Here are the best selling business and investing books from Amazon.com:
- The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
- Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
- Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
- Getting Organized in the Google Era: How to Get Stuff out of Your Head, Find It When You Need It, and Get It Done Right by Douglas Merrill and James A. Martin
- The Devil’s Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers by Vicky Ward
- Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
- StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths by Tom Rath
- Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
- Bank On Yourself: The Life-Changing Secret to Protecting Your Financial Future by Pamela Yellen
By Erica Christoffer, Contributing Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
If you haven’t heard of Steve Garfield or seen his name floating around the social media world, it’s time to step into the light — the video spotlight, that is. One only needs to Google Steve Garfield’s name to get a glimpse at his vast online career where he has been charting the video blogging waters. He started his first video blog in 2004 and has since become a sought-after adviser to Fortune 500 companies, including Kodak, AT&T, Nokia, and Panasonic.
Garfield recently published a book “Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business” and it’s filled with tutorials, examples, and step-by-step instruction on how to effectively incorporate video into your online marketing plan.
When I approached Garfield about setting up an interview for REALTOR® Magazine’s Weekly Book Scan, he offered the opportunity to chat via wetoku.com, a site that records 10 minutes of webcam interaction — the perfect resource for conducting interviews.
Watch as Garfield explains how his career culminated into writing “Get Seen” and offers tips on forming online communities, using video to connect with people in your community, and tools for fast, easy shooting. (I apologize for the very poor sound quality on my end!)
The following excerpt is from the book “Social Media 101 : Tactics and Tips to Develop Your Business Online” (Wiley 2010) by Chris Brogan. The book gives insight on effective use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, and how to utilize them to grow your business.
Social Media Starter Moves for Real Estate
Disclaimer right up front: I’m not in the real estate biz, so I’ll write this from the perspective of what I’ve observed and what might be useful. Some real real estate pro can come and fix this on his or her own blog, and it’ll likely be better. Why would I ever let a simple thing like inexperience get in the way of sharing my opinion?
SHOW ME THE HOUSE The first and most obvious thing I think the real estate world can (and should) be doing is buying video cameras and shooting their own walk-throughs. You don’t have to be a pro. You do have to know how not to make something look horrible, but that comes with trial and error.
PICK UP A VIDEO CAMERA If you don’t yet own a video camera, here are a few thoughts: Most still cameras have a video feature, and that’s nearly good enough. The Flip camera is the easiest and often the least expensive video camera to use. Kodak’s new Zi8 (and related) models have more flexibility than the Flip, but are a bit more complicated as a trade-off. Continue reading »
By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
Famed investor Sam Zell, who made his fortune in commercial real estate, is part of the same billionaire genus as Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates. Most people tend to view him as either a hero or a tyrant, with very little middle ground in between. This controversial figure has been in the headlines quite a bit over the past couple of years after he bought the Tribune Co. (which owns the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times) and sold the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field (which were owned by the Tribune Co.).
(Disclosure: My wife worked at the Zell-owned Equity Residential for about a year, and even met the guy once at an office Christmas party. He also has an office in the Tribune Tower, which I’m looking at through the window of NAR headquarters as I’m typing this. Sometimes we wave to each other from across the street. OK, I made that last part up.)
Anyway, there’s little doubt as to whether Ben Johnson, author of Money Talks, Bullsh*t Walks: Inside the Contrarian Mind of Billionaire Mogul Sam Zell, falls into the superstar or villain camp. His book about Zell’s rise to power and navigation of complex business deals frequently borders on hero worship (though, to be fair, this is toned down somewhat as Johnson recounts the Tribune deal).
Is Zell a wildly successful businessman because of his inimitable, analytical mind, or because of his doggedness and determination? That’s the kind of conundrum that Johnson seems to present to the reader throughout the book — rather than, for instance, how can someone who is such a fierce competitor hate actual competition so much? (Zell is quoted as saying, “The best thing to have in the world is a monopoly … I’m more than willing to leave all the rest of the highly competitive world to everyone else.” It would be like Tom Brady saying, “I love winning Super Bowls, but I hate playing football.”) Continue reading »
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