Launching & Building a Brand For Dummies

Unleash your entrepreneurial spirit with a counterintuitive approach to starting your own venture or taking your career to the next level Start Before You’re Ready offers entrepreneurs an inspiring new roadmap to success – one that runs against nearly everything you’ve ever been taught about business. Author Mick Spencer is living proof that success doesn’t always rest down the traditional path of formal education and deep pockets. At the age of 22, with nothing to his name, he founded ONTHEGO Custom Apparel (www.otgcustom.com), a customised apparel and uniform company. Since then he has built a worldwide network of movers and shakers and raised millions in venture capital. His company is now a multi-million-dollar player on the international stage, disrupting the slow-moving industry with a modern blend of technological disruptions and social responsibility. In this book, he presents a solid case that analysis paralysis and endless ‘preparation’ won’t get you anywhere – you have to take that leap and do what you really want to do. Indeed, start before you’re ready. Spencer challenges you to get outside your comfort zone and, although intimidating, his approach forces you to learn ‘on the go’ and focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t. Engrossing personal anecdotes coach you through the frustrations and challenges, while vital tools and clear strategies give you a concrete plan for making every day count, many of which have been taught to Mick by billionaires, global CEO’s and highly sought after founders. Chart your own path to success – even without a university degree or financial assets Focus on what you can do right now to achieve your goals Master self-reliance, overcome adversity and discover your true purpose Learn positive habits and build confidence to overcome challenges Starting your own venture or pushing the boundaries in your career is always a leap of faith. It’s saying ‘yes’ before figuring out how to deliver. It’s moments of self-doubt followed by fiery adventurousness and courageous optimism. You are at once inspired, vulnerable, motivated and proud – and you are capable of extraordinary things. Start Before You’re Ready equips you with the inspiration and practical advice you need to succeed in today’s entrepreneurial environment.

Master the art of public speaking with a mind- and content-based approach to success How to Present to Absolutely Anyone is the ultimate guide to successful public speaking. Presentations, talks, and speeches are unavoidable in school, work, and even social occasions (have you ever had to deliver a wedding toast?)—but fear of public speaking is statistically more common than fear of death. Author Mark Rhodes once pretended he had crashed his car to avoid doing a presentation! Permanent avoidance will eventually hold you back, but mastering the art of the successful presentation can take you to new heights! This book shows you how Mark eventually learned to love public speaking: by setting himself up for a self-sustaining cycle of presentation success. It takes more than stage presence to make a great presentation—you need great content. Without it, you won’t get the result you’re after, and you will dread the next talk. But if your presentation stands on its own two feet and you manage to banish the stage fright, you get a taste of success that ignites your passion and gets you excited to present every time! Packed with practical advice for both mental anguish and content creation, this book approaches public speaking holistically to arm you with real skills for success: Build confidence, reduce fear, and develop the right mindset for public speaking Engage your audience from the start, and reduce first-minute jitters Develop great content that you look forward to presenting each time Go beyond simple body language to reach your audience in a more authentic, organic way Don’t mumble your way through a PowerPoint or try to put flash over substance. Craft an engaging, informative presentation that people want to see and that you want to present! This book covers performance anxiety, speaking skills, ideas/content, practice, preparation, and audience interaction. How to Present to Absolutely Anyone guides you from fear, to excitement, to success!

Build a world class business with a clear blueprint to success Entrepreneur: Building Your Business From Start to Success is your guidebook to achieving entrepreneurial success. Whether you’re an existing business owner seeking to increase your reach, or a budding entrepreneur ready to take the next step, this book provides invaluable guidance from experts who have made it happen time and time again. A simple step-by-step process will help you translate your ideas into effective business plans, raise the capital needed to start and grow your business, build a winning team and leave the competition behind. Drawing upon their experience founding more than 30 companies, the authors share their entrepreneurial wisdom and reveal the real-world techniques that lead to success. With a pragmatic and personal approach, the authors explore the personal characteristics that are vital to achievement; managing stress, withstanding heavy workloads and coping with potential health concerns are subjects often overlooked in the pursuit of business achievement. Addressing the link between business concerns and personal welfare, the authors offer suggestions on how to most effectively reconcile entrepreneurial drive with personal well-being. Build or revitalise a business with proven methods from two globally-recognized experts in the field Develop an effective business plan to maximise your probability of success Understand funding markets and raise capital necessary to start or grow your business Grow your business by beating the competition and dominating your market Providing invaluable insight into real-world entrepreneurial methods that work, this book arms current and future business leaders with the skills, knowledge and motivation to create the organization of their dreams.

Make big sense of small business Small Business For Dummies has been a leading resource for starting and running a small business. Calling upon their six decades-plus of combined experience running small businesses, Eric Tyson and Jim Schell once again provide readers with their time-tested advice and the latest information on starting and growing a small business. This new edition covers all aspects of small business from the initial business plan to the everyday realities of financing, marketing, employing technology and management—and what it takes to achieve and maintain success in an ever-changing entrepreneurial landscape. Write a strategic business plan Start, establish, or rejuvenate a small business Hire and retain the best employees Get a small business loan If you’re a beginning entrepreneur looking to start and run your own small business, this book gives you all the tools of the trade you’ll need to make it a success.

Legendary Silicon Valley visionary and one of the world's greatest business leaders, John Chambers shares the playbook and philosophy that transformed Cisco into a global tech titan and now inspire a new generation of leaders. With numerous start-ups moving from zero to a billion to bankruptcy in a matter of years, it’s clear that sustaining a business in the digital age is no walk in the park. Over 20 years, John Chambers transformed a company with 400 employees and one toaster-sized product (a router) into a tech giant that's the backbone of the Internet. Along the way, he's outlasted and outmaneuvered practically every rival that ever tried to take Cisco on-Nortel, Lucent, Alcatel, IBM, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, to name a few-and turned more than 10,000 employees into millionaires, more than any company in history. When Chambers stepped down as executive chairman in December of 2017, he left a company that didn't just shape the first Internet era but is leading the next wave of innovation in areas from cyber-security to self-driving cars. Now, in collaboration with award-winning journalist Diane Brady, Chambers shares the stories and strategies that helped his company win again and again through multiple market shifts. Posing a unique mode of thought proven to attain success, the message of this book is clear; it is not the biggest or the richest players who win, but the ones who are able to stay ahead of the trend by connecting the dots. Both enlightening and practical, this is essential reading to inspire a new generation of leaders.