Tag Archives: business

Thursday Thought: New Years Eeeeeeeeeve

Leave a reply
“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
— Carl Bard
[ An excerpt from an internal email sent to all Lovesac employees 12/31/2015 ]
As cliché as it may be, I am a strong believer in finding a quiet corner—maybe just in your car or closet—to clear your mind, reflect on what you achieved in 2015, and make not more than three crystal clear and achievable new year’s resolutions with a simple action plan to stick to them. Do it! Make time for it!! Our Lovesac Family is not a thing—it is a collection of 350+ individual human beings, and we are only as great as each individual is. We all rely on each other.
Shawn Nelson

Its time for big things

But besides it being a time for resolutions, New Year’s Eve is a time to celebrate—and we have a lot to celebrate! Together, we have made great things happen this year. As tired as you may feel, or as “not pretty” as it sometimes is around here, YOU are absolutely responsible for Lovesac’s turning some major corners in 2015 and setting this company on a path to achieve growth and success at a rate that will make the past few years feel slow.
It may or may not feel like it to you, but we are in a good and stable position as a company, and is your fault that we are there. We certainly have endless work left to do, a hundred shortcomings, and a thousand things to improve upon…but we should all feel good about what we have achieved this year. I am really proud of what we have done and I’m also proud of the chance we have to influence this world going forward—filling it with product that has been designed-for-life, growing the overall economy and providing opportunities for more people to work and share in our spoils along the way. We should all be proud of that. We are not just selling stuff—we are building a company—together.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO US!!!
— Shawn

My Top 10 Business Books of All Time (so far)

1 Reply

As an entrepreneur, I’m pretty happy with my career so far. I have made sensible decisions and researched everything I do with care. I looked into the demand in the market before starting my business. I read an avatrade review before going into investing. I have saved money, just in case any of my ventures go wrong. And I get asked all of the time for advice, or words of wisdom-how did I do it? I have a lot to say about what I think for business, leadership and design…but what is the single best piece of advice I can give prospective entrepreneurs? Drumroll please…

…Read. Read from the best books. Read from the best business books. The next time you sit on your couch to watch some TV or play a game-read instead.

“Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson

Ugh. What a buzz-kill. It almost seems like a cop-out right? But, in all honesty, business is complicated. It is multi-faceted and requires a lot of different skills and abilities to navigate. It is also very different from industry to industry and there is really just no getting around that. When it comes to investing, something like forex apps uk can be a great resource to make informed investments, but it still requires knowledge. But believe it or not, there is very little that is new. There are very few things that people haven’t done-in one form or another, and then gone on to write about it. Apply this one piece of advice, and you will certainly have enough information and even motivation at your fingertips to build something great, and even avoid many of the pitfalls that would otherwise beset you. Make sure to learn as much as you can before starting your own business, this will allow you to have a much higher chance of being successful. However, business owners don’t need to know everything. There is always the option of outsourcing help as and when it is needed. For example, a lot of businesses tend to outsource their IT support when their systems go down. By using an IT company like https://sphereit.uk/it-support-london/, businesses can ensure that these technical setbacks don’t last long, allowing them to get on with their work shortly after.

So on with it. Shawn Nelson’s top 10 book list:

  • 10. Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson
  • 9. Ben Franklin, by Walter Isaacson
  • 8. How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
  • 7. Influence, by Robert B. Cialdini
  • 6. Switch, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
  • 5. Good Strategy, Bad Strategy, by Richard P. Rumelt
  • 4. 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, by Al Ries
  • 3. Purple Cow, by Seth Godin
  • 2. The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni
  • 1. Good to Great, by Jim Collins
Good to Great by Jim Collins

Shawn Nelson’s favorite business book of all time

Honestly, I could probably create 10 different “Top 10” lists of my favorite books depending on which industry we are talking about. But I feel that this list is my most general one. Reading (and applying) the wisdom found within the books on the above list will be game-changing to anyone in business, entrepreneurship, leadership, or management in any capacity.

So find a nice couch to curl up on (I recommend one of mine) and read! Reading these days can come in many forms. I’m mostly a real book kind-of-guy. I like to underline and write notes. I like to collect them and fill shelves with them. And I am a painfully slow reader, by the way. But small flatscreen TVs are so cheap now that I bought one to mount at eye-level in front of my treadmill with my laptop connected, and I now can read at a full jog, no problem. Its amazing how quickly a workout goes when your mind is on something else. I am a TV and movie freak-but with a bit of discipline, I am always happier when I choose books instead. And if real books or Nooks aren’t your thing, then get the audio version and listen while flying, driving, or jogging. I do it all.

— Shawny