[Ask IH] What was the most valuable content you ever consumed?
Hey IH,
I always try to find the most valuable sources of content I can learn from in order to provide the most value on my weekly tips on conversion (http://www.cortes.design/1-tip-a-week) or on my articles that you might have seen on IH ;)
Super curious to know what is the most valuable/impactful content you ever consumed?
It could be a podcast, book, article, video or instead, who delivers the best content.
Looking forward to your answers! :)
The Mom Test was the most influential book I read in the context of taking feedback for a project. It completely changed my approach towards talking to early customers and taking feedback from friends. http://momtestbook.com/
I've probably used lessons learned from "The Power of Habit" in more parts of my life and business than any other single resource.
Great book. You might also enjoy BJ Fogg's "Tiny Habits" - You can find a lot from him on Youtube. Behavior = trigger x motivation x ability
Yup we're huge fans of Dr Fogg. @amyhoy did one of his in-person workshops several years back and we have built his techniques into a lot of the lessons in our course material...and built some exercises of our own, like this one! https://stackingthebricks.com/eliminate-struggle-habits/
Amazing
YES! Could not agree more.
The trigger --> routine --> reward framework is game changing and a part part of the inspiration in the UX for my project (www.tribefive.me).
How have you applied it in your life and / or business?
Cheers!
Jonathan
Hey Alex, the book is amazing definitely have to reread that!
Incredible Secret Money Machine (1978) http://kk.org/cooltools/incredible-secret-money-machine/
"Getting real" was also very enlightening back in the day, along with "Rework".
"Growing a business" by Paul Hawken is one great book.
Recently "Crush It" and "The Millionaire Fastlane" were two great reads.
Have you read the follow up to millionaire fast lane? It’s called unscripted.
I didn't know about that. Thank you!
This is simply the best piece of content I have consumed: https://theknowledgeproject.libsyn.com/naval-ravikant-on-reading-happiness-systems-for-decision-making-habits-radical-honesty
It may seem strange, but I only founded my current company after reading Plato's Symposium.
It was a game changer to me.
Not strange at all, a lot of people underestimate it. I probably fell asleep on the sound of Plato in school and dreamed about Potato instead of Plato. :) but his work is the most powerful knowledge I have read till this day.
It was a book called The Portable MBA, 4th edition. First and probably the last book about business I have read. Great for a person that is interested in business, have some basic knowledge and would like to expand it quickly without going to college.
I think I have read it like 10 years ago. It helped me to understand a lot about business and processes behind it.
I would have to say the most impactful thing I consumed was either the 4hww by Tim Ferris or The War of Art both of these were books, maybe because their impact lasts longer could definitetly list several more impactful books
Ah, loved war of art.
I’ll add the E myth revisited. It’s all about processes.
Another one for Tim Ferris, but another book - tools of titans. The number of people that explained how they had to make some kind of jump to make a success really struck me. I was away from home working for a consultancy, and I literally handed in my notice that night to work for myself. Haven't looked back since.
War of Art is an amazing book. It caused me to view building my business as a challenge that supersedes temporal emotion. It also genuinely convinced me that the challenge's difficulty is correlated to my need to do it.
Great thread Pedro! :-) Here are 13 of the most important posts for me: https://leanb2bbook.com/blog/13-posts-you-should-read-if-youre-serious-about-making-it-as-a-b2b-entrepreneur/
"Antifragile" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
http://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ - By Kevin Kelly one the most interesting guys you'll ever read about. Old article but still totally relevant.
This talk by Bret Victor is the most impactful talk I've ever seen our listened to: https://youtu.be/PUv66718DII
I love both the idea of pursuing a principle throughout your life's work, and Victor's personal principle (and implementation) of removing obstacles between creators and their creations.
I always stay informed about Microsoft: https://msdn.microsoft.com
Remember about.com? They got bought and now operate under a diff name.
@patio11's "Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You":
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-reports/
I could talk about many books and articles that had a big impact on me but will try to stick with just one.
I think the most valuable book is "Poor Charlie's Almanack". It's the book where I've first learned about "mental models" and how they can help you to make a better sense of the world and make better decisions. Then, I've discovered https://www.fs.blog/ where I find the majority of my daily readings.
It's funny that I have found "Poor Charlie's Almanack" to be one of the worst books I have ever read, humans are so diverse.
This.
https://youtu.be/wyP_ugHH-aM
After listening to it every day for months I finally worked up the courage to "have the conversation with the person that was holding me back". We were heading down the mortgage route and it just would have crushed my soul. I'd rather spend 30 years figuring out how to build businesses and buy it in cash. So that's what's up now.
Not necessarily the MOST valuable, but most recently valuable example that comes to mind is a podcast about Kanye West.
The Dissect Podcast (season 2 with Kanye West). https://dissectpodcast.com/2017/08/01/dissect-is-back-with-season-2/
Here's why. I believe that empathy is a skill that can be developed. And it's a super important skill to keep getting better at as an entrepreneur.
After I listened to this podcast...I felt a deep sense of empathy for Kanye (even though I didn't know anything about him besides the Taylor Swift drama). I bet you will too!
The 1st book by Robert Cialdini on human psychology patterns
One of the most valuable for me was the book "Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth" by Gabriel Weinberg. It's an excellent introduction to growth hacking book and gives the reader a clear step by step process to find traction for their products.
Hey Ben, thanks for the comment!
Good choice for sure something super important. Mind sharing what you implemented and what were the results?
Now that you mention it, I remembered that "The Side Hustle" book is also a great step by step book although the timeline is not realistic IMO.
We implemented the "bullseye methodology" detailed in the book, trying a lot of different traction channels until something stuck and keep working on that strategy until you have "maxed it out" and move onto a new one all over again.
The thing that ended up "moving the needle" the most for us was through blogging for SEO keywords, because as you blog you get more and more organic traffic through google if you title your blogs with SEO and before we knew it getting leads was not a problem, converting them was/is the big bottleneck in the funnel.