chrisbrogan.com» review

Flinch Harder

ceb — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:30:04 +0000

Julien Smith releases his new book today, The Flinch. It’s available for FREE as a download, so get it NOW.

What’s it about? Changing how you react to everything. Changing how you see the world as you’ve already put it together. It’s a lot about retraining yourself to do what you used to do when you were a kid, but bringing the value of that forward into your adult life.

This video is about 13 minutes, and because it’s Julien, there are curses (many!). BUT, you might find the interview interesting.

Can’t see the video? CLICK HERE

Want the book? FREE? GET IT NOW.

By Popular Demand

An UNCENSORED version of the interview:

Teach Better with The Differentiated Instruction Book of Lists

ceb — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 19:30:25 +0000

It was quite a while before I could talk about The Differentiated Instruction Book of Lists (J-B Ed: Reach and Teach) (amazon affiliate link), because I found myself reading, pausing, thinking about the information, and then kind of spinning off into a lot of directions:

This book is obviously perfect for teachers looking to rediscover their passion for their calling.
This book is also excellent for parents, especially if your kid is the square peg in the round hole.
This book is great for you, if you teach/educate/speak.
This book is just kind of interesting, if you look back at how YOU were taught.

See my conundrum? It’s a thinking person’s book with LOTS of actionable stuff in it. As a result, it took me a while to get this book reviewed. Sometimes that happens. My friend, Whitney Hoffman, had to endure a lot of waiting for this. Here’s my video review:

Can’t see the video? Click Here.

Brand Against the Machine

ceb — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:30:37 +0000

I had the pleasure of interviewing first time author John Morgan about his new book, Brand Against the Machine: How to Build Your Brand, Cut Through the Marketing Noise, and Stand Out from the Competition (amazon affiliate link), a book that tackles personal branding and the need to stand out. What I like about John’s book is that it’s told from a somewhat different perspective than other books about what’s come to be known as personal branding. John points out that there are lots of people out there vying for attention. His plan is to help you rise above the clutter.

I like that the book is broken down into smaller bites, and that you can find one or two tidbits to consider and bounce against the way you do things on every other page. Because John comes from some very competitive roots, the book has some interesting points to consider. Check out my video with John for a bit more.

Can’t see the video? Click Here

If you’re wondering what to do to get seen and heard in the louder world around us, John Morgan’s book is a worthwhile add to your collection.

Amazon Kindle Fire Is Worth It

ceb — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:23:51 +0000

I just picked up my Kindle Fire (amazon affiliate link) and found it to be really good as a consumption device. I’d seen some early tech reviews saying that it wasn’t all that and a bag of chips, but I’m not seeing it. I think the device is pretty slick, shiny, and works well. I shot a video review, so scroll down if you want to see it in action for a moment. (There’s even some Batman to be seen.)

What it isn’t is an iPad2. And maybe that’s where people are getting all hung up.

Amazon Kindle Fire

The device is about 7 inches, which makes it a bit smaller than an iPad2, bigger than a smartphone (one hopes), and absolutely reasonable to put into a larger pocket, or to tuck into your laptop bag or purse. There are a decent number of covers and sleeves available at this time, but I haven’t tried any out, so I will just point you towards a few at the bottom for you to check out (again- none of these have been touched by me, so I can’t vouch for them.) Upon getting the device turned on, connected to my wifi, and then linked to my Amazon account, I suddenly had access to all the books I’d bought from the Kindle store, to all the music I’d purchased from the Amazon MP3 store, to the movies and TV shows I’d purchased from Amazon’s video service. It was pretty quick and simple.

The system running underneath all this is an Amazon-skinned flavor of Android, the popular Google OS. Amazon offers a much smaller version of the Android App store with fewer applications available, but I haven’t yet found that to be particularly limiting (except there’s no Google+ yet, which kind of bums me out). The average regular person user will likely not notice a thing, plus all the other social networks are well represented, and I presume Google+ will have a Kindle Fire version soon.

My Video Review

Can’t see the video? Click Here

NEW: My PARENTS’ Video Review

This video is a tad long at over 11 minutes, but there are some interesting parts to consider. Plus I trimmed out some of it, so what’s left is pretty meaty.

Can’t see this video? Click Here

So Why Were People Complaining?

I think it’s because we’ve seen how slick an iPad2 is, and because we’ve seen some of the other feature-heavy tablets, and we think that the Kindle Fire should be that instead of what it is: a perfectly good, quality digital consumption device. If you’re thinking of getting a non-Apple tablet device for someone over the upcoming holiday season, and the person isn’t a hardcore Apple fiend, this might well be the device.

Get the Kindle Fire (amazon affiliate link)

Need a Cover or Sleeve?

The Barefoot Executive – Interview with Carrie Wilkerson

ceb — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:30:26 +0000

I had the pleasure of interviewing Carrie Wilkerson about her new book, The Barefoot Executive: The Ultimate Guide for Being Your Own Boss and Achieving Financial Freedom (amazon affiliate link). It’s a book dedicated to showing you how to build your own success and follow your own business path. I shot a fun video interview with Carrie here:

Can’t see the video? Click Here.

Check out the interview and be sure to check out the book:

The End of Business As Usual

ceb — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:30:41 +0000

I’m a bit late in reviewing Brian Solis’s great book, The End of Business As Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution (amazon affiliate link). He’s done a good job in this book of being pretty thorough, of having some deep thoughts, and illustrating them both with words plus, well, good illustrations. I find the book useful, engaging, and definitely worth checking out. Here’s a video review:

Can’t see the video? Click Here.

Check out the book here:

Harvey Mackay on the Mackay MBA

ceb — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:30:18 +0000

I had the supreme pleasure of sitting down with one of the world’s foremost experts on sales and leadership, Harvey Mackay. We talked about his new book, The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World (amazon affiliate link), which took us all over the place. This interview, which I’d intended to last about six minutes, was just too fun to keep short. Harvey Mackay is a master at making you feel important and an expert in all the things he talks about. I was very fortunate to get the chance to be his first ever Skype video interview, and because of that, we both just cut loose a bit. Please enjoy this interview, as it speaks to a lot of interesting points about sales, about women’s shifting dominance in the business world, and much much more:

Can’t see the video? Click here.

And please consider picking up Harvey’s new book. It’s a winner:

Listen First Sell Later

ceb — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 08:30:22 +0000

I really like Bob Poole. He has a great perspective, writes interesting posts, and does things along a similar vein as I would want to do things. I was happy to get his book, Listen First – Sell Later (amazon affiliate link), and also the nifty zombie monkey shirt he included in the box. I didn’t read this book for the shirt. I read it because I like Bob. So, I shot a quick video book review:

Can’t see the video? Click here.

If you want to learn more, go to Bob’s site. He’s a regular read of mine. Maybe you’ll do the same.

From Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur

ceb — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:30:51 +0000

From the title, you might think I was talking about some famous hip hop artist. But no, in this case, I’m talking about an extraordinary young man named Ryan Blair, who faced some incredible challenges in his life, and went on to become a successful multimillionaire entrepreneur.

But what struck me most in this interview was how Ryan put as much passion and effort into the process of writing his book as he has his entire life and career. Ryan’s book is called Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur (amazon affiliate link). I’ve read the book cover to cover twice, and it has more good advice and motivation than most of the books penned by fancy executives with silver-spoon backgrounds. This is a must-purchase book. If you’re interested in being a successful entrepreneur, check out this book, and watch this interview.

Here’s the interview:

Can’t see the video? Click Here

Buy This Book

Facebook Announces Video Calling – Will it Be Enough?

ceb — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:00:26 +0000

Facebook just announced it’s new “Video Calling” feature, which is pretty much Skype inside of Facebook, where you can use video instead of text to do a live chat with someone in your circle of friends. It’s interesting, insofar as it brings live video back and forth to Facebook, but then again, it feels a hair like “too little too late” when you look at Google+ and their Hangout feature, which is 10 people on a call and a lot faster-feeling, from what I could tell.

I took the liberty of bugging Ze Frank, video artist and creative genius, and I asked him for his thoughts on Facebook video and the rise of live video in general. (Note: I did originally try to do this with John Jantsch, but my video turned out super lagged and I couldn’t use it. Sorry, John.)

If you can’t see the video, click here.

My Take – Not so Much

I’m already loving Google+ a lot more than I ever liked Facebook. The fact they added something that looks like GChat’s video feature to Facebook chat feels like catch up, and it feels like the wrong feature. 1-1 is covered by Skype, so why bother doing it again? This only means that my social network inside of FB can now be connected easily, but that’s not enough.

Google+ and Hangout can do 10 people, can do it better, and already feels a lot more slick.

I’m curious to know your take.