Miki Agrawal

Pros:

* Some parts of the book are inspiring. The author has, indeed, done some cool sh*t.
* Good insight into human psychology and how to communicate effectively. Some of these ideas are obvious, but it's easy to forget them in certain contexts, such as in an email or when asking for a favor. Examples:
** All relationships must be mutually beneficial.
** When convincing someone, make sure to talk about "we", not "I". Present a "shared" vision for the future.
** Everyone wants to be heard, so always give people an opportunity to share something about themselves.
** Avoid small talk. Instead of asking about the weather, ask people about their dreams, their vision, and what excites them.
** If you make people feel like experts, they will go out of their way to help you.
** Always try to make people laugh.
** Always smile.
** People love free food.

Cons:

* The book has a tendency to sound a little too much like an infomercial crossed with a self-help seminar.
* Occasionally, the book crosses the line from inspiring to self-promotional.
* A few chapters are a bit hand wavy and naive, such as the one on exercise and diet.

Some good quotes:

Business plans don't raise dollars, people do.

Hire slow, fire fast. I can’t stress that enough. No one has ever said that they fired somebody too soon.

We achieve being through doing. The notion that your most authentic self will come through simply by doing the things you love absolutely captivated me. It means that you will simply be exactly who you want to be when you start acting that way.… (meer)

I didn’t finish this book. I picked it up looking for advice on entrepreneurial pursuits, which makes up the about 75% of the book. But then I skimmed the chapter about how to stay fit and healthy (I’m already quite fit) and gave up during the chapter about how to find love (I’m happily married). While I find the entrepreneurial advice interesting and helpful, I didn’t love the general life advice.

The story of the author’s success is quite interesting. The author is a natural extrovert who seems to have excelled by putting herself in front of the people she needs to and not being afraid to ask for what she wants. That’s totally admirable, but not something everyone can do. The biggest piece of advice I pulled from the author’s experience was the brainstorming party of business people to give feedback on her idea, because that’s something I could see myself doing that I wouldn’t have thought of before. As opposed to the boxes full of IVs distributed to local media, which I could not see myself doing.

I really think this book would work better as a memoir rather than an advice book full of “quick tips.” The author’s experience is so idiosyncratic, that all of these tips could only apply to an extrovert opening a healthy comfort food store in NYC with no experience except years of athleticism, Wall Street brokering, and film production. If I was just reading details of the author’s life, I could have gleaned my own lessons learned and applied them to my life. But the “quick tip” sections made me feel like I was trying to shove my experience and goals into the author’s mold.

I would recommend this book for single extroverts who entertain a vast array of hobbies with a dream to open a retail or restaurant business in a major urban area. For everyone else, take this with a grain of salt. That is to say, pull what you can out of it, and otherwise enjoy the story.… (meer)