The Essentials of Corporate Fraud book tour is going full steam ahead. Next week I’ll be talking with a group of accountants, attorneys, and bankers in Milwaukee on How To Commit Fraud and Get Away With It… A look at how management can spot the warning signs of corporate fraud.
Come join Corporate Casual at their April 29 meeting at the Milwaukee Bar Association: [Read more...]
A few months ago I agreed to read and review An American Hedge Fund
His creativity in regard to the stock market and growing assets is fantastic. He wrote his book to give ordinary people a peek into the life of a day trader. Tim made many mistakes while he was growing his $12k+ Bar Mitzvah money into over $1.65 million. (Incidentally, he’s working on repeating that feat just to prove that he didn’t just get lucky.) And he’s not hiding those mistakes. He’s telling the world about them.
I liked the book. I really did. I think it could have been even better with a stronger editor, though. The story is inspiring, but at the same time Tim spares no criticism of himself and the mistakes he made. What I think the book lacked is a bit of the “how-to” that I expected from it. I really enjoyed Tim’s story, and feel that adding some practical tips along with his story would have been a big benefit to the book. [Read more...]
Today I sent out an email to all my business contacts announcing my new book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud. The email included a little bit about the book (what it’s about, who it’s for), a link to purchase it from Amazon.com, and a request for bloggers to mention it on their sites if they were so inclined.
I admit being a bit giddy. But how often does one have their first book published??? Well, I think it’s exactly once or never, depending on your circumstances. So my “once” is pretty special to me.
And one by one, I got lovely notes back from clients, associates, and friends.
And then there was “the” response. This response came from someone I respected greatly, until today. I had spent several thousand dollars in the past on his seminars and had purchased several of his books. I recommended him to many other professionals, and encouraged them to buy his books. I was recently eagerly looking at his seminar list, mulling over which seminar I’d be ready for next. (Another several thousand dollars for one of those.) [Read more...]
How often in your professional life have you been told to “get outside your comfort zone”? What you’re being told is: Do more of what you dislike and Do more of what you’re not good at.
How much sense does that make? You are being encouraged to beat your head against a wall, because somehow that is supposed to help you get ahead or make you a better person?
Really, that makes no sense to me. And it makes no sense to Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach. Strategic Coach is a program to help make successful entrepreneurs even more successful. And the number one guiding principle in the program is that of your “Unique Ability.” [Read more...]
You’re trying to develop your business and increase your name recognition and your professional profile. Do you even know where to begin? One of the most basic steps is asking for the opportunity… asking to be able to promote your company, asking others to promote you, asking to be paid more, asking do to something that gets you exposure…
Locally, I have been referred to as the queen of shameless self-promotion, and I can’t argue with that too much. I started my business from scratch, with literally no money, no clients, and no spouse to float me financially. Ever hear someone say “you eat what you kill”? Well that was definitely true for me.
Early on, I had the chance to meet E. Kelly Hansen (now E. Kelly Fitzsimmons) and she was a local media darling. She ran her own computer security firm and you couldn’t open the Business Journal without seeing a picture of her or a quote from her. I decided that I wanted to be “the Kelly Hansen of fraud.” I wanted my mug in the newspapers and in the magazines. [Read more...]
A couple of years ago, I didn’t understand why a friend of mine used Stamps.com. Who wants to pay $16 a month just for the privilege of printing their own postage, when you can go to the post office for free???
I quickly realized that going to the post office isn’t really free. How much time do you take away from your real business by running to the post office? [Read more...]
My first book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud, is not even done printing yet, and I am already starting to write my second book for John Wiley & Sons. How did I do it Well that’s all a bit of a mystery to me.
You see, the process was all so easy. There was none of this “write a book and pitch it to a publisher.” I didn’t go through the process of creating a massive book proposal and sending it to publishing companies.
The process was quite easy. I met my editor at an industry conference. We chatted for a short while and I expressed my interest in writing a book on fraud. We exchanged a few emails over the next three months, but not much came of it.
Until the day when I contacted my editor and said I was ready to get serious about writing and publishing a book. I wanted to know what I had to do in order to make it happen, because I was going to write a book and it was going to get published. It was just a matter of whether or not Wiley wanted to be my publisher. [Read more...]
Are you sick of seeing people on their BlackBerrys??? Writing emails with their thumbs all day and all night… even during meetings or while they’re having lunch with you?
Companies and individuals are trying to do something about it by having Blackouts… periods of times during which you have to turn off the device.
If you’ve ever had a service outage, you may feel lost and alone without service to your BlackBerry. This suggested voluntary blackout may feel much the same way. But experts say this may be necessary in order for employees to get their lives back. What’s so wrong with turning off the device on nights and weekends? Isn’t that the way work used to be? [Read more...]
