Your Move: The Underdog's Guide to Building Your Business

First of all, a disclaimer. I am presently taking Ramit's ZTL course, but I read this book before joining the program. I had been reading Ramit's material on the web for a few months, and I found myself joining his mailing list. I am a fan. So, when I saw  Your Move: The Underdog's Guide to Building Your Business , I said to myself: why not?I really struggled with this rating, because I want it to be as truthful and fair as possible. I believe Ramit is a gifted marketer and a really sharp communicator. I am smart enough to understand that the book is part of his entire "system" of selling his products. I don't have a problem with that at all. The reason why I'm giving the book a 4-star rating is because I felt that I had already read most of the material elsewhere. Like I said, I've been following Ramit for a while, and most if not all) of this book's content had either been included in his emails, web site, etc. Therefore, the value was not there for me.Also, in terms of the quality of the book, for some reason, it's not up to par with his other materials. This was very surprising to me. The writing is a little sloppy, and the content is developed in an odd, sometimes disjointed, way. And that is a shame. because when you get past those issues, the content is actually good.In sum, if you've never read any of Ramit's stuff, you're thinking about starting an online business, and you're looking for some light/entertaining read to get your juices flowing without joining an email list, or looking for the material online, this might just fit the bill. But, if you want to get a feel for the author's best work (for free), just go look for his other work online.

I really enjoyed reading this book.It is a repackaging of some of Ramit's best content from his blog, but the content is still great information and very helpful for people who are looking to start a business or even just thinking about starting a business. Plus it's all in one place which is much easier than trying to dig through the blog.To me, the book is an introduction to building a business and can definitely get you started on your journey.Some of my favorite lessons include how to find a profitable business idea. Which includes questions to ask yourself. One question in particular was helpful for me "What do you do on a Saturday morning before everyone else is awake?"How to test for demand of the business you want to build.How to do real market research for your products so that the people you want to serve feel like you've created your products just for them.The 3 simple mindset shifts that will help you conquer your fear of starting a business.These are just a few of the lessons in the book that are all great and informative.I also really enjoyed the bonus content that you get from the book. The video's email scripts, and information provided is very helpful.I highly recommend this book to anybody thinking about starting a business.

Disclaimer - I am writing this on my own and I rarely write reviews, unless I am extremely impressed by something!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I simply love the no nonsense writing style of Ramit. I DID buy the book and read it. To be honest it is my 1st pass and to fully absorb it, these kind of books have to be re-read multiple times. I am old fashioned and I like to make my own hand written notes to fully absorb the subject matter, to give justice to author's hard work and fully imbibe their teaching/lessons.For now, no regrets. I came across Ramit via Tim Ferriss. I was immediately impressed by his straight talk. However, his corny titled website "I will teach.." made me a skeptic. Against, a lot of well meaning advice - I signed up for his Earn1k course and immediately, he blew the hell out of me! All of my mental constructs were shattered and I made a modest $220 in 1st week and next month I DID make $2,200.00. It paid for my course! Don't waste your time if you are not willing to put in the time and effort. You can read all the "how to learn swimming" book, but one has to step in the water and be prepared to take acceptable risks!

If you're already familiar with Ramit Sethi's blog posts and videos, you'll know what to expect with this book. Very straightforward advice to help you build a business, designed to make you take action and to cut out all excuses. Rather than being a step-by-step practical guide for setting up one particular type of business, the book focuses on ways to make you a better entrepreneur in general, by changing your mindset and the way you look at things. It thus includes chapters on things like finding a mentor, and how to make your business stand out from the competition.Ramit's style is motivational without being too pie-in-the-sky. You'll take away from this book some clear actions you could take right now, whatever stage your business is at (including "still a twinkle in my eye"), to move forward in whatever you do.

I like Ramit, however the amount of times the website is linked to, and the incorporated testimonials along with the brevity of the book in general obnoxiously position the book as a sales generator. Arguably, many books in the self-help world serve this purpose, but if the sales pitch exceeds the value provided - a butter taste remains in the reader's mind.Then again, considering Remit's philosophy, he probably expected this response from a portion of the readers and was aiming more at the easy converters.

Ramit doesn't pull his punches. Any long-term subscriber to his blog will know that he's the real deal - a superstar entrepreneur with a formidable work ethic, a scintillating sense of humour and almost British levels of self-deprecation. (That's a sincere compliment, Ramit, one of the best I can offer you!)This book is a practical guide that can be used as a reference tool for entrepreneurs in today's extraordinary world, an environment which has changed out of all recognition over the last 10 years. Ramit brilliantly exposes the extraordinary opportunities offered to the underdog, the David who is up against Goliaths too many to number.

You know Ramit's material is always going to be great, and again this is a good overview of what it takes to start a business. Obviously there is only so much you can fit in a book, so there are lots of links to his growthlab site, which is great material.The reason is give if 4 stars is because of this hefty amount of external links, it doesn't detract from the promise of the book, but any time you have to leave the book to read all the material I think it has to be seen as a slight negative (even though I understand why it has to be done that way)

Well there's the book, then there's the associated additional material that the author gives readers free access to. I read at least one book in this genre a quarter. This is on the basis that one new insight or discovery makes the read worth it. Let's face it, many books covering this niche are similar and repackage the same message over and over. With his book I discovered several new insights. As I'm launching a new project this was very timely. A recommended read!