A path of Business Education

Over the countless months I have been on a path of education....a path of business education. Well, better put a path of reading numerous and various business books in order to expand and further develop my business understanding and thought process. Upon reading these books I came across a number of "must reads"....

• E Myth Mastery by Michael E. Gerber

"What every successful entrepreneur does".....focuses on the seven disciplines that provide the key to unlocking success in leadership, marketing, money, management, fulfillment, lead conversion, and lead generation. Definitely an excellent read that requires you and challenges you to be involved in the reading and thought development process.

• The New Business Road Test by John W. Mullins

Ever had an idea you thought would be successful and be the next big thing? Well, why not take it for a "test drive" or better yet run it through the seven domains of attractive opportunities

1. Market attractiveness (Market domain/Macro-level)

2. Industry attractiveness (Industry domain/Macro-level)

3. Target segment benefits and attractiveness (Market domain/Micro-level)

4. Sustainable advantage (Industry domain/Micro-level)

5. Mission, aspirations, propensity for risk

6. Connectedness up, down, across value chain

7. Ability to execute on CSFs (critical success factors)

Most new businesses fail, despite how much capital they have, or how talented they are, or how good the business plan is. If a 'lousy business' or flawed opportunity is being pursued its destined to head down the road to failure. A nice wake up to due diligence!

• Doing Business With The New Japan by James D. Hodgson, Yoshihiro Sano, John L. Graham

Despite today's markets being fairly global and borderless, boundaries and invisible communication bridges are prevalent and at times down right difficult to encounter and comprehend. Japan provides a fruitful market of opportunities and is a fascinating land with "ancient cultural roots and the most modern capabilities", but at times you may ponder if you are welcome and if so how do you maneuver through the intricate and distinct business culture of Japan.

'Doing business with the new japan' provides grand insight and helpful advice for any foreigner daring to do business in Japan and touches upon negotiation styles and tactics, key cultural differences and speculates on future relationships.

• The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott

The days of exclusively using TV, radio, newspaper, and magazine media forms for sending your message to your target audience are pretty much obsolete...not obsolete but pretty much. Now, leading companies no longer use one or two media forms but now use a package ranging from news releases, blogs, podcasting, vidcasting, viral marketing and online media to reach buyers directly.

David Meerman Scott provides a great learning curve on how you can reach and speak directly to consumers and niche buyers with targeted messages that cost a fraction of traditional means.

• Mobile Advertising - Supercharge your brand in the exploding wireless market by Chetan Sharma, Joe Herzog, and Victor Melfi

With the emergence of the internet people thought brick-and-mortar stores would slowly decrease in numbers. Now, with the emergence and rapid development of mobile phone use in people's lives, does this mean PCs will become useless pieces of equipment merely taking up desk space? Highly unlikely, but the buzz of mobile advertising is certainly becoming an exciting topic of conversations.

'Mobile Advertising' transforms that buzz by covering "the conceptual, analytical, and practical applications of mobile advertising, giving marketers, service providers, and investors in-depth guidance on tapping the full potential of mobile advertising". A definite read for anyone on the technical or marketing side of the mobile advertising equation.

Australian Chris