This is a guest post by Jason Fonceca.

Let’s get right to it. Chances are you’re interested in these things: Blogging, Niche-Marketing, Passive Income, Traffic, Comments, Tweets, Content, Success.

Awesome, but are you wasting your time? Like really, really, wasting it?

Thinking Like a King Brings Success

We’re going to address this, but first some background…

Chances are you’re not only open, but eager for knowledge, instruction, and guidance on actions you can take to do more in the above areas.

That’s the key though – chances are you’re focused on action. We have a world running around like chickens with their heads cut-off, constantly, mindlessly, seeking more actions to take.

And this is great in a way, because without action, nothing gets done. This is a simple, straight-forward, and easy to understand principle. A whole bunch of people sitting in a room meditating, don’t generally do much.

It’s worth noting though, that this intense and almost habitual focus of so many people on action, has consequences. People forget about thought, and they forget that thought and action go hand-in-hand, they are inseparable. Even our reflexes come from sub-conscious thoughts, which are thoughts that were once conscious in humanity, and have been programmed into our subconscious through evolution and repetition and necessity. There’s one more thing people these days tend to forget, and that is that thought is more powerful than action.

Thoughts are More Powerful than Action

Thought-management is one of the most powerful things you can do, and thought-management and empire-building go hand-in-hand.

That’s right. Thought is way, way, way more powerful than action. Many bloggers, businesses and experts discuss the power of using your highest leverage resources, or getting the highest leverage you can out of any particular action. This is a fantastic principle, but are you neglecting to leverage your thoughts by replacing intentional thinking with an unconscious habit of chasing after the ‘best action’?

How many thoughts do you have in a day? Is it even possible to count? I’ve heard estimates of 50,000 to 100,000, but it doesn’t really matter — the point is that there are a lot, and there are far more thoughts than actions a person can achieve each day.

It looks like this:

We can clarify the situation further…

(Okay, so I like design )

Despite the above clear views (reminds me of the 80/20 rule applied to thoughts & actions a bit,) everyone’s still so focused on action. You know what I’m talking about… there’s a million how-to’s on the web about “how-to start a blog,” or “how-to travel cheaply,” how-to take THIS action, or how-to take THAT action… They’re all over the place.

Ah, but there’s a good reason for this:

Supply-and-Demand.

Supply-and-demand is the basis of niche-marketing. Supply a “niche-with-a-need” with what they’re demanding (a perceived-solution,) and you’re golden.

But let’s look deeper, what exactly is a niche and what is supply-and-demand?

What Is A Niche?

A niche is a group of people with a common ‘problem’.

A group starts from one person, connecting with another person, and it grows from there. Niche’s start with one person.

When a person begins desiring something passionately, they become a niche of one. This desire is a thought. When they connect with another through community/word-of-mouth of some kind, and the two people share the same desire, they are now a niche of two. Then three, four, and it expands and amplifies, often virally.

So How Does a Niche Demand Supply?

So when a group of people all desire the same thing, it is picked up on by others in society, and those others see it as a niche. They are then inspired and motivated to create a solution to satiate the desire of the niche.

This is a graceful and powerful aspect of our current economy.

Use of this understanding, is how niche-marketers make money, and simultaneously how “the niche’s” improve their quality of life in a sweeping, way.

So a niche has a common desire and demands a solution, and as word spreads, a niche-marketer steps up to supply the demand. Simple eh?

Desire and Niche-Marketing Success

People tend to gloss over a niche-market’s desire and how it came to be. It’s like “Ok, this group has a problem, let’s make money!” — Sometimes it can really help and enlighten to know a bit of background; let’s look at desires a little deeper.

A desire is not really noticeable/apparent to most of society when it is just 1 person, with 1 fleeting thought, it requires more focus/energy.

Let’s look at this through a fictional person named John, who really wants to Tweet like a Rockstar because he feels like he’d be a lot happier in life if he could get some followers.

Let’s say ‘John’ thinks “Oh, I could really use a guide on how to Twitter Like A Rockstar“, that’s great, but society won’t take notice, and it was just a fleeting thought so John likely won’t bring it up in conversation with other human beings, and no one will care to solve this problem (or satiate this desire.)

If John becomes miserable and unsuccessful with twitter, he may think repeatedly “Man I wish I knew twitter, man I wish I knew twitter, man I wish I knew twitter…” over and over, sometimes frustrated, sometimes hopeful. When this happens, his desire is strengthened. He will almost certainly mention his Twitter issues in conversation, actively search it on Google and forums, and send out other subtle signals to society for help. John does these things because of his powerful, incessant, practically habitual thoughts. He may not even realize he is doing these things, but they are real choices, real actions, that have real effects on society.

He now begins to connect with others sharing a similar desire, and a niche starts to form.

As this niche grows, now society takes notice. Now the resources of humanity and humanities main motivator can come into play. Now people realize there is a community of people willing to pay them to solve this Twitter-dilemma, and they realize they can make a living for themselves by helping this niche.

What started as a fleeting thought, became the desire of an entire niche, and hit a tipping point where other members of society were inspired and passionate about solving the problem.

A single thought is the foundation and seed for society’s greatest accomplishments, and combined with our economy, we can see it’s poetic effect.

Okay, still with me? We’ve got the basics:

1. Thoughts are more prevalent than action.
2. Thoughts are higher-leverage than action.
3. Thoughts are the foundation for action, and ultimately inseparable from action.
4. Thoughts are our primary tool for evolution and advancement in ANY area of life.

People, especially in cities, are focused on the rush-rush, fast-paced, GTD-promoted idea of taking action after action for success.

After all we’ve looked at here, it seems at least ‘vaguely productive’ (read: this is a universal principle people, use it!) to give some attention to the foundation for all this action… our thoughts.

They’re the key to true success.

There are millions of successful people in life, and they all execute very different, very creative actions to achieve their success. There’s not a huge amount of similarity in each successful person’s particular chosen actions, save that they all generally leverage well. So that’s it? Successful people leverage well, and that’s why we have millions of successful businesses and celebrities? Trying to compare each of their actions is dizzying.

Tim Ferriss will tell you that you can succeed taking direct action for only 4 hours a week, Nathan implies in his blogging-crisis podcast that success in blogging requires a lot of hard-work to succeed.

Donald Trump has said “Everything in life is luck”, and Richard Wiseman claims to have determined scientifically that anyone can be lucky. Creative types such as visionary artist Alex Grey will tell you to allow inspiration to come and to put little focus on deadlines.

Blogger-God Seth Godin will tell you deadlines are vital – so vital they should be renamed life-lines, and all this is just tip of the iceberg. With all these contrasting actions, it makes it nearly impossible to sort out the ‘correct action(s).’

What we can do though, is examine the foundation of these people’s thoughts, and when we do, we can see that successful people have some very similar thought patterns.

1. Successful people believed they could succeed long before any physical signs of their success actually showed up. That’s right, successful people generally appear delusional for a period of time before the success arrives.
2. Successful people believe they can trust god/life/themselves, and give their all through fear and risk to pursue their passion.
3. Successful people go the extra mile, whether that means saying “no” to that client who is pushing you too far even though you need the money, saying “yes” to that client out of love and care when your mind is screaming that you should take care of some other thing, or even if it’s guest-posting for a blog you feel good about when you have many other irons in the fire (Mad love, Nathan )
4. Successful people accept success of all kinds. They accept the success of people who’ve taken a spiritual path, they accept success of those who may’ve committed crimes to achieve their success, they accept their friends success and their enemies success. They may not encourage the actions involved, but they accept success in all it’s forms, without judgment.
5. Successful people have thoughts and ideas about thriving joyously, whether they can see it or not, they truly believe that they can thrive in life.
6. Successful people realize and acknowledge the value that they provide to the world. They have no problem marketing their message because they see every contact with another human being as them providing value and giving others a gift. Whether its with fans, clients, customers, or whoever they are connecting with, they think about and appreciate the value they offer the world.

There are many other thoughts that successful people think, but this is a great start, and if you haven’t been thinking anything even remotely like this, and you are currently not experiencing the success you know you could be, try them out.

And hey, if you really want to know some actions you can take that will help you manage your thoughts, check out all the free resources at SpiritSentient.com, we love ideas and thought-management, and they’re provided to help you.

It’s high-leverage.

It’s high-value.

It’s high… fun.

Note: Thought-management is a massive topic, and I could talk on the details of it for ages, but hopefully this primer will serve its purpose.

Thank you all for reading, (and thank you Nathan for this opportunity to share with your audience,) you’re all already Kings in my eyes, and this is just a reminder to keep rockin’ – Shape The World.

Jason evolves humanity, he really does. That’s his conscious, intentional vision. When people get stuck talking rules, he speaks love. When people’s habits are panic and fear, he injects spirituality. He provides help through tremendously helpful Free-Resources, and is about to launch a new Digital Affirmations product and a book called Idealution & Thoughtsperity on Thought-Management.

Image Credit

Think Like a King is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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This is a guest post by Nunzio Bruno.

I can honestly say that I am feverishly trying to build a community around my blog. I’m not ashamed to say that I am constantly striving to be bigger and to increase the distance my digital voice carries in the financial blogosphere. I want to spread financial awareness and provide readers with a means to living a healthy financial lifestyle. It’s what I’m passionate about.

I know that I can’t do it alone. I hope that like everyone else that comes across Nathan’s site, you are looking for motivation to keep building your own digital empire. The idea here today is to explore building your empire as building a community. Even at his worst, Julius Caesar was beloved by the lower and middle class communities of the Roman Empire which was, demographically, almost all of it.

In the traditional sense and as a planner, creating a community around a cause isn’t something that is foreign to me. Success of a digital community can be gauged by basically the three standards I would use to help foster a physical community: the strength of your belief system, engagement, and emulating the cultural identity.

Strength of Your Belief System

Whether it’s a blog or an e-storefront, your values should show through with absolute transparency. One of my beliefs is that I will always provide the highest quality of financial and business coaching knowledge.

If your consumers (of product or information) can’t identify with why you are doing what you are doing then why should they spend any time there?

The key is providing a real value. It will be easy to spot those that have no integrity in their belief systems because we do it every day. How many Twitter spammers do you see trying to sell you something? I bet you wouldn’t follow the link of a person or company that you didn’t relate to on some level.

My challenge to you is to revisit your belief system and if you don’t have one, sit down and really think about what you are passionate about and how you are going to handle keeping yourself accountable.

Engagement

So you have your little piece of the interweb. Now how are you going to get people to see what you’ve done with it? When you do, how are you going to get them to stay? If this were an actual neighborhood, what kind of community would it be if no one mowed their lawn or came out to visit? Not really a community at all.

It’s human nature to want to belong to something and to belong. The better you present your community as a place where people can speak out, be heard, and be valued for their ideas, the greater the ownership impact.

At the heart of it, successful engagement can be determined by the depth of the relationships within it. Building a digital community is the fostering of these relationships and the common thread holding everyone together is the wanton desire to share information so that others in the community can learn and grow from it.

Cultural Identity

After you establish a belief system, then hold yourself accountable to it. After your patrons begin to engage, there is one more piece to building your community. That is the development of its cultural identity. This concept is more than just the engagement of your patrons; they are now identifying themselves with your brand.

An example of this would be Apple and its world of all things Mac. People start to identify with what being an Apple user means and the status that goes along with it. It’s a brand that has a very specific way that it does business. Through the development of apps people have a chance to take ownership (outside of consuming) in the brand and create an individual identity from it.

Think of all the forums, blogs, and support websites that exist for Apple; if you are having trouble just throw something Apple related into Google and see what happens. This is what you are aspiring to create when building your empire, or at least this is what I’m shooting for. Having people identify with the culture of your empire transcends place, gender, race, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation. People are coming back for the experience not just to see the next post that you put up or the latest sale items.

Those are the big three in building a community and ultimately an empire. I’m working every day towards creating a culture that people can identify with and be proud of. There’s no cheating your way around building a community, which is why I like to identify with it. What you say, how you act, and what you produce all have an affect on the community you’re building and how responsive the members of it are.

If this inspires one blogger or internet marketer out there to challenge their beliefs system and work harder to carry on with a greater sense of integrity, then this was a mission well done.

Nunzio Bruno is the owner of Financially Digital, a business consulting firm, as well as producing http://www.financiallydigital.com. FinanciallyDigital.com is a resource offering information on relevant financial issues, personal finance, and the latest in tech and social media. The goal is to make people better consumers of goods, services, and information in real life and on the web. Feel free to contact him at nunz.bruno@gmail.com.

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Blogging isn’t just a hobby, it’s a way of life.

Similar to religion, bloggers must not only talk the talk, but they have to practice what they preach…become a “blogger.”

What is a Blogger

A blogger is someone that writes what they think and/or feel. Blogging is a hobby…blogging is passion.

A blogger is an author, a poet, a writer…an artist.

Bloggers do what feels right because it’s feeling good that’s important. Money is secondary, it will come when it is ready to come.

How do you feel good?

You post every single day.

Posting every day accomplished two things:

It gives you an excuse to keep talking, even when you have nothing to say.
It adds to numbers, and as we all know…Numbers = Happiness

The more you post, the more it feels like you’ve been working. Working, even if it’s just the appearance of doing so = Happiness.

And mark my words, even though the benefits of posting every day might not be obvious…they are…trust me.

The more you post, the more traffic you can build. Even if that traffic doesn’t convert, the important thing is that your numbers are growing.

Comments go up.
RT’s go up.
Pageviews go up.

Total win, for you…the blogger.

Blogging every day gives the appearance that you are a professional, even though you might not be. It allows you to fake it until you make it. It allows you to feed the machine that needs your content.

Must…have…more…content.

In a consumption happy society, what better way is there to lure them to your Internet opium than by posting every single day.

What if I don’t have anything to say?

That doesn’t matter. Just say something.

Copy if you have to.

Borrow ideas. Write list posts. Crowdsource your content. Reveal private conversations as posts because your audience will respond very strongly. Linkbait by calling people out or bashing them.

Instead of “Just keep swimming,” it’s “Just keep blogging.”

There’s a reason we say to do this. It’s the same reason that everyone repeats the same messages over, and over, and over, and over again…because of trust.

It feels right.

Blogging works in the same way that the Law of Attraction works. If you just keep doing what feels right, then good things are sure to come your way.

There’s no need to worry about metrics, products, or services…just keep posting.

Post every day.

If you aren’t…then you don’t deserve success.

Are you getting the message? It’s not where you think it is.

Blog as if Your Life Depended on It is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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You’ve been slaving away at the keyboard…writing post after post, giving value, and creating great products, yet people still don’t notice you.

In fact, you’ve probably started to feel that your efforts are going to waste.

No one is responding, and you might as well be talking to yourself at times…or so it seems.

Here’s my question to you:

Are you trying to avoid making enemies?

Too many platformers try to walk on eggshells when they create new content and as a result, they look just like everyone else.

But your job is not to blend in, but to stand out!

Try making some enemies and pissing some people off.

I’m not saying that you should seek out conflict, but please don’t spend your day trying to avoid it.

The reason why your message is not coming across is because it has been watered down by trying to please everyone.

No one is the same…and there is no way you can appeal to the whole world.

If you try to do that, you become boring and people will simply ignore you…they’ll hit the mute button on your entire enterprise.

What you should be doing is to be true to yourself, tell it like it is, and know that people are going to get value from your information.

Don’t hide behind your writing…use it as your sword. Don’t ask for permission…just claim it!

Will some people get pissed off? Absolutely, but they likely weren’t your customers anyway. You’re doing each other a favor by cutting to the chase. It’s OK for some to be pissed off.

Something Nathan said in a recent podcast illustrates the benfits of doing this.

If you say something that pisses people off but gives value to others, the ones that are pissed off will go away and the ones that remain are the true audience you want around you.

Those are not his exact words, but I’m sure you get the idea.

Let me cut all the theoretical crap and get to real life examples.

There are tons of Apple haters out there. The open source community will not hesitate to burn down the headquarters in California if they had the chance to.

Adobe engineers might do the same. It doesn’t stop Apple from selling billions of dollars worth of electronic devices.

Apple knows its audience doesn’t mind having a closed system, but wants to be able to sync all their Apple devices with ease, even if they have to stay in that small bubble Steve Jobs has created for them.

Another example is the Nintendo Wii.

When it was first released, there were tons of hardcore gamers predicting it won’t be a hit because of the cartoonish graphics. These guys would not be caught dead playing Wii Sports, but Nintendo doesn’t care.

They are not the Wii’s target market. Nintendo created a console that my mother could be excited about…they could care less about hardcore gamers. They made sure she loved it when she picked it up to play.

They’re targeting kids and families…which were an under-served market.

Know your audience, and define that person you are talking to.

Go as far as giving that person a name. Then tailor your message to that one person. All others can go to hell.

Don’t be scared of losing people.

It’s OK because the people you lose are not your audience anyways. Nathan tried to piss people off on Twitter by asking people to unfollow him. He actually gained followers.

Don’t be afraid to make enemies. Start doing this today so you can start getting the attention you deserve from the people who matter the most.

James Tayo runs a blog for entrepreneurs at Entrepreneur Blog’r. He shares tips on how you can build a profitable business online by getting customers through email list building and turn them into raving fans.

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I’m extremely motivated and dedicated to success. I’ve spent a decade battling fear, lack of discipline, and indecision…and so far it’s worked.

On my own, I’ve accomplished quite a bit, but there’s a problem…

I can’t do it all, and furthermore…I don’t want to.

Learning how to get out of my own way

For years I was stubborn. I didn’t think that anyone could do things as good as I could.

I didn’t want to share profit because I thought I needed it all.

I thought I had to be a solopreneur.

At some point though, I realized that it wasn’t working, and I don’t know why, but this was the hardest lesson for me to learn.

I fought it tooth and nail for YEARS until finally one day last year I needed a sounding board for an idea and couldn’t find anyone to talk to about it.

My wife doesn’t really understand my business, and I’d been working in isolation for so long that I didn’t have any peers I could hollar at.

So on a whim, I found someone I’d been talking to in blog comments, and sent him an email.

Turns out that email resulted in almost $50,000 in profit in the past 6 months and has led to the development of a business that I believe will reach not just 6 figures, but 7, in the next 2 years.

If you haven’t figured it out, that partner’s name is Mike CJ and he’s my partner at Beyond Blogging.

Where I might be an idea guy, he’s an execution master and he’s got a keen business sense that I was lacking. His unique way of looking at things has done nothing but improve the performance of the Beyond Blogging Corporation.

When Opportunity Knocks

I was at Blogworld Expo in 2009 when David Risley introduced me to someone he knew from the Blog Masters Club.

The guy was smart, and had a lot of experience in the business world, and as I talked with him it was evident that we had a lot in common.

At the time, my partnership with Mike had yet to create anything of substance (we were still writing the book), but I was smart enough to know that Rich would be an asset to my business, which is why we continued to talk post-BWE and developed what would later become Roark Media, which is now a digital marketing agency that both works with clients and develops software and training programs.

Follow Your Heart

I’ve always been a musician at heart, but unfortunately I’m not talented enough to go pro. However, when I found Oleg Mokhov, who was cranking out electronic mixes with bits of his own original tunes blended in, I knew I had to approach him about something. I didn’t know what I had to offer…I just knew he was going to do great work.

Eventually the idea of Blogger Beats dawned on me, and I approached him that very same day. We had a bit of conversation about it, implemented his ideas with mine, and within a few months Blogger Beats was born.

But we’re not just Blogger Beats, we’re AudioBot, and we’re working on some ninja stuff that I can’t share with you, but is sure to be awesome.

Right now, Blogger Beats is gaining tons of traction with very little marketing, and best of all…I love doing it!

The Moral of the Story

I’m not telling you all of this because I want to brag, or because I’m trying to sell you something.

The point I’m trying to make is that you can’t do everything on your own, and as alluring as the idea of 100% profits sounds…the truth is that you aren’t talented at everything.

If you get in the habit of finding and recruiting talented people to your business, then you not only fill in education and experience gaps, but you also more than double your horsepower.

You have someone to bounce ideas off of.

You have someone to share the workload.

You have someone that can see hidden angles that you can’t.

You have a CEO or President.

You have a business.

Steve Jobs doesn’t run Apple on his own. He recruits talented developers and executives.

If you truly want success, then it’s time that you adopt a similar mindset.

Being a solopreneur is great, but it’s boring and leaves you prone to burnout. On the flipside…I like being a CEO and/or President.

I like being in the music, publishing, and software business. I like doing things I’ve always wanted to do instead of trying to settle for less.

What about you?

Image Credit

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isn’t screaming louder

Marketing is a science. Some people are great at it…Tim Ferriss for example. He’s good.

• Steve Jobs has a great team.
• Seth Godin.
• Hollywood Producers
• Music Executives

They’re all good at it, but not for the reasons you think.

The current “flavor of the month” is the product launch formula.

Give them a PDF, a video, and do some viral marketing and bam! you’ve got a campaign.

It works, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

Furthermore, I don’t think it’s what you want to be doing.

Launches are exhausting

A full-scale launch using Frank Kern’s “Howitzer” approach is exhausting, expensive, and worst of all, burns out customer lists and affiliates.

They do what they are supposed to, which is create huge paydays, but long-term, it’s not how I would build a business.

I’d rather build something evergreen…something that sells 24/7.

I don’t like to close my products unless I have to. I like being able to build multiple income streams.

I don’t have the energy to launch every 3 months, and I don’t want to.

Right now, I have several products that sell 24/7:

• Twitter Rockstar
• Facebook Rockstar
• Blogger Beats
• Beyond Blogging
• Claiming Your Destiny

Each of these sell on a weekly or monthly basis, whether I Tweet them or not.

I don’t have to create new videos or PDF’s to keep them going…they sell on their own.

To me, this is not only a much more relaxed way to do business, but a better long-term approach.

With one product, I can achieve an average of 20 bucks per day. With 5, I’m at 100. 10 = 200…etc.

This is the monopoly method, and it’s why I got in business in the first place.

I’m not a carnival…I’m an entrepreneur.

Referral Marketing FTW

Screaming louder doesn’t work for me anymore. It used to, but it stopped.

More Tweets might help, but not when they come from me.

Facebook links work great…when they come from other people.

Blog posts are amazingly effective…if someone else writes them.

Oddly enough, I’ve found that if I create something great, make my customers feel great, and stay true to my creative aspirations, then people not only feed off that vibe, but want to feed it to others.

I just wrote about Tony Hsieh’s book (Zappos guy), which talks about delivering amazing customer experiences.

I’ve made that my mantra…both personally and professionally.

I treat my customers like royalty. I don’t devalue their contribution. I know they work hard to earn money, and I try to reward them by providing great customer service and by going above and beyond what I’m supposed to be doing.

I send out free copies of stuff to people that need it.

I ask people what they think and try to improve where necessary.

I spend $10 bucks on a process that should cost $1 as long as it improves the customer experience.

And you know what? It works.

Do a search for Blogger Beats right now on Twitter. I don’t say much at all about it…but lots of other people do.

I don’t talk about Beyond Blogging (the book) very often, but many others do for me.

Why? I team up with bad-asses…create good shit…and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Instead of spending my money on marketing, I spend it on experience. As a result, people start talking for me…and as momentum builds…my businesses do too.

Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work?

Building Referrals into Your Marketing Funnel

There are a million ways to do this.

My pal James Tayo is doing something incredible in this department.

You can use plugins to use “refer a friend” bonuses.

You can pay affiliates handsomely.

You can offer rewards for valued customers.

You can offer tiered discounts for those that support you most often.

You can provide “rewards” the same way that an airline does.

You can hook someone up when they least expect it.

Give your customers a way to share the great shit they just bought…whether via Twitter, a referral code, or an email. Make sure you tell them you appreciate them, and go out of your way to make them happy.

It’s not easy, but it’s simple.

Too many people avoid hard and go for complex.

Image Credit

The Secret to Great Marketing is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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(Editor’s Note: I was offered a free copy of this book in order to provide the following review, which is impartial, I assure you)

What is Happiness?

When I think about what happiness means, not as a person but as a customer and a publisher, I envision an experience in which each side is enriched by the experience of doing business together.

And perhaps no one is better known for this than Tony Hsieh and the Zappos team, which sells shoes but is known for their customer service.

How many other shoe CEO’s do you know writing books? Maybe Phil Knight of Nike, but the list is short.

It’s short because most people tend to separate happiness from business…to many they aren’t compatible, and that’s a damn shame.

It’s Something Small that Makes a Big Difference

It doesn’t take much to make someone’s day.

It could be a smile, wink, or a nod.

It could be an email of praise or encouragement.

It could be free coupon code.

It could be a free copy of a book.

Those are the little things that Zappos does so well, such as free return shipping if the shoes don’t fit, that keep them ahead of the happiness curve.

Surely if a shoe company can become a billion dollar business because of their sheer will to create happiness, then there’s something to be learned for the rest of us.

Delivering Happiness

So it was with great excitement that I opened the package containing an advance copy of the book “Delivering Happiness” by Zappo’s CEO, Tony Hsieh.

The book claims to show us how to build “a path to profits, passion, and purpose,” but that’s not really why I wanted to read it. I wanted to read it because Tony Hsieh was a millionaire, and I wanted to get my head inside his to see how a millionaire thinks.

The opening chapters of the book read like a case study in Outliers, which was Malcolm Gladwell’s book about what it takes to be remarkable. It seemed that the odds were stacked in Tony’s favor for a variety of reasons, and even though he was a smart kid, he had a lot of advantages.

So it was with a bit of frustration that I read his account of building and selling a business, called Link Exchange, to Microsoft for $265 million dollars, 40 of which was his personal share. Great story of success, but there was very little how-to, which bothered me a bit.

Building a Real Business

But when I read the story of how he built a venture capital firm, which later become an incubator, suffered through the dot-com bubble, and nearly lost all of his money when trying to keep Zappos afloat, I learned not only what it takes to build a business to profitability, but also how important it is to be working on something that you love.

Tony risked his entire fortune keeping the Zappos dream alive. Would you do that for your current business? If not…what business would you do it for?

The Company Motto

As the book wore on and Zappos was profitable, the content moved into talk on workplace culture and personal happiness. Although this section motivated me to change some of the ways I do business, both internally and externally, I found it geared towards business leaders with a bigger staff or workforce than what I had.

Still, there were a lot of lessons to be learned in how Zappos create a company culture guide, handled transparency with employees and the media, and grew into the behemoth that they are today.

Should You Buy It?

It’s only 13 bucks, which is a small price to pay for a reframing of the way you think about business and company culture. I’ll admit, it lost me through portions of the beginning and end, but I don’t expect a book to be 100% useful to me. I’m happy if I can glean a game changing thought or two, and in this book, I found many.

You can click here to read more about the book on Zappos website, or click here to grab it from Amazon.

This one is an easy read, and a great pick-me-up. Go grab it.

Do You Deliver Happiness? is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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