Mike Abasov

“Trust Agents” is a bestselling book written by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith about social media, networking, and… well, building trust for success.

The book explains how the rules of branding has changed not only in terms of HOW you should brand, but also WHY. 

It mixes theory and interesting stories, and showcases with direct practical action plans that will get you on top of the new trends in personal and corporate marketing.

My favorite point in the book is about changing your perception of life and viewing it as a game. To some extent, this point is described by me in one of my latest posts. 

The authors also talk about building your network and leveraging your connections in a good, trustworthy way.

In my opinion, it is a great book for students, because it shows a lot of great timeless tools you didn’t know about before. It also makes you rethink you current activities and start planning your future career with better understanding of the cultural shifts that are happening right now.

“Rework” is a bestselling book written by the founders of a great company, 37signals.

I picked it up a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say that it has many interesting insights on how to improve the way you work as an individual and as a business owner.

I don’t agree with everything the authors say, but most of the stuff is good.

It will be most interesting to business students of any kind, though I’m not so sure about other professions. In any case, I believe that it’s better to learn such things now, before you graduate.

I think you should check it out, and let me know what you think.

Doctor is a protected term; psychiatrist is a protected term; lawyer is a protected term. You fake it—you go to jail.

But marketing specialist, social media consultant or, for crying out loud, SEO expert are not protected. That’s why there are so many of them, and the majority doesn’t have enough education or experience to the do job right. So businesses don’t trust anyone; they are suspicious.

This is why you need to be the best you can to compete and actually show that you are different from all those liars. This is why personal branding is so important while simply doing your job is not enough.

A newbie designer is amazed by snowflakes falling from the top of a website. An amateur webmaster loves songs playing out loud and flashy intros. A teenage boy gets impressed when he sees big… well, you got the point.

The fact is that we are easily fascinated with things when we are new to the field and have no experience. As we spend time discovering new and better alternatives, we learn, and our expectations change. In order for a business to keep customers excited, it has to come up with new products, new marketing tools, new blog posts.

Well, everyone knows that. The critical point here is that all these things have to be not only new but also better, geekier, richer, more awesome, more gourmet, etc. Businesses have to follow customers’ expectations as their experience and knowledge keep improving.

This is why Starbucks introduced Dark Cherry Mocha. This is why Apple makes Magic TrackPad. This is why, if you can’t improve yourself as fast as your customers evolve, you will loose them.