Discovering Business

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

2011-05-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

In this post we summarise the main points we gleaned from each chapter of the book and then each provide our own thoughts and reactions to the book. Do you agree with us? If you have read it too we would love to hear your comments on what you thought.

Key points from each chapter:

Chapter 1 - Life is governed by the law of attraction and like attracts like. Your thoughts become things, so good thoughts bring good things into your life.

Chapter 2- You can’t feel bad and have good thoughts simultaneously. Think good thoughts and you will attract good things to yourself and change your mood.

Chapter 3- Ask, Believe, Receive. Three key words to live by. Create your life intentionally.

This chapter explains that it is as easy to manifest 1 dollar as 1 million.

Chapter 4- Expect the things you want and not the things you don’t want. Visualise already having it and what that will feel like. Plan out your day mentally before you get up and then review how it went when you go to bed and rewrite the bits that weren’t quite as you planned.

Chapter5 - Focus on wealth not lack of it to bring money into your life. Be generous with money and share it about.

Chapter 6- Love yourself and you will attract people who love you too. Focus on what you appreciate about your partner and not their faults.

Chapter 7- Don’t focus on being ill, focus on health and good things instead.

Chapter 8- If you focus on resisting things you will attract them instead. Give off love and praise everything in the world.

Chapter 9- Create the life you deserve. Let go of the past and focus on how you want things to be.

Chapter 10- You get to fill the blackboard of your life with whatever you want. Do what gives you love and brings you joy.

Jeannie’s Thoughts-

An interesting book in the way that it is written, a different author for each paragraph, and this had an impact on how long it took me to persevere to conclusion. I wanted more real life examples of success in addition to positive words. Although the latter were useful and very uplifting, especially when my energy was at a low point.
The overarching message of this very successful book is that the secret to success in any aspect of your life is positive thought. I agree with this and have experienced this first hand. However, a measured and balanced approach is needed. It’s not just positive thought that supports success but the actions that you take as a result.
I think this is an ideal book to dip into rather than read in traditional style. It can help to ground you in your thinking especially around change.
It comes with supporting materials via the website and a DVD with the intention of keeping you on the journey of positivity
Since reading this book, I’ve been amazed by how many people have read it and followed the suggestions and felt that it has changed the way that they think about and approach life.
I think this is definitely a book to leave on your bookshelf and pick up periodically for some positive thinking.

Ruth’s Thoughts-

I really want to like this book. I think the key messages are so important in life and they reflect the way I try to live myself, however I regularly found myself really irritated by the style and language of this book.

Rhonda Byrne has invited a huge number of experts from different fields to contribute to the book and they each write a short paragraph or two for every chapter. This doesn’t give them much chance to get past generalisations on each heading and I would have loved to hear more in-depth examples of how people have put The Secret into action.

It would also have been great to have space in the book to work through my own goals and objectives as I went along.

One good point about the structure is that there are “Secret Summaries” at the end of each chapter, which allow you to recap the key points, or skip the chapters if you are pressed for time!

Many of these concepts are wonderful! I love the metaphor of my life being a blackboard and being in total control of the way things develop. It is just a shame that I found it such a hard read., or to be fair really too easy a read. I just wanted a bit more depth and substance.

Apart from the style of this book I also struggled with the self-centred nature of it. We are encouraged to believe that the universe revolves around us. This insular way of thinking could be quite dangerous I believe. Instead, how about we focus on helping others and this will create those positive thoughts and allow us to attract others who will help us??

Click here to find out more about the book at the official website.

Getting Started in Consulting by Alan Weiss, PHD (2004)

2011-03-01T05:29:00.000-08:00

This revised edition offers focussed, practical guidance on starting a consulting business.
Key points from the book -

1/If someone refuses to return your calls over a prolonged period then that equals a relationship with an amateur. Don’t throw good money after bad.

2/Be in control of your destiny, be proactive not reactive.

3/Practical advice like make sure you save for your pension.

4/Try to always have one piece of probono work going on as it is a great way to promote yourself and develop your skills.

5/Consultancy is about relationships, but don’t confuse that with friendships. If you need love and affection get a dog!

6/Single most important factor in launching and perpetuating a consulting business is the ability to develop relationships with economic buyers ( the decision makers)

7/Proposals should sum up what has already been discussed. Keep them brief, simple and clear. He lists the 9 categories to cover in a proposal.

8/Never charge by the hour, always by the piece of work. There are some very important messages around fees and value for your work. This is especially relevant in today's climate when it can be difficult to obtain consultancy work and you could be pitching against others. You can reduce the benefits for less money but do not attempt to deliver the same for less!

9/Networking is not about how to work a room, but about how to establish your value with others.

10/He interviews consultants and describes their real life experiences.

11/There are some useful graphs and charts in particular for marketing your services and financial planning. These illustrate the journey needed to be taken.

12/The appendices at the back can be adapted for your market and Country of work.

What didn't quite work for us-

1/The technology is very out of date.

2/There is a strong US bias to the advice that is not relevant to a UK consultant e.g. American tax advice.

3/Some of the advice is on such a basic level that you would question if anyone who needed it should really be a consultant!

4/The definitions of words are annoying as he often defines quite simple terms.

5/ He uses too many lists of 10 things to do to achieve this......

Overall a good checklist for the absolute beginner, but some may find it a bit too simplistic.

Welcome!

2011-02-28T03:27:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to our first blog post. We have challenged ourselves to finally get round to reading those business books that have been on our bookshelves gathering dust. Our target is a 12 books in 2011, so why not follow our blog and you too can discover what is really on offer in those top selling books people keep talking about.

Our first book is going to be "Getting Started in Consulting" by Alan Weiss.