Late, one Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from Paul Gunter who, as you may remember, co-authored “Domain Profit Guide” with Andrew Shorten (I reviewed this back in September 2008).
I was expecting another phone call and I didn’t have time to chat, so Paul said he would send me a copy of a new book that he had produced with Andrew, and we would catch up next week.
I expected to find an email waiting for me the next day but instead, I received a package through my door containing the print copy of Paul and Andrew’s book, “How To Fill Your Small Business With Non-Stop Customers, Money, Success And Growth”. Having successfully got my attention, I gave Paul and Andrew a call to get the full story.
The book – which, for the sake of space conservation, I will refer to as “Success & Growth” – is one of a range of business-related publications, produced by their new London-based company, “Square Mile Publications”.
This blog post is a review of Success & Growth, so the story behind the business itself will have to wait for a future article. But if you’re imagining a UK version of Morgan James Publishing, then you may be thinking along the right lines.
The first thing you’ll notice about the book (pictured right) is that the cover bears a strong resemblance to the top of a page of sales copy. The title of the book is the equivalent of a headline and the text beneath it also appears to be designed, not just to describe the contents, but also to sell the benefits that the book claims to provide.
You can’t see it in the picture, but the analogy continues onto the back page of the book which contains a smart picture of Paul & Andrew, ten bullets that hint at the ‘secrets’ within, and three, carefully chosen, testimonials.
The next thing that becomes immediately obvious is the high quality of the materials used to create the book. While this may seem insignificant when compared to the contents, it’s relevant because reading a printed book is a vastly different experience to reading an eBook from a screen, or even from a stack of printed A4 sheets.
Like it or not, the quality of a printed book, WILL have a bearing on how much notice you take of the contents.
If the book was printed on tissue-paper thin pages, had a flimsy cover that became dog-eared after ten minutes use, and used an over-sized, clumsily presented font, the chances are good that you would hold the contents of the book in a correspondingly low esteem.
So it IS significant to be able to say that the paper-back cover is thick and glossy, the font is a well laid out, serif font, and the pages are strong and sturdy enough to score a potential 8.3 on the Painful Paper Cut scale.
Success and Growth feels good sitting in your hands.
The weight of the book however, is on the light-side, clocking in at just 67 pages with plenty of white space to boot, and with a price tag of £9.97 (just under $15), this is more expensive than the average paperback (see the end of this article to find out how to get the book for free). Yet curiously, the book doesn’t feel over-priced.
We’ve become accustomed to paying anything from $7 to $97 for an internet marketing related eBook, and the only significant question is whether the content is worth the price tag.
In this case it’s an easy question to answer. The content is worth more than the asking price and, although I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s an essential purchase, it’s one of the best marketing books – digital or otherwise – that I’ve read for some time.
Success & Growth is written in broad strokes, so there are few – if any – business types that won’t be able to apply the information presented. The wide-ranging nature of the subject means that, although there are some specific, practical tips along the way, the majority of the book is focussing on how to properly shape the overall strategy and vision of your business, both now, and in the long-term.
If this makes the content sound whimsical and unsubstantial then let me reassure you that, if this were the case, I wouldn’t have managed to get past the first chapter, let alone write a positive review about it. If I’m honest, I prefer training material with specific, actionable tips, but I’m also aware that moulding your business views and philosophies in the right way is at least as important.
You cannot memorise a list of tips and tricks to cover every scenario you will face as a business owner. And that’s why you need to complement your store of knowledge with the correct attitude and reasoning ability. It’s the difference between knowledge and principles; and you cannot be successful in business without a sizeable amount of each.
Knowledge will allow you to construct a product or a service, but it’s your attitude and principles that will affect the pricing levels you apply, your attitude toward your customers, the type of staff you’ll seek to employ and, most importantly of all, the perception and reputation of your overall business.
Admittedly I felt some anxiety while reading the first chapter as I began to suspect that the book was going to lead me into the lunacy of “The Secret” doctrines. But I was worrying over nothing; the advice in Success & Growth is practical, moral, and backed up by specific examples. There is no quasi-religious, pseudo-scientific babble, masquerading as business strategy to be found here.
A few of the ideas presented were already familiar to me (significantly, some of them I had previous learned while taking a $1500 marketing course), but there was also much that was new. And while I can’t claim to have personally applied and validated all of the advice within, little of what I read came across as anything other than sound and sensible.
Paul Gunter (left) and
Andrew Shorten (right)
I also had a lot of fun comparing Paul and Andrew’s guidance, with the experiences of ultra-entrepreneur, Richard Branson, as described in his autobiography “Losing My Virginity”. I recalled a few examples of Richard Branson – perhaps instinctively – making important and very successful decisions for reasons that are reflected in the advice provided in Success & Growth.
The final highlight I must draw attention to, is the quality of the prose. The clear and logically structured sentences and paragraphs, along with the accurate grammar and spelling, reminded me of how accustomed I’ve become to reading poorly written eBooks.
Bad writing can be excused when the content is sound, but it was very satisfying to read a book that combined solid material AND a high standard of literacy. The writing in Success and Growth is by no means perfect, but it is head and shoulders above most other marketing material.
Perhaps like me you have an instinctive aversion to business guidance in the form of principles and attitudes, rather than something more tangible. If so, it’s important that you get over it, even if only for long enough to obtain and read a copy of Paul and Andrew’s book.
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Get Paul Gunter and Andrew Shorten’s book, “How To Fill Your Small Business With Non-Stop Customers, Money, Success And Growth” – absolutely FREE! This book is currently selling on Amazon for £8.97, but use the link below, and all you pay is £2.97 shipping (£6.97 outside of UK).
adel
April 9, 2009 at 10:19 am
Im very far for you how you give me free