Have you ever been alone in a crowded room? It can happen to anyone, and the remedy is to engage in the conversation of the room. So not to look like a bull in a china store, you put yourself out there, introduce yourself, listen and participate. Soon you will shed the wallflower costume.

Broaden the scope of the room to the entire planet, and that is the idea behind the book The Age of Conversation. If you are reading The Hot Iron or other blogs, you may have seen the word “conversation” used a lot. Rather than people posting static comments on a Web site, they (as done here) open it up to comments, thus making the post a topic of conversation and comments the interaction of the conversation. In this book, Gavin Heaton and Drew McLennan posted a topic – on conversation itself – and received 103 comments, which are compiled and presented in book form.

My greatest takeaway is that, at a high level, conversation online is not much different than offline. Norms of having a dialogue with people you have just met or really don’t know still apply, and the idea is to engage with others. Of course the online medium provide greater advantages you don’t get offline, such as engaging with people on the other side of the planet or typically untouchable CEOs.

Another takeaway is that we tend to gravitate to people we share a common opinion or approach with; likeminded individuals. With 103 ideas presented, naturally you won’t agree with the content or approach of all of them, and that was the case with me. Ideas presented by people that were practical or less prophesizing resonated with me more as I tend to take a more practical approach.

A final takeaway was the need for such a book. More and more I find myself explaining social media and networking to people, whether they are friends, clients or colleagues. In the grand scheme of things it is still a new topic. A book like this can serve as an introduction to what you can gain from having such conversations, as well as be a catalyst for creating your Facebook account once and for all.

I recommend The Age of Conversation for both folks in the conversation and not. It is not all words either – there are several illustrations, with my favorite being from my friend AJ in Sydney, Australia. Interestingly, through AJ I met Gavin Heaton several years back. Through this book, I have reconnected with him, as his name rang a bell when several other people recommended the project behind it to me. Which is the whole idea, isn’t it?

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One of the greatest frustrations of any entrepreneur or small business is working more in your business than on your business. Working in your business is when you are doing the mundane but vital tasks of running a business, everything from balancing the checkbook to selecting insurance and beyond. By being in the trenches, you can lose the big picture perspective of growing your business, but due to your size and headcount there is probably nobody else to do these things.

This reality of working on your own is the theme of the book Money-Smart Secrets for the Self-Employed by Linda Stern. The book guides the reader through starting their own business, from merely thinking about doing it, to the fears surrounding income to the tasks required to maintain your business. It was written in 1997, and was a recent gift to me from a friend who herself used it as a guide through breaking out on her own. Where some of the specifics are outdated (such as software products) much of the book is still relevant 11 years after it was published.

My greatest takeaway from the book is you need to understand the big picture of running your own business before you do so. There are many things you do when on your own you would not do as an employee of a larger company, such as marketing yourself and hiring people. You may not even know how to do some of these things, but understanding what is involved will help you determine if being on your own is for you, and what to expect to be doing.

My next takeaway from the book is to put together a semblance of a plan for your business and review it. Not every business needs a formal business plan. A comprehensive checklist will do for some, to outline what has been done and what remains. As life changes so does business, even more so when you are working for yourself. A plan is only as good as it is realistic, thus the need to revise it as your business evolves and hopefully grows.

A final takeaway from the book is to document the money. Whether you use a logbook, a spreadsheet or QuickBooks (I highly recommend the latter!) you need to keep track of the money. Not only will this benefit you personally but it will make it easier to deal with at tax payment time, which you will learn quickly is more than just once a year when you are on your own.

Money-Smart Secrets for the Self-Employed was a good read and motivational for someone starting out on their own. As I read it several years into my own business, it served as reassurance to some of the decisions I had made. Even though it came out over a decade ago, I would recommend it for someone thinking of going on their own or just starting, as it can help them with the logistics of their corporate operations.

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When I read the book Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin, it reminded me of one of his previous books I read, Purple Cow. But was it just the content of the book, or the fact that the book arrived to me several years ago in a milk carton?

The premise of the book Purple Cow, published in 2002, is about being remarkable. Godin’s point is that in an age where we are deluged with images and messages, these have reduced their overall effectiveness, and to get your message out there, your product or service needs to be different or unique in its own way. The first example in the book is driving through farm lands and seeing cow after cow and they all look alike, but a cow that is purple will stand out and be remembered, thus remarkable.

So is remarkable something you put on top of a product or service? Not necessarily. The book gives examples of how L.L. Bean and Sears Craftsman line of tools are remarkable in their unconditional return policy. Ikea is remarkable in how they sell low-cost, assemble-yourself furniture that is extremely stylish. Dr. Bronner’s soap is remarkable in its unique labeling.

My greatest takeaway is that remarkable is not a gimmick. From the above examples, what makes them remarkable are attributes that have lasted for years. Gimmicks may drive sales, but not over the long term. Gimmicks are also not considered sincere.

Another takeaway is that you may already be remarkable. When many entrepreneurs venture out on their own, their catalyst is often they can do what they do better or in a more unique way from where they previously worked. They may not have been able to do it, whatever it is, when they worked for someone else and have the conviction to do it themselves. This was part of my own motivation for starting Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

The book Purple Cow does not over-do it with examples and is an energetic, quick read. If you are venturing out on your own, or taking a strategic look at your business I recommend reading the book as it will definitely inspire you, and you may get some ideas from it as well.

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What the heck is meatball sundae? As it sounds, it is a dish with balls of meat and whipped cream and a cherry on top. Not necessarily something you would want, would you? Replace the meatballs with ice cream and you have something you’d like – something that works well together and is a tasty treat.

This harmony, and the converse lack of harmony, is the crux of the book Meatball Sundae by marketing consultant and author Seth Godin. He uses this graphic example to state how you take your business products and services (the meatballs) and market it with today’s marketing tools, namely online (the whipped cream and cherry). Godin’s premise is you just can’t slap today’s progressive marketing techniques (blogs, viral videos) on staid products and services just as they are and how you have marketed them in the past, or New vs. Old Marketing as he refers to it. New Marketing is making a personal connection between the consumer and the emotion of the product or service, where Old Marketing is broadcasted, interruptive promotion as it has always been done in the past.

My greatest takeaway from this book is not necessarily a positive one – it is more unlikely to happen in an older organization than a newer one. In a newer company or firm, New Marketing is all they know, or could even have been the prevailing catalyst for the start of the business. Therefore, the firm is more in sync with what needs to be done to practice New Marketing.

In older companies, where marketing has happened “that way” for a long time and has worked, this understanding may not be in place, and unless it is guided throughout the organization, it will never happen. In most older, traditional companies, people are concerned more for their own jobs in a fluctuating economy than anything else, and are less likely to champion the cause of New Marketing. Despite this, many companies have taken a fresh look at what they do and sell and have made personal connections with their audience. It takes a different allocation of money and resources than before, but with such a perspective, they can see their results, measurable more than a billboard on a highway.

Meatball Sundae is a quick, lively read and full of many examples of companies and what they did well – and didn’t do well – in practicing New Marketing. I recommend it to newer or old companies, to help them in their thinking. Depending on the company, making such a leap may not be as wide as crossing an ocean.

When I read Meatball Sundae, it made me think of a book Godin wrote back in 2002, Purple Cow. I think I’ll re-read that one next.

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It would come as no surprise to my loyal readers that my favorite football team is the New England Patriots. My first book read this year was Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi’s autobiography. As the Pats moved through the playoffs, I thought it would be appropriate to read the book This Pats Year by Sean Glennon.

This Pats Year chronicles the 2002 season as experienced by a variety of Patriots fans each week, as well as the author, who happens to be a fan of the Oakland Raiders, a team that has a storied history with the Pats. This book evolved from a column Glennon wrote for the Boston Phoenix. And yes, I did find a real, business-related takeaway from this book!

My one takeaway is that it may be your product or service, but your customers will experience it in a variety of ways. In This Pats Year, the product is the NFL football games played by the Patriots and their opponents, and the customers are the dozens of fans highlighted in the book. Some are extremely loyal, some are not. Some love everything the team and organization do, some do not. One fan even lost his season ticket account for selling game tickets on eBay, but remains a fan of the team.

A similar product that came to mind after reading the book is music, especially in the light of the record industry’s attempts to hold onto their old business models as the digital age keeps moving forward. When a musician or group creates a song or songs, it can be interpreted in many ways by their fans, in ways they may not have anticipated (listening to individual songs rather than whole albums) or may even want (Charles Manson and the Beatles!). However there is little they can do about it, and in the end they hope to make money while still maintaining their integrity.

This type of scenario doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Where it can be considered a lack of control by some, to others it can be a huge opportunity. Artists and record labels are slowly moving their catalogs online. A related opportunity to the Patriots is the development of Patriot Place, a retail and entertainment complex currently under construction around Gillette Stadium, where the team plays. Talk about a capitalization on your product!

Where This Pats Year may not be of interest to rabid fans of other football teams, it is a well-written observation of people in their consumption of something they believe in. I recommend people directly involved in the development and marketing of products and services to read the book, as it may help in the analysis of your own target markets. And if you are a Pats fan, I of course recommend it, and you may even know some of the people highlighted.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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