Starting an Indexing Business Fourth Edition - Enid Zafran, Joan Shapiro

Starting An Indexing Business Fourth Edition
Enid L. Zafran and Joan Shapiro
Information Today
Copyright: 2009
978-1573873703

The amazon.com product description:

This revised edition of the must-have reference for new and aspiring freelance indexers includes advice on these topics and more:
1. Setting up an indexing business
2. How indexers learn their trade and stay up-to-date
3. Finding clients and setting fees
4. Packagers: Who are they and what do they do?
5. Indexing while holding a full-time job
6. Liability issues
The book also includes a sample Letter Agreement setting out terms between an indexer and author, a mini-salary survey with insight into the earnings potential in the field, and a handy business startup checklist.

I debated buying Starting an Indexing Business a few months back, but decided against it at the time, mostly because it came out several years ago, and I wasn't sure how valid the information would be now. After seeing some references to it in the last couple of weeks though, I changed my mind, and ended up reading it while camping last week. On reading the book, I'm glad I did.

Yes, some things are slightly outdated, but there's still plenty of good advice on how to start out finding customers, discussions of liability and insurance (which, by the way, this is the first time I've heard anything about), fee discussions, including a bit of an informal survey of how rates have changed between 2003 and 2008.

Overall, I'd definitely say that Starting an Indexing Business is worth getting if you're a new indexer - especially in the States, which is honestly where the information is focused. Most of it though, is still worth reading even elsewhere, because marketing techniques and ways of finding customers are still going to be useful in other countries, especially here in Canada, where I think a lot of customers are located in the States.

One thing I found about this book is that it fired up my enthusiasm to higher levels, and I can't wait to be really able to get going.

Bait and Switch - Barbara Ehrenreich

Bait And Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit Of The American Dream
Barbara Ehrenreich
Metropolitan Books
Copyright: 2005
9780805076066

The amazon.com product description:

The New York Times bestselling investigation into white-collar unemployment from "our premier reporter of the underside of capitalism"--The New York Times Book Review
Americans' working lives are growing more precarious every day. Corporations slash employees by the thousands, and the benefits and pensions once guaranteed by "middle-class" jobs are a thing of the past.

In Bait and Switch, Barbara Ehrenreich goes back undercover to explore another hidden realm of the economy: the shadowy world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with the plausible résumé of a professional "in transition," she attempts to land a "middle-class" job. She submits to career coaching, personality testing, and EST-like boot camps, and attends job fairs, networking events, and evangelical job-search ministries. She is proselytized, scammed, lectured, and--again and again--rejected.

Bait and Switch highlights the people who have done everything right--gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive résumés--yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster. There are few social supports for these newly disposable workers, Ehrenreich discovers, and little security even for those who have jobs. Worst of all, there is no honest reckoning with the inevitable consequences of the harsh new economy; rather, the jobless are persuaded that they have only themselves to blame.

Alternately hilarious and tragic, Bait and Switch, like the classic Nickel and Dimed, is a searing exposé of the cruel new reality in which we all now live.

The blurb is right. Bait and Switch is both funny and disheartening. I also found it to be a fairly quick read, finishing the book just over a day after I borrowed it from the library (Library Loot - January 28th). I've seen Barbara Ehrenreich's books in the store before, but not read any of them. In terms of writing, I just might hunt them down now, but I'd have to be in the right mood.

This one was that much of a downer in it's way, despite the funny writing style. Mostly because, things seem to have been tough in 2004/2005 when the book was written, but it's probably even worse now. The other thing I'm finding after reading Bait And Switch is that I'm eyeing the various career advice books in the store and wondering just how useful they might be. Most of them seem to be advising based on personality type, and after reading the results Barbara got, I'm wondering about that...

Honestly, this is an interesting book. On the other hand, where the library has it shelved is a bit misleading. They've located Bait and Switch in with the books like What Color Is Your Parachute? and the other career search books. I believe that the bookstores have it located in "Community and Culture". I'm not going to suggest that this is a book for people in the middle of a job search to read, just because of the kind of book it is - no true hints here, it's simply the recounting of one person's experiences. Still, the book could be taken as something of a warning of things to watch out for. In that sense, it might be helpful.

Be #1 on Google: 52 Fast and Easy Search Engine Optimization Tools to Drive Customers to Your Web Site

Be #1 on Google: 52 Fast and Easy Search Engine Optimization Tools to Drive Customers to Your Web Site
Jon Smith
McGraw Hill Publishing
Copyright: 2009
978-0071629607

The amazon.com product description:

Google Your Way to the Top of Your Industry!
It’s great to have a punchy Web site, but if you aren’t optimizing your search-engine presence, you’re just another company lost in cyberspace.
With Be #1 on Google, you can instantly put your company in the top spot of relevant online searches—and dramatically increase sales. An international expert in search-engine optimization, Jon Smith explains how to draw serious customers—not curious or bored Web surfers—to your site by

• Registering with Google
• Coming up with the best keywords
• Thinking like your customers
• Making your site totally accessible
• Using metadata to your advantage
• Advertising on the Web
• Measuring what works, and what doesn’t

Containing 52 techniques in all, each of which can used immediately, Be #1 on Google is the essential guide to winning the battle for first ranking on the world’s most utilized search engine.

 I just realized that when I last read Be #1 On Google: 52 Fast And Easy Search Engine Optimization Tools To Drive Customers To Your Website back in November, that I never did review it. I intended to, but somehow it slipped my mind. Anyway, I re-read the book over the weekend. And I also changed my opinion of the book somewhat between readings.

Last time I read the book, I thought it had a lot of promise for websites. This time, I could still see that, but I also realized that Be #1 on Google is geared entirely towards business/corporate websites. There are quite a few helpful tips for anyone with a website or blog though, and also a lot of useful, free resource websites to check out. Something I still need to do for that matter. You'll just have to pick and choose which of the author's suggestions are appropriate for your website(s).

Some of the suggestions are easy enough to implement, such as making sure the image titles aren't just numeric combos, but actual words. Others, are definitely more business oriented, such as buying other, similar domain names and setting up competing websites to your own.

Confessions of a Radical Industrialist - Ray C. Anderson

Confessions Of A Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose - Doing Business By Respecting The Earth
Ray C. Anderson
St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2009
978-0312543495

Amazon.com Product Description:

In 1994, Interface founder and chairman Ray Anderson set an audacious goal for his commercial carpet company:  to take nothing from the earth that can’t be replaced by the earth.  Now, in the most inspiring business book of our time, Anderson leads the way forward and challenges all of industry to share that goal. 

The Interface story is a compelling one:  In 1994, making carpets was a toxic, petroleum-based process, releasing immense amounts of air and water pollution and creating tons of waste.  Fifteen years after Anderson’s “spear in the chest” revelation, Interface has:

*Cut greenhouse gas emissions by 82%

*Cut fossil fuel consumption by 60%

*Cut waste by 66%

*Cut water use by 75%

*Invented and patented new machines, materials, and manufacturing processes

*Increased sales by 66%, doubled earnings, and raised profit margins

With practical ideas and measurable outcomes that every business can use, Anderson shows that profit and sustainability are not mutually exclusive; businesses can improve their bottom lines and do right by the earth.

 This is a book I was given at a Random House book presentation.

That said, on with the review:

I don't normally read business books (aside from the occasional personal finance book), so I really wasn't expecting to enjoy reading Confessions Of A Radical Industrialist, event though it looked interesting. What a surprise! The first day I was reading it, I ended up reading for most of the day and finished the first nine chapters in more or less one sitting. Since then, I've averaged a chapter a night after work.

Ray C. Anderson has written an interesting book that is easily read by the non- businessperson as well as anyone in business. It's sensible, and inspiring, completely turning a lot of beliefs on their heads. He's also written a book that makes me want to do what little I can to make a difference, just in the way I live.

Granted, I do believe he's right in what he's saying about the way we live today, that we can't keep it up for very much longer. Others may disagree. Still, in doing what he has with his company, and in writing this book about it, he has proven that it's possible to go green and make even more money.

Basically, in this book, the author has charted his change of views to where he stands today, and the various steps he's taken with the company, Interface, to take it to where it is now, most of the way to being environmentally sustainable. Ray C. Anderson also points out what the plans for the future are, and what other companies are starting to do as well.

Some of the things he discovered along the way have me scratching my head in disbelief, such as the fact that a lot of companies can't (or at least won't risk) selling their most environmentally friendly cars outside of their designated areas due to national regulations.

I highly recommend, even if business books aren't your normal reading fare. You may just be surprised.