Don't Be a Dip, Learn About the Dip From Seth Godin (A Book Review)

I'll bet Seth Godin didn't realize he and Ricky Bobby had the same philosophy. Ricky Bobby believed that "If you ain't first, you're last." Seth Godin says, "Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers."

"The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)" at first makes you mad. "Hey Seth Godin," you think, "Someone has to be average or else there is no average." Then you start wondering where you're wasting your time being average or even mediocre. Finally, you end the book with a determination to be the best in the world. Even if, as Seth says, the best as in the best for right now, based on what you and others believe and what they know.

For example, if someone wants to hire "the best," that may mean the best person in town, who is available and is in their price range. You can't afford to not be the best. Otherwise, you're going to lose out every time to the guy who is the best.

How do you get to be the best? By knowing when you are in a dip and working through it or knowing that you're in a dead end and quitting. That's pretty much the whole book. Seventy-six pages. Very short and readable in probably an hour. There is a lot more effort in making this a short book than blabbing on for 400 pages. Mark Twain once said he could speak for an hour with no preparation, but that a short speech would take a few weeks to prepare.

The dip is the place after the fun and excitement of starting something new wears off and before the apparent ease of true mastery begins. It's the 18 mile point in a marathon - past the excitement of halfway, but will another 8 long miles to go and no finish line in sight. It's the point where the grand opening ribbon cutting leftovers have been eaten, but before word of mouth really starts to build your business.

You need to get this book and read it on a regular basis if you ever find yourself wondering if you need to soldier on or if it is appropriate to quit. Is it a true doldrums or are you about to turn the corner? It's better to take a few minutes, read the book and ask yourself "Am I first... or last?"

Beth Bridges has attended over 2,000 networking events in the last 7 years as the Membership Director and Chief Networking Officer of a large west coast chamber of commerce. She believes it is possible to be a Seth Godin and Ricky Bobby fan and still have some brain cells left.

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Copyright Beth Bridges, 2011

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The Truth About the Gallup StrengthsFinder Test

Why Take the StrengthsFinder Test?

If you're wondering why you should take the StrengthsFinder test then consider what we've all been told throughout our lives about our strengths and weaknesses.

We're always being told to identify our weaknesses and improve on them, which seems like good advice on the face of it.

However doesn't that lead to a nation of mediocre individuals who are a Jack of all trades, but a master of none?

How about a different approach where we identify our natural strengths and work on improving those instead.

That's the philosophy of the StrengthsFinder test and it allows us to excel at the things we're naturally good at.

As for our weaknesses, we can quite easily take care of those by teaming up with someone who is strong in the areas we're weak in. Those possessing a good business mindset will already be familiar with this important principle.

What Exactly is the StrengthsFinder Test?

After having the StrengthsFinder test highly recommended to me I finally took the test myself to see what all the fuss was about. Here's how it works.

The latest version of the StrengthsFinder test is StrengthsFinder 2.0 which is based on the original Gallup StrengthsFinder test.

It's basically in three parts: the book, the online test and the results.

The book explains how the process works and comes with a unique access code which allows you to take the online test. It also contains details of the thirty four different strengths (or themes as the book calls them) which you might possess, with actions you can take for each of them.

The online test is quite easy and only takes around half an hour. Firstly you use the unique access code from the book to register on the StrengthsFinder website. After that you can take the test.

You have a twenty second time limit on each question. This is because your first intuitive answer is usually the most useful for the test and thinking too much might affect the accuracy of the results.

Your StrengthsFinder Test Results

After the test your individual results are calculated. The most important part of the results is your top five strengths. When I took the test my top five were:

Focus
Futuristic
Analytical
Individualisation
Achiever

These might not mean a lot to you until you read more about them in the book. The test also generates some PDFs giving a more individual description of your strengths as well as action plans to make the most of each of them.

I can honestly say that the individual descriptions it gives of my strengths are spot on. The only real surprise to me was Individualisation but as I read about it I realised it is actually one of my strengths, but one I'd not really though much of before.

In conclusion I learned quite a lot about myself after taking the StrengthsFinder test, I also confirmed some strengths which I suspected I might have.

After taking the test yourself you can then concentrate on playing only to your strengths, whether it's in business or your personal life. Capitalising on your strengths is also a positive move in developing your business mindset.

Just remember that the access code for the online StrengthsFinder test is unique and can only be used by one person, so don't buy a second hand book else you won't be able to do much with it.

Jason is a freelance Software Engineer who is a keen blogger, has run a number of online businesses and is also in the property letting business. His interests include researching and teaching the business mindset, his goal being to learn all there is to know about how to be a successful entrepreneur and to pass this information on to others. For more information visit: http://www.businessmindsetexpert.com/ or follow him at http://Twitter.com/JRKtm

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What Fran Tarkenton Learned About Winning in Business From Losing in Football

I have to admit to not being a big football fan back in the day when Fran Tarkenton was playing. I do remember him on Monday Night Football and on "That's Incredible." More recently though, due to a good friend who is involved with one of his companies, I know much more about him as a businessman. She gave me a signed copy of his book "What Losing Taught Me About Winning."

This has been an interesting read. If you liked Fran Tarkenton as a football player, or if you were a fan of the Vikings or the Giants (or football in general), or if you are a small business owner looking for encouragement and inspiration, you're going to enjoy this book.

Since I didn't know much about his career, I had to look up Mr. Tarkenton's record. Despite losing his three Super Bowl appearances, he is far from a loser - in football or business. I thought it was funny that the tone of the book almost downplayed his football accomplishments until I realized that he's far more enthusiastic about small business and the success of small businesses than he is about touting his football record.

I recommend watching some clips of him on YouTube so you can read the book and imagine his voice in your head. His enthusiasm will make the many, many stories in the book come to life. And that's one of the things I enjoyed about the book. It has some good advice for entrepreneurs presented in the form of story after story. Football stories, business stories, other people's stories. It's worth reading just for the wealth of stories.

There are two stories that appealed to me (as the Networking Motivator) in particular. One is how he came up with the idea of advertising on airline ticket jackets. He was able to directly call a friend who worked at Delta Airlines corporate headquarters. But then he had to cold call printers to find one who had the capacity to print. Hm, wonder if that's part of the story or if he didn't think of using his network to find a printer?

The other story is about how he tried to call the CEO of AT&T about another business idea, but instead he got the run around. He quipped "So much for my 'celebrity pass' to the highest echelons of business."

You'll enjoy this book. Find a friend who is in Pre-Paid Legal or GoSmallBiz.com and see if they can hook you up with an autographed copy. Then everyone will be a winner.

Beth Bridges has attended over 2,000 networking events in the last 7 years as the Membership Director and Chief Networking Officer of a large west coast chamber of commerce.

Free gift! Get the Networking Motivator's Top 10 Networking Tips audio MP3 plus a free subscription to the weekly Networking Motivator Newsletter. Click here for your -> free networking tips audio <-

Get daily networking tips and connect with like-minded networkers from around the world with the Networking Motivator (tm) on Facebook

Copyright Beth Bridges, 2011

View the original article here