I read the Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live and Extraordinary Life sometime last month. It’s authored by John Assaraf, one of the teachers featured in the secret and Murray Smith his business partner.
Why the review?
This one was a tough book to review because there were some really good things and some things I really didn’t like. Nonetheless, it’s a book of some value.
The Part I like:
The Vision Board
If you’ve watched the Secret, you will probably remember John Assaraf’s biggest advice was to use vision boards. I think that’s a good advice. Like they say..
A picture speaks a thousand words
So, visualization and vision boards are a good tool. Vision boards are easier to focus on than sitting down and visualizing at least when you’re stressed out and in the middle of something rather hectic.
2. Some good points on Business
Murray Smith authors the second section of the book which provides more of business advice. He talks about finding out who your ideal customers are, their hot buttons and such. Also some good ready to use tips thrown in at some points.
Case studies are also used to illustrate various points so they are quite helpful.
3. The Appendices
The Appendices are rather good.
One of them is the customer survey forms (one for B2C and another for B2B) - a good starting point for creating your own surveys for your customers.
The Second one is a listing of hot buttons for major industries and some common marketing channels
The Parts I didn’t like:
1. Not Enough Action Steps - A bit too much theoretical explanation
That maybe helpful for a lot of people but I personally don’t like reading too much of why a theory should work. I prefer learning how it works in daily life and ways for me to use it. So, reading pages upon pages of explanation on the Law of Attraction kind of bored me. Although, to be fair..it’s not just all about the Law of Attraction.
My recommendation:
Read this book if/when you feel you need some inspiration and/or motivation.
Personally, I’d give it a 7/10
My Bias
Before you take my word, let me tell you..I’m heavily cautious when it comes to books that try to prove the Law of Attraction saying Quantum Physics proves it. It’s not that I don’t believe in the Law of Attraction, I do but if someone says there’s a scientific proof for something..I’m not looking at just examples of things happening. I’m looking for hard science backup.
If you'd like to keep up with all the tips on how to save time and increase productivity, sign up for my RSS feed or Follow me on Twitter.Popularity: 3% [?]
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
I agree with your point about the volume of theoretical explanation. For some personalities, you just want to really get into the action steps. However, I think that this section sets the foundation for Murray’s section on the fundamentals of growing a business. John teaches you the mindset for success. Murray show the practical applications of this thinking in teaching you what to focus on and how to grow you business. This is absolutely worth a read. Good review. A good start is to download the 2 free chapters on the book site here: http://www.readtheanswer.com/index.php?RTA=web2
Hi Ron,
You’re absolutely correct…I do agree it’s based on personality (and I am the type of person who likes more practical applications than theories)
Thanks for linking to the free chapters..it’s a pretty well packaged book all together!