Small is the New Big – Book 8 of 50

Its tough to read Small Is the New Big.

Not because it’s technically tough, but because these riffs and rants and little stories by Seth Godin make you think so much, that you simply cannot read more than a couple of stories a day. I read this book over the course of 2 months (well maybe a little less), and here is my summary.

This is a tad longer than my other summaries, I know.

1. Small is the new big.
2. Embrace accountability, sacrifice anonymity.
3. Focus on what you do best. Hire people for what they do best.
4. Stop comparing. Do something remarkable.
5. The best stories change over time.
6. Understand the customers worldview.
7. Create a brand, but don’t do branding.
8. Hard work is about risk. Need to overcome this risk.
9. Remarkable – something worth talking about.
10. You have to be different, or cheaper.
11. Marketing is a show to satisfy wants.
12. Stretch your limits without threatening your foundation.
13. Change the things in your life, but keep the changes simple. That helps you view everything as an opportunity.
14. Build a product in its own genre!
15. Take initiative.
16. Your business has to work when it is small to survive when it is big.
17. If you need to monopolise to profit, find something else.
18. Make new rules.
19. Create a barrier to entry for competition.
20. Hire people who are good at zooming, not people who are just competent.
21. People aren’t stupid. They are just too busy to care about the stuff you care about.
22. It isn’t good to always judge a book by its cover, but its how are we supposed to read books with bad covers?
23. We don’t create purple cows because we are afraid of critics.
24. But criticism is not always bad. At least people are talking.
25. Hype attracts criticism.
26. Criticise an idea based on how well it meets its objectives.
27. If you do not like an idea, suggest an alternative.
28. Leverage on a standard that is already in place.
29. If you want to be excellent, don’t be obsessed at being cheap.
30. Your most influential customers are creating news on the net. They can make or break your product or service.
31. Big doesn’t equal successful.
32. When your goal isn’t volume, you can cherry pick.
33. Study because of the learning, not for the grades.
34. Grow the market, don’t try to beat your competitors.
35. To get feedback, ask short simple questions.
36. Sometimes bad ideas stick around because nobody gets in trouble for sticking to status quo.
37. Give people gift certificates after they buy.
38. Make stuff worth talking about first.
39. Build a fan club.
40. Flip the funnel, change it to a megaphone.
41. Being first matters.
42. Being authentic creates word of mouth.
43. Could you invent a new use for your product?
44. Are you bundling something extraordinary for free?
45. Do your products and designs lack style?
46. When people who have worked hard to get what they want, they will not be easily persuaded off it.
47. Sell to people who are in the mood to flip.
48. Flip the small things first, change behaviors slowly.
49. In business, you will sometimes need to take five steps back, before taking 20 steps forward. That is scary.
50. Ask for suggestions and feedback, and implement them!
51. A mission statement that says everything is nothing.
52. Spend good time picking a name.
53. Learn to earn attention.
54. Find out what the “always” is, and do something different.
55. Don’t rely on being “only”.
56. Advertising online needs to be specific. You know what people are looking for before they come to your store!
57. To get people to give you their email, let them know what they will get, and not get.
58. Tell stories to sell.
59. Don’t confuse urgent and important.
60. Have a quick start mode.
61. Humans satisfice.
62. Promotions need to be targeted.
63. Don’t buy the conversation. Create it.
64. People have herd mentality. They buy because their pals buy too.
65. Being featured with your competition is sometimes a good thing.
66. Hang out where the sneezers hang out, and they will find you.
67. Good marketing encourages the right type of conversations in the marketplace.
68. People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.
69. A product for everyone rarely reaches anyone.
70. There is no corelation between success and hours worked. Focus on the issues that matter.
71. The only way to make long term profits is by respecting people. Market to people who want to hear from you.
72. Ask yourself “What If” questions to discover opportunities.
73. Safe is risky.
74. Make something people will want to buy.
75. No scarcity, no profit.
76. The only way to build an email list – send out something interesting enough to read.
77. Your company does not have to grow in size to be more profitable.
78. Small keeps you swift and flexible.
79. Offer a subscription, get a base, and serve that base well.
80. The fear of loss is far greater than the desire to gain.
81. Track your buzz on Technorati.com
82. Think big and aim high.
83. Are you willing to carry responsibility?
84. Tradition is a powerful influencer.
85. Respect your customer.
86. Take responsibility and pay attention to details.
87. When you scale, you risk authencity.
88. Is your advertising really working? Or does it only make you feel good?
89. People like verbs more than nouns.
90. People behave differently on video.
91. An idea is viral, because people understand it, they want it to spread, they will personally gain from it, and its easy for them to spread.
92. Make it easy for your customers, prospects, etc. to fill out forms.
93. Web designers need to learn to test marketing.
94. Build a small site that generates revenue. Test.
95. What did you do this decade?
96. You are more likely to succeed with customers (strangers) recommending you.
97. Ask why?
98. Are you in the wrapper business? If not, move out of it. If you are, get really good at wrapping.
99. Simple elegant web sites are good.
100. Are you going through too long a process to get things done?
101. You are your references. Many things are recorded online, forever.
102. Its hard to stay remarkable. Learn to evolve.

Actually, this point summary is quite useless to people who have not read the book. Read the book, because Seth has a magical way with words. Get the book here

A couple of days and its 5 months into the year. Gosh that is fast.