Confessions from an Entrepreneur (Volume 1)


Book Description

Confessions from an Entrepreneur (Volume 1) is an inside look at the world of entrepreneurship. The project features individual and company life lessons from entrepreneurs across all industries, passions, interests, and individual project/pursuit stages. Each contributor was asked the following question: “What is one vital piece of advice you want to give an Entrepreneur?” Featured contributors include: Dave Berkus: Dave is a noted speaker, author, and early stage private equity investor. He is acknowledged as one of the most active angel investors in the country, having made and actively participated in over 87 technology investments during the past decade. Dave is the past Chairman of Tech Coast Angels, one of the largest angel networks in the United States. Brad Feld: Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures, a company that helped launch and operate software companies. Brad is also a co-founder of TechStars. Wing Lam: Wing is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wahoos Fish Tacos; a leading restaurant chain with over 50 locations. Wing is also a sought after speaker and marketing guru whose collaborations many leading action sport stars and celebrities for over 15 years. Scott Painter: For the past three decades, entrepreneur, Founder and CEO of TrueCar, Scott Painter has been on a quest to bring objectivity, truth, transparency and balance to the automotive industry by harnessing never-before-available amounts of big data. Throughout his prolific career as entrepreneur and fundraiser, Painter has started over 37 companies and has raised almost 1.5 billion dollars. Arel Moodie: Arel Moodie (born November 15, 1983) is an American student success self-help motivational speaker. He has been featured in USA Today and Young Money Magazine for his pursuits as an entrepreneur with his first Internet Company. He has also been named a top Generation Y leader in the book Millennial Leaders. He speaks primarily to student audiences across the country but has also been known to speak to entrepreneurs and has represented Youth Entrepreneurs for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Governor's first conference on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Arel Moodie wrote the best-selling book Your Starting Point For Student Success. Thomas Tadlock: Thomas has been recognized as one of the top 5 trainers in the USA, with his first personal training company, Epiphany Fitness Studio, winning the “Best of Award” 5 years in a row. He was MTV’s 2003 Hottest Body, and is currently the Founder and CEO of Express Results Boot Camp, the largest indoor fitness boot camp in Orange County. He has also been sought after and has worked with top personal trainers of celebrities like Britney Spears and professional sports teams like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to name a few. He is an inventor and patent holder, creating the world’s first patented boot camp training system. He is an internationally recognized trainer educator, and has authored the weight loss programs for the fitness equipment company behind the hit TV show, “The Biggest Loser.” And many more! Confessions from an Entrepreneur is a must read for any student or veteran of entrepreneurship.




Confessions of an Entrepreneur


Book Description

No-one ever tells you what it really feels like to be an entrepreneur. What you actually have to go through when you chase ambitions and fortunes. However, in his new book, Confessions of an Entrepreneur, Chris Robson does. It’s not a book about business plans and choosing the right business ideas. Those books already exist. This doesn’t. This is a book about the emotional issues that other business books ignore – the sacrifices you make, the struggle to choose and work with the right partner(s), the strain of uncertainty and potential failure, the dizzying and addictive highs of success, the challenge of building and motivating a team – everything that you will experience when you start a new business. It’s about the journey every single entrepreneur has to take – and it’s this journey, not just the destination, that you have to learn to love if you’re going to be a great entrepreneur. And you don’t just hear from the author alone, you are invited to read the raw, honest stories from some of the most talented entrepreneurs on this planet, including Bill Gross of Idealab, Roland Rudd of Finsbury Communications, Jo Fairley of Green & Black’s, Nick Wheeler of Charles Twyritt, William Reeve of LoveFilm and many others. For the first time, they’ll tell you what they really had to go through to follow their dreams right through to the end – bitter, sweet or both! Praise for the book “Hard hitting, no holds barred, crash course into the world of the entrepreneur.” Lord Bilimoria CBE, DL – Founder and Chairman of Cobra Beer “More like an outright thriller than a business book. It brings to life the raw excitement and sheer terror of being an entrepreneur.” Guy Browning, Writer, Broadcaster, Creativity Guru “Chris manages to map the DNA of successful entrepreneurs in an entertaining and hugely readable way. A must read for anyone who wants a window into the mind of the entrepreneur.” Roland Rudd, Founder of Finsbury, International Communications Group




Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur


Book Description

Entrepreneur Stuart Skorman—the founder of Elephant Pharmacy, Hungryminds.com, Reel.com, and Empire Video—grew up in a retailing family in Ohio. He worked every kind of job, from cab driver to professional poker player to CEO. In this entertaining, personal account of his coming-of- age in the business world, Skorman gives an insider’s view of what it takes to start a business from the ground up. Stuart Skorman offers his hard-won lessons in business for any entrepreneur or small businessperson who wants to create a company that has a heart and soul. He reveals what he learned about marketing while working a stint as a rock band manager and bares his soul about his failure during the dot-com bubble. He describes in vivid terms the roller coaster ride of the entrepreneur in good times and bad and explains how to survive in today’s uncertain business environment.




Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur: What It Takes to Win in High-Stakes Commercial Real Estate : What it Takes to Win in High-Stakes Commercial Real Estate


Book Description

A front row seat into the world of high-stakes commercial real estate investing “A must-read book … one of the best real estate investment books I have ever read. On my scale of 1 to 10, this unique book rates an off-the-charts 12.” ---Robert Bruss Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur is for the individual who is ready to get serious about investing. Not a rah-rah or get-rich-quick book, this book is for someone who is prepared to think about what he or she wants to accomplish. James Randel provides the how and why. James Randel has been a successful investor and educator for 25 years. He teaches investing through stories and anecdotes – bringing to the limelight not just his successes (and there are some amazing stories of these) but also his mistakes. His candor is instructive and entertaining. It is said that “those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.” James Randel is a rare exception as he is both a highly successful investor as well as an excellent teacher. As said by Jeff Dunne, Vice Chairman of the largest real estate company in the world, CB Richard Ellis: “I’ve tracked Jimmy’s incredible run of successful real estate investments for 20 years and more recently invested very profitably with him. His new book is a must read for anyone interested in real estate investing.” If you are tired of the “same old, same old” and prepared to play in the big leagues, this book is calling your name.







The Intrapreneur


Book Description

Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Have you ever sat at your desk and asked yourself, why am I here? Is this really all there is? Believe me, it isn't. Over the past three decades, my generation created the enormous machines we call multinational corporations. Today, over half of the largest economies in the world are global businesses - controlled by the few, while impacting the many. Business has the power to change the world. But what if we, as individuals, had the power to change the world of business? We are in the age of the intrapreneur: where mavericks and rebels bring their entrepreneurial prowess to big business, to change it from the inside out and bottom up. The Intrapreneur is the story of my dream to do exactly that and how you can too. For over a decade, I led a team within one of the world’s largest global consulting organisations – a corporate “guerrilla movement” working deep within the system, to try to change the system. Our goals were huge: we wanted to revolutionise the role of business in the aid and development sector and offer our skills and expertise to not-for-profits in parts of the world with greatest need, but least access. This was my dream but, until now, I have never admitted the personal toll that it took on me. It ultimately cost me my job, my health and perhaps even my sanity as I landed myself in a psychiatric hospital for five days and five nights. I had found my purpose, but had I lost my mind? The Intrapreneur is a call to action for a new breed of social activist working within, about to join or completely disillusioned by today’s business world - to be the change you want to see in your company. So my message is a simple one. If you feel that description applies to you, either change company or better still, change the company you’re in – for the better. If we strive to create the organisations we desire to work in, which build the societies we want to live in, then we’ll be helping not only ourselves and our colleagues, but the world as a whole. Join us today.




Utopian Entrepreneur


Book Description

A guide to doing socially positive work in the context of business.




Things A Little Bird Told Me


Book Description

Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, discusses innovation, creativity and the secrets of being a successful entrepreneur, through stories from his remarkable life and career. THINGS A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME From GQ's 'Nerd of the Year' to one of Time's most influential people in the world, Biz Stone represents different things to different people. But he is known to all as the creative, effervescent, funny, charmingly positive and remarkably savvy co-founder of Twitter -- the social media platform that singlehandedly changed the way the world works. Now, Biz tells fascinating, pivotal, and personal stories from his early life and his careers at Google and Twitter, sharing his knowledge about the nature and importance of ingenuity today. In Biz's world: -Opportunity can be manufactured -Great work comes from abandoning a linear way of thinking -Creativity never runs out -Asking questions is free -Empathy is core to personal and global success In this book, Biz also addresses failure, the value of vulnerability, ambition, and corporate culture. Whether seeking behind-the-scenes stories, advice, or wisdom and principles from one of the most successful businessmen of the new century, THINGS A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME will satisfy every reader.




Confessions of the Pricing Man


Book Description

The world’s foremost expert on pricing strategy shows how this mysterious process works and how to maximize value through pricing to company and customer. In all walks of life, we constantly make decisions about whether something is worth our money or our time, or try to convince others to part with their money or their time. Price is the place where value and money meet. From the global release of the latest electronic gadget to the bewildering gyrations of oil futures to markdowns at the bargain store, price is the most powerful and pervasive economic force in our day-to-day lives and one of the least understood. The recipe for successful pricing often sounds like an exotic cocktail, with equal parts psychology, economics, strategy, tools and incentives stirred up together, usually with just enough math to sour the taste. That leads managers to water down the drink with hunches and rules of thumb, or leave out the parts with which they don’t feel comfortable. While this makes for a sweeter drink, it often lacks the punch to have an impact on the customer or on the business. It doesn’t have to be that way, though, as Hermann Simon illustrates through dozens of stories collected over four decades in the trenches and behind the scenes. A world-renowned speaker on pricing and a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 executives, Simon’s lifelong journey has taken him from rural farmers’ markets, to a distinguished academic career, to a long second career as an entrepreneur and management consultant to companies large and small throughout the world. Along the way, he has learned from Nobel Prize winners and leading management gurus, and helped countless managers and executives use pricing as a way to create new markets, grow their businesses and gain a sustained competitive advantage. He also learned some tough personal lessons about value, how people perceive it, and how people profit from it. In this engaging and practical narrative, Simon leaves nothing out of the pricing cocktail, but still makes it go down smoothly and leaves you wanting to learn more and do more—as a consumer or as a business person. You will never look at pricing the same way again.




The Entrepreneur Mind


Book Description

100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs What Every Successful Entrepreneur Knows But Won’t Tell You Achieve unimaginable business success and financial wealth. Reach the upper echelons of entrepreneurs, where you’ll find Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sara Blakely of Spanx, Mark Pincus of Zynga and many others. Develop the Entrepreneur Mind – a way of thinking that comes from learning the vital lessons of the best entrepreneurs. Through compelling stories of modern-day business tycoons, Kevin Johnson, president of the multi-million dollar company Johnson Media Inc., shares the essential beliefs, characteristics and habits of elite entrepreneurs. In this riveting book, written for new and veteran entrepreneurs, Johnson identifies 100 lessons in seven key areas: Strategy, Education, People, Finance, Marketing and Sales, Leadership, and Motivation. Lessons include how to think big, who makes the best business partners, what captivates investors, when to abandon a business idea, where to avoid opening a business bank account, and why too much formal education can hinder your entrepreneurial growth. Smart and insightful, The Entrepreneur Mind is the ultimate primer on how to think like an entrepreneur. KEVIN D. JOHNSON, president of Johnson Media Inc. and a serial entrepreneur, has several years of experience leading his multimillion-dollar marketing and communications company that now serves many of the most notable Fortune 100 businesses.