Great concise bootstrapping business advice to run a lean and effective business.

In her book Being Strategic, Erika Andersen points out how people tend to rush in to developing and implementing tactics prior to creating the strategy. She says “Being strategic means consistently making those core directional choices that will best move you towards your hoped-for future.”

Michael Gerber presents a great  and concise approach to viewing and then structuring a business. The concept is to build a small business as if it were going to be a franchise. This way you are setting out to make sure everything is documented and structured so you as the owner can step out of the tactical day to day work and focus on strategic work, or sell it as a turn-key business (which ultimately is more valuable than a run of the mill Mom & Pop business).

"Most companies organize around personalities rather than around functions. That is around people rather than accountabilities or responsibilities."

The red ocean has blood in it from too many competitors and the blue ocean is less populated or void of competitors. This book is about "game changers" or disruptive business models. It presents a formula that looks at 4 elements of a business model that can be modified in concert to effect a new approach. These are to Eliminate something others are offering, Raise some things (speed, attention, you name it), Reduce something (services, roles, space, etc.) and Create something that was not there before (in the industry). Examples of companies that have found blue oceans include: Cirque du Soleil, Curves, Charles Schwab, Pfizer, etc.

Crow vs. Cow: When you are working on a project, a business or strategy first start describing and defining what Done looks like then work your self backwards to see all the key steps that need to be in place to get there. It's like connect the dots and instead of a meandering cow path to completion you are plotting a line "as the crow flies".

Whether you are aware of it or not many of the decisions you make are done without framing the situation correctly and thus without all the "relevant" facts. Took a few times re-reading concepts to finally get them but this is well worth the read to retool your thinking and is something you can apply to all decisions you need to make.

Like a Drill Sergeant for getting you moving and doing what needs being done without excuses.

Common sense that is not commonly applied: "Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and the right people in the right seats." Too often we see companies that are stuck with both the wrong people in the wrong seats but unwilling to reassign seating. This is a formula for failure and to lose the "right people".