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66 QRCA VIEWS WINTER 2 014 www.qrca.org n BOOK REVIEWS n Book Yourself Solid Illustrated Michael Port and Jocelyn Wallace Left Coast Press, 2007 Reviewed by Kay Corry Aubrey Usability Resources Inc. n Bedford, MA n Kay@UsabilityResources.net B ook Yourself Solid Illustrated is the workbook version of Michael Port's bestselling business book of the same name. It lays out a compre- hensive system geared towards small busi- ness owners that will allow you to sell your services with authenticity and enthusiasm. The book covers all the bases of how to run a solo consulting practice with many interactive and visual exercises to guide you through its key learnings. Port's entire program sits on two sim- ple principles: to be a successful consul- tant in today's hyper-competitive and global marketplace, you need to provide a unique service that is perfectly matched to your abilities and passion, and you need to sell to a laser-focused target market. He advises business owners to imple- ment a "Red Velvet Rope" policy, where you only work with people you like and "dump the duds" – those clients who drain and frustrate you. He walks you through a series of exercises to help you to identify your perfect clients and to pinpoint work that you love doing. The exercises are similar to what you might do with a life coach – and much cheaper. Port offers exercises to help you talk about the work you do in a more succinct and engaging way. There is much to be gained once you focus on a particular target market. By identifying your target market, you have a keener sense of where to go to find the most appropriate clients, how to talk to them, and how to create clearer and more detailed solutions for solving their problems. The remaining sections of the book deal with using your knowledge of your niche and target market to develop a con- tent strategy and non-intrusive systems for staying in front of the people who will help build your business. He recommends a content-rich sales cycle that begins with free articles and a newsletter and evolves into informational products, such as webinars and ebooks that you sell on your website. These products will show- case your expertise while giving prospec- tive clients the chance to learn about you and how you think, minimizing your need to do direct sales. Several chapters detail how to struc- ture, price, and package these offerings. The section on self-promotion offers a wide range of new and conventional approaches for interacting with your tar- get audience. Port recommends creating a database of your prospects and clients and then a schedule that allows you to make helpful systematic contact with them, e.g., by sending articles to three prospects each day or a book a week to a single prospect, or by making at least two introductions per week to people within your network who would benefit from knowing each other. The point is to always be looking for ways to serve your target market by sharing what you know and who you know. Everything in this 400-page book is good advice. Though much of what Port recommends in Book Yourself Solid Illustrated has been said before in other business books, it's great to have a single book that provides an easy to absorb, comprehensive, and solid strategy direct- ed at solo consultants on how to build a business they love. www.paramountbooks.com 888-787-8100 You'll always find the best ideas in Qualitative Research and the best prices at Paramount Market Publishing, Inc. Order direct and SAVE! QRAC_01_14.indd 1 1/28/14 2:49 PM

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