The Personal MBA^TM

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to respond to my questions! In all, I received over 40 very detailed responses, so it’s taken me a bit to synthesize your input and put together some ideas based on your feedback.

Here’s the playback:

The biggest benefit of the current PMBA Manifesto is that it’s a starting point for your self-education. Many of you mentioned that you really appreciated having a concrete place to start instead of wallowing in a sea of business books, wondering which you should pick up first. (I’m glad, and the structure of the updated PMBA reading list should improve your experience in this regard.)

Most of you are entrepreneurial types or current business professionals deciding whether or not to get an MBA. This helps me limit the scope of what the PMBA should focus on, so thanks for letting me know your current situation.

The forums need fixed. Quite a few of you (more than expected) voiced the opinion that the current format of the PMBA forums is suboptimal and should be improved. I agree, and would personally like to see the forums evolve into a place where people openly share experiences, ask for advice, and assist others. The current forum isn’t very well suited to this.

Opportunities to connect with PMBA members (outside of the forums) would be useful. Making connections with other PMBA members around the world is seen as a big benefit, and your feedback is that it’s difficult to really make strong connections via internet forums alone. Some other way of meeting and collaborating with other PMBA members is needed.

Almost all of you mentioned some variation of “Keeping Motivated” / “Staying Focused” / “Committing the Time” / “Putting What I Learn into Practice” as the biggest barriers to meeting your PMBA-related goals. 95% of you mentioned that you’re having trouble staying motivated to read all of these books, and additional structure, accountability, and support would be valuable. This is the biggest opportunity for improvement the Personal MBA currently has.

My ideas for how to move forward based on this feedback will follow in my next few posts.

Thanks again for your input!

If you're new to the Personal MBA, you'll want to check out the manifesto and recommended reading list to see what we're all about.

Also, be sure to become a PMBA Insider (it's free), as well as subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified when new posts are published. Thanks for visiting!

Ben Casnocha, entrepreneur, author, and all-around cool guy, just launched a wiki called Business Rules of Thumb, which is based on a 1987 book by Seth Godin and Chip Conley.

According to Wikipedia, a “rule of thumb” is a principle with broad application that is quickly understood, easily used, and provides a practical method yielding approximate results. Good rules of thumb can be pretty handy every now and again, so I’m glad Ben launched this site.

After some thought, here are a few I created:

At least 85% of your job is effective communication with the people you work with. Objectives, plans, and ideas are worthless unless everyone involved understands them well enough to take action. - Josh Kaufman

Return on Invested Time (ROIT) is more important than simple monetary return on investment (ROI). Money is plentiful; time is not. - Josh Kaufman

The best businesses in the world focus their time and energy on creating, not competing. - Josh Kaufman

If your ad is not interesting, it’s irrelevant. - Josh Kaufman

Great investors are observant and patient. You are far less observant and patient than you think you are. - Josh Kaufman

You often learn the most from what doesn’t go well. From this perspective, temporary failure can be of great value, and all failures are temporary. - Josh Kaufman

Here are a few from people I respect and admire:

Nobody spends someone else’s money as wisely as he spends his own. - Milton Friedman

Money often costs too much. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. - Peter Drucker

Good product development is about working to keep the sharp edges instead of smoothing them over. Create a product some people love, not something no one hates. - Kathy Sierra

Prototyping is valuable. Once you’ve prototyped your idea, you don’t have to persuade people to like it - they can judge it themselves. - Seth Godin

Have any personal business rules of thumb? Add them to the wiki, then post them in the comments below.