Launch. How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition

A complete course on the rules of marketing for today’s climate In this fast-paced, cluttered, and global marketplace, new influences are constantly affecting your business. Today's sophisticated consumers are searching for products that meet an emotional need, have added value, and come with no purchase risk. They want environmentally friendly products, and it’s important that they buy from businesses that share their core beliefs. Despite these demands, effective marketing still comes down to knowledge, empathy, and communication. Kick Ass Business and Marketing Secrets offers a complete course on business and marketing, with simple, easily implemented rules for marketing success. The author, “Mr. Marketer” Bob Pritchard, offers expert guidance to help you thoroughly research and understand your product, market place, and competitors. Delivers step-by-step advice on how to add value to every purchase Details various communication vehicles and advises on how to choose the most appropriate vehicle for your campaign Develops critical thinking skills to push you beyond your comfort level With so many new sources of market pressure, there’s no room for poor marketing strategies. Get the new rules for marketing, and stand out from the rest.

How to use Bible-based leadership principles to improve business performance In How to Run Your Business by THE BOOK, famed leadership guru Dave Anderson reveals biblical lessons to help transform the people, culture, and results of your business. Not only will you master timeless business principles based on the world's bestselling book, you'll build a foundation for your business that leads to long-term success. This is a refreshing return to commonsense business basics, based on leadership lessons peppered throughout the Good Book. In these turbulent times, quality leadership is the key to surviving and thriving in the business world. You'll learn what the Bible has to say about hiring and training people, managing money, creating a leadership vision, balancing work and life, and achieving your most ambitious business goals. Includes practical, proven business guidance gleaned from the Bible Features smart business guidance like the Ten Commandments for elevating your people skills Shows you four vital steps for creating a tough-love culture of accountability Dave Anderson is also the author of Up Your Business!, If You Don't Make Waves, You'll Drown and How to Deal with Difficult Customers Best of all, you don't need to be familiar with the Bible to profit from these wise and timeless principles. All you need is a heart open to biblical wisdom and a willingness to lead with courage.

A revised Second Edition of the book that shows you how to use Bible-based leadership principles to improve business performance In How to Run Your Business by THE BOOK, famed leadership guru Dave Anderson reveals biblical lessons to help transform the people, culture, and results of your business. Not only will you master timeless business principles based on the world's bestselling book, you'll build a foundation for your business that leads to long-term success. It's a refreshing return to commonsense business basics, based on leadership lessons peppered throughout the Good Book. You'll read what the bible has to say about hiring and training people, managing money, creating a leadership vision, achieving ambitious goals, and much more. This new Second Edition features a new introduction that includes letters from readers about their success using these principles, a new chapter on leading through crisis, and bonus sections at the end of each chapter that offer new and expanded insights on these powerful leadership principles. Includes practical, proven business guidance gleaned from the Bible Features smart business guidance like the High-Five Principles for elevating your people skills, Four Mandates to Maximize Your Time, and How to Overcome the Number One Cause of Management Failure Fully updated with a new Introduction, new section chapter conclusions that help you follow through on each chapter's principle, and an entirely new chapter on crisis leadership Dave Anderson is also the author of Up Your Business!, If You Don't Make Waves, You'll Drown, How to Deal with Difficult Customers, and How to Lead by THE BOOK Best of all, you don't need to be familiar with the Bible to profit from these wise and timeless principles. All you need is a heart open to biblical wisdom and a willingness to lead with courage.

Start is a one-stop guide to getting your business of the ground. Written by someone who has actually been there and done it, it gets straight to the heart of launching your business, with no-nonsense ideas to help you start out with confidence and a clear direction. Pick up some essential tips like: * Start with the idea. What is it and how will it realise your ambitions?What is the long-term plan? If you don't know where you are going then you won't get there. * Simplicity is the key. Don't overcomplicate things so that the idea is pecked to death by ducks. If you can write it on a postcard and explain it to your mum, then you can get started. * Make clear plans. Draw up One-page business and personal plans to work out what you want in the simplest and clearest possible way. * Decide what you want. Flush out whether you are building to sell, or just want the business to fund your lifestyle, then take the leap of faith and get it underway. Work hard, but don't confuse being busy with being effective. * Learn from experience. Realise when you are gaining speed but losing altitude, and have the courage to change things when they aren't working well. All vital stuff, packaged and presented in a way that will help you put it into practice right away. So what are you waiting for? It's time to Start.

Praise for Break Down Your Money «Tracy Byrnes writes like she speaks on FOX-clearly, passionately, and yes, lovingly. She is that rare expert who helps enrich your portfolio and your soul. You can do both, and Tracy shows you how. Others talk about what your goals should be. For the first time, finally, someone who shows you how to reach them in finances, and in life.» —Neil Cavuto, FOX News Channel, FOX Business Network «Break Down Your Money is unique-smart, wisecracking market insights. You'll learn and laugh, a lot.» —Dan Colarusso, Managing Editor, Conde Nast Portfolio.com «Tracy Byrnes is truly one of the best at helping investors get a grip on their finances. In Break Down Your Money, she delivers on that promise so eloquently-with the kind of bite-size information and entertaining flair that makes her a TV standout. This is one money book you won't want to put down.» —Jennifer Openshaw, author, The Millionaire Zone, host of ABC Radio's Winning Advice «Being in the financial business, I have read plenty of books about the markets, and would never use the word 'fun' to describe any of them. Until now. Tracy paints a colorful picture of the markets. Her book is an entertaining, well-informed, fun read for the expert and the novice alike.» —Steven Grasso, Floor Governor at the NYSE, Managing Director, Stuart Frankel & Co. «Tracy offers a comprehensive walk through the basics of finance in an easy-to-understand manner. A great read!» —Todd Harrison, founder and CEO, Minyanville Publishing and Multimedia, LLC «As a money manager, university professor, financial writer, and frequent media guest, I am constantly challenged with the objective of explaining complex concepts to an audience that is trained to focus on sound bites and instant messages. You have to boil down these complex concepts to a quick and digestible form accented by down-to-earth language and humor when necessary. Tracy Byrnes has accomplished these goals in Break Down Your Money and, in the process, makes learning about financial and money management more enjoyable to the reader. I wholeheartedly recommend Break Down Your Money to readers of all ages and investment skill levels.» —Scott R. Rothbort, founder and President, LakeView Asset Management, LLC, Professor of Finance, Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, founder and Manager, TheFinanceProfessor.com «Tracy has a unique knack of explaining the market to folks who are not 'in the market.' It is really a wonderful gift. A must-read for anyone wanting to invest and who is too overwhelmed to dive in.» —John Layfield, CEO, Layfield Energy, and, as WWE wrestler John «Bradshaw» Layfield, the longest reigning World Champion in SmackDown history

The Unprecedented Tell-All Guide Through the Intricacies of Executive Recruitment The single greatest opportunity that an organization has to improve both performance and culture in one stroke lies in the hiring of a new executive—the right executive. The fresh thinking of a skilled leader has the potential to unleash innovation, empower employees, and generate wealth for the company. Similarly, a bad hire may mortally wound the organization and cause ripple effects throughout the entire economy. Hiring Greatness contains valuable insider strategies and tactics—previously only known to a handful of America's wealthiest, elite head-hunters—to attract, recruit, and retain star executives. Authors David E. Perry and Mark J. Haluska have completed more than 1800 search projects across five continents, maintaining a 99.97% success rate, and negotiating more than $380 million in salaries. Like magicians unveiling the hidden ‘tricks of the trade,' Perry and Haluska reveal: How to systematically secure—and retain—the perfect talent for your company How to keep recruiters from poaching your star executives (a good hire is relatively meaningless if they leave the company) Twenty-three questions you must ask a potential headhunter The language that makes your company the most compelling, and how HR lingo can repel the best talent Four critical turnoffs that drive great candidates away from top companies One company created $3.8 million of market value each hour, for six months, simply by hiring the right leader. Hiring Greatness takes you behind the scenes of one of the world's most profitable and secretive industries, meticulously showing how any organization can make monumental hiring decisions that lead to massive success.

An unconventional philosophy for starting and building a business that exceeds your own expectations What does it require to take a concept rapidly and effectively from mind to market? The Benevolent Dictator recognizes that entrepreneurship is a gauntlet. Those who succeed are benevolent dictators—able to make the intricate process happen in days, weeks and months to win. The Benevolent Dictator gives you no-nonsense how-to advice and examples that have worked. This non-traditional, gung-ho guide is not afraid to lay out the leadership methods that can effectively get a new business off the ground, and through the requisite fast-track growth phases that produce tangible success measured by your bottom line and your wallet. Learn critical specifics on how to move from idea development to build-out, through steps for continuous improvement, and on to the big cash out Features proven tools, strategies, and tactics that will help you bottle entrepreneurial lightning over and over again As the cofounder of office retail giant OfficeMax, the author turned a $3 million investment into a $1.5 billion sale in his 16 years as CEO Beating the competition is never easy. For those times when you need an iron hand, then you also need the wisdom to know when and how to use it. Whether you're a business student, aspiring entrepreneur, or a practicing executive, you need to discover the winning ways of The Benevolent Dictator.

Reinvent your company to deliver sustained profitable growth. As performance lags in the midst of economic cycles, many companies turn to magic bullets such as EVA, Kaizen, or Six Sigma. Unfortunately, these initiatives-along with how they're implemented-often deliver only short-term positive impact or cause more pain than the preexisting condition. Returning to competitive health and profitability in the face of economic downturns requires a dynamic realignment of business strategies, organizational design, and talent management. Based on timely research conducted by Axiom Consulting Partners, Shockproof empowers and enables business leaders, owners and managers to make and maintain the necessary connection between strategies and organization to achieve sustainable performance. Create an agile business that can rapidly reinvent itself as business conditions change Foster leadership that knows how to mobilize people to execute and deliver results Build a workforce that is adaptive, inherently innovative, and energized by the rewards of success As priorities change and challenges arise throughout the ebbs and flows of the economic cycle, let Shockproof guide you to reinvent your company and deliver sustained profitable growth in good times and bad.

Praise for Marketing to the Social Web «Weber understands that the world is going digital and that competitive advantage will accrue to those who understand the transformation. CEOs should heed this transformation and learn from Weber's insights how to navigate this new landscape to fully maximize their business opportunities.» -Mark Fuller, Chairman, Monitor Group «Consumers are using technology to grab power from companies, the media, and the government. Marketing to the Social Web succinctly outlines how institutions can survive and win in this chaotic new world, and lays out the revised rules of engagement-ignore them at your peril.» -George F. Colony, CEO, Forrester Research, Inc. «Larry has brought pragmatic and useful recommendations to help brand builders manage the complexity of social interaction in a digital age. I was pleased to read a book that actually suggests how to do something with social networks, instead of just ponder them.» -David Kenny, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Digitas Inc. «Where's the allure of social 2.0? Brands can talk . . . customers talk louder! Digital influence has arrived.» -Jeff Taylor, CEO, Eons and Founder of Monster.com «Larry Weber provides a simple and effective roadmap of the new customer information highway. Marketing to the Social Web is a valuable tool that will give everyone the confidence and know-how to compete in this fast-growing marketplace of ideas.» -Steve Harris, Vice President, Global Communications, General Motors Corporation «As all lines and boundaries are washed away by the Web, Weber describes how to become part of the sea versus the sand.» -Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman, One Laptop per Child

An updated and expanded Second Edition of the popular guide to social media for the business community Marketers must look to the Web for new ways of finding customers and communicating with them, rather than at them. From Facebook and YouTube to blogs and Twitter-ing, social media on the Internet is the most promising new way to reach customers. Marketing to the Social Web, Second Edition helps marketers and their companies understand how to engage customers, build customer communities, and maximize profits in a time of marketing confusion. Author and social media guru Larry Weber describes newly available tools and platforms, and shows you how to apply them to see immediate results and growth. Rather than broadcast messages to audiences, savvy marketers should encourage participation in social networks to which people want to belong, where dialogue with customers, and between customers, can flourish. in Networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and even Flickr are the perfect forums for this dialog; this book shows you how to tap into this new media. In addition to the tools and tactics that made Marketing to the Social Web a critical hit among marketers, this second edition includes three entirely new chapters that cover recent changes in the field. These new chapters describe how Facebook will monetize its business and one day surpass Google; how companies can measure the influence and effectiveness of their social media campaigns; and how marketing to mobile social media will grow into an effective practice in the near future. Marketing must reach out into new forms, media, and models. Marketing to the Social Web, Second Edition presents an exceptional opportunity to use these new tools and models to reach new markets, even in today's fragmented media environment. Larry Weber has spent the last three decades building global communications companies, including Weber Shandwick Worldwide and the W2 Group. He is also the founder and Chairman of the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange, the nation’s largest interactive advocate association.