So, because the post can’t be perfect, they haven’t been getting done at all (the perfect post being the enemy of a good (enough) post).  With that end in mind, I’ve given myself a new guideline.  With rare exception, I’m going to aim to write my blog posts in 30 minutes with a maximum of 1 hour.  If the quality of the posts suffers at all, I hope those reading will understand.

Have you ever let perfect get in the way of getting something done?  If so, share your thoughts in the comments below.

More and more people prompted by the bad economy and growing dissatisfaction with the way many companies are treating people are striking out on their own to work for themselves and bring their vision into reality.  If you’re contemplating working for yourself as part of your goals to lead a high-quality life, know that it’s incredibly rewarding and a LOT of work.  Success is far from  guaranteed and the best thing you can do is to educate yourself.

Let me help.  Of the 20 or so business books I’ve read,  here, are the ones I found most useful.

1. E-Myth Revisited (Richard Gerber) – a classic for small business owners.  If you haven’t read it, I would classify this as a must read.  The key idea of working ON your business instead of IN your business is gold.  Just because you are good at your skill set (for me, being a doctor) does not mean you are good at running a business, eye opening.
2. Principled Profits (Shel Horowitz) – as a doctor who got into the field to help people, the idea of charging money for my services often feels unpleasant.  This book went a long way to helping me reconcile the idea that charging money and providing quality, caring service do not have to be mutually exclusive.
3. Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (Mike Michalowicz) – a great no-theory, boiled down to basics primer on starting a business.  Filled with good tips and information.  Unfortunately, for marketing purposes, the author uses the theme of bowel movements and the book is littered with references to toilet paper and poop.  You can choose to ignore it in favor of the good information, find it funny (I think most of us find a good bathroom joke funny, but for me it got old halfway through the book), or be turned off which I think is a shame as the book really is worthwhile.
4. Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky, and Rich (Richard St. John) – Richard St. John is a modern day Dale Carnegie.  As a successful businessman he was asked one day by a young girl, how to be successful.  Admitting he didn’t know, he set out on a multi-year project to talk to as many successful people as he could and find out.  After hundreds of hours of interviews he has distilled success into 8 principles: passion, hard work, focus, pushing oneself, new ideas, constant improvement, service to others, and persistence.  While nothing in this book is new, and there are no secrets revealed, this book is inspirational and helped me feel as a small business owner that success is not something magical or pre-destined for some, but a result of definite principles that anyone can master.  I will be passing this one on to my children.
5. Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play (Mahan Khalsa) – Mahan Khalsa, the author of this book on sales sums up sales this way, “ [sales is] the second oldest profession, often confused for the first.”  Almost everyone hates sales because our common conception of sales is bullying or tricking someone into buying something that they really don’t want.  Khalsa reframes selling into the process of helping a person get exactly what they want.  In this light, sales becomes more about service to another.  Again, as a doctor, the thought of being a salesman had turned my stomach, “I don’t sell to people, I help people”, but this book helped me reframe the idea of selling, to helping people get what they want and need.  The process that he lays out in this book is complicated and most useful for large sales with large businesses, but the basic ideas are useful for any size business.  Highly recommended for those who think of selling as distasteful.

What are your thoughts?  Have you read any of these books?  Do you have any others you think should be on the list?  Post your comments below.

A neat presentation for adults and kids that only takes a moment but can fascinate for quite some time.  Do you know how big a virus is compared to a coffee bean or a grain of salt?  Any idea how many H1N1 virii (viruses) could fit on a coffee bean? Go look and get an idea.

Check it out here.

Have any thoughts you’d like to share?  Any interesting links you’ve found?  Feel welcome to post them in the comments.