Phil Johnson of Roadside Attraction » Books

Top 10 Strangest Dummies and Idiot’s Guide Books

Phil — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:01:35 +0000

The Idiot’s Guide and Dummies books have been a useful resource for years now. I’ve read quite a few myself. However, there are some odd ones out there that have caught my eye.

1. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the World of Harry Potter
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the World of Narnia

- Why not just read the books? Or if you’re prepping for the movies… Just go see the movies.

2. AD/HD For Dummies
Alzheimer’s For Dummies

- If you can focus long enough to read the first one, good job. But you better take notes if you’re reading the second one.

3. Anger Management For Dummies

- Step 1. Don’t get angry when someone calls you a Dummy.

4. Beach Babies Jigsaw Puzzle For Dummies

- Not so much the puzzle itself. But this puzzle has all the pieces numbered and comes with a map of where they go. Sort of defeats the purpose of doing a puzzle, doesn’t it?

5. Near Death Experiences For Dummies

- Step 1. Go towards the light. Step 2. NOT THAT CLOSE!

6. Depression For Dummies
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Enhancing Self-Esteem

- Because nothing helps you beat depression like being called a dummy and an idiot.

7. Congress For Dummies

- How many 3rd party candidates do you think picked this up just before submitting their names for the ballot?

8. Happiness For Dummies

- Because ignorance really is bliss?

9. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Overcoming Procrastination

- For some reason, nobody ever gets around to reading this one.

10. eBay For Canadians For Dummies

- Are Canadians some sort of special interest group now?

Honorable Mentions:
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Ethics

Addiction & Recovery For Dummies

Baby Massage For Dummies

Banjo For Dummies

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the New World Order

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Zombies

Communicating Effectively For Dummies

Grieving For Dummies

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the New World Order

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Some Sound Financial Advice

Phil — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:12:14 +0000

It’s easy to say that the life of a performer isn’t always one of steady employment. But at this point I think it’s safe to assume that there’s no such thing as safe steady employment anymore. At least for right now.

So I read a lot about personal finance and try to maximize what I do have coming in. I’m not rich, but I am comfortable. And I’m always on the lookout for ways to create new wealth. Because as I say in a new song on my upcoming DVD, “I can’t be funny if I’ve got no money..” I don’t believe in being a “starving artist”.

Recently I read a fantastic book called “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” by Ramit Sethi. If that sounds familiar you may have read Ramit’s blog of the same name.

First take note of the title. It’s “be”, not “get”. This is not a book full of get rich quick stuff. It’s one of the most down to earth, easy to accomplish finance books I’ve seen in a long time. If you’re the type that doesn’t know your assets from a hole in the ground, this is a great way to get started. We’re not setting up budgets and things you’ll never stick to here. It’s all about having a basic plan that will take care of the “needs” and give you some extra for the “wants”. He’ll even show you how to tell the difference between the two.

Highlights:
Scripts for negotiating yourself out of bank fees
Setting up an easy retirement fund and never having to worry about asset allocation. (Just did this one myself)
How to make everything work automatically so you don’t have to spend more than an hour a month on your finances
Tips for the self-employed (hello artists!) on how to make all this work for you too

The whole thing is a very simple step-by-step program to help you learn how to save money and still get all the stuff you want. And yep, there’s even some ideas on how to make more money in your chosen profession.

Ramit calls this and 85% solution. It doesn’t get into trading in single stocks, CD laddering, Options trading, or any of that advanced stuff. This is a book that will get your started and get you comfortable. It will get you 85% of the way there. Which is better than the 0% there that many people have right now. If you want to be a finance nerd, you can learn all that other stuff later.

And I’ll tell you… It’s actually a fun read. Ramit has a great sense of humor. And it’s not often that I find myself laughing out loud while reading about personal finance.

Do yourself a favor and give it a looksee. And yes, that’s an Amazon link that pays me a little change if you buy. Multiple streams of income, my friends.

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com <- Be sure to check out the free download of the week!

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Career Advice From A Financial Wizard

Viral Loop – A Review

Phil — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:04:10 +0000

As an artist always reaching for exposure, I’m always interested in how others are making the web work for them. So I was excited to read Viral Loop by Adam Pennenberg.

The Viral Loop is a collection of case studies of companies that rocketed to the top using viral loops as promotion. Everything from Tupperware to Hotmail to Facebook. Viral loops are easy enough to understand. The created products that aren’t much good unless your friends are doing it too. So you spread the word.

And a lot of the company backgrounds are interesting. There’s a lot of background intrigue covered here, but mostly stuff you can find in other books. It makes a good primer for each company’s story though.

The problem I see is that most of the companies profiled are reaching a maturation stage. And the things they didn’t to kick start their virality won’t work as well now. Like RockYou posted six times on MySpace and took off from their with thousands and millions signing up for their service. Not exactly something that will work these days.

He does go into the new ad unit of “time” rather than clicks and that’s very interesting. I would have liked to have seen profiles on some up and coming companies and what they’re doing right now to grow their business. There’s a few profiles of companies that didn’t work out, like Bebo. But I really wanted to see what didn’t work about businesses that didn’t make it. That’s way more educational than “Omidyar publicized AuctionWeb (Ebay) on Usenet groups and what’s-new sections of websites.”

This book is not a waste of time, but not all it could be either.

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

PS… I’m all viral too. Go get your free downloads and http://www.roadsideattraction.com/8-free-songs and then cough on all your friends and spread it to them too.

State of the Brain 2010

Phil — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:55:45 +0000

Ooh, it’s been a long day. I’ve spent 19 hours driving over the past two days and I’m getting ready to hit the stage here in Montana in just a couple hours to start a two week tour. I’ve played this room twice before, and the question always is “What will I do different this time?”

In fact that’s the question that pops to everyone’s mind every January. It used to be that was an optional question. You could continue your new year the same as the previous and probably be ok. But things change so fast now that it gets harder to keep up. And yet it’s more important than ever to continue to change up your game to stay on top of whatever it is you need to stay on top of.

So with that in mind, I’d like to turn you on to two pieces of reading. First is this letter from the guys in the band in OK Go. http://okgo.forumsunlimited.com/index.php?showtopic=4169 You’ll remember them from the treadmill video a couple years back. It’s a good summation of where the big music industry is right now and how it affects you. Yes, you. I want you to read this, especially if you aren’t a musician.

I’m a little behind on this other one, but I just had a chance to read it in my hotel room last night. Seth Godin, one of my favorite thinkers, released an ebook compiling the thoughts of other important thinkers of marketing, business, internet, and life. No matter what your business, I encourage you to read it. Lots of great ideas for making the world better. You can get it free at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/what-matters-now-get-the-free-ebook.html

As you look over what you want to do this year, some of it will involve pushing more work, some will be pulling back. Read through both of those links and leave a comment below to let me know how you’re going to put it into action this year.

Meanwhile, I’m going to figure out how to make Missoula laugh harder than last time.

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

PS… This is the way we do… I give you 8 free MP3s and you can share them with your friends. You look like a trendsetter, and I get to have more people hear my stuff. http://www.roadsideattraction.com/8-free-songs

Keeping My Brain From Turning To Mush With Audio Books

Keeping My Brain From Turning To Mush With Audio Books

Phil — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:02:22 +0000

When I’m on the road, I spend a lot… and I mean A LOT of time driving by myself. It can be anywhere from 6-10 hours a day in the car in between gigs. I’ve always said they pay us to drive and we perform for free.

To keep me alert and engaged I listen to a ton of audio books. Over the last two weeks I encountered some good ones and thought I’d share them with you.

Gang Leader For A Day by Sudhir Venkatesh
If you read Freakonomics, you probably ran across the section on street gang economics. The data in that section came from Sudhir Venkatesh. And those weren’t numbers he just popped up with after a few days work. He spent 10 years getting in the good (and sometimes bad) graces of one of Chicago’s largest and most powerful street gangs. This book is the story of how he did that. The writing is engaging and the characters are classic. It’s also interesting to see how he tries to come to his own conclusions about what sociology should be and what kind of practitioner he wants to be. This whole book is a fascinating look into gang life and active sociology.

Myths Lies And Downright Stupidity by John Stossel
You may know John Stossel as the ‘Gimme a break” guy from 20/20. This book promised to take a lot of conventional wisdom and ideas and flush them down the toilet. I’m a contrarian by nature, so this appeals to instantly. He attacks government, education, parenting, the sexes, health issues, law, experts, consumerism… It’s pretty wide ranging and a very entertaining read/listen. Want to find out why chocolate is good for you? How about why homeopathic medicine can’t possibly work? Not to say that we should take everything this book says at face value. I’m sure there’s plenty of facts for the other side too. But it’s certainly fun to listen to.

Storming Las Vegas by John Huddy
In the late 1990′s, Las Vegas experienced a 16 month crime wave targeting some of the largest casino properties in town. And the crooks took millions. Sounds like an exciting story. But with audio books, the performance of the voiceover actor is nearly as important as the writing. And this guy didn’t cut it. His voice is a little too monotone and his accents (for the characters) are weak. His Cuban accent sounds more Russian. I think I may try again with the print version of this book, but I only got through the 2nd CD on the audio version.

The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax
Normally I’m a nonfiction reader with few exceptions. But this fiction novel has a musical angle and looked interesting. It follows the story of Feliu Delargo as he makes his was from being a poor, but talented, child in a little town in Spain to a world renowned cellist. Throughout his career he sees the highest of highs and lowest of lows. Something every performing artist can relate to. I’m only 2/3 of the way through this book. And it starts a little slow, but gets going a few chapters in. I’m very impressed with how in touch the author is with what happens in a performer’s mind. How they relate to the audience, other players, the music, themselves, and the world at large. Artists will love this story. And anyone who would like to understand the artistic mind a little better will gain from it as well.

Coming Friday… Disney Expo updates!

Phil Johnson
www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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Book Review – The E-Myth Revisited

Phil — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:09:56 +0000

As an independent performing artist, I’m always on the lookout for good business books. The days of being a rock star with a zillion handlers to take care of the day-to-day tasks are long gone in this business. Artists are very involved in their own businesses now.

The E-Myth Revisited is not an artist-centered book. It’s for entrepreneurs. Or, more importantly, people who think they’re entrepreneurs, but are really just stuck in a job they’ve designed for themselves. The book looks at why so many small businesses don’t survive. That subject by itself isn’t very useful though.

Michael Gerber goes on to show you how to design a business from the ground up that is independent of it’s owner. A system that allows the owner to be an owner and not a worker. Not that you’d spend the rest of your life on vacation. But your business would run itself while you take care of important things.

I’ve got the audiobook version that I listen to during my morning walk. And I’m starting my 2nd listen. This is the type of book that you read once, then go back and read again, stopping to accomplish each of the steps laid out for you.

One thing I find in a lot of small business books is that they don’t answer the questions that pop up in my mind while I’m reading them. Michael Gerber must be a mind reader. Everytime a question or objection popped into my head, he was answering it in the next couple minutes. Kind of creepy at times.

So, if you’re looking to develop a business that doesn’t involve you being directly involved every single day, give this book a go. And, as a companion, read The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. It will show you how to make Mr. Gerber’s principles work in a modern environment. They compliment each other perfectly.

Phil Johnson
www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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