Flip This Wholesaler

Happy Monday guys!

It’s time for another Book Review (written by my pal Shae Bynes from GoodFaithInvesting.com)! This time we’re discussing Linchpin, by Seth Godin. I hope everybody liked it!

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Linchpin was the first Seth Godin book that I’ve ever read, but I’ve heard quite a bit about him as well as some of his other best-selling books such as Purple Cow and Tribes. Linchpin is all about the new world of work and the choice available to every individual to either identify and release brilliance and be indispensable in the workplace OR to be an ineffective and “faceless cog in the machinery of capitalism.” According to Godin, gone are the days when you can be compensated competitively for simply showing up.

Current and aspiring entrepreneurs (particularly small business owners or entrepreneurs with no employees) may immediately feel like this book isn’t for them because on the surface it seems to focus solely on “how to be a stellar employee.” However, when reading Linchpin with an open mind it quickly becomes apparent that the message in this book is relevant for employees and entrepreneurs alike.

What’s a Linchpin?

The linchpin is an individual who can walk into chaos and create order, someone who can invent, connect, create, and make things happen. Linchpins are flexible in the face of change and resilient in the face of confusion.

Linchpins bring their whole self to their work — they bring humanity to their work and chart their own path to create value rather than waiting for someone else to hand over a map with precise instructions on what to do next.

The combination of passion and art is what makes someone a linchpin. Linchpins are artists and integral to the organizations that they are a part of.

The Linchpin Mindset

• Exceptional insight, productivity, and generosity make markets bigger and more efficient. The more you give, the more the market gives back.

• Fearless doesn’t really mean without fear. What it means in practice is “unafraid of things that one shouldn’t be afraid of.” Feel the fear, acknowledge it, then proceed.

• It’s all about creating forward motion. It doesn’t matter if you’re always right. It matters that you’re always moving.

• Passion is a desire, insistence, and willingness to give a gift. This relentless passion leads to persistence and resilience to make an impact. Passion makes the linchpin look for ways to make things happen.

Dealing with the Lizard Brain and Resistance

The longest chapter in Linchpin dealt with the lizard brain — the lizard brain isn’t a concept…it’s real and is the part of your brain that works overtime to shut you up, sit you down, make you afraid, and distract you with things like procrastination and rationalization. The lizard brain isn’t all bad news…its necessary as part of our fight or flight and survival instincts which are useful in emergencies. Nevertheless, the lizard brain will work hard to keep us from being successful. So what are some ways to deal with it?

• Go out of your way to find uncomfortable situations and defeat them — discomfort brings engagement and change
• When the resistance tells you not to listen to something, read somethings, or attend something, go. Do it.
• Realize that the closer you get to achieving a breakthrough your genius has in mind, the harder resistance will fight to stop you.

More Tips for Linchpin Employees & Entrepreneurs

• When customers have the choice between faceless options, they pick the cheapest, fastest, and most direct option. Rather than join the majority and race to the bottom of the price chart, become more human and connect directly with your customers.

• If you don’t pinpoint your audience, you end up making your art for the loudest, crankiest critics. Focus on the audience that you choose for your business — listen to them to the exclusion of all others. Go ahead and make this sort of customer happy and all the others can go pound sand.

• It’s easy to fall into a trap of focusing on a spreadsheet or time clock to measure progress, but the fact is that its the investment you make in your interactions that will pay off. Interactions that are genuine and come from a posture of generosity usually work.

• Art is rarely defect-free. You have to be willing to ship before something is perfect and this is a rare skill. Shipping is hitting the publish button on your blog, launching a product, answering the calls, showing a presentation to a sales team. Shipping is finishing something that you started.

• Transferring your passion to your job (or business) is far easier than finding a job (or creating a business) that happens to match your passion. Doing what you love is important, but if you’re going to make a living at it, it helps to find a niche were money flows as a regular consequence of the success of your idea.

Whew! This was definitely the toughest book review I have done because there was so much insight within the book that could have been highlighted. For those who read this book as well, what did you think? Any other points that really resonated with you either as an employee or entrepreneur?

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P.S.
Thanks for another great review, Shae!  Also, your new site design looks awesome!

P.P.S.
Next month’s book will be  No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs, by Dan Kennedy.  We’ll meet here on Monday, July 12th to discuss.