A&B #39

Hey friends and happy Sunday.

Last week I talked about my new reading rule, picking up a book before picking up your phone. That little rule has had a great ROI and I recommend you try it out for yourself. When you start every day with a book, you'll never go a day without reading. 

Start small and aim to read just one page before grabbing your phone. Before you know it, you'll be reading for 30-40 minutes every morning.

PS: If you're looking for something to watch, here are 

 by authors.  

Alright, let's talk books.

📚 Book Lessons:

I recently finished The Innovation Stack by Jim McKelvey.Jim co-founded the digital payment Square, which is now worth $100 billion. But the book is more than just about Square, Jim dives into business strategy, life as an entrepreneur, and talks about how startups can compete with global giants like Amazon.Here are 3 lessons from it: 1) Own Every Aspect of Your ProductThe advantage startups have over huge corporations is that they're able to move fast. But moving fast only works if you have control over your product.It took Jim dozens of designs and prototypes to build Square's now-famous white square payment device. Fortunately, because he hadn't subcontracted the manufacturing, Jim was able to correct any issues with the device within a day or two. "If we had been dependent on some byzantine supply chain for our early readers, it could have taken months to correct instead of hours," writes Jim. If possible, aim to own your product's manufacturing so you can rapidly innovate your product. Doing so will give you a competitive advantage over your competitors.2) Copy Until You Can'tWhenever you have a problem, especially if it's a business one, all you need to do is look at your competitors and copy what they're doing. Copying is almost always the best strategy because things that work are rare. So when someone stumbles upon a solution, it makes sense to copy what's working. However, copying will only get you to second place. You can't copy your way ahead of your competition. At a certain point, you need to innovate. "Copy when you can; invent when you must," advises Jim. From that point onwards, invent and innovate until you find the solution you're looking for.3) To Find Mentors, Travel Through TimeWhen Jim was building Square, he had trouble finding mentors who had gone through the same journey he was on. Until one day, he realized he was looking for mentors not in the wrong place, but at the wrong time.Instead of looking for a mentor in the present, he started to look for mentors in the past. He pulled up history books and looked at entrepreneurs who had left a huge mark on a "boring" industry.He eventually discovered three entrepreneurs that fit his criteria: A.P Giannini, the founder of the Bank of America; Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA; and Herb Kelleher, the founder of South West airlines. In his book, Jim shares the story of each of those founders and how they revolutionized the banking, furniture, and airline industry respectively.So if you're having trouble finding a mentor, consider searching for one in a history book or two.

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Own every aspect of your product.

• When you own your manufacturing process, you can rapidly innovate your product and make it better than your competitors.

2) Copy your competitors until you can't.

• If you're having a problem, copy a solution from someone else.

• But if you're facing a problem no one else has solved, it's time to invent and innovate.

3) Find a mentor by looking into the past.

• If you're having trouble finding a mentor, grab a history book and look at other business founders. 

• You won't find someone who's in your exact situation, but you'll likely find several individuals that had a similar journey to yours.

📖  Reading Lesson: Here's a thread with reading tips from Naval Ravikant.

⭐️  Weekly Quote:Read in your free time in your 20s so you can read all the time in your 40s.(source)

🙏  Support:No sponsor this week, but if you'd like to support the newsletter consider getting a copy of my ebook 12 Universal Laws of Social Media Creation.I'm happy to share that it's sold 100+ copies! In the book, I share 12 lessons about growing a social media following that took me 4+ years to discover. Now you can learn all of those lessons in one hour by reading this book. Get your copy here!

Thank you for your support everyone, I'll see you next Sunday!Read on,Alex W.