It’s such a fantastic book for any entrepreneur building a business, whether you want to exist via a sale or just have a business that can work without you.

As I said in the original post:

In Built to Sell, he tells the story of a hypothetical business owner, Alex Stapleton, owner of the Stapleton Marketing Agency, a graphics design house.

Alex is just like most service-based business, struggling for leverage, passive income (in the corporate sense) and a potential buyer, because the business can’t run without him.

For guidance, Alex turns to an entrepreneur and old family friend, Ted, who through a series of quasi-coaching sessions, lays out an easy-to-follow plan that enables Alex to transform his business.

BUT I owe you all an apology.

See, I recorded a conversation with John about the book and some of the key takeaways he shares through Alex’s journey; but I forgot to post it on the blog.

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, when I was having a Twitter conversation about it, that I realised it never got posted.

They say good things come to those who wait… and in the 26-minute recording you can download below, John and I chat about:

• What are the 3 core things that make a sellable business

• What’s the secret to really separating yourself from your business

• How you can apply ideas in the book to create recurring revenue

Enjoy!

Pete

Built to Sell: A conversation with author John Warrillow is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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They came up a lot in my recent conversation with Tony Wagner on Creating Innovators and again in a conversation I had with Ryan Tate, author of the new book, The 20% Doctrine.

Obviously, Google is the pinup boy for this new approach: letting staff take 20 percent of their time to work on ideas that interest them personally, ultimately leading to the creation of both Gmail and Google News.

And with many other companies, especially in ‘the Valley’ embracing this concept and trying to “harvest innovation from the margins,” it must be good for everyone, right?

If you think anything like me, your issue with this is that most companies are not Google, are not making cash at will, or don’t have some VC throwing the stuff at them for stupid valuations (Instapaper, anyone?).

So how does this work in the “real world?”

To find out, I had a conversation with Ryan about the various case studies he did while putting the book together, which you can download below.

We covered a lot of ground in the 52-minute conversation including:

• Is the “20 percent time” policy just a Silicon Valley thing or can it also work for other types of businesses?

• At what point should business owners implement this policy to ensure that it’s going to be productive and profitable?

• How can an organization ensure that the  “20 percent” their staff is investing in these projects are actually kept within the walls of the company?

Enjoy!
Pete

The 20% Doctrine: a conversation with author Ryan Tate is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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Opt-Ins and Conversions = You’re obviously pitching

Items per Sale = You’re pitching upsells

Avg. Price per Item = You’re positioning your offer effectively

Margin = A lot of this is pitching or negotiating deals with suppliers

Now, as you know, we’ve talked a lot about Oren Klaff’s fantastic book, Pitch Anything, on the PreneurCast podcast. (If you haven’t read the book, make sure you do – it really is that good!)

Whether you’re selling ideas to investors, presenting to JV partners or pitching clients for new business, the Pitch Anything methods will work for you.

As a follow up to the research and process Oren laid out in the book, he’s sharing this method in a detailed and eye-opening video.

It’s a cheesy kind of video, but it does cover some awesome content!

• How to give the “Perfect Presentation” for any client, JV partner or investor – based on Oren’s battle-tested and groundbreaking formula

• 3 reasons why your emails, requests and pitches are being ignored right now

• The right way to get past the “gatekeeper of the mind” and grab attention when you need it most

• How to completely control a room – even if it’s filled with strangers you just met (this part of the method is called “Frame Control” and it works like crazy)

I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Oren about his Pitch Anything methods for quite a while now, and can I categorically say that his pitch structure and methods have had a direct effect on getting deals of mine across the line.

Enjoy the video – it’s worth the opt-in and cheesy hand movements!

Pete

Taking the 7 Levers to the Next Level is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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Absolutely; it makes publishing easy.

Absolutely; it’s takes reading to a new level.

… but all it is, is a new ‘conTEXT creation tool’

Don’t get distracted by the multi-touch, drag and drop, widget embedding features,
and confuse it with a ‘conTENT creation tool’

You’re content still needs to be great and engaging in it’s very own back & white written word right.

… oh and don’t get me started on the need to actually market your book if you want it to go anywhere.

If that eBook you paid a freelance writer to whip together for you isn’t selling right now on clickbank… ain’t nothin’ gonna change … by embedding a video.

Content + Marketing > Context.

iBook Author: A Warning is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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I normally like the tactility of a real book, or the effectiveness of an audiobook; but I decided to support Seth Godin’s Domino Project and grab the free Kindle version.
… and it was good. Both the book and the kindle experience.

So, in an effort to keep focused and ‘Do The Work’, I’ve decided to simply list the best of my ‘Kindle Highlights’ and encourage you to go a grab your own copy of this awesome book over at Amazon.
 

• Start at the End
• Figure out where you want to go; then work backwards from there.
• Any project or enterprise can be broken down into beginning, middle, and end. Fill in the gaps; then fill in the gaps between the gaps.
• One rule for first full working drafts: get them done ASAP. Don’t worry about quality. Act, don’t reflect. Momentum is everything.
• The Process… Let’s talk about the actual process—the writing/composing/ idea generation process. It progresses in two stages: action and reflection. Act, reflect. Act, reflect. NEVER act and reflect at the same time
• Suspend All Self-Judgment
• Paddy Chayefsky famously said, “As soon as I figure out the theme of my play, I write it down on a thin strip of paper and Scotch-tape it to the front of my typewriter. After that, nothing goes into that play that isn’t on-theme.”
• That was when I realized I had become a pro. I had not yet had a success. But I had had a real failure.

Pressfield’s Do The Work [A Review] is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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I only heard about the orignal about 6 weeks ago from my good buddy Mike Rhodes during a mastermind meet-up a few Melbourne marketing nerds and I do every few weeks… as it turned out John was in the process of re-releasing the book and everywhere I looked the book seemed to be.

It was probably just good marketing, but I put it down to serendipity and tracked down a copy of the original book that Mike had recommended; as I couldn’t wait for the new one to be released on Amazon.

John’s borrowed from the great parable or fable style of business books, such as The Richest Man in Babylon, Fish! and The Goal.- which makes it such an enjoyable and easy read.

In Built To Sell, he tells the story of a hypothetical business owner, Alex Stapleton, owner of the Stapleton Marketing Agency – a graphics design house.

Alex is just like most service based business, struggling for leverage, passive income (in the corporate sense) and a potential buyer; because the business can’t run without him.

For guidance, Alex turns to an entrepreneur and old family friend, Ted, who through a series of quasi-coaching sessions, lays out an easy-to-follow plan that enables Alex to transform his business.

The three lessons or take-aways that Warillow teaches through Ted and Alex are that any sellable business needs to be:

1. Teachable: A built-to-sell business offers products and services that you can teach employees to do, or program technology to deliver, while you sleep
And it’s hear that you, the business owner, get’s leverage – and why I personally, am such as advocate of structuring, implementing and outsourcing a lot of the process as soon as possible.

2.Valuable: A built-to-sell business avoids price wars by specializing in doing one thing better than anyone else.
It’s all about specialization and positioning. Think about some of the best businesses of today (and history) – they stand for one thing… or at least their foundation was one clear focus; that staff and customers to identify and evangelise.

3.Repeatable: A built-to-sell business creates a stream of recurring revenue where customers have to re-purchase often
It’s all about residual income baby… and John does a fantastic job of clearly raming the point home that businesses that have an annuity stream sell for much higher multiples.

Even if you don’t want to sell you business, don’t get mislead by the title.

“Built To Sell” is about creating business value, whether you’re going to sell or not.

The 3 key principles above, if taken onboard and applied, will help you build a business that is bigger then you.

There are a tonne of other points that I highlighted and noted while reading including; the importance of tracking your conversion rate and stats; language matters¹; you need to show that your business can be a system for growth (read: leveragable system); people love to buy-into systems (whether they are a customer or acquirer)

So do yourself a favour, no matter where you are in your business cycle; you really should head over to Amazon and grab a copy of Built To Sell

John Warillow’s Built To Sell [A Review] is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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