One of the perks of being a Blogcritics contributor is getting access to free review material (this isn’t an exclusive club or anything, if you have a blog, then you too can join Blogcritics). Well, even though I’ve been a Blogcritic for more than a year, I haven’t taken advantage of this review perk — until now. I just received my very first review material, a book by Guy Kawasaki titled The Art of The Start.



Something I’ve never received before is an actual author complimentary copy. To my delight (the simple things in life are exciting, what can I say) there was a little card inside the book. Check this out:



Note the chapter: don’t compromise on a name. I like this chapter because my name, TDavid, has been something I’ve worked to establish online (and yet still some people from time to time drop the “T” and erroneously call me “David”).

Anyway, I started to thumb through the book and was excited to learn it was going to be about the best ways to start a business. It’s the type of book I’d typically buy before boarding a plane and pay a lot more for in the airport bookstore than I would pay for buying it through Amazon. The book itself isn’t very long and could be read on a long plane trip. I’m still working my way through the book taking time to enjoy and savor it like a fine meal, but Sadi Ranson Polizzotti has already written a review:

As Kawasaki notes, there are some things that are just essential to running a company and without them one is doomed to fail. Yes, first, find meaning. After, then you find your Mantra as i’ve said above, but never confuse this with your Tagline. The difference, one is internal, the other external - the internal to motivate and inform employees and even employer as required as to the company’s original mission purpose. The Tagline, to inform the public. Note too, that Kawasaki provides excellent examples of the greatest taglines, like IBM’s “Think” and Nike “Authentic athletic performance.” IT should evoke “power and emotion,” writes Kawasaki, and indeed, he does. His advice, postpone writing your mission statement until you know what your mantra is. In short, until you’re sold on your idea and have a mantra that can motivate others, then your mission statement is useless.

Sadi also says that he’s going to interview Mr. Kawasaki. I might do the same as each of the reviewers have access to the author and from what I understand, he’s very willing to discuss the book and his business ideas. It might be good to try and get an audio interview from him, hmm.

Did this post make you go hmm?

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