Eric D. Colburn, PLS

Over the weekend I listened to a few podcast; some funny, some news oriented and a few with business and marketing topics. Marketing is often misunderstood, or overlooked altogether, by many professional land surveyors, engineers and designers. So, when I find something to help you understand a subject, like marketing in this case, I’ll share that with you to help you improve your land surveying business.

In one podcast I listened to, the host interviewed Sally Hogshead, who is a speaker, author and brand innovation consultant. She has also been profiled by The New York Times, NBC, CBS and MSNBC. It was interesting and informative listening to her being interviewed in this podcast about her latest book entitled, Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation(eCampus affiliate link). I obviously have not had a chance to get her book and read it yet, but I sure look forward to doing so.

From what she said, and in looking at her website, this book discusses why certain people are captivating, why we lean towards certain brands, and not others, and how to convince people to change their behaviors.

Quoting from her website:

“Fascination is the most powerful way to influence decision-making. It’s more persuasive than marketing, advertising, or any other form of communication. And it all starts with seven universal triggers of fascination: power, lust, mystique, alarm, prestige, vice, and trust.”

This new way of thinking about our hardwired human behaviors and applying our understanding of this phenomenon to branding and marketing, seems to make a lot of sense and is something you could use to better understand your (you and your company) marketing strategy.

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PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY

In this week’s PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY I’m asking the question:

Does Your Company Share Its Financial Data?

Is your firm one that has an open book policy and readily shares the financial health of the business? Or, perhaps, if they do share financial data, maybe it’s only a small portion or sanitized version or reality.

Open or Closed Book

I’ve worked at several companies, none of which shared much, if any, financial data. One reason why those companies kept closed books was because they didn’t want the employees to see the finances when times were good. In some respects, that’s understandable. I have been on both sides of the employee/employer paradigm. I now know that when I was an employee I didn’t understand what my bosses went through on a weekly basis to keep the ship moving in the right direction, to pay the employees and to pay all of the bills. As an employer, you fear that in keeping open books all an employee will see is revenue and not all the bills that chip away at those revenues, leaving little if any left over for you the boss.

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Surveying Solved Problems for the FS and PS Exams (Paperback)

Surveying Solved Problems for the FS and PS Exams

Product Description

Take advantage of this opportunity to work over 1100 exam-like practice problems and successfully prepare for the FS or PS exam. Using a “building block” approach to learning, problems are grouped by topic progressing from easiest to most challenging helping examinees understand core concepts and improve their problem-solving skills. Each problem has a complete solution that demonstrates Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Secrets Every User Should Know. eCampus.com Affiliate Link

“I’ve been using AutoCAD for 22 years and have written a hundred books on the subject. I reviewed many CAD books back in the days when book reviews were common in CAD publications; some were innovative, others were just sad. But for nearly a decade, it’s been mostly silence on the book review front. Then earlier in the summer, a book arrived in the mail from Sybex: AutoCAD Secrets Every User Should Know by Dan Abbott. Reading it, I got excited: here’s a book for every AutoCAD user, even old-timers like me.” – Ralph Grabowski, Editor, upFront.eZine.com: The Business of CAD

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Practical Surveyor (Paperback)

Practical Surveyor

Manthey’s mathematical analysis of Wyld’s survey computations is excellent. His explanation of Wyld’s terminology is also very good. — Professional Surveyor Magazine

Product Description
“In this small tract you’ll find the whole Art of Surveying Land epitomized. The rules and methods here laid down in a plain and familiar manner, such as are fittest for a Practioner’s use, without an unecessary mixture of useless curiosities and needless repitition. And although brevity be chiefly intended, yet nothing is here omitted, but what might be well enough be spared in a treatise that immediately relates to the Practice.”

eCampus.com Affiliate Link

“Many architects, landscape architects, and interior designers are self-employed or are partners in small firms. These professionals must understand the management, administrative, and planning skills that are critical to the success of a design firm–and apply them to a small business profile. The revision of this best-selling book addresses the latest changes that affect the successful management and growth of small firms.” Professional Land Surveyor Source: eCampus.com

This is a book that you have to read. It is one of the best books I’ve read that is specifically written for Architects, Engineers and Design Professionals: Professional Land Surveyors included.

I stumbled across this book shopping for business books at a major bookstore, not believing that something so related to our industry has even been written. It was well worth the price and in reading this book I improved my business, business skills and business outlook.

I rate this book 4 RODS out of a total possible 4 RODS.

Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books)

Product Description
The economic tipping point for the United States is no longer theoretical. It is a reality today. The country has gone from the world’s largest creditor to its greatest debtor; the value of the dollar is sinking; domestic manufacturing is winding down – and these trends don’t seem to be slowing. Peter Schiff casts a sharp, clear-sighted eye on these factors and explains what the possible effects may be and how investors can protect themselves. For more than a decade, Schiff has not only observed the U.S. economy, but also helped his clients reposition their portfolios to reflect his outlook. What he sees is a nation facing an economic storm brought on by growing federal, personal, and corporate debt, too-little savings, a declining dollar, and lack of domestic manufacturing.
Crash-Proof is an informed and informative warning of a looming period marked by sizeable tax hikes, loss of retirement benefits, double digit inflation, even – as happened recently in Argentina – the possible collapse of the middle class. However, Schiff does have a survival plan that can provide the protection that readers will need in the coming years. Read the rest of this entry →

Financial Protection in the UK Building Industry (Kindle Edition)

Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 (Paperback eCampus affiliate link)

Summary

A complete, detailed reference and tutorial for Autodesk’s popular and robust civil engineering software

AutoCAD Civil 3D is the industry-leading civil engineering software, and this guide by a pair of Civil 3D experts is the comprehensive reference for both novices and professionals. It focuses on teaching vital Civil 3D 2010 tips, tricks, and techniques, showing you how to use the software in real-world professional environments.

After you learn the key concepts and how to work with the interface, you’ll explore the best methods for creating, editing, displaying, and labeling all the parts of a civil engineering project.

• This comprehensive guide to the newest version of Civil 3D features coverage of all the new features, including the intersection tool
• Uses real-world examples and practical tutorials to teach vital Civil 3D tips, tricks, and techniques
• Covers the key concepts and software interface and discusses the best methods for creating, editing, displaying, and labeling a project’s elements
• Features in-depth, detailed coverage of surveying, points, alignments, surfaces, profiles, corridors, grading, and LandXML and LDT Project Transfer
• Examines cross-sections, pipe networks, visualization, sheets, project management, and Vault and data shortcuts

Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 (eCampus affiliate link) is the in-depth guide you need to make the most of Civil 3D.

You can purchase this book by following this link ==>>Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 (eCampus affiliate link)

The Halo Effect: … and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This tart takedown of fashionable management theories is a refreshing antidote to the glut of simplistic books about achieving high performance. Rosenzweig, a veteran business manager turned professor, argues that most popular business ideas are no more than soothing platitudes that promise easy success to harried managers. Consultants, journalists and other pundits tap scientifically suspect methods to produce what he calls “business delusions”: deeply flawed and widely held assumptions tainted by the “halo effect,” or the need to attribute sweeping positive qualities to any company that has achieved success. Following these delusions might provide managers with a comforting story that helps them frame their actions, but it also leads them to gross simplification and to ignore the constant demands of changing technologies, markets, customers and situations. Mega-selling books like Good to Great, Rosenzweig argues, are nothing more than comforting, highbrow business fables. Unfortunately, Rosenzweig hedges his own principles for success so much that managers will find little practical use for them. His argument about the complexity of sustained achievement, and his observation that success comes down to “shrewd strategy, superb execution and good luck,” may end up limiting the market for this smart and spicy critique. (Feb. 6)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
“In “The Halo Effect,” Phil Rosenzweig has done us all a great service by speaking the unspeakable. His iconoclastic analysis is a very welcome antidote to the kind of superficial, formulaic, and dumbed-down matter that seems to be the current stock in trade of many popular business books. It’s the right book at the right time.”– John R. Kimberly, Henry Bower Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.