I usually start every book review of mine with an usual disclaimer… I usually don’t like reading books. My reading speed is extremely slow and I’d prefer to have all the information distilled into 10-20 pages rather than 200 or more.
I often come away thinking that the cost of reading the book is not actually the money spent on the book, but the opportunity cost of my time to read it.
The book I am reviewing today is different.
Failure To Launch No More by Martin Dasko is well worth your time to read it.
I read it in around two hours… as I was doing a little multitasking.
What about the cost of the book? As a fan of the awesome Studenomics website, I subscribed to his mailing list. Dasko sent out an email about a number of things, but in it he mentioned that the Kindle price was a “damn buck.”
The price is a little more now, but my thinking still hasn’t changed… if you don’t have a couple of hours and a couple of damn bucks lying around, just quit trying to launch a company or sell a product.
Since there’s little cost, the next question is, “How good is the book?”
The short answer is that it is very good if you read it in the right context. It isn’t trying to be How to Win Friends & Influence People or The Power of Habit. Don’t expect something that was painfully researched in detail for years and years. It is designed to get you motivated to get off your butt and launch your business… with a focus on practical advice.
I’m usually not into motivational books. They seem to be heavy on “follow your passion” and telling you what you want to hear. Failure to Launch No More takes a practical approach to starting your business. It forces you to look at your financials to see if you can actually live while you are getting going.
My favorite part of the book came early on. Who do you get advice about your business from?
Many people turn to family or friends, but they can be terrible resources. They discourage you from taking a risk so you don’t get hurt. Or conversely they may overpraise you, setting you up for disappointment times get tough.
I often write about multi-level marketing/pyramid schemes and people often look for advice here too. In most cases family and friends give accurate advice to stay away. Thus from my perspective I was ready to say that Dasko gives poor advice.
He follows it up in the book with who you can get great advice from. It is suggested that someone with no vested interested in your success or failure is usually a good sounding board. He takes it a step further and says that you should listen to critics:
“We need to hear the truth sometimes. Thank a critic for being honest.”
This is the kind of practical advice that goes beyond the simple motivational speaking to get that project launched.
There were at least another half-dozen points in this book that I found enlightening. After nine years of blogging and doing a ton of research on these kinds of things, I’m very happy when I learn one or two truly enlightening things a day.
It is well worth it to read something that wasn’t just re-hashing the same old crap… and even better that it didn’t take all day.
If you’ve got a couple of hours and $10 you could go to the movies and watch people blow stuff up. Or for half the price, you could get some information to put you on the path to financial freedom. Suddenly, spending a couple damn bucks on
Failure To Launch No More seems like a good idea doesn’t it?
Thanks so much for the review man! This means a lot to me. I kept the book short and sweet because I wanted to get to the point. The failure to launch is a serious epidemic!
Failure To Launch No More great book. I want to say that I don’t like reading much. And while read your article I enjoyed it because you said if we read in the right context then I found reading book must be interesting. Thank for sharing. Nice post. Keep it up.