A Good Hard Kick In The Ass

Every day, Rob Adams helps entrepreneurs find true markets for their products, design solid business models, and hire great teams—because that’s what it takes to build a successful company. While this sounds self-evident, far too many entrepreneurs have forgotten these fundamentals. They’ve been influenced by what Adams calls “business porn,” myths lingering like a bad hangover from the easy success days of the late ’90s. These entrepreneurs believe a unique idea is the key to igniting a great business. They think their industry experience already makes them experts on customer needs. They have simplistic, self-defeating illusions about sales, marketing, financing, and more. They say things like “I have a million-dollar business idea for a new product.” Wake up, says Adams: Good ideas are not scarce—they’re a dime a dozen. Businesses are successful not because of a unique idea but because of extraordinary execution. They offer a better, faster, or cheaper product or service, or they change the way the world solves a problem. In short, these entrepreneurs need just what Adams doses out in the pages of this book: a good hard kick in the ass. Adams debunks the myths and smashes the illusions—and he knows what he’s talking about, because he stands at the hub of many new startups. His firm, AV Labs, provides entrepreneurs with early financing as well as the management expertise they need to get off the ground. A Good Hard Kick in the Ass offers detailed, hard-hitting guidance for smart, sophisticated entrepreneurs and established businesspeople alike—along with vivid, in-depth examples of companies that are walking the walk right now. Adams’s straightforward, no-nonsense approach is just what’s needed in the post-bubble economy. From the Hardcover edition.

The must-read summary of Rob Adams' book: "A Good Hard Kick in The Ass: Basic Training For Entrepreneurs". This complete summary of the ideas from Rob Adams' book "A Good Hard Kick in The Ass" shows that many aspiring entrepreneurs believe that their ideas are groundbreaking, their markets are ripe and all they need is some capital and a bit of advertising and they’re good to go. The author points out that it is not the case; it offers instead a frank reality check about what really matters in a startup. It highlights a set of nine fundamentals to starting and growing a business. It also pinpoints five key milestones to aim for when getting your product to market, from validating the prospective market and designing a business model to lining up investors and proving the product can be made. This summary demonstrates the importance of shifting your emphasis from the business model to the sales model, with useful explanations of the four most common sales models used by startups. If the product sells investors will back it and your company will be a success. Anyone looking to start and grow a new business will appreciate the candid advice in this engaging summary. Added-value of this summary: • Save time • Understand the key concepts • Increase your business knowledge To learn more, read "A Hard Kick in the Ass" and discover advice to start and grow a new business.

Know if you'll hit your targets before pulling the trigger on any marketing plan More than sixty five percent of new products are commercial failures, and if you compound this with a recession, now more than ever you can't afford to be wrong. In If You Build It Will They Come, business professor and strategy consultant Rob Adams shows you how to make sure you hit your target market before you spend a lot of money. He shows you the fast, systematic and proven approach of performing Market Validation in advance of making a large product investment. Adams outlines a simple and effective market validation and testing strategy that is proven, giving entrepreneurs and managers the ability to dramatically improve the prospect of product success. He explains how to quickly gather information on competitors, directly interview members of your target market, and figure out what the market really wants to buy, versus what customers say they want. The steps to quickly understanding the viability of your market Where to go to gather the information needed to hit the market requirements How to follow through with the right product launched in the right way Adams cuts through the fancy terms and expensive market research that gives lots of data but no real product oriented information about usage, pricing, features and competitive forces. In the end you'll produce results on your first release of a far more mature product, shipped in a faster timeframe with features customers will actually use. This book is for anyone involved with designing, developing and launching new products. Its examples and advice cover everything from the fledgling start-up that needs their first product to work just to survive to the successful Fortune Class company establishing new worldwide markets. Examples cut across all major industrial sectors including consumer, retail, manufacturing, technology, life sciences and services. This book offers the step-based guidance you need to make sure failure is not an option.

The Ultimate Sales Boot Camp According to research by the American Society American Society for Training & Development, more than 80% of salespeople fail to reach their objectives. With such a high percentage of salespeople missing their mark, something is obviously missing. Kick Your Own Ass empowers you to fill this gap by focusing on, not only your selling process and your skills development, but also your self-confidence, motivation, and your life and career. These three critical elements together are called the “Will, Skill, and Drill” of selling. In Kick Your Own Ass, you’ll find out how to build them up with Innovative ways to take responsibility for your success A simple five-step process for goal-setting and attainment A core-selling and communication methodology based on creating awareness and choice for the client, which results in happier customer relationships As the title suggests, Kick Your Own Ass isn’t for those who like to take the easy way out, leave the job half-done, or otherwise slack off. So if you're ready to really take your selling to the next level, get this book and get kicking!

* New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller multiple years running * Translated into 20 languages, with more than half a million copies sold worldwide * A Hudson and Indigo Best Book of the Year * Recommended by Shona Brown, Rachel Hollis, Jeff Kinney, Daniel Pink, Sheryl Sandberg, and Gretchen Rubin Radical Candor has been embraced around the world by leaders of every stripe at companies of all sizes. Now a cultural touchstone, the concept has come to be applied to a wide range of human relationships. The idea is simple: You don't have to choose between being a pushover and a jerk. Using Radical Candor—avoiding the perils of Obnoxious Aggression, Manipulative Insincerity, and Ruinous Empathy—you can be kind and clear at the same time. Kim Scott was a highly successful leader at Google before decamping to Apple, where she developed and taught a management class. Since the original publication of Radical Candor in 2017, Scott has earned international fame with her vital approach to effective leadership and co-founded the Radical Candor executive education company, which helps companies put the book's philosophy into practice. Radical Candor is about caring personally and challenging directly, about soliciting criticism to improve your leadership and also providing guidance that helps others grow. It focuses on praise but doesn't shy away from criticism—to help you love your work and the people you work with. Radically Candid relationships with team members enable bosses to fulfill their three core responsibilities: 1. Create a culture of Compassionate Candor 2. Build a cohesive team 3. Achieve results collaboratively Required reading for the most successful organizations, Radical Candor has raised the bar for management practices worldwide.

A drunk giant comes charging at you in a bar. Go with a roundhouse kick, Judo hip throw, or Karate punch to bring him to the ground. Your cheapskate neighbor refuses to pay you back. The next time he's on vacation, turn on his backyard hose. By the time he returns home, his yard will be a swamp and his water bill will be through the roof. Some juiced-up meathead starts trouble at the gym. Take him down to size with an Aikido wrist twist. There's more than one way to skin a cat—or kick someone's ass. In this rough and ready field guide, you'll find 365 ways to nail the bastards who try to get you down. Written under an alias by a man who's been there, done that, and lived to deny it all, this is all you need to protect and avenge yourself against every possible threat—be it physical, emotional, psychological, financial, or otherwise. From cue balls and steel-toed boots to spiders and Krazy Glue, you'll find an amazing array of household weapons and tactics designed to put that moron in his or her place once and for all.

A much-needed kick in the ass for women everywhere! Like many women, Andrea Owen always lived life on the sidelines, watching each day pass by without ever catching a glimpse of the happiness she yearned for--until the day she had enough. She realized that she had to take action and step out of the box she had created for herself if she really wanted the best life possible. And now, as a celebrated life coach, she shows thousands of women how to take the reins, create an actionable plan for their goals, and finally reach their full potential. In this powerful book, Owen guides you through her acclaimed strategies for creating a more fulfilling life. Each goal-orientated lesson empowers you to take control of the barriers that keep you from achieving the love and success you desire. From breaking the unrewarding cycle of people pleasing to dealing with unsupportive friends, this book approaches the problems you face with a candid look at why you aren't satisfied--and how to fix it. Owen's life-changing wisdom helps you uncover your self-limiting beliefs as well as push you out of your comfort zone by zeroing in on the most difficult issues. Never one to sugarcoat the truth, she holds you accountable for your actions while offering expert advice for knocking down that cynical inner-voice and loving yourself wholeheartedly. With 52 Ways to Live a Kick-Ass Life, you will shut off your internal auto-pilot; kick empty expectations to the curb; and live a bigger, gutsier life.

"But I can't . . ." "There's no way . . ." "It's impossible . . ." Enough. Get off your ass and make your "someday" goals a priority—today. After years of coaching and consulting hundreds of startup rookies as well as seasoned entrepreneurs, executives, and CEOs, Bedros Keuilian realized that most people who want to start a business, grow an existing business, author a book, make more money, or make a bigger impact usually take the long, slow, painful way to get there . . . and more than 80 percent of entrepreneurs never get to their desired destination or achieve their full potential in business. They treat their dream as if it were merely a hobby and dip their toes in the water, but they never commit to diving in—you get the idea. It's time to cut the bullshit excuses. Everyone has a gift, a purpose. It's your duty to figure out what your gift is and how you're going to share it with the world. Man Up: How to Cut the Bullshit and Kick Ass in Business (and in Life) is your guide to doing exactly that. Keuilian, founder and CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp and known as the "hidden genius" behind many of the most successful brands and businesses throughout multiple industries, will show you how to break out of the sea of mediocrity, get singularly focused on your purpose, and do what it takes—not only to achieve but dominate your goals. With Keuilian's no-nonsense approach in both business and personal spheres, you'll be able to define your purpose and have clarity of vision—and a plan—to make the quantum leap. Whether it's creating and growing a company, leaving a legacy, making a difference, or launching a new brand, you will discover how to use your passion, purpose, and sheer grit to overcome any adversity that attempts to derail your progress. If there's an area of your life in which you need to man up, this book will get you there.