Customer Reviews

Stick Yourself Out There : Get Them to Come to You

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Scott Ginsberg's new release advertises itself as "2 Books In 1'. The hook is that the you read the first 129 pages -- titled Stick Yourself Out There -- and then flip the book upside down to read the "second book", Get Them to Come to You.

It's a silly gimmick, just a way to make a 251-page book look different. To make it even sillier, there's a short section in the middle that's printed sideways.

It worked on me exactly the way Ginsberg wanted it to.

The day it arrived at my office, I found myself going out of my way to show it to several co-workers. Would I have done that if the book had just gone straignt from Page 1-251, all rightside-up?

Nope.

Which illustrates one of the book's underlying principles: Normal, says Ginsberg, is boring.

Stick Yourself Out There/Get Them to Come to You is a quick, breezy read, written in an informal style. Parts of it seem padded -- the sections with wide spaces between paragraphs, and occasional pages written in a huge font, feel like attempts to get the page-count up.

But you'll also find some very useful tips within the pages. Here are a few that resonated with me:

* I've scheduled a recurring event on my calendar: the question "What two people do I know who should meet each other?" now shows up every Monday.

* Ginsberg asks, "Is your [business] card SO good that people immediately show it to their friends?" My answer: nope. So I'm looking for a way to make my business card more memorable.

* I'm compiling a Client List -- every client I've worked with in the past five years. When it's done, it'll have its own page on this blog.

You may not want to go as far as Ginsberg does -- he's known as The Nametag Guy because he wears a nametag 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

But if you're looking for ways to set yourself apart from the competition, you'll find much to chew on in Stick Yourself Out There/Get Them to Come to You.

You'll spend less time reading this "book" than you will plowing through his site and pulling down / reading all the lists that he promises to send you throughout this book. Frankly, everything the author discusses in the book you can get for free in one list or another on his website hellomynameisscott.com, and for this reason alone I cannot recommend you spend your money to buy this book.

That said, here are the pros and cons (IMHO):

PROS:

1. The book has lots of little nuggets of insight (for instance, it's the *perceived* expert who gets the business, not the actual expert)

2. The lists Ginsberg gives within the book (repeated on his site) are nicely done.

3. The amount of white space and font size in the book makes for very easy reading

4. The idea of a 2-in-1 book is definitely unique

CONS:

1. The nuggets of insight are not wisdom, really just observations that you probably could have made yourself if you'd taken the time to sit back and think about it....

2. He spends good many pages talking about what he doesn't like - for instance with business cards - but doesn't really provide any actual ADVICE on what to do (see his website for that)

3. Much of this book might be really helpful to someone thinking about starting a business catering to 20-somethings, but I kept thinking, Is this the book that an entrepreneur would look to? Wouldn't he or she have already found Ginsberg's site and blog (and lists)?

4. This doesn't read like a book - it reads like a series of brochures stiched together filled with keywords and phrases.

Ultimately, it reminds me of so many motivational speakers - good for the WHY you should do things differently, light on the actual HOW and WHAT.

If you need a quick read book that will inspire you to make changes, then go for it, get this book (or read it all on line).

If you're interested in making your business grow, you can find a handful of good observations and suggestions here and there within this book, but not much else; save your money.

The lessons and advice contained within Scott Ginsberg's latest work can really help flip the "success" switch on your work and personal life.

What I liked best was the fact Scott's book is based on lessons learned from his personal "walk-the-walk" experiences of making himself one of the most approachable guys on the planet. Some of the advice has a familiar ring to it. Many of Scott's experiences come from implementing the golden nuggets of wisdom known to anyone who's read Dale Carnegie or Napoleon Hill. The big difference is that Scott put them into action in a unique way, so his spin on those 'golden oldies' is shared in a fresh new way.

We'll never know Carnegie or Hill's take on new media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube -- thankfully the latest generation of success-seekers can hardly do better than using "That Nametag Guy" as their mentor for success in this millenium.

This book is terribly expensive, appears to have been badly self-published, and reads like a never-ending series of Twitter messages.

As you have no doubt read elsewhere, half of the book starts at the front, half starts at the back, and the rest is printed sideways in the middle. This is a stupid gimmick, and I hope I never see another sideways book again.

I wish I could be more positive, but Mr. Name Tag is out of tricks, so he is just recycling ideas in a desperate bid to stay current and make some money. You might find some bright ideas in here, but I can't recommend buying the book at this price.