The Entrepreneur's Playbook
The Entrepreneur’s Playbook: More than 100 Proven Strategies, Tips, and Techniques to Build a Radically Successful Business by Leonard C. Green.
I have just finished reading a book with long name “The Entrepreneur’s Playbook: More than 100 Proven Strategies, Tips, and Techniques to Build a Radically Successful Business”. The name is more than correct and I would also describe it like a list of advice. There are also some “study cases” which are trying to put the advice into the context of running business. There is no chronological order so you are free to pick a chapter randomly. My opinion is that the book gives you some common advice but nothing breathtaking. If you have already watched some videos about starting startup or running business, this book is not for you. At the end, I was quite bored. But anyway, I have read it and I would like to summarize some ideas which I found worth mentioning again.
- We are NOT stopped by the thing we DON’T know but by the thing we KNOW.
- Reason why we consider children more creative than us – they don’t know the rules
- Try different market penetration
- If you have for example power saving light -> give it to factories for free and ask for percentage of saved money for the energy.
- First money is usually taken from FFF - Friend, Family and Fools
- Lawyer in meeting with VC or angel (more involved in decision making)
- Stress can be helpful to help you concentrate on important stuff and be more careful
- Religion can also be motivating – God doesn’t give me a task I cannot encounter with
- But be careful to have a limit because of religion
- Let go 10% of less productive people in your company each year
- Work/Social balance is not very common
- Need a lot of support from others to make it happen
- Hard work without a plan … is just hard work
- Search for patterns in mistakes of others and learn from it
- Do SWOT from time to time
- Can be applied to several areas
- Guess what users want and after that ask them and compare.
- Say the truth, but don’t reveal something nobody asked
- Trust, but verify
- Ask a lot - be curious
Ideas from other successful entrepreneurs:
- Care about your reputation
- Known leader are:
- Demanding but fair
- Bold – not afraid to fail
- Decision makers
- Good communicators
- Leaders by example
- Hire better people than you and develop future leaders
- Do not be afraid to fail
- Give credit for success to others, but take responsibility for failures
- Do not ask people to do things you are not willing to do
- Keep emails to 25 words or use a phone.
- Set a limit to do something and what to do if it isn’t happening (become an artist till 30 or go into something else)
What I found interesting is the way how you can explore present market. People usually say something like “I need more training/education”, “I want better medical care”, “I want more excitement in my life”… so you should answer with list with a title “Business that fill that need”. If there is no business -> you have an opportunity to do it. But you have to be careful about the size of market (one person having that need is not enough).
I would also like to point out the Maslow’s hierarchy. The lower the more fundamental need. So, for example if something is missing in one level and something else in the level below, you will naturally try to satisfy the need placed lower in the hierarchy. Knowing this can be very helpful in forming and shaping teams. Build good environment from the bottom layers (or try to help your employees with filling that needs).
