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Scott Ginsberg: Make A name For Yourself

I wish more books were like this. Seriously. A lot of success books are all about “systems,” and are sanitary and sterile when you read them. There’s a ton of padding, and to slough through them to get to the nuggets of information is needlessly tedious. Maybe it’s because there is little market for 50 page books…but most 200 page books have 50 pages of information.

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

Attributed to Mark Twain, probably incorrectly. The point is: the publishing industry needs more books like this. Content rich, without being wordy. Easy to read without being the short home spun stuff that Ken Blanchard writes.

In 1998, Jeffrey Gitomer ditched pretense and wrote “Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless.” That book had BIG BOLD STUFF. You didn’t have to guess what the important information was, it was in IMPACT font with 10-13 words per page in some sections. The articles were all easily digestible…10 years later, the book stands out when you pick it up. Even now, you get the gist of the message in 15 minutes. Jeffrey must have sold enough because after that he came up with the “Little _________ book series…”

“Make a name for Yourself.” is in that tradition–it’s visually attractive, it’s short, it’s serious but not self important. It’s 240 pages, but only about 100 pages of writing. It’s a conversation with an expert. You get the privilege of engaging with someone in their 20’s who is authentic, honest, whip smart, and spot on. You can read this book in a couple of hours, easily, but there are great gems in there…

• Be authentic. Man, this is great advice–and the best advice in the book.
  
• Do what nobody is willing to do (hey, Tiger Woods is the first one on the practice greens every tournament).
• Less TV. (Mine is in my basement except on Buckeye Saturdays).
• Get up an hour earlier.
• And he’s the first business writer to use “be nobody’s bitch,” in writing. Hopefully, he’ll stay under the radar long enough to keep the feminists away.

The only criticism I have is that the book isn’t really about personal branding–not directly. It’s about what you need to “BE,” in order to be qualified to make an authentic name for yourself. I was expecting a different book, more of a networking book, and less of a personal development book. That’s OK, my expectations aren’t Scott’s problem, and I am assuming I can buy his other books for that.

Anyway, read this book if you’re serious about personal development, want an example of what some of the stuff we all know we’re supposed to do (believe in yourself, affirmations, etc) can do, and want to make a name for yourself.

See you tomorrow.

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