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About Josh Kaufman and The Personal MBA

By Josh Kaufman

Josh Kaufman is the author of the #1 international bestseller The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business as well as the upcoming book The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything… Fast. Josh specializes in teaching professionals in all industries and disciplines how to master practical knowledge and skills.

Josh’s unique, multidisciplinary approach to business mastery has helped millions of readers around the world learn essential business concepts on their own terms. Josh’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Time, BusinessWeek, Wired, Fast Company, and HarvardBusiness.org. The widely-acclaimed Personal MBA manifesto and recommended reading list has been downloaded over 1.28 million times from ChangeThis.com.

The Personal MBA has sold over 130,000 copies worldwide to date, and has been in the top 0.1% of all business books sold on Amazon.com since its publication in January, 2011. On publication, the international edition of The Personal MBA was the #1 bestselling business book in the United Kingdom, and remained #1 for two consecutive months. The Personal MBA has also been used as a textbook for business courses at Stanford University, New York University, Howard University, and Portland State University.

PersonalMBA.com hosts over 50,000 readers every month, and has been visited over 2 million times by readers all over the world since its founding in 2005. Josh’s work has directly saved prospective business students millions of dollars in unnecessary tuition, fees, and interest by providing an effective, affordable, and debt-free method of learning fundamental business principles.

Prior to developing the Personal MBA full-time, Josh worked in brand management for Procter & Gamble’s Home Care division, where he lead multi-million dollar projects that encompassed P&G’s entire value chain, from new product development to delivering in-store marketing campaigns for key customers like Walmart, Target, and Costco. Before leaving P&G, Josh spearheaded the development of P&G’s global online marketing measurement strategy.

Josh’s current projects involve online training programs, live training programs, ongoing research in business and skill acquisition, writing, and programming. His brain is insured by Lloyd’s of London.

Due to research projects in progress, Josh is currently unavailable for speaking, consulting, and corporate training engagements.

What people are saying about The Personal MBA:

Derek Sivers, founder of CDbaby.com and sivers.org: “A masterpiece. This is now the one ‘START HERE’ book I’ll be recommending to everybody interested in business. An amazing overview of everything you need to know… One of the most inspiring things I’ve read in years.” (Read more…)

Kevin Kelly, author of What Technology Wants: “No matter what they tell you, an MBA is not essential for landing or handling a good business job… Pursue your own Personal MBA in tandem with actual experience doing some kind of business. If you combine study with actually trying stuff, you’ll be far ahead in the business game.” (Read more…)

Ramit Sethi, IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com: “The best graduate school you can attend… free. Josh is absolutely one of the smartest people I know, and the first person I go to when I’m stuck on a business model… The Personal MBA is awesome and Josh has given me a ton of marketing ideas for iwillteachyoutoberich.com”

Seth Godin, bestselling author: “Josh Kaufman, who needs a new haircut, may just be on to something. Worth a look.” (Read more… )

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker.com: “The Personal MBA reading list looks like a fantastic resource for motivated autodidacts looking to get into business.” (Read more…)

Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker.com: “The Personal MBA site occasionally updates its list of dozens of helpful business books, designed to teach both the nuts-and-bolts money stuff and the kind of thinking one needs to get ahead in sales, marketing, or wherever your interests lie. A business school can offer networking, mentoring, and other perks, but nobody can teach you enthusiasm and business savvy—except yourself.” (Read more…)

What Readers Are Saying about the Personal MBA:

“A reading list that claims to offer the same quality education as an MBA is an audacious thing, but looking over the list, the claim no longer seems unbelievable.”

“Excellent information to rhetoric ratio.”

“Thank you for helping to prevent me from blowing two years and $100k on an MBA when I get out of undergrad next year.”

“I am a BIG fan of education. I am NOT a big fan of expensive education. In today’s world, there are many increasingly viable ways to get yourself a great educational experience in areas where life matters, and to do it without chaining a block of cement to your ankles as you enter the waters of life.”

“Timing is everything! In the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about wanted to learn more about business management, and wondered what resources were out there for me to take advantage of, other than signing up for business school. I may go to biz school eventually but wanted to start educating myself now, the more affordable way! I am SO glad to have found your site, it is exactly what I was looking for!”

“I’ve never liked school but I am interested in business. The Personal MBA is perfect for someone like me.”

“This is a very innovative platform for those self-pulled learners. I am a MBA student right now and so glad to find an outstanding reference website like this.”

“The books it recommends are stellar – saves so much time sorting through all the potential reading lists out there myself.”

“I am an MBA student and find that much of the reading found on your site is much more relevant than many of the assigned textbooks.”

“I just enrolled in an executive MBA program in my country. Your list give me insight about other important books, rather than the textbook and case method applied in my business school.”

“I love the idea of your site. I am always learning and reading about business and your site has motivated me to read more. Thank you! Thank You! Thank you!”

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