Every day, Rob Adams helps entrepreneurs find true markets for their products, design solid business models, and hire great teams—because that’s what it takes to build a successful company. While this sounds self-evident, far too many entrepreneurs have forgotten these fundamentals. They’ve been influenced by what Adams calls “business porn,” myths lingering like a bad hangover from the easy success days of the late ’90s. These entrepreneurs believe a unique idea is the key to igniting a great business. They think their industry experience already makes them experts on customer needs. They have simplistic, self-defeating illusions about sales, marketing, financing, and more. They say things like “I have a million-dollar business idea for a new product.” Wake up, says Adams: Good ideas are not scarce—they’re a dime a dozen. Businesses are successful not because of a unique idea but because of extraordinary execution. They offer a better, faster, or cheaper product or service, or they change the way the world solves a problem. In short, these entrepreneurs need just what Adams doses out in the pages of this book: a good hard kick in the ass. Adams debunks the myths and smashes the illusions—and he knows what he’s talking about, because he stands at the hub of many new startups. His firm, AV Labs, provides entrepreneurs with early financing as well as the management expertise they need to get off the ground. A Good Hard Kick in the Ass offers detailed, hard-hitting guidance for smart, sophisticated entrepreneurs and established businesspeople alike—along with vivid, in-depth examples of companies that are walking the walk right now. Adams’s straightforward, no-nonsense approach is just what’s needed in the post-bubble economy. From the Hardcover edition.

The must-read summary of Rob Adams' book: "A Good Hard Kick in The Ass: Basic Training For Entrepreneurs". This complete summary of the ideas from Rob Adams' book "A Good Hard Kick in The Ass" shows that many aspiring entrepreneurs believe that their ideas are groundbreaking, their markets are ripe and all they need is some capital and a bit of advertising and they’re good to go. The author points out that it is not the case; it offers instead a frank reality check about what really matters in a startup. It highlights a set of nine fundamentals to starting and growing a business. It also pinpoints five key milestones to aim for when getting your product to market, from validating the prospective market and designing a business model to lining up investors and proving the product can be made. This summary demonstrates the importance of shifting your emphasis from the business model to the sales model, with useful explanations of the four most common sales models used by startups. If the product sells investors will back it and your company will be a success. Anyone looking to start and grow a new business will appreciate the candid advice in this engaging summary. Added-value of this summary: • Save time • Understand the key concepts • Increase your business knowledge To learn more, read "A Hard Kick in the Ass" and discover advice to start and grow a new business.

The journey to become a successful writer is long, fraught with peril, and filled with difficult questions: How do I write dialogue? How do I build suspense? What should I know about query letters? How do I start? The best way to answer these questions is to ditch your uncertainty and transform yourself into a KICK-ASS writer. This new book from award-winning author Chuck Wendig combines the best of his eye-opening writing instruction--previously available in e-book form only--with all-new insights into writing and publishing. It's an explosive broadside of gritty advice that will destroy your fears, clear the path, and help you find your voice, your story, and your audience. You'll explore the fundamentals of writing, learn how to obtain publication, and master the skills you need to build an army of dedicated fans. No task is too large or small for the kick-ass writer. With his trademark acerbic wit and gut-punch humor, Wendig will explain: • How to build suspense, craft characters, and defeat writer's block. • How to write a scene, an ending--even a sentence. • Blogging techniques, social media skills, and crowdfunding. • How to write a query letter, talk to agents, and deal with failure--and success! Whether you're just starting out or you need one more push to get you over the top, two things are for certain--a kick-ass writer never quits, and chuck Wendig won't let you down in this high-octane guide to becoming the writer you were born to be.

The Ultimate Sales Boot Camp According to research by the American Society American Society for Training & Development, more than 80% of salespeople fail to reach their objectives. With such a high percentage of salespeople missing their mark, something is obviously missing. Kick Your Own Ass empowers you to fill this gap by focusing on, not only your selling process and your skills development, but also your self-confidence, motivation, and your life and career. These three critical elements together are called the “Will, Skill, and Drill” of selling. In Kick Your Own Ass, you’ll find out how to build them up with Innovative ways to take responsibility for your success A simple five-step process for goal-setting and attainment A core-selling and communication methodology based on creating awareness and choice for the client, which results in happier customer relationships As the title suggests, Kick Your Own Ass isn’t for those who like to take the easy way out, leave the job half-done, or otherwise slack off. So if you're ready to really take your selling to the next level, get this book and get kicking!

Most leaders start out as bad ones, but sooner or later they reach a moment of reckoning that Treasurer calls the leadership kick in the ass. With the right attitude, that kick can be a new beginning. He shows you how to turn ego-bruising events into transformative experiences that help you move forward.

Know if you'll hit your targets before pulling the trigger on any marketing plan More than sixty five percent of new products are commercial failures, and if you compound this with a recession, now more than ever you can't afford to be wrong. In If You Build It Will They Come, business professor and strategy consultant Rob Adams shows you how to make sure you hit your target market before you spend a lot of money. He shows you the fast, systematic and proven approach of performing Market Validation in advance of making a large product investment. Adams outlines a simple and effective market validation and testing strategy that is proven, giving entrepreneurs and managers the ability to dramatically improve the prospect of product success. He explains how to quickly gather information on competitors, directly interview members of your target market, and figure out what the market really wants to buy, versus what customers say they want. The steps to quickly understanding the viability of your market Where to go to gather the information needed to hit the market requirements How to follow through with the right product launched in the right way Adams cuts through the fancy terms and expensive market research that gives lots of data but no real product oriented information about usage, pricing, features and competitive forces. In the end you'll produce results on your first release of a far more mature product, shipped in a faster timeframe with features customers will actually use. This book is for anyone involved with designing, developing and launching new products. Its examples and advice cover everything from the fledgling start-up that needs their first product to work just to survive to the successful Fortune Class company establishing new worldwide markets. Examples cut across all major industrial sectors including consumer, retail, manufacturing, technology, life sciences and services. This book offers the step-based guidance you need to make sure failure is not an option.

When her husband called on his way to the hospital, Kathi Koll had no idea how dramatically their lives would change, or how her loving heart and indomitable spirit would fight that change. Her journey from a life of adventure to a full-time caregiver, steeped in joy and humor, teaches us what it means to live in the moment and never lose hope.

Winner of the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award In Meg Medina’s compelling new novel, a Latina teen is targeted by a bully at her new school — and must discover resources she never knew she had. One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn’t even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she’s done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn’t Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn’t kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying to find out more about the father she’s never met and how to balance honors courses with her weekend job at the neighborhood hair salon. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy’s life. Is there any way for Piddy to survive without closing herself off or running away? In an all-too-realistic novel, Meg Medina portrays a sympathetic heroine who is forced to decide who she really is.

The four-time Emmy-nominated comic satirist of Rescue Me presents irreverent cultural observations about how society is taking itself too seriously, in an account that shares anecdotes from his Irish-Catholic upbringing, high-pressure family life, and work as a performing artist. 200,000 first printing.

An expanded second edition of Gunnar Fox's brutally honest and entertaining guide to success in college -- and beyond. Crammed with hundreds of hacks, tips and guerrilla tactics along with snazzy new illustrations by Nick Street to keep the pages turning. Praised by students, parents and professors alike as a great read. The librarian's favorite choice for "reluctant readers."