The best Business Marketing & Sales eBooks: Reddit reviews

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You need to do customer development, check out books like "The Mom Test" and "Lean Customer Development". But before your prospective customers will want to talk to you you need to get some credibility. Try to create some content that solves problems that they are aware of, then you'll be able to talk with them.

There's a really great book that explains this and gives you some tips about going about it - and it's permafree! It's called "Reader Magnets" by Nick Stephenson. You can find it on Amazon here.

ETA a word I left out.

Dang that sounds painful. I had other pains from excessive piano playing, etc, that plagued my mental well being for years. Turns out it’s likely mental hahah. I read this book closely and my pain is mostly gone. Some come by, but I just remember certain key topics in the book and it slowly goes away. A bunch of programmers recommend this: The Mindbody Prescription:... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FA5SJS?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Hahaha this goes away with time. and practice with having conversations, but it will continue to happen.

You'll need therapy to learn how to manage emotions when something embarrassing comes up in your mind, or else it will just slow you down.

I would suggest picking up this book https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Anyone-Success-Relationships-ebook/dp/B000SEI4V0. The audio book is actually better since the narrator gives specific examples.

There's a ton of self help books out there about social anxiety etc, but they don't give many REAL examples. This one teaches you how to notice very subtle things you do with your body, or others do. One quick example is when someone wears something to stand out. You'll know it when you see it, but when someone has a button pinned to their coat, they're wearing very colorful earrings (think of those big feathery ones), Maybe it's a casual setting but someone is wearing a polkadot bow tie. Those people WANT to be talked to, and asked about it. They know it brings attention, and if they didn't want that attention they wouldn't be dumb enough to wear it.

This is what I mean by specific examples.

Yeah I got you.

https://www.amazon.com/Market-Wizards-Interviews-Top-Traders-ebook/dp/B006X50OPW

https://www.amazon.com/Option-Traders-Hedge-Fund-Framework-ebook/dp/B00844NXC6

I have those and their a pretty light read. The first Market Wizards will show you how other traders plan and execute off certain market conditions. The second is going to give you a background on the whole market chain and how options fit in and play off of it.

Of course also read Benjamin Gram's book. Its the bible of investing.

I have a PO Box away from my home from before I started writing, so I use that one. I've seen one or two people say that they just use their home address. I guess it just depends on how comfortable you are with having it out there. The minuscule chance of some deranged person knowing where I live is enough for me to not want to use my home address but maybe I'm being paranoid. Still, I figure better to just pay for a PO Box than have to move to avoid stalker obsessed with me and my beautiful prose.

Personally, I haven't seen huge returns from my mailing list--I only have about fifty subscribers so far. But from everything I hear and read they are an enormous resource and one of the few things you should definitely have.

I mean, imagine being able to email a group of people who are specifically interested in your work every time you release a title--and then get a bunch of sales from them, and then get the boost in rank for you book that they would give.

I wouldn't let not having a mailing list keep you from publishing--if it is. But I'd say it's worth setting up. Check out <em>Reader Magnets</em>. It's free on Amazon and it sells the importance of a mailing list better than I could.

A PO Box is definitely an expense, but if you're planning on doing this as a business--as a career--rather than I hobby, I'd say basically: suck it up, if at all possible. It's just one of those things you need to spend money on. Lol, I feel like my dad saying, "suck it up."

https://www.amazon.com/1-Page-Marketing-Plan-Customers-Money-ebook/dp/B01B35M3SM/

You may want also to read the books by Al Ries, "Immutable Laws of Marketing" and "Immutable Laws of Branding" ( I can't remember what the numbers were: 22 Immutable Laws, or something or other ), as well...

It takes time to build following, & connecting with the people who are interested .. isn't some God-given entitlement .. it takes groundwork.

I just discovered that intead of having 1 EU site, Amazon has a zillion nationally-specific sites...

Here's the US link to the book I'm telling you to get:

https://www.amazon.com/1-Page-Marketing-Plan-Customers-Money-ebook/dp/B01B35M3SM/

That's the one.

Find it at your local Amazon, & however short it is, it gives you the complete template of what you are required to do.

It is a precious resource, for anybody who isn't a business person, who wants to be self-employed.

( there are others, completely irrelevant to your situation, so you don't have to read them!! ; )

Salut, Namaste, & Kaizen, Hoomin

( :

Keep it simple as you can. My suggestion is star to talk with your customer following the The Mom Test rules.

The Mom Test in a nutshell is:

• Talk with your customers about their life instead of your idea
• Ask them about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future
• Talk less and listen more

It’s called The Mom Test because it leads to questions that even your mom can’t lie to you about.

Book some videocalls with 5-10 of your customers and ask them about how they use your product in their life or if they use it for a specific use case ask questions around the use case. For example if the use case is: saving money for my next vacations, some questions could be:

• How was you last vacations?
• How did you decide where to go?
• Did you define a budget for it?
• Did you saving for it?
• How did you saving for it?
• What were the implications of that?

While you are talking with them you star to notice patterns and identify needs or pains, it is a good staring point to level up your product discovery to specific topics.

Product discovery is apply a lot of differents technies and tools to discover how to build the right product, but in the end all of them look to give you an undestanding of your customer, so talk with them is the basic for that.

IMO focus on the supply side first is great. To approach the sellers I would choose 1 or 2 platforms as sources of possible users, maybe FB Marketplace and Heyauto.

Then I would search for around 100 sellers on the platforms to contact them. For example, I would contact sellers by FB Messenger with the excuse of learning more about the business of selling used cars with a cold message like this: Hey Bob, i have seen you have a lot of expertise in selling used car and I want to learn more about it for my [insert any excuse here(podcast, homework, etc)]. Could we chat a few minutes about it?

You will need to reach 100 sellers to get 25 calls (a great conversion rate) and try not to sell anything, remember your goal is learn.

Learn more about the types of questions you should ask in the book, The Mom Test

Read this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060YIBLK/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_CC3C63AKJYE4N73R1SPG

They're not paying me, it's just helped me alot.

Author is a Cia or FBI (can't recall) interrogator, but his whole technique is be friendly and likeable so they trust you and volunteer information vs like torture etc.

Book is written really simply and straightforward like an army field manual. Tells you direct techniques to appear friendly and likeable in a conversation. How to get people comfortable with your presence etc.

When I actively read it the first time, I just tried the advice out talking to gas station attendants and the like, just to see. Within 10 minutes the guy broke down and told me about his divorce, his anxieties over custody battle, just really told me wayy too much. (Has worked for several people not just the one guy but oof.)

Really helped me and a bunch of friends I've lent it to. One friend called it "the closest thing I've read to a real like skill book from skyrim".

(Context: I am diagnosed ADHD and suspect undiagnosed ASD, so I have to manually navigate conversations, can't do it by feel. This book helped ALOT)

Hope it helps 🤙

I believe they're referring to someone mention in this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Market-Wizards-Interviews-Top-Traders-ebook/dp/B006X50OPW/

I recommend it. It's a good read!

I really enjoyed the book Traction by DuckDuckGo founder Gabriel Weinberg. He identified 19 traction (marketing) channel strategies, and a methodology for identifying the most promising channel for your company. Mainly startup focus.

https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Customer-ebook/dp/B00TY3ZOMS

Yeah I've done that. This helped, it's old but humans haven't changed. You'll find some approach or insight in there that will help you with this and other things.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006X50OPW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

I can give you some tips to start. :)
From an idea to a viable business, you need to focus on refining your idea with good feedback. Asking the right question is key. If you read "The Mom Test" you will know what I'm talking about.
Your job, in the beginning, should be generating good conversation and identifying your ideal customers. This way you have enough information to help you refine your idea into something that people want/need.

If you are worried about people copying your idea which seems to be an issue I see a lot. Make your product unique to your own experience/expertise or give yourself a time frame (ex. 3 months) so you can move fast with a plan in place.

Please let me know if this is helpful.

FB can work but it can take a wile. I know other MSPs that do it well, they will target the receptionist etc of the business that they are looking to pick up. it sometimes takes years but cost fark all. targeting cuts down cost a lot. google is much the same think of problems that end users may be searching for not MSP end users are not looking for an MSP they want a problem solved. also have a chat with your vendors my CSP wholesaler helps with marking to the point of providing hot leads. Local business groups are great too. I did find I had to go to about 12 months of meetings before any work or referral's but I enjoy going out at seeing people.

Pick a niche and hit it hard.

have a read of this short book the 1 page marketing plan by Allan Dib https://www.amazon.com.au/1-Page-Marketing-Plan-Customers-Money-ebook/dp/B01B35M3SM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?hvadid=71743243502907&amp;hvbmt=be&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvqmt=e&amp;keywords=one+page+marketing+plan&amp;qid=1641097757&amp;sr=8-1-spons&amp;psc=1&amp;spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExTFpLRktRMTlGOUhNJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDY0OTkwRVpBSk1JQUhPUDVVJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTNKQ09KTERZWVdaUFomd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

Read this book and do what it says

https://www.amazon.co.uk/1-Page-Marketing-Plan-Customers-Money-ebook/dp/B01B35M3SM

A really good book on the subject is Trust Me, I'm Lying by Ryan Holiday; he talks about how, as a PR person, he's able to deftly manipulate the media's need for clicks by giving them ready-made clickbait.

And no; it won't be different in the Metaverse because it'll be as capitalistic as the real world is. The only difference is that you've have given up so much privacy and information that the ads will be personalized to you specifically, "Hi Jordan! I see you're in your underwear at 11:13 am today; how about a brand new pair of LEVI'S shipped to your stack in an hour or less?"

There are a lot of good books on how people make economic decisions. It's really - to some degree - part of our biology. Our brain makes decisions in a certain way and these can be reliably exploited by many means.

I would recommend the book Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Coucou camarade, Je suis passé par la même merdouille, début d'isolation z l'école, abandon du système scolaire à 18 ans pour ''faire un formation cned, stp maman ca a l'air cool et au moins je fais un truc que j'aime'', puis sortit de ma bulle (enfin!!) à 23-24 ans. J'en ai 29 maintenant, je suis la pour discutailler en MP si tu le souhaite.

De tête, voici deux choses vraiment importante pour moi: - premièrement, j'ai lu ce livre: https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Anyone-Success-Relationships-ebook/dp/B000SEI4V0 Plein de trucs a prendre plus ou moins zvec des pincettes, mais ça a aidé a combler le vide d'experience et de savoir faire. - deuxiemement, les gens aiement les compliments. Tu arrive a tout si tu sais les brosser dans le sens du poil, tout en restant vrai et honnète.

Bon courage. Comme quelqu'un l'a dit, ca se travaille.

You should just check his out:

https://www.amazon.com/Reader-Magnets-Platform-Marketing-Authors-ebook/dp/B00PCKIJ4C

The best thing i learnt in trading is temperament and knowing when to walk away. I recommend you read Market Wizards to see how many of the world's best were in your position and worse a few times: https://www.amazon.com/Market-Wizards-Interviews-Top-Traders-ebook/dp/B006X50OPW

You can use Facebook Groups or an appropriate subreddit.

But before you start interviewing, I recommend you read The Mom Test: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H4G2J1U/ref=pe_385040_118058080_TE_M1DP

It's a great read that will help you ask the right questions. Hope this helps.

I did. I started with Traction (https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Customer-ebook/dp/B00TY3ZOMS/), been listening to podcasts on e-commerce marketing as of late since I've been commuting a lot.

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Really, I was just looking to explore the Reddit Ads platform. Making sales would have been great but ultimately I just wanted to learn. Pretty cheap lessons IMO.

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I haven't read any Robert Greene but I'll take a look. Thanks for the book recommendations!

I prefer customer interviews, e.g. The mom test (not affiliated) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H4G2J1U - you'll be able to capture potential problems that surveys will not.

I have also used Mechanical Turk on a few times but it was mostly a waste (for trying to validate product idea / improve onboarding / identifying new customer segments).

Wow.. you are in good company.

If you read Jack Schwager's book market wizards you can read about how just about every top trader has done something similar.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Market-Wizards-Interviews-Top-Traders-ebook/dp/B006X50OPW

Think of this as the best value for money education ever.

How to talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships

I've only read the sample but even that has good tips.

Read the book <em>Trust Me, I'm Lying</em>, it gives a much better understanding of how the media works to cover stories. And when it comes to what the media covers, ultimately, "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves..."

I'm currently reading Traction, a book that discusses marketing for startups. (https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Customer-ebook/dp/B00TY3ZOMS#nav-subnav) While the game space is different, there are many strategies in the book that apply to games as well, and that game devs can learn from.

I have a friend who had this problem - but I think she got a lot better over time. Her attachment habit was actually pushing people away, which fed into a vicious cycle of finding a new friend, clinging too much, and then losing the friend when they didn't want to hang out all the time, and she would respond to the rejection negatively.

I don't know how you can resolve your insecurities directly. But I highly recommend this book... Even if reading and applying the tips in the book can't remove your feelings of insecurity, they may help you to mask them - and over time, relational success might help you feel more confident. I believe "fake it until you make it" might apply.