedicated to learning a skill.  Example:  10,000 hours makes musicians successful; 7,000 hours makes them decent lounge singers; 4,000 hours gives them the competence to become music teachers. 

This is why Gladwell also attributes the Beatles success to the more than 1,200 performances they did in the strip joints of Hamburg, Germany, playing sometimes seven days a week and up to ten hours a day.  Gladwell quotes Beatles biographer Philip Norman writing about their time in Hamburg:  “They were no good on stage when they went there and they were very good when they came back….  They weren’t disciplined onstage at all before that.  But when they came back, they sounded like no one else.  It was the making of them.”

Bottom line:  Check out Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success.  It is a well-written, enjoyable read that, at the very least, will give you a different perspective on life, business and success. Enjoy!  

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 a word) because his principles on how to grow a small business – from concept to maturity — are dead on.  He captured perfectly the process I went through as a start-up businessman 25 years ago, telling the story how I went from one-man show who did everything to my first hires and how I botched that completely, to mini-empire builder, etc.

 So, if you’re looking for some guidelines for bringing your biz to the next level – and you can put up with the author’s smarmy attitude – The E-Myth Revisited is worth the read.

 Work hard.  Make Money.  Have fun.

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 50 or fewer employees are in a hiring frenzy, at least compared to their larger company counterparts.  So it would seem small-business owners and independent contractors are at the forefront of the new economy!

To help small businesses and independent workers in need of an extra push in this economy, Keller Williams Realty Inc., has introduced Gary Keller’s latest book, SHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times.

Gary Keller founded Keller Williams 26 years ago during one of the toughest markets on record, when interest rates were higher than 18%. What was once a small company of 10 has grown over the years to a company of over 75,000. Indeed, Keller Williams Realty Inc., the third largest real estate franchise in the United States, outpaced the market in 2008, all while remaining financially solvent and even giving back more than $30 million in profits to its agents.  And the firm is on track for more of the same success in 2009 (despite the market).

In SHIFT, Keller gives away his playbook, focusing on 12 proven tactics that apply to any industry, including:

• Master the Market of the Moment – Creative Ways To Do More With Less
• Re-Margin Your Business – Work With Averages
• Catch People in Your Web – New Ways to Make the Internet Work for You
• Stand Out from the Competition – There is More Now than Ever

“At the end of the day, tough times are essential for top people to get ahead,” Keller comments. “We founded Keller Williams Realty in one of the toughest real estate markets on record before this one, and we learned a lot from that experience. For those who choose to make the most of a shift in the economy, this is opportunity time.”Gary Keller, founder and chairman of the board of Keller Williams Realty Inc., has 25 years of industry and investing experience. His first two books, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and The Millionaire Real Estate Investor both enjoyed multiple weeks as national bestsellers, as did a third book, FLIP: How To Find, Fix, and Sell Houses For Profit.

Founded in 1983, Keller Williams Realty Inc. is the third-largest real estate franchise operation in North America, with more than 690 offices and 75,000 associates in the United States and Canada. The company began franchising in 1990. For more information, visit Keller Williams Realty online at (www.kw.com) or www.MillionaireSystems.com.

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 Answer.

This collection of ninety-four real-life stories from Seelert’s forty-year career as CEO of five companies in three different industries provides insights and practical instruction for anyone who wants to succeed as an executive, business leader, or entrepreneur. In this well-written, down-to-earth book, Seelert outlines his strategic, principle-centered approach to decision-making and problem-solving, and shares insights gained through his exposure to extraordinary people, events, and institutions.

Seelert boils it all down to the “eight dimensions of business life” that every leader must master to succeed: Preparation, Building and Managing a Career, Business Strategy, Business Operations, Finance and Economics, Leadership, Culture and Communication, and Personal Spirit and Style.

In exploring those eight dimensions, Seelert provides experience-based tactics, principles, and ideas for overcoming the challenges of modern business.  Offering both the philosophy and the nuts-and-bolts of leadership, Start with the Answer provides critical insight aspiring leaders can use to succeed.

But more than business fundamentals, Seelert also describes the philosophical foundation of quality leadership. Start with the Answer argues that leaders must first know themselves, and only then can they develop the values, beliefs, and principles needed to earn the trust of those they lead.

The Bottom Line? Before you can take your career to the top and lead your business to new heights, you have to know where you’re going. And before you can do that, you must plot your course. In short, you must Start with the Answer.

Author Bio – Bob Seelert is Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, a leading global ideas and advertising company. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, he has been CEO of five companies, has built brands and businesses, been a party to two mega-mergers, and enacted numerous turnarounds. He has served on boards of directors of companies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. He lives in New Canaan, Connecticut.

For more information visit:  www.StartwiththeAnswer.com

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 that make all the difference. –Steven R. Covey, from the Foreword

At home or at work, most of us dread having “crucial” conversations, but as Steven Covey says, we also know we can’t avoid them—or shouldn’t. So when the chips are down, as they often are in those situations, how do we say what needs to be said without shooting ourselves in both feet?

The authors of Crucial Conversations offer a seven-point strategy for achieving that goal, and they do it all with a wry sense of humor!

Make That, Seven Point “Time-Tested” Strategy!

You see, Crucial Conversations is based on the authors’ highly popular DialogueSmart training seminars, which feature techniques for getting people to lower their defenses, creating mutual respect and understanding, increasing emotional safety, and encouraging freedom of expression.

What you get: As do seminar participants, readers learn the four factors that characterize crucial conversations, and take away a powerful six-minute technique that prepares them to work through any high-impact situation with confidence, and come out the other end with their lower extremities intact.

What you don’t get: Don’t expect a bunch of touchy feely mumbo jumbo about keeping your head screwed on straight (I do like talking technical!). The authors mean business, identifying communication gaffes and detailing how to steer key business and personal conversations in the right direction to get results.

Want proof? Most books make promises. This one delivers. “These skills have . . . generated new techniques for working together in ways that enabled us to win the largest contract in our industry’s history,” proudly reports Dain Hancock, President, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

Bottom line: With the skills learned in this book, you’ll be ready to talk to anyone about anything, and never sweat the outcome of a crucial conversation again.

Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler are top international corporate consultants and cofounders of Vitality Alliance, Inc., and VitalSmarts. Together they have developed dozens of corporate training programs for dozens of Fortune 500 companies.

Bill Willard is a freelance writer and editor in Clearwater FL. He has been a high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years. He began his “faith journey” to Catholicism in 2008 at his wife, Sue’s urging. After putting up with him for 40 years, all she had to do was ask!

Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml. Or contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular eblog: Daily Grin.

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 improve the terrain. One thing that can help, however, is knowing where you’re going and being able to navigate when you hit the trail.

There! I think we’ve gotten our dime’s worth out of that metaphor. It’s time to see how John Ingrisano’s latest Money Book can help newlyweds get their financial house in order, and begin married life on solid financial ground.

Learning By Doing

Ingrisano has a rare talent for pulling rather than pushing readers into subjects. This time he gets right to it in the Table of Contents. He begins by setting out a series of learn-by-doing money-management and wealth-building objectives. He then develops those through 10 “Couple Money Skills” in the text, which the newly married who are smart enough to be serious about all this can put to the test with real numbers and real results in 31 “Wealth Builder” workbook projects.

The use of “projects” not “exercises” is a lot more than semantics.

Example: Couples learn Money Skill #5: Treat Debt as a Curable Disease, (“Learn How to Use Credit Not Abuse it”) then put that new mindset to work in Wealth Builder #16: Stop Adding Debt, (“The first step in getting your debt under control is to stop adding new debt”).

Sound almost too simple? Ask young married folks shelling out for debt consolidation about that.

Words of Advice: To the newly married who can’t have John Ingrisano around giving Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down to their financial moves: First, count your blessings! Then order The Back to Basics Book of Money –A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace. That’s one financial decision I wish Sue and I could have made when we were starting out in 1968!

Bill Willard is a freelance writer and editor in Clearwater FL. He has been a high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years. He began his “faith journey” to Catholicism in 2008 at his wife, Sue’s urging. After putting up with him for 40 years, all she had to do was ask! Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml. Or contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular eblog: Daily Grin.

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 is a lot more than numbers: it’s also about the principles, practices, tools and techniques of a learnable skill without which whole segments of our economy would come to a screeching halt in a very big hurry.

John Ingrisano understands that as well as anyone I know, and in The Back to Basics Book of Selling– A Guide to a Successful Sales Career, he spells it out in his patented “wow-em-with-plain-English” prose.  But, Ingrisano not only knows how to write, he knows what to write!

Selling As Process

For instance, John knows that to avoid hit-or-miss marketing and desperation selling (the cause of so many crash-and-burn sales careers), salespeople should operate as small-business owners—self-managed and with an organized sales process, which John details with eye-opening examples and highly transferable techniques. That is, they need to set realistic goals, develop clear, detailed plans, work those plans for all they’re worth (revising them, as needed), keeping accurate records, and monitoring their results. John further explains why sales activity must be planned, purposeful, consistent and, above all, self-driven. It should not have to be hot-wired every few months by a supervisor’s pep talk, or jump-started just in time for the annual sales contest.

In fact, and that is key: The Back to Basics Book of Selling is not just for “10-Percenters”—the 10 percent or so of salespeople who are so driven, they’d survive and succeed no matter how much—or how little—training, coaching or support they got. John contends, as do I, that as long as people are self-motivated and willing to learn and work hard, they can be taught how to build successful sales careers, and spend a lifetime reaping the financial, professional, and personal rewards for their efforts. John’s highly readable book can help new and experienced sales people do exactly that…and, they won’t have to slit a single throat or even change their hat size to become winners!

The Back to Basics Book of Selling can be read and implemented alone, used as the basis for discussions and guided learning exercises with trainers, supervisors or sales managers, or serve as a guide for peer-group discussions. No matter how it’s used, though, the objective is to profitably improve sales performance and make the journey to success faster, smoother and easier. And fun!

Bill Willard is a freelance writer in Clearwater FL. He has been a high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years. In addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals, and is a www.thefreestyleentrepreneur.com Contributing Author.

Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml
Or contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to learn more or subscribe to his popular eblog, Daily Grin.

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 estate, entertainment, gaming, sports, education and philanthropy. Among those other ventures, Trump is also a successful author whose best-selling business books include The Art of the Deal, The Art of Survival, and How to Get Rich. Most recently, Think Like a Champion—with co-author Miriam McGiver, joins the ranks of Trump titles.

The theme of Think Like a Champion is best summed up in the book’s subtitle—“An Informal Education in Business and Life,” and by Trumps’ dust-jacket quote: “I may be successful already, but I learn something new every day.”

Think Like a Champion–a compilation of essays that Trump penned over his years observing people aspiring for success, he included–presents the author’s cogent views of business and life. Though Think Like a Champion may or may not become a best seller, the cumulative effect of the book’s ideas, advice and wisdom has been sufficiently powerful to ratchet up my regard for the man who wrote of them. That said, if Champion is “an informal education in business and life,” here’s the short course…selected quotes from just a few of the 185 topics Trump addresses:

Innovating – How one might become an innovator? The key is to pay attention and keep your brain and senses open to new stimuli…A big mind requires a variety of thoughts and impulses to keep it well occupied, so make sure you keep your mind engaged in the best ways possible. It could very well be your calling card for success.

Being a Team Player – Keeping the team spirit alive and well in your personal and business lives will give you some very good, even surprising results…Never negate the power of the team, and you’ll be a team player of note as well as power.

Giving Thanks – We should realize that we all have a lot to be thankful for, whether it’s New Year’s, Thanksgiving, or just another Wednesday in our lives.

Learning – When I start something new, I know I have a lot to learn. This does not discourage me—in fact it gives me energy. It is similar to the feeling of a new beginning, a fresh start…Ask yourself this question: What do I need to know more about? If I’d started in business thinking I knew everything, I’d have been sunk before I got started. I had a lot to learn and no one else could learn it for me. But every day I would learn something, apply it, and make progress. Believe me…it didn’t happen overnight.

Thinking on Your Feet – The reason I can move quickly [now] is that I’ve done the background work first, which often no one sees…I prepare myself thoroughly, and then when it is time to move ahead, I’m ready to sprint…Don’t wait for dire circumstances to test your quick-thinking ability. Test yourself daily. Be alert at all times.

Striving for Wholeness – See yourself as an organization. Pay attention to every facet of your life. What’s strong? What’s weak? What’s missing? What can you do to make the picture better? Whatever you do, don’t stagnate. Don’t pretend that 50 percent is enough.

Gaining Wisdom – Make certain things your guideposts. It’s good sign you’re reading this book because that means you are serious about your education and gaining knowledge…[As a student] I made an effort to learn everything I could in order to gain wisdom …I realize now when I can assess a situation quickly that it’s a result of wisdom gained through a variety of experiences.

Thinking Like a Champion – Champions are born and champions are made. One definition of a champion is someone who shows marked superiority…the winner of first prize or first place in competition….[who] wanted to achieve special. As Jack Dempsey said: “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” Let’s hope that applies to you.

Being Clear, Brief and Bold – Someone who analyzed my negotiating technique said I had an advantage over most people because I have the ability to get to the point faster than anyone else…[S]imple as it sounds, there is great wisdom in the short, fast, and direct route.

Maintaining Momentum – [J]ust as negotiation takes practice, so does momentum. You don’t do a great deal and then think that every deal you subsequently make will automatically be great. You don’t get a great rhythm going once and then think it will always be there…Momentum comes in different forms, but its common denominator is energy…power, force, strength, impetus, and drive.

Learning From Mistakes – Rarely is anything worth doing just a breeze…One way to avoid mishandling mistakes is to realize they can happen to us every day. It’s a way of being prepared without being pessimistic. [But] here’s where it gets tricky. You have to know when to call it quits and when to keep moving forward.

Telling People About Your Success – It’s very important to be your own best friend. As Mark Twain put it, “Be comfortable with your own approval…I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position”…[Ignore your critics] Be smart enough to serve your own purpose.
Seeing Problems as a Way of Proving Yourself – If you’ve got…problems today [a lot of baggage], that’s a good sign. It means you’re alive for one thing. So give that some thought, and make the most of the situation.

Thinking Like a Genius – Brain power equals a very powerful leverage…Famed geniuses…[have] held metaphorical thinking in high regard…believed in restructuring a problem to make it more accessible or broader in scope. I realized I did all of those things, but not necessarily deliberately…[G]eniuses tend to…think in opposites. This is outside the boundaries of logic and allows your mind to operate on a new level.

Knowing How to Get Rich – In summing up, if you want to get rich, two important considerations are passion and efficiency: Have passion for what you do and be efficient about it at the same time. That combination has worked for me.

Hugo had it that: There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea who time as come. Moreover, you can never tell where your next great idea will come from or how far it will take you. Think Like a Champion is packed with ideas that hold the highest possible potential for those who will seek them out and act upon them. This is, in short, onehelluva good book for us entrepreneurs, and an ideal bonus (a term of high import these days) for our business associates or young folks preparing for a life in or out of commerce.

Bill Willard is a freelance writer and editor in Clearwater FL. He has been a high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years. He began his “faith journey” to Catholicism in 2008 at his wife, Sue’s urging. After putting up with him for 40 years, all she had to do was ask! Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml.

Or contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular eblog: Daily Grin.