Ethan
I learned a lot from the book and a discussion group about it in which I participated. However I did not like the writing style. The analogy between war and business was given more attention than it merited. Details about wars obscured the main arguments. The author confusingly created new meanings for existing English words. The author seemed several times to disparage all books that came before his on the topic of business as amateurish, which was annoying.
Has some valid points but overall I didn't love his attitude. Heavy repetition throughout and a lot of repeating his credentials as though he's worried readers won't trust him. As the author says, this is a very personal book about someone with severe childhood trauma that led him to be what some might call a loser. Then his life learnings are presented as a self-help book using “real clients” as examples to serve the points. Presents a philosophy on life that is better than being a “nice guy” but still really validation seeking. Targeted at a certain type of person, someone like Ed Norton in fight club, with that dreary outlook on a lonely life. The redeeming quality of this book is how honest it is on a very personal topic that most people spend their lives shying away from analyzing.
Thoughtful, inspirational, engaging. Contains actual insights and not too much fluff. Specialize your business according to the requests solicited from the most profitable 20% of customers/clients. Drop the big annoying low-profit clients. Find something unique to offer compared to others in your market. Grow the company by putting a ton of effort into it, systematize/delegate everything piecemeal, then sell it in maintenance mode. Interesting way to look at entrepreneurship.
