Now you can easily create a site that rivals the professional news oriented sites of big media. The great thing is it runs on Wordpress, the free blogging platform with a huge support community.

Brian has announced a new addition to his line, called Revolution Pro. It is due out the middle of February 08 and will have some amazing customizing features. The price will be in the $70 range which is a bargain for an out of the box web solution.

If the price is stopping you from an upgrade, Lisa over at the blog The Success Space, has a contest going to give away one of these great templates. Drop by her site and check out the details.

I picked up the audio book, “E-Myth Revisited” the other day. This is a book I wish I would have read years ago.

The book is about starting your own business and the mistakes that most entrepreneurs make in the process. It gives some fascinating insights into different business startup methods and how many are destined to fail right from the start.

The book lists three “hats” the budding entrepreneur must wear. They are…

1. Technician
2. Manager
3. Entrepreneur

Author Michael Gerber says that the majority of new business startups are done by “technicians”, people that are good at a certain task such as a mechanic. The technician is the laborer, the one who produces the products or service. The manager ensures that processes and finances run smoothly and regularly. The entrepreneur develops the goals, and steers the company in the direction needed to attain those goals. Of these three dispositions, the entrepreneur is key… without it, the technician will end up overworked and underpaid. As the company grows, the business owner will want to draw away from the technician and manager work and delegate these jobs to others.

As someone who has been a “Technician” all of his life, this insight into the other necessary qualities of business planning has been very eye opening. The book gives many examples of business run from the “technician” perspective. In the past when I used to sell to auto repair shops I was always amazed at the mechanic who would start up a new shop and try to do all of the work himself. He usually had a phone in one hand and a wrench in the other. The difficulty of trying to do everything himself would soon lead to burnout and a quick return from businessman to employee.

In the coming months as we look at putting together a workable business plan the resources provided by this book and the comprehensive e-myth website will prove to be useful tools. For management resources we’ll look no further than our favorite management guru, Rosa Say, and her very informative blog, Talking Story. In the technician area, blogs such as lifehacker and lifehack.org will provide some useful tricks and tips, while fellow blogger Dwayne Melancon always provides real world business experience on his Genuine Curiosity Blog.

If a business startup is in your future be sure to pick up this book or get the audio version

I’m a huge fan of David Allen’s best selling book, “Getting Things Done.” This book has given me a whole new outlook on time management and personal productivity. I am always recommending it to colleagues and friends and it is consistently in my top ten book list. It is usually the first productivity book I would recommend to someone… until now.

I have recently found a book that should be a precursor to GTD. A book that should be read before undertaking any time management or personal productivity program. A simple but profound read that can make all the difference in your personal development success.

Entitled, “It’s All Too Much,” by Peter Walsh, this book will give you the understanding to overcome a major problem that our modern world has thrust upon us… clutter. Peter is the organizational guru from TLC’s hit show Clean Sweep. He understands how easy it is for clutter to creep into your life and how hard it is to get rid of it.

Peter will help you climb out from that pile of junk mail on your desk, throw away the 200 old magazines that are bowing your bookshelf and finally uncover a workable horizontal surface that you can work on. This book is far from the usual, “buy more storage boxes” solution. Peter gets to the root of the problem by asking a couple of questions.

What do you want your life to look like?

How do you want to organize your house so you can live the life you want?

It’s All Too Much shows you how to reexamine your priorities and let go of the things that are weighing you down. Simply and clearly, Peter gives you the tools you need to go through your home, room by room — even possession by possession — and honestly evaluate what adds to your quality of life and what’s keeping you from living the life of your dreams.

This book has given me new insights into clutter control and some great tips for overcoming all the “stuff” that seems to find its way into my life. I used to think that clutter was just my problem, but I now realize that we all suffer from “Stuff” overload.

From junk mail, endless magazine subscriptions, to the latest kitchen gadget, this stuff accumulates and causes stress. Soon we just throw our hands in the air and say… It’s all Too Much!

The bottom line… read this book, de-clutter your life, and then pick up David Allen’s, Getting Things Done

Rich Dad, Poor Dad chronicles the story of the authors two dads, his own father, who was the superintendent of education in Hawaii and who ended up dying penniless and his best friends father who dropped out of school at age 13 and went on to become one of the wealthiest men in Hawaii.

Kiyosaki uses the story of these two men and their varying financial strategies to illustrate the need for a new financial paradigm in order to achieve financial success in the new millennium.

Listening Location
Old Town Murrieta. Walked the entire length of Old Town Both ways.

Experience
Took me back into time to the 1950’s. I found myself immersed in the story and could relate to the experiences.

Excerpt from my step by step account…

I plugged in the earphones, put on my jacket, and clipped the Ipod to my belt. I started walking south along Washington Ave about 7pm. The story on the Ipod was one of two boys growing up in Hawaii in the 1950’s. The reality I was seeing was an old town that could have been out of that book. As the Author talked about his adventures growing up and the lessons that he learned it was if I had been transported back in time. Robert talked about working in Mrs Martin’s store for 10 cents and hour… I looked across the street and there was the rustic Murrieta Market. There was a young boy in the door dust mopping the floor and shaking the dust off in a huge cloud. Probably the same thing had been happening for 40 or 50 years… different kids… different times..

I walked further and I passed a Bar & Grill. The noise was loud and somebody inside was causing a commotion. I walked past the entrance and the story on the Ipod talked about people who didn’t understand how money worked would always be spending their money on frivolous things like alcohol and gambling. This was getting more profound by the minute. I continued down the street fascinated by Mr. Kiyosaki’s stories. The words were literally before my eyes.

As I reached the other end of town, I crossed the street and headed back. I soon heard people singing and I noticed a very small church building off to the left in the darkness. It could probably hold 30 people at the most. There was a glow around the front door and the singing got louder as I approached. All of a sudden the front door burst open and a young gal came running out at full speed. She ran right in front of me and continued down the street to a tattered mini van. She grabbed a book out of the back, muttered a faint hello, and hurried back in. The interesting thing was there was no name on the building… no worship times , no denomination, … nothing.

The audio book was talking about the desperation of people and businesses that didn’t understand financial principles. I couldn’t help thinking that this church needed to invest in a sign so the people of the neighborhood could get more information. Why wasn’t there a name or other information? If I lived nearby how could I get involved? It seemed so odd. And then it got more interesting as I walked further. Across the street there was more of a ruckus at the Bar. The noise level increased and someone was yelling from the front porch. What would happen if that little church had an outreach and a name, I wondered?

I continued on and Robert talked about the lesson’s he learned from his rich dad and how he invested in Real Estate. The stories of how he took dilapidated old buildings and turned them into high rises. I looked up to see an amazing dichotomy. On one side of the street was an old house from the turn of the century… boarded up and a rickety for-sale sign hanging from a post. The other side was a new two story office building that was under construction.

I had now reached the other end of town and I headed back to my car. When I opened the door I turned off the Ipod and I was suddenly transported from 1956 back to 2006. I can’t tell you how amazing this short little journey was. I will finish this audio book up in the next few days and then I hope to interview someone who has learned some of Robert’s financial principles.

This book tells an amazing story..

Back to the future 2006… Wow!

Interview Upcoming with real estate investor.

Three Main Takeaways

1. They don’t teach you about money in school.

2. Learning about wealth equals freedom.

3. You can be well educated and have a large salary but still be poor.

The venerable ipod has really changed the way I learn from books. With an audio title, I always finish the book. I can easily bookmark sections, and play popular sections over and over.

The only real problem I have with the format is making notes while listening. If I’m driving, or out walking it’s hard to write down notes. Since I usually don’t have a written copy for reference it’s hard to go back and find an exact section to capture notes at a later date. This also makes it harder to review the book since I don’t have access to the written copy for pullouts and quotes.

With over 30 great books to review, I’ve struggled to find a way to bring them to you in a review format. I’ve resorted to buying the hard copy in some instances or relying on an author’s website for additional information. In preparing for a seminar that I’m doing this week on podcasting, I’ve run into a little device that may really help to capture notes along the way.

The device is called the I-talk Pro from Griffen technologies. It’s a small microphone that plugs into the bottom of newer iPods and allows you to record hi quality stereo audio to your iPod in Wav format. When you sync your iPod with your computer, this audio is automatically moved from your iPod to your computer and the disk space is reclaimed.

I ordered one of these from Amazon last week and have been amazed how well it works. You plug the device into your sync port at the bottom of the iPod and it automatically pulls up a recording screen. It gives you a choice of high quality (stereo) or low quality (mono) audio recording and has a recording button. It’s as simple as that.

I usually choose high quality on my video iPod since I have a lot of disk space. The recording quality of this unit is superb. When I want to make notes about an audio book I’m listening to, I just plug it in and record. It’s really as simple as that. To go back to listening to my Audio book, I just remove the unit. It’s fast and simple.

This is an ideal unit for recording podcasts. It is especially useful for recording group conversations as it can be placed on a desk or table where everyone can talk into it. The pickup range is good and the stereo separation really adds a spacial effect.

After recording some podcast material I have realized how useful this will be for Audio book reviews. When I’m done listening to an Audio book, I can listen to my notes at home and put together an informative outline. Then it is just a matter of putting together a book review podcast. This unit makes it fast and easy to record the podcast almost anywhere, with great sound.

I plan to use this unit to create reviews of many of the great books I have listened to over the past year and bring them to you with a written outline, three major points, and a podcast that you can subscribe to. I hope to be able to make this site a resource for audio book reviews that you can take with you.

Over the last two weeks I have been enjoying some new audio books as part of the MBA on the Run program.

It has been interesting to listen on my Ipod to the best in the business talk about marketing, advertising, and financial concepts while walking through local business districts. Earlier this week I walked through Old Town Temecula at lunch while listening to Seth Godin’s new book, “All Marketers Are Liars”.

The concept of Seth’s book is that businesses need to tell compelling stories to be successful in the new millennium. No longer are facts and figures enough… businesses must tell authentic stories to their customers. This was profound. Almost all of the shops and businesses in Old Town are unique. Each one should be telling a unique story… but they were not. All I saw were facts and figures strewn out around the landscape.

Many signs said “antiques and collectibles” while others said candy and others said hamburgers. As I was walking I found myself hungry and thirsty. I wanted something different to eat. After all I was in old town and there was no fast food joints to compel me to come in. All I saw were “facts” such as hamburgers, sodas, Mexican food etc. No one was telling me a story. No one was compelling me to come in and have lunch.

If a sign had said “delicious” hamburgers or “hand rolled” tortillas or even “worlds best” pastrami I would have been in there in a minute. There was no story… no reason to even come in. I walked past a Mexican Restaurant that I know has the best Carne Asada in Riverside county.. the only sign outside was one stating it was a cantina. Why don’t they tell everyone driving by that they have “melt in your mouth” carne asada, “warm fresh” tortillas and a “signature” salsa?

I continued walking down the one mile Old Town Strip looking for anybody to compel me to come in. Someone to offer me something that I couldn’t get at McDonalds or Burger King. I reached the other end of town, crossed the street and headed back the other direction. Seth’s words were playing in my ears and I became increasingly aware why most of the businesses were empty on a weekday. This town didn’t have a compelling story… It really didn’t have much of a story at all. It was just different… and different wasn’t necessarily enough to get my business.

Seth’s book really came alive as I continued to walk. The marketing ideas of most of these businesses were as old as the adobe on the buildings. Just like Joe Friday… Just the facts ma’m. I continued to walk and I soon reached the other end of town. I had seen some interesting adjectives in front of business names such as “mad” or “sweet” but nothing as far as the food or drink.

As crazy as it may sound I ended up eating lunch at the new Starbuck’s at the end of town. Many people have told me a compelling story about Starbuck’s sandwiches and I just had to try one. This new Starbucks is in a historic building but their marketing is legendary. Starbucks had a huge crowd and I found it somewhat sad that nobody else in this unique business district was telling much of a story. At least for a visitor walking through town.

Author John Maxwell’s new book is entitled, The Difference Maker. The sub-title of the book is Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset.

If you’ve enjoyed John Maxwell’s books in the past, you’ll find this new book to be in the same voice. John is the master of making points. If you like an outline style, with multiple points one after the other, you’ll like this book.

The book contains 10 chapters, with the first four about attitude. Chapters 5 through nine contain the big five attitude obstacles. These include discouragement, change, problems, fear, and failure. Chapter 10 is about how this book can help you make a difference in the lives of others.

What I like about this book is its small size. It is easy to take with you in the car or on a plane. The wisdom contained in this book is easy to follow with stories and examples along the way. Since the book is small, It’s easy to make notes of the points in this book using a pocket highlighter. The book will teach you to…

1. Win over discouragement by getting the right perspective
2. Embrace change by determining that without change improvement won’t come
3. Overcome problems by defining, anticipating, evaluating, and embracing the problem as a potential opportunity
4. Defeat fear by admitting to fear; realizing fears limiting power; and converting fear into desire.
5. Move beyond failure by holding on to your sense of humor.

You can use this book as your personal coach. Its small size lets you keep it in your desk drawer or in your car for quick reference. Overall I enjoyed this book and recommend it highly.