52 Books in 1 Year Challenge

January 18, 2014 by Raul Colon

My friend and New York Times Bestselling Author Julien Smith challenges himself to read one book a week. I have decided that 2014 is a good year to challenge myself.

Why?

I have always been an avid reader and in 2013 I regret not making more time for reading so I am going to make up for it this year.

The Real Challenge

With so much content flashing in our faces it can be difficult to get around to a physical or digital book. So far on the 18th of January I can say I have already covered 3 books and half way on my 4th.

My Plan

I plan to create a list of the books I will be reading and some others that might be on my radar. This also plays into my three words. By reading books I am sort of observing what others have for advice.

This way I can keep track of my goals by writing them down and sharing it publicly.

I am working hard towards making 2014 a great year; the last time I had a great year was 2010 and time has flown by.

My preference will be books that will help my business partners, clients, and prospective clients serve their audiences and public better.

Currently Reading

The Peacemakers (The Nemesis Engines Book 1) by Olivier Blanchard

List of Books Read

1. Refuel by DrLaPuma

2. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk

3. Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius – Erik Wahl

4. World Wide Rave by David Meerman Scott

5. Email Persuasion: Captivate and Engage Your Audience, Build Authority and Generate More Sales With Email Marketing by Ian Brodie

6. Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together by Pamela Slim

7.Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising by Ryan Holiday

8. The Small Army Strategy: A Guide for Turning Fans and Followers into Fanatics and Friends for Life by Srinivas Rao

9. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

10. Mr. New York: Lew Rudin and His Love for the City by Seymour P. Lachman

11. Duct Tape Selling: Think Like a Marketer-Sell Like a Superstar by John Jantsch

12. Dot Complicated: Untangling Our Wired Lives by Randi Zuckerberg

13. The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdos, Misfits, and World Dominators by Chris Brogan

14. Everything That Remains: A Memoir by The Minimalists by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

15. Once Minutos (Spanish Edition) by Paulo Coehlo

16. The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Market Your Brand by Ekaterina Walter & Jessica Gioglio

17. Content Chemistry: An Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing by Andy Crestodina

18. Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality by Jacob Tomsky

19. Creativity For Sale: How I Made ,000,000 Wearing T-Shirts and How You Can Turn Your Passion Into Profit, Too by Jason SurfrApp

20. Alchemist – 10th Anniversary Edition by Paulo Coehlo

21. Absolute Value: What Really Influences Customers in the Age of (Nearly) Perfect Information by Itamar Simonson & Emanuel Rosen

22. The Power of No: Because One Little Word Can Bring Health, Abundance, and Happiness by James Altucher and Claudia Azula Altucher

23. La Bruja de Portobello: Novela (Spanish Edition) by Paulo Coehlo

24. The Year of the Brave Bear: Speak Up. Stand Out. Change Your World. by Berni Xiong

25. How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value Through the Science of Fascination by Sally Hogshead

26. Happy Work by Chris Reimer

27. Inferno, the Novel by Dan Brown

28. UnSelling: The New Customer Experience by Scott Stratten and Alison Kramer

29. Not for Sale by David Batstone

30. One Less One More by Robbie Vorhaus

31. The Art of Being Unmistakable by Srinivas Rao

32. Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

33. The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by John Maeda

34. Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is about Help Not Hype by Jay Baer

Books on My Radar

1. Ordovician by Colin Wright

2. Stop Talking, Start Communicating: Counterintuitive Secrets to Success in Business and in Life, with a foreword by Martha Mendoza by Geoffrey Tumlin

Just the Books that are Worth Reading

My only concern with this exercise is to make sure I complete books that are worth reading. Something I have learned from Chris Brogan and Julien Smith these past few years is that there are so many good books out there. Why waste time reading a book that is not up to par.

If you know of a book that might of interest to me feel free to mention it.

Book Review: Amazing Things Can Happen

December 9, 2012 by Raul Colon

I became a fan of C.C. Chapman when I watched him speak in Boston in September of 2010 while at the Inbound Marketing Summit and later on read the book he co-wrote with my other friend Ann Handley “Content Rules“. This book inspired one of the most read posts where I used some of C.C. Lessons and compared them to the preparation of Homemade Onion Rings.

I have interacted with C.C. since then at least once a year in Austin during SXSWi.

A few weeks ago on twitter I read of how C.C. Chapman’s new book “Amazing Things Can Happen” was available for the Kindle earlier than expected.

I went ahead and bought a kindle version immediately and quickly was immersed in this awesome guide of how to approach life.

I find that Amazing Things Can Happen is a Quick read with lots of lessons that nurture your thoughts into living a better quality life. C.C. Chapman gives us multiple exercises that can help us in business and personal aspects of life.

I also really enjoyed how C.C. Chapman focused on the importance of how we need to use our environments as a classroom and most importantly change them often.

Some key points in the book that grabbed my attention was the fact that kindness and listening are not taught in classrooms and how critical they are to succeed.

We sometimes forget on creating experiences around our services and/or products where people come back

Time and Money should not be obstacles or excuses.
Reminding us that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.
The reason we should be like ducks. You really have to get a copy to understand this one.

This book is full of Amazing advice that can lead you to Amazing Things. If you feel like you need a small boost of energy to move forward with a project or a critical decision in your life don’t hesitate and order the book!

Other Reviews of the Book of People I Admire:

AMAZING THINGS WILL INDEED HAPPEN by @ajleon

Cool Video Book Review: Impact Equation #ImpactEQ

October 26, 2012 by Raul Colon

Video Review of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith book Impact Equation

As I planned last night to create a book review on the Impact Equation after publishing a more detailed review on this blog I found this video book review created by Keith Nerdin on the book the Impact Equation by my friends Julien Smith and Chris Brogan.

It only made me think on the fact that I needed to get more creative when it comes to reviewing book and sharing my thoughts on my experiences.

Order Impact Equation Now…

Visualizing the Impact Equation

October 24, 2012 by Raul Colon

A book that covers online communications and starts with the phrase:

“Ceci n’est pas un social networking book”

Is a book I definitely want to read!

Before I continue writing about this great book that helps us understand how communicate and create relationships with current emerging technologies, I want to explain that I am a big fan and admirer of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.

I also have had the privilege to work with Chris in the past on projects for Human Business Works (My company is a Strategic Partner). I also had the privilege to finally meet Julien Smith this year at SXSW and we also tend to like the same type of shoes.

RIMG0177-1024x768 Visualizing the Impact Equation — Me & Julien Smith

Both of these individuals have taught the online communities they belong too how to create healthy relationships (business and personal).

Having read Trust Agents a few years ago, I appreciate how they continued some concepts into the current environment of online communications in 2012.

Their new book, The Impact Equation (Affiliate Link), measures how we create relationships by creating an impact in the way people see and perceive things.

Explanation of Impact

Chris and Julien explain the purpose of the book in the first pages mentioning that the Impact Equation is about considering the person at the other end of a relationship.

Considering what would make a difference to that individual who connected with an idea and how they would perceive it.

Impact Equation Formula

The formula they shared with us in the book is IMPACT = C * R * E * A * T * E.

The letters stand for Contrast, Reach, Exposure, Articulation, Trust, and Echo. I would go into explaining a bit more how each of these elements work from my perspective and how they complement each other to create Impact but it would be a much longer post.

I recommend for you to pre-order the The Impact Equation book which will give you a deeper understanding including neat exercises that will help you put what you learn into practice.

Unconventional Business Advice from Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

What resonated with me was how Julien and Chris explained their unorthodox approach at providing unconventional business advice. For those of you stuck into the Business as Usual way of doing things, feel free to skip this book. If you want to take a look at new ways of doing things, understanding how the online eco-system of business works, then I recommend you order a copy and give one away to each of those key stakeholder of the business you work in or own.

You Don’t Need Permission

When you are searching to find yourself and follow your dreams, you don’t need anyone’s permission. There is emphasis on the idea that everyone has a chance to get heard with these new business models.

Community of Wealth = Cheerleader + Mentors

It also speaks of the wealth of having a community supporting you. This motivates me to continue working as hard as I can in my own small business while having cheerleaders such as Gabriel Pagan, Margie Clayman, Chris Brogan, Rob Hatch, Mark Hayward, Robbie Vorhaus, Nando Caban, Nomar Duran and Lucilla Feliciano.

It’s about how much you are willing to work.

Using emerging technologies levels the playing field by focusing on quality, commitment, and results in order for businesses to deliver. Having money is critical but this alone will not drive your business.

On occasions I see individuals with capital to start a business but lacking drive and commitment. These new platforms of communication will help you with overcoming many obstacles if you put forth the effort and commit to them.

Staying Visible

Contrast is the Unique Selling Proposition as Chris and Julien explain it. When you become too similar you become invisible. I have spent the past year working on new business models. I try to work differently from rest of the people offering what can seem to be similar services to ours. By being different we stand out from the crowd. By being visible we increase the probability of working with customers that have similar interests to ours.

What Ideas are better Creative or Business?

Part of a chapter is dedicated to the importance of driving your business via creative and business decisions that align to your overall goals. Finding a purpose in both type of ideas will help you understand the importance in analyzing both. It also explains at a high level that each one is driven depending by the objectives you want to reach.

Visualizing the Book

I was privileged enough to get an Advanced Uncorrected Proof copy. When we look at text we might miss out on visualizing the problem that a business book is trying help you solve.

Chris and Julien had a unique way to help me visualize some ideas in the book. They created a competition, where readers took pictures of images and embedded a book quote with it.

By using textography on pictures taken with my iPhone and Camera, I was able to take a few pictures and align them to quotes in the book. I also tagged them on twitter with the Hashtag #ImpactEQ

An Experience

As with Trust Agents, Chris and Julien created an experience for their readers. The book is out this week and I can already imagine the types of experiments Chris and Julien will attempt to make the book even more functional.

So far I am very thankful for the privilege of receiving an advanced copy and getting to see first hand the great knowledge Chris and Julien have to share.

When are you ordering your copy?

Order Impact Equation Now…

Small Town Rules

June 13, 2012 by Raul Colon

My first trip to SXSW Interactive conference, I attended a session that put the spotlight on the advantages a small town entrepreneur had in a bad economy.

I made it a priority to go to this session because I learn and value the information that Becky McCray’s imparts via her blog.

While sitting in the audience I noticed it was different to other sessions. Before the session started, Becky and Barry Moltz interacted with the audience. They also started the session by having everyone introduce themselves to the attendees.

The perspective I got from that session confirmed once again key similarities of how most places in Puerto Rico have a small town mentality. Before leaving the session, Becky gave me a small Bottle of My favorite Liquor, Jack Daniel’s with her Business Card. It was a great way to make her business card stand out.

When I found out the duo where launching a book, I quickly added it to my need to read list.

Video Review

After reading “Small Town Rules” I have to say I was able to dig deeper into the conversations started in Becky’s multiple blog posts and in the session the day I met her at SXSWi.

I also learned many key elements of having a productive small town mentality.

Small Town Rules starts off by explaining why small town entrepreneurs have an advantage over other entrepreneurs. They mention how having a first understanding of managing multiple lines of income, thinking long term, maintaining frugality, creating communities, and most importantly building local connections will give any entrepreneur or business an advantage.

Many of the lessons learned, I have set in my short term goals which will positively impact my future goals.

Becky and Barry do a great job explaining how the shifts in the economy, technology, and society are impacting many aspects of the economy.

Planning for Zero

The lesson I got the most value from the book was how Small Town Entrepreneurs plan for Zero. The reason I survived after 4 years on my own is because I got better at planning for Zero. My last big project ended in August of 2010. I planned for Zero and I have been able to keep my family and business afloat for all these months. Know when people ask me how I have been able to stay afloat I can reference “Small Town Rules”.

Breaking away from some myths

A myth mentioned in small town rules is how some managers think that sales will follow marketing efforts. It is explained as the rain following the plow; I see this mistake way too often. The book focuses on the fact that to get results you need to establish and nurture healthy relationships.

I highly recommend “Small Town Rules”. Let the 7 key tips in “Small Town Rules” serve as a guide to any executive or entrepreneur.

What are the Small Town Rules?
source → http://smalltownrules.com/media/
The Change in the Economy
Rule 1. Plan for zero. There will be tough years ahead.
Rule 2. Spend creative brainpower before spending dollars.
Rule 3. Multiply lines of income to diversify your risk.
The Change in Technology
Rule 4. Work anywhere, anywhen through technology.
Rule 5. Treat customers like community.
The Change in Society
Rule 6. Be proud of being small.
Rule 7. Build your local connections.

As I revamp my business, I will keep Small Town Rules nearby to help me tweak my business model.

If you strive to become a better citizen with the purpose of improving your community reading this book is a must.

Buy the Book

(Affiliate link below)