Cool Book Of The Day

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Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Retired at 27 is ideal for anyone who has ever thought them may like to start up their own business (or anyone wanting to improve their current one!) Also, managers and people who supervise staff will directly benefit from the techniques in the book. If, like Kirsty, you want to retire young – grab a copy!

Q: What is the book about?
A: Retired at 27: If I Can Do It Anyone Can is a true story outlining the business mistakes, successes and lessons that took Kirsty from absolutely nothing to retired and financially free at age 27. Kirsty’s story showcases the fact that success is achievable and available to everyone regardless of their current circumstances. Kirsty reveals that being young, female and broke were no barriers because she had the right attitude, determination and integrity.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I started my first two businesses at 15, and wanted to “rule the world” from a young age. Only at 19 I was broke, both my parents had gone bankrupt from their businesses and I had no idea what I wanted to do with myself! Enter a sales career in real estate, and finally – direction! From there I took it and ran.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: The topic is my story – so it’s very unique (I think!). Please don’t think it’s a get rich quick book! It covers the journey that took me from being broke at 19, a self made millionaire at 23, self made multi-millionaire at 25, retired at 27. (I’m 28 years old now). It’s simple advice in an easy to read format. I’d love to have a conversation with every person interested in my story – but I can’t – so I wrote this book and it’s written like a casual conversation with me.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: We’ve just sold out our first print run of 3,000 so we’re now in our second edition (book was released in October, 2007). At this stage, the bulk of our readers are in my homeland – Australia. Also, there’s added bonuses available to readers including ebooks, mp3s and more from fellow authors, speakers and trainers. And here’s what some people are saying about the book:

This book is jam packed full of personal and business gems. In a few short years Kirsty has learnt through practical experience what she believes are the key factors to success. She is living proof of that. By sharing what she has already discovered, this book is certain to inspire anyone to achieve what they want in life!
John Anderson, Contiki Founder

Kirsty Dunphey is an Australian success story. She proves that anyone that desires to achieve, can. I encourage you to read this book, highlight it, but most importantly apply it.
Pat Mesiti, International Speaker and Author

Retired at 27 gives a new meaning to the words informative, insightful, and is a down to earth road map to personal and financial growth! I normally stop reading after the one hour mark. But between you and me I finished the book in the first reading!!! Kirsty you are in DA HOUSE!
Eric Bailey, Activational/Motivational Speaker and Coach

Retired at 27 is practical business advice from someone who’s been there and done it at a young age. It’s a must read for anyone thinking of starting their own business.
Barbara & Allan Pease, Body Language Experts and Authors of 14 Best Selling Books

Kirsty continues to amaze and astound those of us even more than twice her age!!!. In her latest book Retired at 27, if I can do it anyone can, once again is an incredible very down to earth account of Kirsty’s journey through life, this time with the emphasis on her business acumen, her willingness, and complete honesty and openness with readers as she shares her ups and downs throughout her business career. This little Tasmanian Dynamo is a real inspiration and awesome role model to all those whose lives she touches and enhances through her simple formula of maximising life’s opportunities. We all look forward to the next chapter in this amazing journey of inspiration, leadership and success. Good luck Kirsty, you richly deserve it. You are a living legend of someone who makes and utilises your own luck.
Colin Dick, AREINZ

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Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “34% of businesses were no longer in existence two years after their birth and more than half were gone within four years.” To what do most business owners attribute their “failure” to? Lack of capital. Solving the Capital Equation: Financing Solutions for Small Businesses provides the small business owner and those working with them with financing knowledge.

This book is targets small business owners whose companies generate revenues of $300,000 to $20 million. It discusses how to access capital for growth – hiring management, paying for marketing and advertising, purchasing equipment, etc. If you are considering starting a business or buying into a franchise, you too can benefit from understanding what options exist to grow a business. In addition, some of the sources referenced in the book can work well as sources of start-up capital. Finally, the book presents a number of financing options for those who are considering acquiring an existing business.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Solving the Capital Equation is unique. Lots of small business financing books write about bank financings and how to pursue it, and other fairly apparent finance sources. Solving the Capital Equation describes options in details. For example, in the book’s discussion of banks, it covers them all – from large central banks to regional to local to minority-owned – and when it makes more sense to choose one over the other. The book covers everything from factoring and equipment loans to going public via hedge funds.

Solving the Capital Equation’s real-life examples and easy-to-follow case studies take you through the process and provide step-by-step alternatives for financing your business. It provides actionable and practical advice for solving your financing issues and a roadmap through the potentially confusing process for securing capital for any company.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I have served as a business advisor to small to medium businesses with revenues of $500,000 to $80 Million and now provide interim management services to this same group. I have acquisition experience – I purchased one company, am pursuing other acquisitions, and advise on acquisitions. Over the last four years I have helped companies obtain over $20 Million in financing and over $31 Million in contracts and purchase orders. I also have an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. In prior positions I evaluated and valued small companies and led investments in or purchases of small companies.

But the main reason I believe I am the best person to write this book is because I kept getting the same questions as well as seeing companies make the same mistakes over and over again, simply because they were not aware of all their alternatives. So I wrote the book.

The idea to write the book took seed when I created a Financial Roundtable Forum hosting expert speakers on a monthly basis to discuss the ins-and-outs of financing options. Once a year we produced multi-person debt panels and equity panels where experts fielded questions from the audience. I also spoke at a number of small business-related association meetings and conferences. Once again, I kept answering the same questions providing illustrations and examples to help elucidate the issues and alternatives to clients and audience members. I started writing down these answers, which evolved into writing Solving the Capital Equation: Financing Solutions for Small Businesses.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Solving the Capital Equation: Financing Solutions for Small Businesses sets itself apart by presenting case studies to illustrate common problems and solutions to those problems. There are over 25 case studies of different types of companies – service, manufacturing, distribution – in various stages of maturity and growth. Another way the book distinguishes itself is by presenting various scenarios of when to use each financing option. In addition, a portion of the book is devoted to listing a variety of options to consider as the business matures and grows, given the type of business.

There are many books on the market that talk about approaching banks, pursuing grants, or using private placements to raise money. These all walk through the how-to but none address the when or why nor do they provide examples. Most business owners have not been in school for some time yet the finance books use a more academic approach. Those who are out there living what’s in books do best when presented with knowledge formatted in the way they live and learn. That’s what this book provides.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Solving the Capital Equation assists company leaders in finding answers to whom, what, when and how to finance their small- to medium-sized businesses. Straightforward and simple to understand, the book guides readers through complex issues in an intelligent and useful manner.

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Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: The book speaks directly to business leaders who are facing the significant challenges brought on by the shifting landscape of failure in an increasingly transparent and global economy. Among some of the prime prospects are:

C-level Executives: At the highest levels of business, many chief executive officers, chief information officers, chief financial officers and company presidents are faced with opportunities for failure each day. Yet, there are few things more important to a company’s well-being than making confident choices – and creating rapid turnaround if an undesired outcome occurs. This book will give these tens of thousands of top corporate leaders an understanding of how they should be developing deeper levels of confidence for the good of their organizations, and to develop more rapid turnarounds from undesirable outcomes.

Entrepreneurs: In 2003, more than 500,000 new businesses opened their doors, and there are currently more than 23 million businesses in the United States, with a buying power of nearly $3 trillion. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, nearly 50 percent of those with employees will close their doors by Year Four. This book is an essential confidence handbook for entrepreneurs who routinely face opportunities for failure.

As U.S. business owners become more diverse – the number of black, Latino and Asian-American business owners more than doubled in the years between the 1997 and 2002 Census tabulations – understanding cultural differences is becoming more critical. The book takes a global look at failure and resiliency, providing a deeper and more inclusive understanding of cultural issues surrounding resiliency.

Business Educators: Overcoming failure is an essential topic in business.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Conventional business wisdom tells us that there is always something to learn from failure. Not true, says Barry Moltz. Sometimes it just stinks!

Failure that offers no real learning value becomes a big jolt to the basic business belief system. Both success and failure are simply outcomes in lifecycle of business where repetition is inevitable and overall process matters far more than any single event or outcome. Moltz demonstrates that developing the resiliency to “bounce” through these cycles determines who ultimately will succeed. Using real life business examples, he shows that with true business confidence, we can face our fears, let go of shame and failures, use all our choices, be better risk-takers, and define our own brand of success.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I have had spent 10 years in corporate America. I have had three businesses of my own. I sold my last business, but I also went out of business and was kicked out of my business.

I get sick and tired of people saying that failure is there is always something to learn from failure. We are continually reminded by those around us that failure is an important ingredient in the next success, possibly even a prerequisite. We tell ourselves that failure “happened to us” so that we could learn some important lesson that would later propel us to even more success.

Sometimes failure just sucks. There is absolutely nothing to learn.

When I lost my largest client because they were indicted by the SEC, what did I learn? That I wasn’t supposed to do business with criminals? I knew this. When my best employee left my company because her husband got a job in another state, what was I to learn? Not to hire people who are married?

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Bounce! is about developing confidence, but not just any sort of confidence. It’s about developing the kind of true business confidence that prepares you for both failure and success.

But this is not a book about coming back from failure. Comeback books have been written many times before. The comeback is romanticized in society and totally overrated. In Bounce!, you’ll learn about accepting failure as a normal part of the process even when there isn’t something to learn from it. Failure that offers no real learning value jolts the business belief system.

In Bounce!, entrepreneur and business owner Barry Moltz explains that both success and failure are simply outcomes in the normal life cycle of business-a life cycle in which overall process matters far more than any single event or outcome.

Great businesses are those that develop the resiliency to bounce through these cycles to succeed over the long term. Using a blend of personal experience and firsthand interviews with business leaders, Moltz shares the practical tools and techniques that every business needs to survive the cycle of ups and downs. In Bounce!, you’ll learn the “building bands” for true business confidence, including:

• Using humility to “right size” your ego
• Making fear fly in formation
• Using choices to embrace failure when it happens
• The art of more effective risk-taking
• How process trumps outcome
• Setting patient goals to establish your own scorecard
• Creating your own brand of success

Bounce! lets you move forward from any event, situation, or outcome-good or bad-to the next place where a decision can be made based on the choices currently available to you. Bounce! allows us to be passionately excited and intensely enthusiastic about our business and our lives.

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Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer:

•Entrepreneurs
•Solopreneurs
•Business owners
•Marketers
•Creative talent in marketing, advertising, and promotion departments
•Advertising, entrepreneurship, and marketing students

Q: What is the book about?
A: This handy guide is packed with excellent visual examples, comments by top creative talents, applicable advertising techniques and more. Marketers, entrepreneurs and students looking to learn how to write powerful copy, design great layouts, use color and type effectively, develop heart-stopping headlines and think more creatively, will find this is book is an invaluable resource.

Written in an easy-to-read style, readers will learn specific techniques to create an on-target consistent look, choose an appropriate tone of voice, and create an on-strategy message for their materials, so their promotions will be noticed, not invisible. Creating advertising and marketing campaigns that deliver a “wow” effect require the kind of innovative and strategic thinking explored in this work.

Applauded by Al Ries, co-author of the advertising classics, Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, this book is “loaded with lots of great ideas and concepts. Guaranteed to stimulate your thinking and your creative juices.”

Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the Guerrilla Marketing book series sums it up best: “In Street-Smart Advertising, Margo Berman gives you the answers to the questions you must ask if you’re embarking upon a battle for the buzz that you want to be sure to win.”

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: Margo Berman is an award-winning creative director, speaker, inventor and professor of Advertising and PR at Florida International University. She was a marketing consultant for 20 years, with her own ad and PR agency – Global Impact. She’s won numerous regional, national, and international creative awards for clients like American Express, Alamo Rent A Car, and Banana Boat.

Margo’s produced and hosted an interview talk show in Miami: Artists About Themselves. And has written articles for journals and reference publications including the Encyclopedia of Advertising.

As a corporate trainer, she conducts seminars and webinars in the areas or creativity, advertising and branding. Margo invented tactikPAK®, a patented system of learning in nine business disciplines (U.S. Patent No. 5,927,987).

She also has created the training series Mental Peanut Butter® and co-authored three books on spirituality. Street-Smart Advertising: How To Win the Battle of the Buzz™ was released in September of 2006 by Rowman & Littlefield. Margo has produced two 6-part webinar series based on her book: Street-Smart Advertising and More Street-Smart Advertising. She also has CDs and DVDs on Mental Peanut Butter®, How to Write Killer Copy, How to Create Great Ads at Breakneck Speed and How to Keep Your Creative Juices Flowing, as well as an inspirational program: Soaring, Not Just Flying.

Currently, she is writing her next advertising book, which will be released in 2008, by the same publisher. The working title is Collaborative Copy and Design: Strategic Visual & Verbal Solutions.

Margo has received Outstanding Teaching and Research Awards from the university. She was the 2001 Woman of the Year in Communications Education. In 2004, her Web site, www.UnlockTheBlock.com won a national Clarion Award. In 2005, she was named a Kauffman Faculty Scholar. Then, in 2006, she received the Dean’s Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award.

Margo Berman brings a rare clarity to an often-mystifying topic: marketing mastery.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Rich in relevant insights, Street-Smart Advertising: How to Win the Battle of the Buzz offers hands-on techniques for powerful writing, innovative design, and precise use of color, enhanced by stimulating exercises. Included are firsthand comments from the creators of some of today’s most innovative campaigns, such as the Aflac “Duck,” Subway’s “Eat Fresh,” and Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken.” In easy-to-understand language, Berman gets to the heart of creating on-strategy, on-target advertising messages that are easy-to-grasp and hard-to-forget. The book explains the latest, most effective methods to understand and engage the consumer through observational research, media intersection, and interactive media.

In addition, it includes more than 60 visual examples, typographical examples, quotes from creative talent, case studies, self-promotion examples, international color chart, and creative exercises to stimulate right brain thinking. Berman’s book doesn’t just discuss new ways to reach a specific audience it also clearly shows how to develop breakthrough campaigns that create a buzz.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Anyone looking for a handy how-to marketing guide will love being able to read the chapters in any order. For example, readers can:

•Improve their strategic and critical thinking skills in chapters one, six, and nine

•Delve into the power of typography in chapters two and three

•Fine-tune their graphic design skills in chapters four and seven

•Strengthen their promotional writing with easy-to-apply slogan development and writing techniques in chapter five

•Understand the psychology of color in chapter eight

•Gain insight into campaigns through short case studies in chapter ten

•Learn about powerful self-promotions in chapter eleven

•The visual references throughout the book will help everyone gain a deeper appreciation of how innovative campaigns work and what makes them so memorable.