My Impressions: SEO 2017

Interesting.  To myself.  I bought this book for airplane reading when I flew back to Taiwan.  I ended up not reading this book on the airplane…  Well, I wanted to.  So, I bought this book at FULL PRICE (along with 2 other).  That is something I do very rarely these days.  1. Because I get discount notices, and 2. I have a huge backlog of books I haven’t read yet.  

SEO 2017 Learn Search Engine Optimization With Smart Internet Marketing Strateg: Learn SEO with smart internet marketing strategies

 

Yet, I paid full price.  I think what happened was the great marketing caught me off guard:

#1. Cute girl cover.  It wasn’t until I actually finished the book that I found out the author was ADAM.  For the longest time I thought the author was on the cover page.  Ma bad. 

#2. Clean title.  Technology is moving at a rate so fast that “none-insiders” have a really hard time grasping and understanding.  A lot of programming languages, online/e-commerce best practices, even strategies to run online stores are constantly changing.  Many “best practices” just a few years ago are completely obsolete.  By having “2017” in the title so early in the year (Q1 when I bought it?) gave an impression of the author staying on top of the game.  

Now having read it…  I guess it was a fair and solid overview of SEO in general.  There’s a lot about SEO I don’t, but having read other books, I don’t think this book added anything “deep.” The book is fairly comprehensive on “entry level SEO.”  I say that because I have no idea what intermediary and advanced level is.  Or maybe, this is all of it.  I just kind of doubt it. 

Recently, there seems to be a new style of writing a book where you compile a million resources and cram them in the book.  There are TONS of links to other sites and resources.  The author even gives a quick overview of the good and bad and services provided by these sites…  I get that there’s some value in that.  But I wanted a book to read so I didn’t have to go elsewhere. So, while it feels like the book contained a lot of “extra information” because it pointed to a lot of tools and added a lot of value…  The same time it really didn’t.  I have pages of links in my notes…  They won’t do me any good.  If I were to go to those links to learn…  Why by this book in the first place? 

And now I don’t know what to say anymore…

How to Fight Like a Physicist

I had this on my wish list for a while with its catch title, but was waiting to finish my other already bought books before I pulled the trigger.  During the Houston trip, I went through it at a B&N (they still not bankrupt?) while the wife was shopping with her boss…

Fight Like a Physicist: The Incredible Science Behind Martial Arts (Martial Science)

What I really had hoped is there would be more on leverage, sweeps & throws angles, falling & rolling angles and weight dispersion, posture & alignment…etc.  I have to say I had too high hopes for it.  I thought some of the easy concepts were made confusing by who-cares physics formulas, but some of the complex ideas were made easy to understand.  Many one-time good to know interesting facts, but nothing I can really put in my bag and carry with me on my MA journey.   

Some of the cool facts include: protective gear maybe net-net worse for competition, a lot of those performance myth explained (e.g. lay on needles, breaking boards, spear to the throat, walking on fire…etc.).  

I had the exact same feeling as this guy (review from amazon) when I saw the title: “When I saw this book’s title, I imagined a bloodied and battered Poindexter in a bow-tie--a professorial type dying in a puddle of his own bodily fluids as he calculated the Bayesian probability of winning given that initial beating.”

I think the most successful part about this book is its beautiful cover and it’s very catchy title…  As a marketer, that’s important…

My Impressions: The Tao of Martial Business

This is a business book written specifically for running a martial arts dojo.  Since I still haven’t given up my dream of opening a martial arts school, I picked it up.  I don’t even know if I will ever open a school anymore, but just the mental masturbation of considering all the factors that go into a school seem to be my new favorite pastime.  

The Promise of this book is, 2 people running a dojo fulltime, and NET 250k a year.  Not 250k revenue, but NET.  Now that would be a nice little family business to have no?  I’ll settle for part time at 120k and still have time to do other stuff…

The Tao Of Martial Business: How to NET $250,000 A Year In The Adult Professional Market

On the general, the book is relatively expensive (one of the most expensive I’ve bought in recent time, without discount).  The layout and editing is horrible.  Most self-publishers can do a better job…  Looks like the book was written in the 80’s (probably is, with updates).  Layout is very, very, very painful to read.

Though I haven’t yet run a school, but the message from this book is consistent with ideas of martial arts instructors that actually make money.  There are some common themes that happen among instructors that make money, there is also a lot of commonality among those who don’t.  Try to lean towards the ones that do…

The advertisement examples near the end are good reference, but seem very outdated.  Or maybe, that outdateness is the “Eastern Mystique” that arouses Western curiosity – The old and cheap and dirty China Town association. 

The more I read about this business, the more I think it is a “common sense is not so common” type of deal.  A lot of owners/instructors simply don’t have a plan.  They “try hard” without having a focus.  And then they wonder what went wrong when their doors are about to close (or never be able to take it beyond part time).   

Seems the excuse for not making money and being poor for martial arts instructors is because they don’t want to “be a sellout” and be greedy/money-oriented.  They want to stick true to the old ways, the real ways.  For me, “meaning” is nothing if it can’t be sustainable.  In the present, nothing is sustainable without some sort of money.   

My Impressions: Start With No

Along with Pitch Anything, this was the other book that was recommended for negotiators to read (on some Amazon review).  Consistent through both books is DON’T BE NEEDY.  

The book starts with some tough love stating win-win is NOT the way to go and provides good arguments for it.  It’s how people get screwed from behind.  The idea of starting with “It’s ok if this deal doesn’t work” really stood out.  Right off the top, it takes away the neediness.  Second, the adversary’s attitude will also be different towards you as “being OK with no” demonstrates some sort of confidence and candid instead of being a little needy bitch.  A very important key is, you want the deal, but you don’t need it. 

Start with NO...The Negotiating Tools that the Pros Don't Want You to Know

Do research.  Ask questions and listen closely.  Know and plan the outcome of each meet. 

Case in point.  This past week I was in Houston visiting packaging companies for my wife’s potential future job (not my job).  We spoke to a few packaging companies about potential future collaboration.  Prior to reading this book and Pitch Anything, I probably would’ve thought nothing about the meeting: no prior planning, basic exchange of ideas, people asking questions, and people giving vague answers.  Having read this book, I saw everything.  We were needy.  We voluntarily gave up a lot of information.  We build an “out” for the adversary.  All the same time while they learned all about our weaknesses and completely dominated the conversation (although they weren’t loud or pushy). 

The book gave me a framework to help me see these situations very clearly… 

While going through the book, it also reminded me a lot of my last job.  The part about tough Korean negotiators reminds me of how PPG bends over for Samsung and Hyundai.  “Bend over backward” was the term because nobody has enough balls to be a disciplined operator.

Looking at my past experiences in negotiations:

          ·        Buying houses

          ·        Buying cars

          ·        Buying/selling insurance door-2-door

I’ve reflected on all the “this is a numbers game” type of salesman, and what I would call “they fucked me and had me nodding” type of salesman.  Then there were a few that were pretty good but just missed the point by a little bit by not understanding how direct I am.  

Goal Setting

I think most of us some point in our times have gone through some sort of goal setting course e.g. S.M.A.R.T Goals.  How many of us actually apply the learning?  Sometimes this is top-down driven where the boss inherits a number e.g. 50 million in revenue, and then his subordinates inherits part of that number.  So on your goals, you will have an allocated number e.g. 5 million dollars.  This is a results, barely a goal.  Behavioral goals would be like, calling x people a day, meeting x key accounts a month…  Make those line items things that you can actually manage/do.  To redefine a “result” into a goal, use leading or lagging indicators.  X number calls will bring Y number of meetings that will likely result in final Z million in revenue…

I get it.  Your boss has a number, and you get a portion of that number.  We can’t change it.  But your personal goals, they can be better goals yeah?  More behavior oriented – less hope oriented.  We all hope for the best, and some people actually take actions to get there.  Set goals with those controllable actions. 

I’d suggest reading this book…  Instant paradigm shift for me.