Review: The Biker’s Guide to Business

Posted by Tamela Rich on May 25, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Sure, management consultant and avid motorcyclist Dwain DeVille could have delivered a book with lots of worksheets and case studies to walk a business owner through the difficult process of strategic planning. Thankfully he approached the subject from his own hard-won experience with entrepreneurial road rash and used motorcycling metaphors to keep our right brains engaged in the process. He uses the straight talk and occasional cuss words that people seem to expect from bikers, too.

Hell, ask me where my company needs to be in five years, and I’ll answer without a moment’s hesitation. However, ask me where I want my life to be in five years and I couldn’t begin to tell you. And after all these years in business, that’s a pretty crappy place to be. I’d allowed the needs of the company to drive my personal life for too long. It was high time to anwer the question “What’s Next” and redefine my dreams. It was time to focus on my lifestyle.

Written for the business owner, not a cog in a big corporate wheel, The Biker’s Guide to Business: When Business and Life Meet at the Crossroads, DeVille’s philosophy sounds familiar to those of us who’ve read one of the eMyth books, but DeVille has his own spin on how to steer a company to serve its owner instead of the other way around.

DeVille is quick to point out his disdain for traditional business plans that end up collecting dust on the shelf. He insists that business owners who follow his process will walk away with a plan that can/will be executed. He provides these tools and instructions on his Bikers Guide to Business web site as well.

Dwain DeVille's book

Beginning with failure

DeVille pulls no punches in describing a business venture he took on for all the wrong reasons and the financial and emotional aftermath. That experience taught him that “the key to success isn’t recognizing opportunity, but instead recognizing the opportunities you should not chase.”

No sooner had he straightened things out on the business front, Deville faced a cancer diagnosis and the loss of a kidney. Wham-Bam.

He decided it was time for a road trip through the American west on a rented Road King, a move I totally understand! The fruit of his trip was a strategy for his own management consulting firm and the outline for this book, which is also available on Audible, narrated by the author in his delightful Louisiana accent.

Now DeVille leads three-day motorcycle retreats for business owners to help them achieve the same degree of clarity that his seminal trip provided to him.

The book is written not written exclusively for bikers; indeed DeVille does an excellent job explaining the motorcycling metaphors to the uninitiated. That said, I think bikers like me are bound to enjoy it on a deeper level.

Note to aspiring business authors

If you’re thinking of writing a book on a dry subject, like business planning, consider DeVille’s approach of filtering it through a metaphor or a simple tale (ex: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari).

A couple of weeks after downloading a Kindle version of The Biker’s Guide to Business: When Business and Life Meet at the Crossroads, I received a personalized copy from its author, whom I “know” through Twitter. This is the first book that I have in both formats and it helped me see exactly how books differ between print and digital. With that homework done, I recommend that business authors distribute their books in all three formats: print, digital and audio.

Filed under Business Writing, Endorsements & Recommendations · Tagged with book lust, books, Business Plans, dwain deville, emyth, entrepreneur, road rash, strategic planning, whole-brain communications

Collaging for Answers

Posted by Tamela Rich on September 3, 2009 · 1 Comment

Every business should periodically examine its market position. This summer I spent time with artist and consultant Catherine Anderson, who guided me through a process of collecting hundreds of images and snippets of text to make a series of collages about my life, work and clients. Toggling between collaging and the more traditional marketing exercises in Book Yourself Solid I clearly determined the kinds of people and projects that energize and satisfy me most.

This whole-brained process sharpened the focus of my business: I ghostwrite for financial professionals — advisors, accountants and attorneys — who are too busy with their own clients’ work to research the best communication channels and write their own newsletters, blogs, presentations, articles and books. They can’t trust their professional reputation to a rookie, which is why they work with me, a former financial services executive who writes like an English major. As a result of partnering with me, my clients solidify relationships, gain referrals, increase their self-confidence and have better scripting to use when talking about their work — in person, print and presentations.

If you need a sounding board as you sharpen your professional focus, give me a call.

Filed under Perspective · Tagged with branding, Business Plans, whole-brain communications

Case Study: Before & After

Posted by Tamela Rich on March 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment

People complain that writing takes too much out of them. Editing, not writing, is usually what vexes us. For most of us, myself included, good writing demands heavy editing.

From time to time I’ll show you how I get from first draft to finished product. This post shows how the finished product of a business-planning download ended up (after a verbose and rambling start).

Great downloads here for you

AFTER: What if your business were a season? What season would it be and why? What thrives in this season? Since seasons inevitably change, what changes will mark a change in your business and how can you prepare? For example, if you have a product that the market has forsaken, perhaps you’ll describe your business as winter. There isn’t an unproductive season — bears gestate in winter!

BEFORE: What if your problem were a season? What season would it be? For example, if you have a product that the market has forsaken, perhaps you’ll describe the season as winter, in which case ask yourself “What thrives in the quiet and cold? What life forms can’t survive if the winter is too short or too warm and how can these life forms inspire me to think about this problem?” Perhaps the market for your product is in a period of dormancy and will be ready to spring into life when some key events transpire. Key events you can influence? If not, what can you do during this period of dormancy? Bears are pregnant during their hibernation. Butterflies were once ugly chrysalises. Seasons always change. How would you prepare for the next season? What if the seasons were reversed? For example, if winter would turn to autumn instead of spring. Now answer the questions above again from that position (and invoke the court jester if you can’t get in the groove).

Takeaways: