(Part 3) Best systems & planning books according to redditors
We found 267 Reddit comments discussing the best systems & planning books. We ranked the 79 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
Carmine Gallo wrote a book which pretty much does nothing except analyze Steve Jobs and his presentations https://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Secrets-Steve-Jobs-Insanely/dp/1491514310
I wrote the business plan for Orpheus Brewing by working my way through this whole book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1933895462/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1491757840&sr=1-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=business+plan
There are no shortcuts.
If you're interested in that kind of thing, Chris Coyne's work is particularly good. He's recently published a new book, Tyranny Comes Home, which has been well-received across partisan lines from what I can tell.
I run my own little title insurance agency. Didn't go to school for it, though my field is heavily involved with real estate law and being an English major coincidentally did help a lot (close reading, textual analysis, etc.).
I got into it after my dad, who is a mortgage broker, first tried to get me to follow in his business but I have zero interest in that side of it. So when I was finishing up college he said: "Well you read and write all the time in college, and there's this thing called title insurance where you can at least make money at it." I looked into it, it did seem a good fit for my skills, so I got licensed and hit the road to get clients...turned out well.
BUT it turned out well because I started in 2005. Real estate bubble times. My success was pretty much my timing. Had I started even a year or two later, I'd not have made even half what I have.
I do enjoy what I do, because it's almost like being a real estate attorney through the back door (title insurance used to be done by attorneys in fact). I can't give legal advice or anything, but I have to know quite a bit of local real estate law and many of my clients are attorneys. When a title issue comes up we often hash out the problems & solutions together and it's fun. My respect for attorneys has definitely gone up tremendously, and the jokes about them are unfair overall. Yes there are some douchebag ones with big egos, but there are people like that in every field.
Would I recommend others get into this? Depends. I would not recommend starting your own agency like I did. Small agencies like mine are dropping like flies, both due to tougher regulations (the CFPB, which I actually support, is nonetheless cracking down hard on my industry now) and due to the best days of U.S. real estate now behind us. There just isn't the volume of business or number of clients out there to build a new network, especially with how regulated our industry is when it comes to sales/spending on clients (in my state I'm not allowed to spend more than $20 a YEAR on a client...that means I can't even take them out to lunch in many spots, not if I want to buy them some donuts for Christmas or something...it's nuts).
But I will recommend this: if you're an English or History major and don't mind an okay salary working for a larger title ins. company, it's worth checking out as a sort of "wild card" option instead of the usual teaching path that English/History majors go on.
Which leads to one final note: what I actually went to school for was to become a teacher. I got certified and everything, did my student teaching, taught 2nd & 5th grades. The short answer to that whole path is: only do teaching if you really can't picture yourself doing anything else and don't mind if no one else appreciates you for it. The KIDS do (honestly they really do, even if they act like they don't), and if that's enough to keep you going...well then maybe go for it. It's tough though. (If anyone wants more details on my experience pursuing teaching, feel free to PM me.)
Oh, and ALL of you need to watch this 15 minute video to understand the labor environment of the future we're moving into. Automation and bots are making rapid strides into nearly every field. For example: Think "I'm a doctor, I'll be fine"? Think again:
Humans Need Not Apply
If that video intrigued you, definitely read this book too.
A lot of this imperialism was well under way in the 1700s (and if we're talking other earlier Chinese dynasties, had been going on for centuries). My understanding is that a large part of the Qing imperialism revolved around control neighboring regions, whether through conquest like Central Asia, or as tributaries and vassals like Vietnam and Korea.
I highly recommend this book for an overview on the Qing, and it does cover their variety of imperialism: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ZYEZ9A/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
An interesting point that was raised in that book (if I recall correctly) was how even late in its life, when beset by the West and Japan, it was still engaging in imperialistic policies, such as how the mess in Korea in the late 1800s was partly a result of Japan and the Qing's attempts to control the peninsula for their ends, and how in some ways their goals weren't wholly different (I am not justifying Japan here of course, this is more an observation that as much as the Qing was a 'victim' it was still big enough to mess around other states too).
Fiction:
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin is a great start (good critique of anarchist philosophy).
The Red Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson actually cites Mondragon and discusses cooperative economics in detail.
After The Deluge (of Critical Mass fame) by Chris Carlsson is a novel about a post-capitalist San Francisco.
Non-fiction:
After Capitalism by Seymor Melman.
America Beyond Capitalism by Gar Alperovitz.
Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism by Richard Wolff.
Capitalism's Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown by Richard Wolff.
After Capitalism by David Schweickart.
Against Capitalism by David Schweickart.
Capitalism or Worker Control by David Schweickart
Putting Democracy to Work by Frank T Adams.
Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice by Jessica Gordon Nembhard.
Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital by John Restakis.
Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution by Marjorie Kelly.
For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America by John Curl.
Sunitha Krishnan, Vandana Shiva (have had this on my 'to read' list for a while - thanks for reminding me :), Anuradha Gandy.
About the Tang in general, I can recommend this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Cosmopolitan-Empire-Dynasty-Imperial-ebook/dp/B003WE9C5A/
Flak Vest? Body Armor?
While I admire your courage, I must caution you, one does not live to be a 69 year old warrior by marching into the Lion's Den armed with a toothpick.
Choose your battles carefully and prepare the battle ground, otherwise you will go down in flames.
Read The Art of War and Certain to Win[https://www.amazon.com/Certain-Win-Strategy-Applied-Business/dp/1413453767/ref=pd_sim_b_3} the later based on my mentar and friend, John Boyd's OODA Loop theroy.
Hello, here is a bit of history on the Pillar Project:
You can find the book from 2009 with the initial concepts here: https://www.amazon.com/Pull-Power-Semantic-Transform-Business/dp/B00403NG2C
You can find the video from 2010 with a more in depth description here: https://vimeo.com/14061238
The CEO of the Pillar Project wrote that book, and made the video.
About to graduate with my BS in accounting. You don't need to go for a degree, perhaps a few business classes may help you but many of them will be useless. Audit, Fiance, Tax Accounting, ect are topics you will never need to deal with in large. Most accounting classes are more theory than practice. Its very easy to graduate from a university without ever touching an accounting program outside of excel. Learning Quickbooks will be great, perhaps take a book keeping class. While you can pay someone to do your books I think its important for you to understand what is happening financially since its your company.
Create a business plan. No skipping out on this. Something like 70-80% of businesses never had a business plan before they opened their doors. You need to calculate out all your expenses and how much revenue you will need to make to break even. You also need to figure out all the costs to start up your business, I think espresso machines can run around $5,000 new.
Perhaps overkill for a coffee shop but a good book. Other great books are out there. Look around and ask. I realize you may never go to a bank to get financing but you still need to do this I can't stress it enough.
As for a bank I suggest a credit union. They tend to be more friendly and helpful. Also fuck Bank of America.
A business license will be required anywhere you go. You also have to consider things such as insurance. If your a Sole Proprietership you have "unlimited responsibility for all losses and debts." What happens if a worker falls and breaks their arm? If they sued they could go after your personal property.
Check your local area for a small business society. In my area we have Small Business Development Center. They have business and quickbooks classes, they aid you in creating a business plan, and much more than I can mention. Just for example read this page http://northcoastsbdc.org/hiring . Odds are you didn't know that you needed to set up an EIN, collect workers W4 and I9. Stuff like this would be greatly helped by someone who has run a restaurant before as someone else mentioned but that could be unfeasible.
Edit: if anything is unclear or you have any questions please ask. I just finished a 30 mile bike ride so I'm a bit out of it.
One of the best resources I found for visualization design was a book named Good Charts. Rather than just giving visual examples to choose from, it goes into visual design theory and explains why some work better than others.
Good Charts
https://www.amazon.co.uk/E-Learning-Science-Instruction-Guidelines-Multimedia/dp/1119158664/
https://www.elearningguild.com/
Like creating a successful business, it's not so much about following a "do these 5 things" article. It's more about solving hard problems that take time, discipline, and thoughtfulness.
I recently read an outstanding book that I can't recommend enough. It focuses on this very topic. It's called "Finish Big". Here's a link to it on amazon.
In short, the author's general philosophy is to create a healthier, better running business for yourself, because that will ultimately increase the value of the business in the eyes of a purchaser. Namely:
Read this book. You will thank yourself and it'll receive a permanent place on the bookshelf!
I second that book recommendation, however if you only have time for one book, I would actually go with this book by the same author: http://www.amazon.com/Advantage-Organizational-Health-Everything-Business/dp/1491510803. It includes all of the lessons in that book, as well as some of Lencioni's other works. There is also an audiobook: http://www.audible.com/pd/Business/The-Advantage-Audiobook/B007JWQ254
Also, you should take a look at http://www.audible.com/pd/Business/The-First-90-Days-Updated-and-Expanded-Audiobook/B00CDVYKUA. One of the most important pieces of advice in it is to lay out a transition plan and establish clarity with your manager to make sure you know what is expected of you. Lack of clarity about what you should do means you can end up falling into patterns that are unhealthy and hurt you for the rest of your tenure.
Checkout the book "What To Do When Machines Do Everything"
https://www.amazon.com/What-When-Machines-Everything-Algorithms/dp/111927866X
Overly catchy title but it doesnt paint as bad of a picture as most would think.
For a less technical intro, highly recommend:
The Art of Strategy by Dixit & Nalebuff
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FA0NOM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
The info is good but it is a pricey and painful read. Most may find the juice isn't worth the squeeze on this. It is a great sleep aid though. The paperback volumes together is around 9 pounds.
https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Security-Handbook-Seymour-Bosworth/dp/1118127064
One of my mba professors recommended this book on business plans. Pretty easy to read.
Bankable Business Plans https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979152208/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6NgqDb8R00ZKM