America's small and midsized businesses face unique challenges as they struggle to reach the kind of long-term business goals achieved by larger companies. Balls! shows that successful firms follow certain rules and display six essential traits-they are brave, authentic, loud, lovable, and spunky. Add an exclamation mark for "Do It Right Now Before Someone Else Does!" and that spells Balls!-something all growing businesses need in order to truly succeed. Written by a young executive at one of America's fastest growing small businesses, Balls! looks at business success from a decidedly exuberant and creative perspective, bringing fresh ideas and tactics that any business leader, in any industry, will find immediately useful.
Alexi Venneri (Seattle, WA) is Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Who's Calling, one of the fastest growing companies in America. She joined the firm as employee number 13 and has witnessed it grow to over 300 employees. She is also the former director for the Seattle Mariners who managed all ballpark marketing and fan relations for the team. Her professional career also includes sales management, event planning, training, and marketing for companies in both the U.S. and Canada.
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Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
Do you have what it takes?
In today's ultra-competitive economy, every business— large or small—and every manager—old or new—needs BALLS! to succeed. Having BALLS! means following six simple yet crucial rules for winning today's business game. You must be:
- Brave enough to take risks
- Authentic enough to follow tried and true business practices
- Loud enough to attract serious attention
- Loving enough to care for your employees and customers
- Spunky enough to do things differently
- !nspired and excited enough to GO! and make something happen
BALLS! is full of fantastic ideas and hard-won wisdom from leaders at top-performing businesses who have invented or discovered unconventional ways to achieve success that you can use to improve the performance of your business and boost your own career.
You'll find out how:
- Lonnie Benson parlayed a $350 loan into a $60 million-a-year business called Who's Calling
- Rob Harris ditched his job as a psychotherapist to launch Pacific Market International, a global trading and marketing company
- Kenny Dichter and Jesse Itzler of Marquis Jet Partners made the skies friendlier by inventing a business model for renting corporate jets
- Kit Jeerapaet of duPont Registry created a new way to shop for high-end luxury cars online—and saved the jobs of his coworkers in the process
BALLS! is packed with many real-world lessons gathered from interviews with top executives at several of the nation's fastest-growing businesses. They share their stories of success—and failure—in today's intensely competitive economy.
BALLS! also features a special "Snag the Ideas" section at the end of each chapter, offering specific tips for improving business processes, increasing revenue, and enhancing profits. "Sometimes it only takes one good idea to make a huge difference," says Alexi. "Snag an idea from the book and make it your own by doing something really ballsy with it!"
Based on proven principles and practical, effective business strategies, BALLS! offers uncommon advice and innovative ideas for competing successfully. It is designed to serve as your handy guide and personal coach for winning the business game.
From the Back Cover
Put the 6 rules together and you get BALLS!
BALLS! is filled with real-world lessons from top executives at several of the nation's fastest-growing businesses. Learn how they've followed the rules to win the business game and how you can snag their innovative ideas to turn your company into a winning team.
"If you want to become a successful leader in business today, you must commit yourself totally to your company and to your company's customers. You must be an enthusiastic and credible cheerleader for your company at all times. You must be a positive and energizing role model, both inside and outside the company. Alexi Venneri is just this type of role model: bold, creative, and caring."
— Jeffrey J. Fox, author of How to Become a Rainmaker, How to Become a Great Boss, and How to Become CEO
"An extremely successful blend of storytelling, advice, and wisdom. It's an inspiring book filled with useful anecdotes and marvelously detailed case studies, presented with humor and intelligence."
— Lou Tice of The Pacific Institute and author of Smart Talk
"This book is addictive. I started skimming it and then drilled down into the examples, ideas, and new-think approaches. I found it engaging and motivational. BALLS! is packed with real-world examples of how to leverage existing assets, whether they are human assets, technological assets, or financial assets. Read this book. It will make a difference for you and your company."
— Larry Chase, publisher of Web Digest for Marketers and author of Essential Business Tactics for the Net
"BALLS! will inspire you. It's a guide for revving up the passion in your workplace. You'll discover how to enhance your sales processes, motivate your employees, and pursue your company's full potential. Read this profound book and your spirit will bounce back."
— Dan Fine, President of Fine Business Solutions
"Being Brave, Authentic, Loud, Lovable, and Spunky simply makes sense. Put these qualities together and you get a winning combination for any game. This innovative book is like getting a pep talk from your favorite coach."
— Mark Spangler, CEO of Spangler Investments
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Customer Reviews
Alexi Venneri does come off as having boundless enthusiasm and if I were ever into team sports, I would be glad if she were head cheerleader for my team. But, that is really the substance of the book. These are not so much "Rules for Winning" as they are favorite cheers.
I did get a kick out of learning about her boss in the "B" section of the book. He is a worthy entrepreneurial role model. The rest of the "case studies" are from other people in her employer's company or their client-companies. The stories are spun or cherry-picked to fit the acronym. It's a little like the tail is wagging the dog. Research was not conducted to find out what works in today's business games. For that matter, what these games are was never defined, let alone rules identfied. Instead, it's more like a 2005, white-collar version of Studs Terkel stories fitting into BALLS categories. And I'm not enticed to try any of them. For example, I would never hire actors to picket a competitor's conference (I gasped when I read this one.)
In the final analysis, I.C.B.I.S.T.R.A.B.W.A.A.F.A.T. (I can't believe I spent time reading a book with an acronym for a title).
Brave. That is where it all starts. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Marquis Jet, The Boston Beer Company, Bleed Blue, Lonnie Benson, Fox Communications, John Stapleton, Snag the Ideas, New Jersey, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, San Francisco, Trend Perspective, United States, Calling Catalyst, Dan Horton, Rob Harris, Voice View New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
- How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients by Jeffrey J. Fox in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Smart Talk by Lou Tice in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends by Tim Sanders in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules For Getting and Keeping the Best Employees by Jeffrey J. Fox in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin in Back Matter
See all 13 books this book cites
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