Idea to Execution

How to Optimize, Automate, and Outsource Everything in Your Business

By: Ari Meisel, Nick Sonnenberg

Narrated by: Drew Birdseye

Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

Please download the supplementary PDF for a list of the figures referenced in the audio.

When Ari Meisel and Nick Sonnenberg launched their high-end virtual assistant (VA) company, Less Doing™, they changed the culture of start-ups forever, effectively debunking the gospel that every new venture requires months of preplanning and a hefty investment of capital. A business born from scribbled notes on a cocktail napkin during dinner was an up-and-running concern less than 24 hours later, ingeniously brought to life with the help of free, readily available digital tools and apps and no outlay of cash whatsoever.

Meisel and Sonnenberg reveal how a scalable start-up is done to perfection in this fascinating and informative chronicle of their first year in business together. An essential listen for any budding entrepreneur, it follows the creative commercial process from inspiration to inception to success, detailing a bold new approach to 21st century business based on a fearless ingenuity and a willingness to rewrite the rules.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2016 Ari Meisel and Nick Sonnenberg (P)2016 Podium Publishing

This book wasn’t for me

Tons of advertising for software that they use in their business. I listened to the entire book just to get it off of my feed.

Deleted after 30 minutes

This feels more like an ad for the author’s business than a helpful book for me.

more like how to automate "our" business

I thought this book was going to be about helping me automate and outsourced my life but really it was about a story of how they built an Outsourcing company and the tools they use. It was a good story for sure but in the end it didn't really help me out at all

Don’t waste your time

Seeing as this whole book is about “optimization” it should do more than waste the readers time. Frankly, it’s just a couple tools pontificating about how cleverly they started a business without prioritizing their efforts. Glad to have spent an hour listening to this just to realize that maybe the whole book is about learning when you are wasting your time. If that was the case it does work. There’s literally a million better books in this space to guide and actually help.

Not a "How to" but a "How we did" brag book.

Is other than name dropping a bunch of apps they used and briefly describing how they used them, this book was barely worth the price… free. But not worth the time.

Concise but complete

It was very helpful To see the real process for the creation of the company

good read, listened to it twice

use the tools and ideas in this book, and your business will run itself, great process O.A.O

Time well spent

Solid information, insights, recommendations and real world experiences. It is commendable and refreshing that the authors also point out in detail mistakes they made along the way which enhances their credibility.

Good info but...

Took to long to get to the meat. The front end of the book came off like a verbal infomercial that would never end. Once I forwarded past all of the sales pitch for the company I found the rest of the book for the most part pretty informative...

A good listen

This reminds me of a 4 hour work week book series. Lots of good references with substance.

Too much personal story

Full disclosure, I only got halfway through but…
Too much personal story and not enough actionable points. It felt a little more like it was advertising their business and what they do and how they do it. Yes one could take from it, but it’d be better if the author spent time on theoretical principles, or more concrete ways people can implement them.

Not an awful book in the least, but could be better for sure.

Easy listen very insightful

This is not necessarily a how to book, but rather a case study and story of best practice of a start up company. Very insightful.

This book is one big ad. Just repeating the same.

Just repeating the same. Just repeating the same.Just repeating the same. Just repeating the same. and thats it.

Not too many nuggets but they are there

Basically it’s the storey of how they created a business but only give snippets of what they are at and tools the use.

Frighteningly familiar!

What a great story, I couldn’t believe how similar it is to our own with the company I co-founded, gave a useful view into a possible future, very easy to listen to

Very Detailed

I found it quite detailed and I have learnt some precious gems that can be applied in my business.

Excellent case study and tips!

Packed with value and inspiration, an insight into efficiency, purpose and strategy - thank you gentleman!

Seems like they are just advertising their services

Gave up as it felt mainly like they were advertising their business and services.
Not recommend.

It flows

Optimise, automate, and outsource, three channels I didn't know I needed to save my work. I loved it. it showed me where I need to look to make work seamless and find time for growth.
Anyone starting a small business should listen to this book.

I'd hate to have worked for these guys...

Seems to be just an ongoing story of exploitation of a workforce by squeezing them to failure...and a seemingly endless list of unrelated web and mobile apps that will unlock this process by automating humans away. Hubris.

But then I would probably have been fired by the authors on the first day!