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Karl's Library

August 7th, 2012

Karl’s Library: Business Model Generation by Osterwalder and Pigneur

Some books are as fun to read as they are helpful.

Laid out visually, Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur is just such a treat.

Instead of long, winding verbiage filled with technical jargon that no one (not even academics) understand, Business Model Generation stays grounded, simple, and practical.

The book is divided into five sections that outline the process of business model generation:
Canvas -> Patterns -> Design -> Strategy -> Process

They offer nine helpful building blocks of a healthy business model:

1. Customer segments
2. Value Propositions
3. Channels
4. Customer Relationships
5. Revenue Streams
6. Key Resources
7. Key Activities
8. Key Partnerships
9. Cost Structure 

If it’s beginning to feel a bit overwhelming, you need to flip through a copy of the book itself.

It is fun. It is visual. Brief, articulate explanations. Structured around the process itself.

I think you will find it an empowering tool for you and your partners.

Click here to see its Amazon.com page.

Karl’s Library is a weekly column highlighting my favorites from my professional development library. “Always learning” is one of the pillars of my personal mission statement. Explore past columns here.

 

If you’re a Kindle fan like I am, it is available for the Kindle.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get one! You’ll love it.

Question of the Week

Complicit In My Own Diminishment?

July 8th, 2011

Bold Question MarkTo what extent might I be selling out my own dreams, ideals and unique capabilities in order to impress prospective employers?

“Part of the price of becoming a transaction is that we allow our value to be defined by others: an organization, a boss, a recruiter, a partner, a lover.” Peter Block

October 20th, 2010
Job Search Tips, Learning Tools

PDF

BlogWorld 2010 -> 7 Ways to Take Action Now

BlogWorld BadgeThe largest Blogworld yet is behind us.

What now?

The hours of helpful (and not so helpful) seminars, the miles we walked on the trade floor, the networking parties, and the innumerable conversations with vendors, future partners and potential customers. We are hopefully inspired. We might be overwhelmed. We are definitely exhausted.

We came away with many new ideas. Maybe too many! Maybe just enough so that once we get back into the grind of our busy lives, we don’t find our way to act on any of these great ideas.

It is too easy to leave all those great ideas in that closed notebook on the desk. Too often we never get around to sifting through the computer files where we stored those ingenious tidbits that were going to transform our business.

Here are 7 trajectories of action that you can use to guide your after-the-show efforts.

1. Attitude Boost

Participating and persevering in a still-emerging industry during a struggling economy requires courage, passion, and energy.

Select one source of inspiration from the expo that resonated deeply with the challenges you face. What is one way you can transform that model, story, and/or attitude into a vehicle to recharge your juices, restore your confidence and/or rededicate your efforts?

Take action to boost and reinforce your attitude for the work ahead.

2. Personal Branding

Feeling your blog is lost in a crowded sea of exponentially expanding bloggers, consultants, experts, celebrities and companies?

Which one or two speakers at BlogWorld do you remember most clearly? Why do you think the memory is so clear? How do they describe themselves in their title,
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