Idea to Execution

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

By: Ari Meisel

Narrated by: Drew Birdseye

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 (P)2016 Podium Audio

It's a quick story lacking the meat and potatoes

there are some nice tid bits, but overall it feels like a sales pitch

Tons of Amazing insights

Invaluable information shared by the authors own experiences when growing, scaling and becoming a more automated business.

Must for every “wantpreneur”

Very nice story and a quick guide on what to do to be more efficient, establishing procedures and the use of technology. Must of the softwares mentioned offer a free version which might be helpful when you start your company.
I would not follow every step they took but it can help to give you an idea on what to do if you are stuck in your next steps.

Excellent

This book is now on the required reading list for all our startup founder and leadership teams.

Reads like a business autobiography

I don't typically write reviews but felt compelled to do one here. It might have been my mistake at misinterpreting the purpose of this book, but anytime I see "How To..." in a title, my expectation is to receive some sort of nuggets of motivation or highlighted lessons or tips to shift efforts towards the topic of the book. Rather, this reads more like a niche Virtual Assistant journey on how they shifted month-to-month specifically for a VA business to operate instead of focusing on the ethereal or ideological steps that led to their execution, many times relying on "we didn't know what we were doing so we just explained the function." Though that can work in times of stagnancy, putting it off as a secondhand idea seems counterintuitive to its own title.

To be clear, they did have at least one tip or mantra geared towards the topic (O.A.O.), but that was just about the only one.