The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman [Book Summary – Review]


When the topic comes to the job, by most human beings, it is thought that the official initial line is found: a degree, a traineeship, or falling around the correct quantity of cash.

Not true!

An MBA or a winning lottery ticket to begin a thriving job or enhance the business, you have, is not required by you. The only required thing for you is that; a little general feeling and a few simple rules. For instance, by every good business individual, it is known that how to negotiate, but by you, it isn’t needed a whole semester to discover the key to good negotiation (Look at seventh section only).

And, it is only one of the hints which the Personal MBA is the most excellent book that assists to make the best for anyone interested in the job.


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Chapter 1 – Business school: Not only it is too pricey but also it probably won’t get in return.


Although your wanting is to get in work, you don’t have any opinion about where to begin? The business school looks like an attractive prospect, a place where you are given all the information and connections you need – so is it truly the ticket that takes you to victory?

It should be, shouldn’t it? On the contrary, why would too much money be given for their MBAs by individuals? Business school is costly, that’s for sure – the top 15 MBA programs require up to $ 53,208 per year for tuition. This does not involve payments, loan interest, or living expenses!

What if we take these into the equation, adding the opportunity cost of lost salaries? So, we discover that there are eight various US business schools where the price of an MBA surpasses $ 300,000.

“Hold a sec,” by you it can be thought, “certainly not all business schools are not too costly!” Correct, but any student who is doing an MBA has an average loan of $ 41,687 (again, not counting additional expenses).



All righty! So, business school is too costly. Is that the value of educational experience? Quick answer: no.

In the long run, an MBA won’t help with your career. If so, a business management master’s degree should be associated with success criteria such as raised wages or promotion to higher-level positions. And it isn’t.

By researchers from Stanford University and Washington University, a comprehensive study on the topic was led. Looking through 40 years of data, by them, it was discovered that whether you graduated successfully or just got a passing grade, there is no association between long-term career success and an MBA.

So, if a business school can’t provide your entrepreneurial career to blossom, what can it do? Well, you can find out a lot of things from the experience and your online research or books like this.


Chapter 2 – The thing that balances cash and emotion is an excellent job opinion.


Now that you understand you’re not going to spend your money on an MBA, let’s go back to work, your own business. What type of firm should you begin? When the IT industry is currently booming, you may think beginning an IT business would be an intelligent opinion. However, what if you despise IT as an area?

Here’s a point more human-beings should know: If you do it just for money, your business won’t be successful. Even if it will finally be self-running, it will still require hundreds of working hours and generous amounts of money to get your business started.

For instance, you will have to work amazingly hard for several years before you can afford to hire human-beings to tackle mundane tasks like payroll and HR. If money is your only interest, can you see yourself persisting until your company approaches that point? Possibly not!

However, if you build a job in an area you love, not only will it be more possible to stick with it, you will also be forward of the decision-making front. If you know an exact amount about the specific market you are joining, you can make sound decisions, generate a charming product, and surpass the race.

Tell you like team sports. This can seat you in a greater place to decide which products meet the requirements of athletes and provide a better business area to concentrate on even if there is more need for IT products.



On the other side, the thing that provides a very emotional sense is the topic that blocks you from judging.

Consider a little village where impressive art exhibitions are reasonably not in high need. When you are an expressionist art lover, you may not be aware of this indifference and try to establish an Expressionism museum there. Certainly, this can be a pretty satisfying experience, but it’s not a promising business opinion – a bitter truth that an aspiring art lover might not want to accept.

However, let’s tell you’re not a reckless expressionist art fan or an unwilling IT entrepreneur. Let’s tell you discovered exactly the correct mindset for beginning your business. The following question is – how do you truly enroll in the market? Beneath this is the extra question: Is there a quick way to get all the money you require? Read the sections below to discover.


Chapter 3 – Although taking advantage of your investments can be beneficial, it is also unsafe.


So, by you, a magnificent fresh job opportunity was found, however, the cash you require to pursue is insufficient. Should you stay there? No way. Rather, take advantage of your investment.

What is the leverage? As any technique that increases investor profits or losses, it can be expressed basically. Typically, it is a strategy of using borrowed money to enhance your profit potential. Thanks to this way, with too little of your capital, you can obtain magnificent profits.



Let’s suppose you desire to make a huge investment that you can’t support without borrowing money: you desire to purchase four premises at $ 100,000 per, however, your capital amount just is $ 20,000. If $ 380,000 is borrowed by you and the worth of the premises fold in two, by you, $ 400,000 is earned with just $ 20,000 of your capital. This means 20 times your income on investment!

However, if the thought that borrowing extra money all time suggests gaining more appears too good to be correct, so, you are right. Due to rising losses, leverage can be hazardous.

Let’s go back to our illustration: Assume your purchased properties lose half their value – you will lose $ 200,000. As sure as, your capital resources will be lost ten times by you.

Let’s see an example that is based on real-life, look at the disastrous recession of 2008 caused by the huge amount of leverage used by investment banks caught in devastating losses when the real estate bubble burst. The lesson that is taken off? Although leverage can be excellent, you have to be careful.


Chapter 4 – All of us have needs and finished goods that delights them will be sold.


By many, it is thought that a product must be good to sell – not correct. Think this: By people, something is desired only if it meets their requirements. Let’s say like that – a vampire doesn’t pay to use your cutting-edge tanning salon (unless you let them use it to trap clients, of course!)



Our simple requirements affect the whole of our decisions including our purchasing decisions. Dream selling a glass of old water to a hiker lost in a desert. He would have been prepared to pay almost anything for that horrible bottle because it was catering to his dominant requirement. The teaching here? Discover your hopeless walker.

Every thriving business meets one or more of their clients’ requirements, and by Harvard professors of Nitin Nohria and Paul Lawrence, it has proposed that there are four requirements or drives general to all people.

The first is the want to obtain and collect things, whether it be stamps, stocks, or social status. Businesses that address this are retailers and investment intermediaries.

Second, we have the urge to connect with other human beings so we can sense valued and liked. By some businesses like dating services and companies that promise to make us more attractive, (perfumers, beauty salons), this urge is met.

Thirdly, by us, our curiosity is wanted to discover and satisfy. Otherwise, why read these sections now? It goes without saying that Goodbooksummary.com is one of the assistants that meet this need.

Lastly, we are trying to advocate ourselves, our loved ones, and our premises, where security firms and alarm-selling companies step in.

Evaluate your business opinion in light of these urges. Which of these four urges can your business appeal to?


Chapter 5 – What deserves excellent marketing is excellent finished goods.


Let’s suppose that your product meets the three simple requirements of your clients, not just one. Ready for delivery! Now, where are the customers who should dribble on it?

Firstly, you are going to have to take their attention. However, in this time of social media and information upload, it’s not a simple duty. If you require clients to watch out, you demand to suggest something catchy and remarkable.



And if we require this to be done, we need to think about how to get our message across to customers – the tool matters. For illustration, if the format of your message causes a client to think that the message is made only for them, you’re much more likely to take their attention.

Give your client that more effort is made, like with a hand-addressed FedEx mailer. Of course, although this can be costly, it’s useful to inform chosen prospects in a high-quality way – it’s better than spamming the entire town’s inboxes with annoying emails.

If, by you, your product is wanted to be marketed effectively, there is another very important aspect on your part to examine: the result of the product. Consider it: By people, a product isn’t bought for their good. They buy because of the final result they hope to achieve. For instance, by a woman who says the color is beautiful, it would not be paid $ 20 for lipstick. By her, it is bought because of hoping it will make it more attractive.

An excellent way to highlight the final result of your product references in a statement made by an average individual who has overcome difficulties thanks to your product. Suppose that by you, an acne cream is sold- you may have a reference from a pimply teenager who thinks he is destined to be ostracized until your product clears his skin immediately. This is the kind of tale your clients will be interested in.


Chapter 6 – Even if there are unwilling customers, there are approaches to sell.


Imagine this: A pet store is visited by you and in there, you see a puppy you are certainly in love with. However, you are not sure whether you desire to buy it or not. An offer which is about taking the dog home for a week is made to you by the owner and imagine what? Its charm works and you can’t think giving it back after the week is over.

This is an illustration of how a sales professional can persuade an unwilling prospect to become a client. However, how can this happen completely?

You can boost your sales when you take into account your customers’ fears. It makes us cautious customers because we all hate making a bad choice. Rather than purchasing the wrong thing, we’d prefer not to purchase anything – wouldn’t we? In sales theory, this is called the major obstacle to buying. Normally, it is the thing that is hated by salespeople.



To support possible customers to purchase something, by salespeople, a risk about a bad transaction is taken- by letting the client return the cute pup if things don’t go well. This strategy also is valid for items that aren’t cute. For instance, it’s frequently likely to return a mattress to try to get a full refund for a year. This increases the likelihood of people buying beds.

So, if you learn why your clients may say no, you can make them speak “yes”. The reasons for telling no in sales are called a standard objection, and there are a few of them. A client may be too afraid of the cost of the product or not deliver the promised benefits, or because they do not require the product yet, etc.

If you understand why your customer is not purchasing, you can develop an argumentative strategy and persuade him that he is completely wrong. Let’s tell the old laptop will work for a while. By you, he is persuaded that his old laptop is inappropriate with basic new software.


Chapter 7 – Assists to prepare for making a big agreement.


How is the negotiation imagined by you? You may view yourself sitting at a conference table and discussing an agreement, however, don’t get in the way of yourself! This is only the last stage of the negotiation. A good bargain takes place in a few steps.

Building up the stage is the initial part of the negotiation. Earlier than you begin shifting offers with your business associates, you can optimize your perspective in the early decisions you make. You can be sure that you are transacting with the correct person, for instance: by the company, was someone, who has real decision-making authority, sent? Or just someone tasked with gathering information for those in power?

You can also create a favorable environment by selecting the environment in which you are most believable. By you, will your proposal be presented in person, by phone, or should you hold an online conference? While a stylish office can make a great impression, your voice can be much more reliable on the phone. If you’re having trouble making decisions, studying data in your industry or market can be of great help.



After preparing, elect on the terms of your offer. Think about how charming your offers will be to the other party and look for ways to make the offer even more charming in any situation. By you, it can be even tried to discover the other party’s offers. Then you’ll find a way to make yours look superior.

Every time, by you, the worst situation scenario must be thought, for this reason, guess before the possible objections come and build an argumentative strategy to offset or counter them. And if they don’t work, decide what compromises and concessions you are prepared to admit.

The central discussion is the last step of the negotiation. Thanks to the exertion that you exhibit in the first two steps, you are going to be too prepared. Most of the tough working has finished at this step!


Chapter 8 – One of the properties of being a good leader is a great communicator.


Have you ever owned a plan that looked magnificent until you put it into action? Some bosses have magnificent plans that they can’t apply. Are they unlucky against their workers? Or is it likely that by them it isn’t known how to communicate with them?

Here’s something they don’t understand: If you desire other people to do something, you have to tell them why you require them to do it. This was shown in a study by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer in which her students were asked to let them go before others queuing in front of a Xerox. While by 60 percent of the public, it was agreed, an impressive 95 percent accepted when presented with a reason for the request.

What’s more, if, by you, your intentions are told to people, anyone can work to promote this plan and understand what to do if the state changes. This way, you don’t have to micromanage each step of the way.



Assume that by a general, it is told the field commander to take over a hill, however, the situation switches and conquering the hill becomes strategically meaningless – if he knows that the bigger aim is to encircle the enemy, by the field commander, it will be known how to react.

There is a different way to strengthen your connection skills, and it’s basic: Quit deprecating others. Yet discovering ourselves neglecting the comments of our colleagues is surprising. Although it can make you feel superior, it will bring you nowhere and cause your partner to recede from speaking, even if you don’t realize it.

By people, it can also be protective and try to save their faces instead of comprehending your comments. Consider it: How interested and collaborative would you be with your manager after his saying “This is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard”?

On the contrary, at effective communication, it is seen that both parties actively and comfy switch opinions in a dialogue that can enrich the whole organization.


Chapter 9 – To manage your day more efficiently, you may hear your body.


Sure, being inefficient isn’t fun, but being too busy can also hurt you and your business. Setting limits is the best way to be productive.

If you have a few jobs to do at all once, your performance may decrease in all of them. Your brain can just manage this much. Consider it like juggling: The more extra balls you try to play at one time, the probability of your dropping them all increases.

Furthermore, with each duty, unexpected demands come that take additional time and struggle to overcome. If you don’t have additional time in your schedule, you won’t be able to handle these demands, particularly if they’re coming from several duties at one time.

So how can we wait aligned with what we can deal with? Hearing the normal fluctuations of your energy is your best wager. By us, it is spoken about a very distant new age concept here – basically, your productivity isn’t evenly divided throughout the day. Rather, a natural rhythm is found in your body. By you, extremely alert and productive may be felt at times. Other times, for doing anything you can be too exhausted.



Although it changes from individual to person, most human beings are more productive in the morning than in the afternoon. By us, it is further known that energy cycles are done at 90-minute intervals. So, within this hour and a half, your energy will both increase and drop.

If by you these natural fluctuations are realized, you can benefit from the times that you feel energetic. And more significantly, you can understand when you crash the necessary break.


The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman Book Review


If a successful job is wanted by you, your finished goods must fit the simple requirements of your clients. In the case of communicating confidently and smartly, your clients can be convinced to buy by you, your workers to cooperate, and your business partners to sign your agreement.


What talks noisier than words are actions.

Do not look for the best performing applicants in an interview from your side when a novel worker needs to be hired next time. Rather, find out how an applicant has performed in the past months or years by doing some further research. The best predictor of later performance is earlier performance.



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Savaş Ateş

I'm a software engineer. I like reading books and writing summaries. I like to play soccer too :) Good Reads Profile: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/106467014-sava-ate

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