New Skills For New Entrepreneurs

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Entrepreneurship Skills for New Ventures

Author : David C. Kimball
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000767299
Total Pages : 470 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Entrepreneurship Skills for New Ventures by : David C. Kimball

Download or read book Entrepreneurship Skills for New Ventures written by David C. Kimball and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-29 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As business schools expand their entrepreneurship programs and organizations seek people with entrepreneurial skills, it has become clear that the skills and mindset of an entrepreneur are highly valued in all business contexts. This latest edition of Entrepreneurship Skills for New Ventures continues to focus on helping students develop entrepreneurial skills, whether they seek to become entrepreneurs or employees. Focusing on the entrepreneurial start-up process, the fourth edition of Entrepreneurship Skills for New Ventures takes the reader through the steps of selecting, planning, financing, and controlling the new venture. The authors cover multiple forms of new ventures, as well as ways to utilize entrepreneurial skills in other contexts, encouraging students to engage with the material and apply it to their lives in ways that make sense for them. Skill development features include: New exercise on analyzing the lean entrepreneurship option Entrepreneurial profiles of small-business owners Personal applications for students to apply questions to their new venture or a current business Global and domestic cases Elevator pitch assignments that put students in the venture capitalist position Application exercises and situations covering specific text concepts Business plan prompts to help students construct a business plan over the course of a semester Featuring pedagogical tools like review questions and learning outcomes, as well as online materials that expand upon skill development and offer instructor resources, the fourth edition of Entrepreneurship Skills for New Ventures is the perfect resource for instructors and students of entrepreneurship.

New Skills for New Entrepreneurs

Author : MIra Alexander
Publisher : Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 3750497192
Total Pages : 347 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (54 download)

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Book Synopsis New Skills for New Entrepreneurs by : MIra Alexander

Download or read book New Skills for New Entrepreneurs written by MIra Alexander and published by Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the years 2015 and 2016 more than 2.5 million refugees came to the European Union to seek asylum. Many of these refugees acquired professional qualifications in their home countries, but despite these qualifications they often struggle integrating into the labour market. The complex recognition process for their qualifications is one of the main reasons. At the same time the European Union is facing an alarming gap of SME successors and entrepreneurs. More entrepreneurs are needed and refugees need an easier way to become integrated into the labour market in their host country. These two principals were combined in the NEW ENTREPRENEURS project. A procedure for the identification of entrepreneurial potential builds the foundation. This is accompanied with a language training and a motivation and creativity training. To promote entrepreneurship a special training was developed, tested, evaluated and implemented, accompanied with a business start-up and takeover training. A comprehensive coaching process accompanies the whole process. The developed procedures and trainings were successfully applied also to natives in Hungary, meaning that the range of the potential beneficiaries is even larger tan expected. This publication contains the relevant curricula, application notes and experiences as a result of the project NEW ENTREPRENEURS with the following partners: Hanse-Parlament (DE), Berufsakademie Hamburg (DE), Institut für angewandte Gewerbeforschung (AT), Ipartestületek Országos Szövetsége (HU), T2I Trasferimento Tecnologico e innovazione scarl (IT)

Disciplined Entrepreneurship

Author : Bill Aulet
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118692284
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (186 download)

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Book Synopsis Disciplined Entrepreneurship by : Bill Aulet

Download or read book Disciplined Entrepreneurship written by Bill Aulet and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-08-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 24 Steps to Success! Disciplined Entrepreneurship will change the way you think about starting a company. Many believe that entrepreneurship cannot be taught, but great entrepreneurs aren’t born with something special – they simply make great products. This book will show you how to create a successful startup through developing an innovative product. It breaks down the necessary processes into an integrated, comprehensive, and proven 24-step framework that any industrious person can learn and apply. You will learn: Why the “F” word – focus – is crucial to a startup’s success Common obstacles that entrepreneurs face – and how to overcome them How to use innovation to stand out in the crowd – it’s not just about technology Whether you’re a first-time or repeat entrepreneur, Disciplined Entrepreneurship gives you the tools you need to improve your odds of making a product people want. Author Bill Aulet is the managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship as well as a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. For more please visit http://disciplinedentrepreneurship.com/

Entrepreneurial New Venture Skills

Author : David C. Kimball
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135955972
Total Pages : 709 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (359 download)

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Book Synopsis Entrepreneurial New Venture Skills by : David C. Kimball

Download or read book Entrepreneurial New Venture Skills written by David C. Kimball and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-07-17 with total page 709 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As business schools expand their entrepreneurship programs and organizations seek people with entrepreneurial skills, it has become clear that the skills and mindset of an entrepreneur are highly valued in all business contexts. This latest edition of Entrepreneurial New Venture Skills continues to focus on helping students develop entrepreneurial skills, whether they seek to become entrepreneurs or employees. Focusing on the entrepreneurial start-up process, the third edition of Entrepreneurial New Venture Skills takes the reader through the steps of selecting, planning, financing, and controlling the new venture. The authors cover multiple forms of new ventures, as well as ways to utilize entrepreneurial skills in other contexts, encouraging students to engage with the material and apply it to their lives in ways that make sense for them. Skill development features include: Entrepreneurial profiles of small business owners Personal applications for students to apply questions to their new venture or a current business Global and domestic cases Elevator pitch assignments, which put students in the venture capitalist position Application exercises and situations covering specific text concepts Business plan prompts to help students construct a business plan over the course of a semester Featuring pedagogical tools like review questions and learning outcomes, and a full companion website that expands upon skill development and offers instructor resources, the third edition of Entrepreneurial New Venture Skills is the perfect resource for instructors and students of entrepreneurship.

Why Startups Fail

Author : Tom Eisenmann
Publisher : Currency
ISBN 13 : 0593137027
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (931 download)

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Book Synopsis Why Startups Fail by : Tom Eisenmann

Download or read book Why Startups Fail written by Tom Eisenmann and published by Currency. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.

The Entrepreneur's Weekly Nietzsche

Author : Dave Jilk
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781544521411
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (214 download)

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Book Synopsis The Entrepreneur's Weekly Nietzsche by : Dave Jilk

Download or read book The Entrepreneur's Weekly Nietzsche written by Dave Jilk and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-06 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE-PATRON PHILOSOPHER OF TODAY'S DISRUPTIVE ENTREPRENEURS His favorite personality was a "free spirit" an obsessed individual with a vision of the future and the will to make it so, a rebel who creates the future with childlike enthusiasm. Now, serial entrepreneur Dave Jilk and venture capitalist Brad Feld extract from Nietzsche a modern Art of War, connecting the dots to our high-tech business environment. Each quick, digestible chapter expands on a quote from Nietzsche to stimulate your thinking about a vital aspect of entrepreneurship, and stories from entrepreneurs help make the ideas concrete. Understand why hitting bottom might be the best thing that can happen, how your firm's "artistic style" can align your organization, and the role obsession plays in your success-and your definition of it. Glean insight and inspiration from every page of this surprising, approachable gem.

Motivation

Author : Brian Tracy
Publisher : AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn
ISBN 13 : 0814433111
Total Pages : 131 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (144 download)

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Book Synopsis Motivation by : Brian Tracy

Download or read book Motivation written by Brian Tracy and published by AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. This book was released on 2013 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most of your employees have all the ingredients for greatness inside them already. They simply need you to motivate them. Learn how today!

The Creator's Code

Author : Amy Wilkinson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451666071
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis The Creator's Code by : Amy Wilkinson

Download or read book The Creator's Code written by Amy Wilkinson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-03-22 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Based on in-depth interviews with more than 200 leading entrepreneurs, [including the founders of LinkedIn, Chipotle, eBay, Under Armour, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Spanx, Airbnb, PayPal, JetBlue, Gilt Group, Theranos, and Dropbox], a business executive and senior fellow at [the Harvard Kennedy School] identifies the six essential disciplines needed to transform your ideas into real-world successes, whether you're an innovative manager or an aspiring entrepreneur"--

Ultralearning

Author : Scott H. Young
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062852744
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (628 download)

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Book Synopsis Ultralearning by : Scott H. Young

Download or read book Ultralearning written by Scott H. Young and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now a Wall Street Journal bestseller. Learn a new talent, stay relevant, reinvent yourself, and adapt to whatever the workplace throws your way. Ultralearning offers nine principles to master hard skills quickly. This is the essential guide to future-proof your career and maximize your competitive advantage through self-education. In these tumultuous times of economic and technological change, staying ahead depends on continual self-education—a lifelong mastery of fresh ideas, subjects, and skills. If you want to accomplish more and stand apart from everyone else, you need to become an ultralearner. The challenge of learning new skills is that you think you already know how best to learn, as you did as a student, so you rerun old routines and old ways of solving problems. To counter that, Ultralearning offers powerful strategies to break you out of those mental ruts and introduces new training methods to help you push through to higher levels of retention. Scott H. Young incorporates the latest research about the most effective learning methods and the stories of other ultralearners like himself—among them Benjamin Franklin, chess grandmaster Judit Polgár, and Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman, as well as a host of others, such as little-known modern polymath Nigel Richards, who won the French World Scrabble Championship—without knowing French. Young documents the methods he and others have used to acquire knowledge and shows that, far from being an obscure skill limited to aggressive autodidacts, ultralearning is a powerful tool anyone can use to improve their career, studies, and life. Ultralearning explores this fascinating subculture, shares a proven framework for a successful ultralearning project, and offers insights into how you can organize and exe - cute a plan to learn anything deeply and quickly, without teachers or budget-busting tuition costs. Whether the goal is to be fluent in a language (or ten languages), earn the equivalent of a college degree in a fraction of the time, or master multiple tools to build a product or business from the ground up, the principles in Ultralearning will guide you to success.

Obsessed

Author : Emily Heyward
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593084322
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Obsessed by : Emily Heyward

Download or read book Obsessed written by Emily Heyward and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2020 Porchlight Marketing & Sales Book of the Year The cofounder and chief branding officer of Red Antler, the branding and marketing company for startups and new ventures, explains how hot new brands like Casper, Allbirds, Sweetgreen, and Everlane build devoted fan followings right out of the gate. We're in the midst of a startup revolution, with new brands popping up every day, taking over our Instagram feeds and vying for our affection. Every category is up for grabs, and traditional brands are seeing their businesses erode as hundreds of small companies encroach on their territory, each hoping to become the next runaway success. But it's not enough to have a great idea, or a cool logo. Emily Heyward founded Red Antler, the Brooklyn based brand and marketing company, to help entrepreneurs embed brand as a driver of business success from the beginning. In Obsessed, Heyward outlines the new principles of what it takes to build and launch a brand that has people queuing up to buy it on opening day. She takes you behind the scenes of the creation of some of today's hottest new brands, showing you: • How Casper was able to upend the mattress industry by building a beloved brand where none had existed before • How the dating app Hinge won a fanatical user base and great word-of-mouth with the promise that the app was "designed to be deleted" • Why luggage startup Away, now valued at $1.4 billion, could build their brand around love of travel by launching with just one product--a hard-shell carry-on suitcase--rather than a whole range of luggage offerings. Whether you're starting a new business, launching a new product line, or looking to refresh a brand for a new generation of customers, Obsessed shows you why the old rules of brand-building no longer apply, and what really works for today's customers.

Entrepreneurial Leadership

Author : Joel Peterson
Publisher : HarperCollins Leadership
ISBN 13 : 140021677X
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis Entrepreneurial Leadership by : Joel Peterson

Download or read book Entrepreneurial Leadership written by Joel Peterson and published by HarperCollins Leadership. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Make a lasting impact by launching new initiatives, inspiring others, and championing innovative approaches with this from-the-trenches guide by trusted executive mentor, entrepreneur, and leadership expert Joel Peterson. Many leaders see their roles as presidents/managers, with a primary focus on keeping results consistent with past performance and on budget. These kinds of leaders make important contributions but rarely leave a mark on the businesses they serve. For those wanting to make a lasting impact, new skills are required. Joel Peterson calls these higher-level leaders “entrepreneurial leaders,” and they create durable enterprises that deliver on their promise. After three careers and demanding roles as CFO, CEO, chairman, lead director, adjunct professor, founder, author, entrepreneur and investor, Joel Peterson is often sought as a mentor and coach by leaders and aspiring leaders. He has worked with all types of leaders and considers the entrepreneurial leader to be the highest level of influence. In Entrepreneurial Leadership, Peterson lays out a path to achieving this summit with a series of leadership maps organized around the four essential basecamps: Establishing Trust Creating a Sense of Mission Building a Cohesive Team Executing and Delivering Results These core philosophies, while easy to summarize, can be extremely difficult to implement. This book of maps and mindsets is aimed at those who hope to lead others, help them achieve their best, break new barriers, change the status quo, create a legacy, develop a brand, and enjoy a life-altering experience. Let Entrepreneurial Leadership guide you on your journey.

The New Entrepreneurs

Author : Zulema Valdez
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0804773211
Total Pages : 205 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (47 download)

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Book Synopsis The New Entrepreneurs by : Zulema Valdez

Download or read book The New Entrepreneurs written by Zulema Valdez and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2011-02-17 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a focus on a diverse group of Latino entrepreneurs in the Houston area, Valdez explores how class, gender, race, and ethnicity shape Latino entrepreneurs' capacity to succeed in business in the United States.

Making Sense of Business

Author : Alison Branagan
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780749454869
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (548 download)

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Book Synopsis Making Sense of Business by : Alison Branagan

Download or read book Making Sense of Business written by Alison Branagan and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enterprising individuals often feel that they need to acquire new skills and brush up on existing ones in order to achieve targets, make money, and avoid making elementary mistakes. This work offers expert guidance on such key skills as selling, presenting, and negotiating.

Harvard Business Review Entrepreneur's Handbook

Author : Harvard Business Review
Publisher : Harvard Business Press
ISBN 13 : 1633693694
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (336 download)

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Book Synopsis Harvard Business Review Entrepreneur's Handbook by : Harvard Business Review

Download or read book Harvard Business Review Entrepreneur's Handbook written by Harvard Business Review and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2018-01-23 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The one primer you need to develop your entrepreneurial skills. Whether you're imagining your new business to be the next big thing in Silicon Valley, a pivotal B2B provider, or an anchor in your local community, the HBR Entrepreneur's Handbook is your essential resource for getting your company off the ground. Starting an independent new business is rife with both opportunity and risk. And as an entrepreneur, you're the one in charge: your actions can make or break your business. You need to know the tried-and-true fundamentals--from writing a business plan to getting your first loan. You also need to know the latest thinking on how to create an irresistible pitch deck, mitigate risk through experimentation, and develop unique opportunities through business model innovation. The HBR Entrepreneur's Handbook addresses these challenges and more with practical advice and wisdom from Harvard Business Review's archive. Keep this comprehensive guide with you throughout your startup's life--and increase your business's odds for success. In the HBR Entrepreneur's Handbook you'll find: Step-by-step guidance through the entrepreneurial process Concise explanations of the latest research and thinking on entrepreneurship from Harvard Business Review contributors such as Marc Andreessen and Reid Hoffman Time-honed best practices Stories of real companies, from Airbnb to eBay You'll learn: Which skills and characteristics make for the best entrepreneurs How to gauge potential opportunities The basics of business models and competitive strategy How to test your assumptions--before you build a whole business How to select the right legal structure for your company How to navigate funding options, from venture capital and angel investors to accelerators and crowdfunding How to develop sales and marketing programs for your venture What entrepreneurial leaders must do to build culture and set direction as the business keeps growing HBR Handbooks provide ambitious professionals with the frameworks, advice, and tools they need to excel in their careers. With step-by-step guidance, time-honed best practices, real-life stories, and concise explanations of research published in Harvard Business Review, each comprehensive volume helps you to stand out from the pack--whatever your role.

Introduction to Business

Author : Lawrence J. Gitman
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1455 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Introduction to Business by : Lawrence J. Gitman

Download or read book Introduction to Business written by Lawrence J. Gitman and published by . This book was released on 2024-09-16 with total page 1455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Startup Squad

Author : Brian Weisfeld
Publisher : Imprint
ISBN 13 : 1250180392
Total Pages : 148 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis The Startup Squad by : Brian Weisfeld

Download or read book The Startup Squad written by Brian Weisfeld and published by Imprint. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Girls mean business in a brand-new series about friendship and entrepreneurship that Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal-winning author of The One and Only Ivan, calls “A great read!” All the great leaders had to start somewhere. And Teresa (“Resa” for short) is starting with the lemonade stand competition her teacher assigned to the class—but making it a success is going to be a lot harder than Resa thinks. The prize: line-skipping tickets to Adventure Central. The competition: Val, Resa's middle school nemesis. And the biggest obstacle to success: Resa's own teammates. Harriet is the class clown, Amelia is the new girl who thinks she knows best, and Didi is Resa's steadfast friend—who doesn't know the first thing about making or selling lemonade. The four of them quickly realize that the recipe for success is tough to perfect—but listening to each other is the first step. And making new friends might be the most important one... The back of each book in this middle-grade series features tips from the Startup Squad and an inspirational profile of a girl entrepreneur! An Imprint Book "An inspiring story about entrepreneurial girls. I loved this story of girls finding their way in the world of entrepreneurship." —Ann M. Martin, author of the Baby-Sitters Club series and Newbery Honor winner A Corner of the Universe “The Startup Squad encourages girls to dream big, work hard, and rely on each other to make good things happen. It teaches them how to succeed—and reminds all of us that girls mean business!”—Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and founder of LeanIn.Org and OptionB.Org “A great read that is fast-paced, fun, and empowering. The Startup Squad comes complete with a treasure trove of tips for starting a business.” —Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal-winning author of The One and Only Ivan This title has common core connections.

The First 20 Hours

Author : Josh Kaufman
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101623047
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (16 download)

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Book Synopsis The First 20 Hours by : Josh Kaufman

Download or read book The First 20 Hours written by Josh Kaufman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-06-13 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of practicing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct complex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By completing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the methods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard keyboard, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the simple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Figure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcomponents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accurate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chainsaws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.