Blog Post
Happy New Year - The 10 Best Books I Read This Year
Jeff Kikel
Put these on your Reading List For Next Year...
2019 was a pretty amazing year! We had one of the best years in the stock market. The economy is humming. We had a President impeached. Plus, business experienced serious growth personally as well as anecdotally from friends. I hope all of you experienced this as well.
I set a goal at the beginning of the year to read at least 45 books this year. This number came from a statistic that I had read in Fast Company magazine, that the average CEO reads between 4-5 books per month. When I counted everything up this year I realized that I had read 52 books this year. I am currently in the middle of 4 books right now. I keep them stationed around the house and read small bits of them each day. I am not sure if I will get done with them before midnight, so they may transfer over to 2020.
The other major goal that I had set for 2019 was to publish at least 2 books this year. I actually crushed that goal by publishing 4 books this year (although technically two are waiting to be published by Amazon). The fun part was that I was able to collaborate with a couple of friends on these projects, including Gary Kasper and my business partner Eric Boyce.
Out of the 52 books that I read this year, I wanted to share with you my top 10 books. These books are a selection of goal planning, sales, marketing, digital marketing, human resources, business systems, content planning, and email marketing. I recommend that you add these to your library for this year which should get your started on your 4-5 books per month as a CEO...
10. Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doerr
This book was possibly the most important that I read this year. The concept of OKR's is what I believe is the single most important reason that many of today's most successful companies like Google have rocketed to success. The only reason this one does not rank higher on the list is that it came into the library late in the year and I am just now implementing the techniques into my businesses and personal planning. Finally the death of SMART goals!
(From Amazon)
Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive.
In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered.
Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked.
In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization.
The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention.
In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.
9. Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount
I have been in sales for most of my adult life. This was one of the best prospecting books that I have read and is my top sales pick for the year. Jeb has a great way of calling you on all your B.S. when it comes to sales and prospecting (and not in a Glengarry Glen Ross) way. If you are responsible for sales in your business (hint: We all are), you need to apply the techniques that Jeb lays out in this book. The best sales/prospecting book that I read this year.
(From Amazon)
Fanatical Prospecting gives salespeople, sales leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives a practical, eye-opening guide that clearly explains the why and how behind the most important activity in sales and business development―prospecting.
The brutal fact is the number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipe and the root cause of an empty pipeline is the failure to consistently prospect. By ignoring the muscle of prospecting, many otherwise competent salespeople and sales organizations consistently underperform.
Step by step, Jeb Blount outlines his innovative approach to prospecting that works for real people, in the real world, with real prospects.
Learn how to keep the pipeline full of qualified opportunities and avoid debilitating sales slumps by leveraging a balanced prospecting methodology across multiple prospecting channels.
This book reveals the secrets, techniques, and tips of top earners. You’ll learn:
- Why the 30-Day Rule is critical for keeping the pipeline full
- Why understanding the Law of Replacement is the key to avoiding sales slumps
- How to leverage the Law of Familiarity to reduce prospecting friction and avoid rejection
- The 5 C’s of Social Selling and how to use them to get prospects to call you
- How to use the simple 5 Step Telephone Framework to get more appointments fast
- How to double call backs with a powerful voice mail technique
- How to leverage the powerful 4 Step Email Prospecting Framework to create emails that compel prospects to respond
- How to get text working for you with the 7 Step Text Message Prospecting Framework
- And there is so much more!
8. One Hour Content Plan by Meera Kothand
I think I came across Meera Kothand when she was recommended by Amazon on my Kindle. This is another book that I bought and ended up keeping it in my Kindle library for a while. Once I finally read the book, I could have kicked myself for waiting so long. Meera is a genius at both email and content planning. This is a book I have gone back to time and again. Both in the book and online she has some wonderful free resources that she makes available. If you are someone that produces content on a regular basis, this is for you (This should be all of you)
From Amazon
Here’s what’s packed in this how-to guide:
Three core ways to INSTANTLY generate content ideas with ease. Ditch the content overwhelm and never ever struggle with what to write again.
- 5 types of content that will inch your subscriber towards becoming a buyer and sell your products and services with ease. (And why you need ALL five!)
- The fastest way to determine your BRAND VOICE so that you create content that fits you like a glove. No “whishy-washy” ideas. No guessing.
- 8 MUST-NOT neglect elements that either make or break your blog posts and how to optimize each of them.
- The trap that bloggers and solopreneurs fall into with producing content and how ways to HOOK more eyeballs on your content.
- Imagine for a minute how your blog and business would change if you NEVER run out of blog post ideas…
You know exactly what to create, when and what results it’ll drive.
Your offers (paid and free) become seductive magnets of YES! that readers cannot resist.
Every single piece of content has a purpose in growing your blog and business, sells your products and services for you and builds your online presence…
That’s the power of a content strategy and the promise behind the ‘One Hour Content Plan.’
7. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
This was a late edition to my library that I originally bought through Audible as an audio book. As soon as I began to listen, I knew that I needed to have the paperback as a tool to read alongside. It provides a step by step system for you to supercharge your habit, get rid of the bad ones, and motivate yourself.
From Amazon
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, based on the principle that little, everyday decisions will either take you to the life you desire or to disaster by default.
No gimmicks. No Hyperbole. No Magic Bullet. The Compound Effect is a distillation of the fundamental principles that have guided the most phenomenal achievements in business, relationships, and beyond. This easy-to-use, step-by-step operating system allows you to multiply your success, chart your progress, and achieve any desire. If you're serious about living an extraordinary life, use the power of The Compound Effect to create the success you want. You will find strategies including:
- How to win--every time! The No. 1 strategy to achieve any goal and triumph over any competitor, even if they're smarter, more talented or more experienced.
- Eradicating your bad habits (some you might be unaware of!) that are derailing your progress.
- The real, lasting keys to motivation--how to get yourself to do things you don't feel like doing.
- Capturing the elusive, awesome force of momentum. Catch this, and you'll be unstoppable.
- The acceleration secrets of superachievers. Do they have an unfair advantage? Yes they do, and now you can too!
6. No B.S. Direct Marketing: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses by Dan Kennedy
I can't say enough about Dan Kennedy. He is the marketing legend whose teaching has spawned some of the best marketers of our time including Ryan Diess (www.digitalmarketer.com) and Russell Brunson (www.clickfunnels.com). Dan brings a history of direct marketing to the table and has updated the book for the digital generation. He has a way of simplifying marketing that no-one else can, especially with today's digital marketing.
From Amazon
Kennedy dares marketers to dramatically simplify their marketing, refocusing on what works. Updated to address the newest media and marketing methods, this marketing master plan — from marketing master Kennedy—delivers a short list of radically different, little-known, profit-proven direct mail strategies for ANY business. Strategies are illustrated by case history examples from an elite team of consultants—all phenomenally successful at borrowing direct marketing strategies from the world of mail-order, TV infomercials, etc., to use in ’ordinary’ businesses including retail stores, restaurants, and sales
5. Scale: Seven Proven Principles to Grow Your Business and Get Your Life Back by Jeff Hoffman and David Finkel
I have to thank these guys for this book. It was recommended to me by a friend who saw how hard I was working earlier in the year. This book has helped and is further helping me redesign my businesses so that I can further scale and automate them. Reading this along with High Performance Habits (below) can completely change your life. It is on my list as a re-read for 2020.
From Amazon
Your concrete road map to rapidly grow your business and get your life back!
Have you ever wanted to grow your business but held back because of fear that it would take over your life? As an owner, it’s all too common to feel you have to choose between your personal life and the success of your business. But the surprising truth is that the only way to truly scale and grow your company is to reduce its reliance on you. This means that, done right, scaling ensures that you can grow your business without sacrificing your life.
Jeff Hoffman, a serial entrepreneur and former CEO in the Priceline (Priceline Yardsale) family of companies, and David Finkel, CEO of Maui Mastermind, a business coaching company with thousands of clients worldwide, offer a concrete road map for rapidly growing your business while also gaining more personal freedom.
You’ll not only learn the best strategies to generate growth, but you’ll also get proven insider tips to sustain that growth through sound systems, empowered teams, and intelligent internal controls. Hoffman and Finkel will also show you how to overcome predictable obstacles in any pillar of your business—including sales, operations, and finance—with insight for building better lead-generation systems, managing cash flow, and retaining talent. You’ll learn how to:
• Escape the Self-Employment Trap and build a business, not a job.
• Systematize your business to reduce costs and increase capacity.
• Ensure your company survives the “Hit by a Bus” test.
• Uncover your company’s top leverage points (and execution strategies to implement what you discover).
• Fund your growth with the seven cash flow commandments.
• And much more.
Scale offers a game plan to work less and get your business to produce more. Written by two world class entrepreneurs who have started, scaled, and successfully exited from multiple businesses, which collectively have generated tens of billions of dollars in sales, it gives you their bottom-line best ideas to effectively grow your company.
If you have ever felt stuck in your business, not knowing the best way forward, this book is your must read guide.
4. People Power: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Managing Human Capital by Scholley Bubenik
My Pick for the best people management book for this year. Scholley (who is also a T-Werx Alum) lays out not only a process for hiring employees, compensating them and keeping them engaged. The book is a practical approach to developing systems for people management within your business.
From Amazon
Looking for an all-in-one solution to maximizing results from your company’s employees? Look no further than People Power!
Employees can make or break a business—yet many companies have no idea how to manage their incredibly valuable “human capital.”
Now, for the first time, HR expert Scholley Bubenik, President of Premier HR Solutions, unlocks the secrets she’s learned over her thirty years of human resources experience in People Power. Detailing her time-tested, practical and proven strategies, Bubenik gives you the tools you need to assemble—and keep in place—the kind of team that will take your business to the top. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, business owner or manager, these innovative insights and nuts-and-bolts advice will help you get the most out of your employees while helping them achieve true job satisfaction.
Maximizing employee engagement means you’ll need to do more than simply abide by state and federal regulations and file the right paperwork at the right time—you need to develop a plan that aligns your company’s business goals and culture with your people’s. The key to this is Bubenik’s “Five Strategies”—a set of principles which, when implemented together, provide a comprehensive approach to the process of recruiting, training and retaining. In addition, People Power also includes interactive exercises that help you customize the book’s content to your own specific business situation—allowing you to take instant advantage of Bubenik’s hard-won HR knowledge.
Inside these pages, you’ll discover how to:
- Attract the top talent to your business—and, just as importantly, evaluate how good a fit they’ll be for your company’s culture;
- Calculate the compensation you should offer prospective employees—and the kinds of desirable perks you can offer that can offset high salary demands;
- Increase your employee engagement—empowering you to retain your most valuable personnel for the longest period of time, and;
- Avoid risk—and deal with compliance issues, employment laws and any other trouble that might be on the horizon in the most efficient way.
The author also reveals her exclusive “Funnel Approach” to recruiting the ideal candidate for an open position. From the initial job posting to assessing the candidates, making an offer and, finally, integrating the new employee into your business, Bubenik helps you avoid the massive mistake of hiring the wrong person, a mistake that can cost you time and money, as well as negatively impact your business results.
People Power provides an abundant supply of tips and tricks to create a win-win for both you and your employees, as well as easy-to-use exercises that empower you to apply the book’s strategies directly to your operation. If you’re looking for an all-in-one answer to hiring and managing your personnel, then People Power is the book for you.
3. DotCom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online by Russell Brunson
This was the single best Digital Marketing book that I have ever read. Russell is the real deal. He has spent the last decade honing his craft in his own businesses, while also sharing what he has learned. This one book will give you the best education in online marketing that you can get in a book.
From Amazon
The Underground Playbook For Growing Your Company Online
Founder of Click Funnels, Russell Brunson, shares the secrets that he’s learned about driving online sales from helping 10,000’s of en- trepreneurs sell millions of dollars of products, and services
What is DotcomSecrets?
It is NOT just another “how to” book on Internet Marketing.
It is NOT about getting more traffic to your website - yet these secrets will help you to get exponentially MORE traffic than you’ve ever experienced before.
It is NOT about increasing your conversion - yet these secrets will increase your conversion MORE than any headline tweak or split test ever could.
In Russell Brunson's experience, after working with hundreds of thousands of businesses he realized that low traffic or conversions are symptoms of a much greater problem that’s a little harder to see (that’s the bad news), but a lot easier to fix (that’s the good news).
Inside this book will find the actual playbook we created after running thou- sands of tests and perfecting what works online. You now have access to all of the processes, funnels and scripts that we used to scale companies online.
DotComSecrets will give you the marketing funnels and the sales scripts you need to be able to turn on a flood of new leads into your business.
2. High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brendan Burchard
This book along with Scale are two of the most important books of this year for me. I credit both of these with making a change to how I run my businesses that is continuing into 2020. If you want to supercharge your habits, this book is for you.
From Amazon
THESE SIX HABITS WILL MAKE YOU EXTRAORDINARY. After extensive original research and a decade as the world’s highest-paid performance coach, Brendon Burchard finally reveals the most effective habits for reaching long-term success. Based on one of the largest surveys ever conducted on high performers, it turns out that just six habits move the needle the most in helping you succeed. Adopt these six habits, and you win. Neglect them, and life is a never-ending struggle. We all want to be high performing in every area of our lives. But how? Which habits can help you achieve long-term success and vibrant well-being no matter your age, career, strengths, or personality? To become a high performer, you must seek clarity, generate energy, raise necessity, increase productivity, develop influence, and demonstrate courage. This book is about the art and science of how to practice these proven habits. If you do adopt any new habits to succeed faster, choose the habits in this book. Anyone can practice these habits and, when they do, extraordinary things happen in their lives, relationships, and careers. Whether you want to get more done, lead others better, develop skill faster, or dramatically increase your sense of joy and confidence, the habits in this book will help you achieve it. Each of the six habits is illustrated by powerful vignettes, cutting-edge science, thought-provoking exercises, and real-world daily practices you can implement right now. HIGH PERFORMANCE HABITS is a science-backed, heart-centered plan to living a better quality of life. Best of all, you can measure your progress. A link to a professional assessment is included in the book for free.1. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller
This was a late edition to my library this year (actually I had owned it for a year on Kindle and never read it...don't judge). This is one of the most useful and critical pieces of my marketing library now. The concepts that Donald Miller uses are the concepts that screen writers have been using for years to build stories. Applying these to your marketing materials and website can tell your story to your future clients.
From Amazon
New York Times best-selling author Donald Miller uses the seven universal elements of powerful stories to teach listeners how to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses.Donald Miller's StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides listeners with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching listeners the seven universal story points all humans respond to, the real reason customers make purchases, how to simplify a brand message so people understand it, and how to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media.
Whether you are the marketing director of a multibillion-dollar company, the owner of a small business, a politician running for office, or the lead singer of a rock band, Building a StoryBrand will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.
In an increasingly uncertain economic landscape, recession-proofing is gaining more traction. Small businesses, especially those with fewer than five employees, are particularly vulnerable during economic downturns. The margin for error is thin, and the resources are often limited. How do you build a protective financial and operational buffer....
Supplies: 1 Large Foam Pumpkin Orange Rope Clear Glass Gem Filler Knife Glue Gun Instructions: Mark the top of the pumpkin using the vase. Cut into the pumpkin and remove some of the filling. Cut as deep as you think you want your vase to fit into the pumpkin. Wrap the rope around the vase about a third of the way up, glue gun into please. Fill the vase half the way up with the gem filler. Place silverware in the vase and enjoy.
This easy and fun project and hang up all year around.