Whether you’re thinking about starting a new business or growing an existing one, Ready, Fire, Aim has what you need to succeed in your entrepreneurial endeavors. In it, self-made multimillionaire and bestselling author Masterson shares the knowledge he has gained from creating and expanding numerous businesses and outlines a focused strategy for guiding a small business through the four stages of entrepreneurial growth. Along the way, Masterson teaches you the different skills needed in order to excel in this dynamic environment.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Massive self-promotion with some marketing tips thrown in Comment: I enjoy the occasional book on marketing and how to acheive success. The cover blurbs for "Ready, Aim, Fire" seemed promising as did some of the Amazon reviews. So I figured why not.
I can now answer the question "why not" in detail and at length.
First, the good news. Michael Masterson does a reasonably good job of distilling the advice offered in dozens of other books on advertising and marketing, from Napoleon Hill to Rosse Reeve's "Reality In Advertising". However, the solid advice gleaned from those classics is diluted with Masterson's endless preening and outright bragging.
The overall experience is not necessarily enjoyable or instructive, unless you are inspired by someone telling you, over and over and over again, of how successful and great he is.
A careful reading led me to become very suspicious of Michael Masterson and to do some quick research. Masterson claims to have had titles on the New York Times, Wall St. Journal and Amazon best seller lists. Indeed, on two occasions - and that means two distinct dates - Masterson was on the Wall St. Journal best seller list. This is not like being on that list week after week: it was twice for one time each. As for the New York Times, a Nexis search shows Michael Masterson appearing in the Times just once, with a comment in an article. No appearances on their best seller list. Amazon's best seller lists are very different and appearing on them is on meaningless. It is said that having 30 friends order a book at the same time will put you on their best sellers list for a little while at least.
More disturbing are Masterson's associations, one of which is Agora International, which publishes a number of investment newsletters which seem to be of the "we have a tip for you" variety. Agora was sued for fraud by the SEC at one point. This does not reflect directly on Masterson since he claims a nebulous role of "consultant" with them. It does, however, reflect on the company he keeps.
The company he keeps also includes AWAI, American Artists & Writers, Inc. Masterson doesn't say that he authored a product for them, a course on copywriting. Both AWAI and Masterson are the subject of literally hundreds of online complaints.
As I said, much of this book is borrowed and adapted. I don't have a problem with that since solid knowledge is intended to be passed on, as long as it is not plagarized in violation of copyright laws. But even here, Masterson leaves himself open to question. He attributes the concept of the "unique selling proposition" to a 1980 book called "Positioning". In fact, Rosser Reeves first put forth the expression and the concept in his 1961 "Reality In Advertising".
Would I recommend that someone read this book? Sort of. It is an adequate distillation of marketing advice from many reputable sources. To his credit, Masterson doesn't claim to be the original thinking here. On the other hand, Masterson's personal credibility is questionable and you really have to take what he says of his own success with a very large grain of salt. Personally I think there are better books in this area to be found.
Jerry Customer Rating: Summary: Ready Fire Aim Comment: The main point I get from Masterson's book is marking your product. I know it simple but how many small business owners do all the other THINGS but market their products. Masterson beats the marking concept home! If you market and sale your products you will be successful. A must read before you start your business----If you have started; read the book fast. This book is about working smarter and making money and not losing your butt and working harder. Customer Rating: Summary: A Must Read for Anyone Learning How To Adapt to Today's Internet Revolution Comment: Hi, my name is C. Maria Gudelis and this book is a must read to help any entrepreneur or future entrepreneur make money with less effort, capital investment and then grow your business. It changed my whole outlook on how I launch products, create companies and then grow them... Customer Rating: Summary: Ready, Fire and Aim Comment: The book deals with some solid fundamentals necessary to start
and grow a viable business. The job is defined as the what, the
where and the whom? Some important business development stages
are to sell, improve as a result of sales, organize and push.
I recognize the "improve" part of the process because initial
sales usually generate product critiques by customers which
should lead to product customizations/enhancements for increased
sales. Front-end selling refers to new customers; whereas,
back end sales refer to repeat selling of existing customers.
Both types of selling are needed for building a business.
The old customers support the basic cash flow; whereas, the
new customers help to grow the business so that new employees
can be hired and new facilities built.
Next, the operator needs to identify people who sell best or
manage best. There are several types of buying. These are
impulse buyers, the "feel good" buyer and customers who have
surplus money in their hands. i.e. people with large year end
raises or bonuses
This book would be a worthy purchase for anyone contemplating
the purchase or commencement of a new business venture. I
recognize some of the methods described by the author from
my own personal experience.
Customer Rating: Summary: What a waste of paper. Comment: This could have easily been just a 10 to 20 page report. If that long.
I never understand why supposedly successful people have to write books that spend so much time plugging themselves, their businesses and friends.
If the information was that great people would gladly contact people or businesses on a resource page.
