What book are you reading? Right now. Post up!

[MJ DeMarco]

@Andy Black - I've seen you recommend that one Twitter looking book several times and now I can't find it.

What is it again? And why did you find it so valuable?

 

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[Deleted78083]

@Andy Black - I've seen you recommend that one Twitter looking book several times and now I can't find it.

What is it again? And why did you find it so valuable?

I think it is "The art and business of online writing" by Nicolas Cole

 

[Andy Black]

@Andy Black - I've seen you recommend that one Twitter looking book several times and now I can't find it.

What is it again? And why did you find it so valuable?

I think it is "The art and business of online writing" by Nicolas Cole

Yes, that’s the one @monfii. Thanks!

@MJ DeMarco ... I’ll skim the book for my notes and add more here later.

I got halfway before getting distracted/bogged down. I will start from the beginning again and get through it.

I like how Nicolas publishes content to find out what the market wants, and dials it in over time. It’s very much in keeping with your message of not following your passion but following the market need.

There was a year where he had more impressions than any other contributer on Quora. He leveraged that to build a ghostwriting business for high net worth people or business owners.

One of my big aha’s was that the money is not “in the list”, it’s in our library of content that builds the list. He has his content in his own vault/bank and can take it to a new social platform and drop it in and get a similar result (and rebuild his list). His content is his asset, even more so than his list. Kind of like how your books could be republished and would get the same traction because they’re productocracies.

There was a very thought provoking chapter that was unexpected. Nicolas broke down his criteria for deciding whether to invest his time into a social platform. Go in too early and there’s a risk of it not taking off and you wasting your time. Go in too late (like after it gets a lot of funding) and the platform’s goals change and visibility gets throttled for organic posts. Smart thinking.

I got bogged down with the detailed chapters about different types of content to create, which I should just skim and come back to when I need the detail.

I subscribe to his way of thinking. I came to TFLF from another forum that announced it was shutting down. I came with my suitcase of Google Ads articles which meant I got known quickly as a Google Ads Guy in here. I’m aware I published them too quickly but hadn’t thought how it could look like a lead gen tactic.

I also do what he suggests and have been writing about it for a long while - go help people in forums and Facebook groups, find where you repeat yourself, publish that as standalone articles, and end up building a bank of content that’s battle-tested.

I’ve been messing about on Twitter for the last few months, testing to see what content of mine from the forum resonates on there. I’m also learning it’s got its own style and subtleties.

I personally think Twitter could be the goto platform to quickly test and iterate content ideas. Observe what gets no traction and do less of it. Observe what gets traction and do more of it.

 

[Bruno Calisso]

I am currently finishing Grit, a great book about hard work, that it's a great compliment with Discipline, the book I read before.

Lately I'd been working in my discipline, something that I lack in my life and I need to improve. Do you know another books about the subject?

I read alot on selfdiscipline too, Atomic Habits is imo the best because it's practical. But you need to compliment it with a personal planner like Mokani Personal Weekly & Monthly Planner.

 

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[Biswas]

How this thread works... when you start reading a new book, you update it here. It’s nice to have a log of what everyone on the forum is reading and i’m sure it will spark discussions and recommendations.

I’m also creating the Fastlane Bookclub on Goodreads where you can share what you’re reading, add your favorites, and talk about books. I haven’t explored all the features, but I’m sure there’s a bunch of stuff we’ll benefit from. Join the group!

So, Currently I’m reading

View attachment 21438

Persuasive Advertising: Evidence-based Principles by J. Scott Armstrong​

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This book translates knowledge about persuasion into evidence-based principles. Useful knowledge about persuasion has been obtained over the last 100 years from the experience of advertising experts and from empirical studies in advertising and other fields including psychology, consumer behavior, law, mass communication, politics, and propaganda.​

​

The principles in Persuasive Advertising provide understandable and easy-to-access guidance for all types of advertising. Including still media such as print and Internet, and motion media such as TV, streaming video, Internet, and radio. They also apply to other types of persuasive communications such as management reports, speeches, and press releases.​

​

Wharton School Professor J. Scott Armstrong spent over 16 years on this book. In recent years, he was assisted by Gerry Lukeman, Chairman Emeritus of Ipsos-ASI and Sandeep Patnaik, Research Director at Gallup and Robinson. Altogether, more than 80 people contributed to Persuasive Advertising by obtaining relevant studies, analyzing data, editing and reviewing, and surveying researchers to ensure that the book correctly summarizes their findings.​

​

​

Persuasive Advertising summarizes findings from about 3,000 empirical studies and 50 books. It also presents new findings from previously unpublished studies. .​

​

Along with the AdPrin Audit software on AdPrin.com, Persuasive Advertising enables advertisers as well as agencies to quickly and inexpensively identify ways to improve ads – or to determine which of a set of ads will be most effective. For example, it typically requires about an hour for an experienced user to obtain a persuasiveness index for a print ad along with a list of ways to improve the ad.,​

​

By using these principles, advertisers can improve their creativity and effectiveness.​

And

View attachment 21439

Hack Your Motivation: Over 50 Science-Based Strategies to Improve Performance by Bobby Hoffman

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Finally!!!! Evidence-based research on motivation that's written in an engaging, humorous, easy-to-read style!"--Karen, Performance & Leadership Consultant​

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Bobby masterfully bridges the gap between research and practice by applying high quality motivational research to everyday life."--David, Master Educator **"This book is not easy to put down. You will find yourself often referring back to its pages. The a-ha moments will cascade in."--Glenn, Team Leader & Operations Manager​

​

Hack Your Motivation gives you the latest and most reliable performance tools and tips to help you reach your personal or profession goals. Written by motivational scientist and leadership consultant Dr. Bobby Hoffman, this book converts hard-core research from psychology, business, athletics, neuroscience, and education into easy-to-read and simple-to-master strategies. Hoffman includes unorthodox examples from his own life and the lives of others to enlighten, inspire, and amuse ---so anyone can learn to maximize their untapped potential. If achieving glory, feeling good about your accomplishments, or understanding why you do what you do (or don't do) is important to you, then look no further.​

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What are you reading?

Now I just finished, Dotcom Secrets by Russell Brunson, which teaches all about direct response Marketing on internet

 

[sknowles]

Reading: The Master Key System
Just finished: The Science of Getting Rich

 

[bailey45]

I am reading this one;

How to Get Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen​

Really enjoyed the part about loops. It made me realise how many things I had unfinished and on my mind

 

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[KushShah9492]

Done with Make Time.
Should I start with the millionaire fastlane again? or should I read atomic habits again?

 

[Bruno Calisso]

Done with Make Time.
Should I start with the millionaire fastlane again? or should I read atomic habits again?

Read them both as many times you need

 

[andyhaus44]

Done with Make Time.
Should I start with the millionaire fastlane again? or should I read atomic habits again?

How was Make Time?

 

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[KushShah9492]

How was Make Time?

It was really good. Changed my perspective on how to manage and prioritise my tasks. Helped me make more time for my work and some of my hobbies as well.

 

[Deleted78083]

Just finished "will it fly" by pat flynn. A book that anyone who has no clue about business should read before attempting to build their business.

Will now read "traction" by the guys from duckduckgo.

I personally think Twitter could be the goto platform to quickly test and iterate content ideas. Observe what gets no traction and do less of it. Observe what gets traction and do more of it.

The guy that wrote "will it fly" said the exact same thing. Twitter is fast.

Someone on this very forum also recommended once to make YT video. Saying YT enables you to gain traction fast if your content is good.

I went back on Facebook after years not browsing the platform and omg it changed so much!! I now see very little content from my friends, and mostly see stuff like people petting animals, fast cars, or a random dude singing with the guitar.

Gone the days when you wrote something, and it appears on the newsfeed of your 800 friends lol a marketer's dream I wasn't aware of at the time...

I subscribe to his way of thinking. I came to TFLF from another forum that announced it was shutting down.

@Andy Black may I ask which forum it was?

 

[tylerwilkinson]

Nat Sherman: a passion for cigars.

 

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[LifeisSuffering]

I'm reading the 48 Laws of Power
I'm in the law 13
Law 1 and Law 11 are so occurate
Many People find this book manipulative, and unecessary
What do you guys think ??

 

[Martin.G]

I'm reading Nomad Capitalist by Andre Henderson, a book about live abroad. It's curious because I always wanted to leave in USA, but lately I'm not so sure. With each page and every video (he has a YouTube channel) I'm more convinced that living in the USA is not the best thing right now. Maybe in the future the things change.

Also, I'm starting Beyond Order by Jordan Peterson. I read the 12 rules for life and I love it.

 

[Deleted78083]

I have just finished "Traction" by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. Great book, it teaches you how to acquire customers for your business.

I will post a summary soon!

 

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[Martin.G]

I am in the middle of the book Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol. A great surprise, because is a book of how to think deal with business, life, social, etc. issues like a rocket scientist.

I have not finished yet, but probably I am going to recommend it a lot.

 

[Raja]

I am in the middle of the book Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol. A great surprise, because is a book of how to think deal with business, life, social, etc. issues like a rocket scientist.

I have not finished yet, but probably I am going to recommend it a lot.

mind sharing one takeaway that you will definitely implement in your business or personal life

 

[Martin.G]

mind sharing one takeaway that you will definitely implement in your business or personal life

That sometimes you are going to find uncertainty, but you have to keep going.

That there are things that we don't know that we don't know. I mean, you don't know that you have a lack of knowledge.

Another one it related to keep asking why things happens, there is a whole book about this premise. I think is "Start with why".

Finally, (at last as far as I read) some advances appear when you mix two different knowledge, like marketing and programming. I think that I read something similar in a book by Tim Ferris, Tools of Titans.

Also, I like the book because it uses scientific anecdotes to exemplify how to achieve a goal and solve problems in any area of your life.

 

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[Raja]

That sometimes you are going to find uncertainty, but you have to keep going.

That there are things that we don't know that we don't know. I mean, you don't know that you have a lack of knowledge.

Another one it related to keep asking why things happens, there is a whole book about this premise. I think is "Start with why".

Finally, (at last as far as I read) some advances appear when you mix two different knowledge, like marketing and programming. I think that I read something similar in a book by Tim Ferris, Tools of Titans.

Also, I like the book because it uses scientific anecdotes to exemplify how to achieve a goal and solve problems in any area of your life.

Thanks for sharing

 

[Raja]

started reading Effortless by greg mckeown

 

[Deleted78083]

I feel like reading "The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, Revised: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want"

Is it actually teaching something, or is it Tim Ferriss rewritten?

 

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[MTF]

I feel like reading "The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, Revised: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want"

Is it actually teaching something, or is it Tim Ferriss rewritten?

It's a book on solopreneurs written in a typical journalist style. Nice to read but not a groundbreaking work.

 

[ZF Lee]

Finished the book 'Mastering Fear: A Navy SEAL's Guide' by Brandon Tyler Webb and John David Mann. A much lighter read than the David Goggins one, but not less meaningful.

Some nuggets that stood out for me:

1. Practice does NOT make perfect.
No battle plan survives the first contact.
What practice does is to breed competence, which next creates confidence.

2. 'Getting out of your comfort zone' is NOT a good solution to achieve great things
This is like saying, 'Afraid to start a business? Stop being afraid.' or 'Feel like suiciding? Stop being depressed.'
Really stupid advice, if you think of it...they never deal with the root of the problem solidly.

Rather, stay first with what you are currently good at.
Practice more of it, and get a feel of what you need to stretch or expand on.
Then expand the boundaries of your competence gradually, bit by bit.

Rehearse more than you need to, and try to prep for some uncertain situations that may never happen

Come to think of it, it's been some time since I actually finished a book from cover to cover, so yay?


Now reading more into Volume Spread Analysis for stock trading/investing
I realised that very sadly, our markets are more vulnerable to smart-money actions than ever. The recent crypto/stocks selldown probably highlighted that. But we shouldn't be surprised, really...we have higher retailer participation than ever before, folks with stim-checks, rock-bottom rates that turn folks to riskier assets like stocks (even with inflation fears)...

VSA at least provides some understanding on potential smart-money movements by connecting price action with volume. It appears that the old folks like Jesse Livermore looked up to volume back then to mastermind trades.

I started out learning VSA by just watching commentary by TradeVSA and some blogs.
Tried out a few entry scenarios myself on a few stocks, and they worked pretty nicely.
But I felt I needed to read more deeply into VSA...can it be applied to indices? How about connecting different time frames to anticipate changing trends? Can it be used to anticipate market peaks/bottoms better?

Started reading Tom Williams' 'Master the Markets' and 'Trading in the Shadow of the Smart Money'.
But I felt they were more of glossaries for different Signs of Strengths/Weaknesses...so I turned to Anna Coulling's book 'A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis'.

Great book for beginners, but has too many story analogies for the VSA concepts. And spelling errors...
For myself, I felt I needed to read stuff beyond beginners' level, so I turned to the following books:

1.Investing with Volume Analysis by Buff Dormier

2. The Secret Science of Price and Volume Techniques by Tim Ord

I've only started reading the first few chapters of both books, and they are very, very good despite having few reviews on Amazon.

I'll mention what the first book said about technical analysis vs fundamental analysis:

Back then when markets had no regulations, it was all Mad Max for retailers to find good stocks. That was why Benjamin Graham's Security Analysis (and later Buffett's philosophy) worked well...FA provided an advantage.

But later, the SEC was founded, and it became a market-wide requirement to release financial statements and company info. FA academicians obviously got more recognition there. However, this soon led to over-regulation where companies got penalised for every single bit of boo-boo. This led to companies sending out news late, hence the surprise shocks that still occur despite a wealth of financial and company info online.

So TA (or volume analysis) is needed to see how INSIDERS move positions in anticipation of news to come.

The second book gives a good top-down approach on analysing the market's volume (indices), moving deeper into the best performing sectors, and then picking the best-performing stocks. While this approach seems legit, I'm surprised the author could pick good stocks based on volume/price performance alone.

I wonder if they do correlate with good fundamentals i.e. do stocks that dropped less during bear markets have better fundamentals? Common-sense might denote yes, but I've got to see it myself.


Also found 'Opportunity Investing' by Gerald Appel.
Seems like one of the few books to discuss practical portfolio allocation (eg more money to commodities during current inflation rage).

 

[Deleted78083]

Who knew the 22 immutable laws of marketing was such a mainstream yet good book?!

It's simple, short, to the point, full of marketing lessons but also full of life lessons!

Loving it so far (I am at rule 13).

 

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[Nick perry01]

I am currently read the millionare fastlane by MJ DeMarco

 

[MTF]

It's rare that a fiction book hooks me from the first few pages, let alone a hard science fiction story. Currently at 19% it's even better than The Martian.

If you need a little break from all the business books but still want something "intelligent" (there's tons of scientific details and calculations on almost every page) that's a great pick.

 

[RicardoGrande]

Just started yesterday.
Comes off like "the secret to selling anything" so far, which isn't a problem.
Sobczak promises a framework of *solid, actionable, step-by-step* advice to help you prospect and start making calls... but making them adroitly and not being another bloatfly in botswana.

God knows I still taste the palpable fear at the thought of starting up local cold calling again, but no one is going to give me work just because I'm handsome and want it.

I feel like reading "The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, Revised: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want"

Is it actually teaching something, or is it Tim Ferriss rewritten?

View attachment 38084

No, it really doesn't if you've seen "x business did THIS to start" elsewhere. It's basically a smattering of case studies/a pep talk. iirc a good amount of the case studies featured ex-consultants (people who already had 10+ years of domain experience and were making $$$), but I could be confusing this book with "company of one".
Okay read if you can get it for free or find it at a library tho.

 

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[Wiezel]

David Goggins - Can't Hurt Me.

 

[Olimac21]

The Plague-Albert Camus.