Let's start this article by saying:

If you aren't a fan of second hand book stores, then I'm sorry we can't be friends anymore...

Seriously, what is wrong with you?

I'm an author of ten books, so you could say I have a vested interest in books, but me - and my family – have LOVED second hand book stores, and new book stores, and obviously books in general for way longer than I've been writing them.

Now, this isn't going to be a 'why you should write a business book' article, although you definitely should because a lot of your best future clients will come from books you write and publish.

Growth minded people are generally readers so someone discovering you through a book is often one of the best ways for them to 'enter' your world, find out about you, your personality, your philosophy, your values, your successes and basically decide if they like you or not. Then the book becomes a bridge to them potentially working with you...

But, no this article is not about that.

Instead, I want to share four cool business lessons I picked up, from books I erm...picked up in a second hand book store in Boston.

Let me set the scene...

It was the day before my Dog Daycare Success Academy Immersion event, and Beth and I were set to exploring the city when we stumbled across Brattle Book Shop, located at 9 West St. Boston.

This is one of those amazing bookstores that has more books than places to put them, so the treasure trove spills out onto the street where an alleyway was full of dusty old paperback piled high in wooden bookcases.

Bliss!

Seriously. I was instantly in heaven, as was Beth, and sightseeing was promptly suspended for the next hour while we went rummaging... And that's the thing with second hand book stores... you never really know what you're going to find.

I'll admit Amazon is awesome, and they do take a lot of my money. But, second hand book stores are an adventure, where you never quite know where you will end up.

I ended up – as I often do – with a quaternary of pretty random books that piqued my interest, and I thought it would be cool to share a business lesson from each one that might help you with a current challenge you are facing right now...

So, what did I get?

Well, when I say a random collection I'm not kidding. Although there's a reason I filled my tote with such a mixed bag of miscellany, and I will go more into that later.

     - Everything I Need to Learn I know I learned from a Disney Little Golden Book - by Diane Muldrow
      - Ad Boy: Vintage Advertising with Character - by Warren Dotz and Masud Husain
     - The History of Money - by Jack Weatherford
      - And... a copy of House Beautiful Magazine from 1961 (thanks Google Lens for that info!)

 

That's what I got. So, what did I learn? Let's start with book one.

By Diane Muldrow
Now, in truth I'm a Disney nut so bought this book without even opening it up. It's essentially a very pretty Disney picture book with an interpretated image from a Disney movie and a feel good line on each page. Still... some good advice here.
- Jump in!
- And see what's waiting on the other side
- The world is full of magical places
- Be Curious
- Be an explorer
- Warning: Your Journey may take you out of your comfort zone.
- Do it anyway!

Boy is that true, and pretty reflective of my own business journey over the last few years. In late 2022 I took the decision to run my first business summit in Florida. The next year I was asked to deliver the keynote at the Pet Boarding and Daycare expo in Vegas, and almost four years later here I am running a successful mastermind for Dog Daycare and Pet Resort owners.

It's taken me well outside of my comfort zone, but it has indeed taken me to some magical places. In fact, we've just finished a Dog Daycare Success Academy Immersion event at Lumley Castle, in County Durham in the UK. In August we'll be in downtown Annapolis, in September the immersion event takes place in Milton Keynes football stadium (just outside of London), then in October we'll be in San Francisco.

I didn't know any of this was going to happen the way it turned out, but I'm a business explorer, I am curious, so I jumped in.

What opportunity should you be jumping into, even if you don't know what's waiting on the other side?

Again, another picture book. You starting to see a theme here...

This is packed with over 450 advertising 'characters' and icons from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Green Giant, The Frito Kid, Bud Man, and Tony the Tiger all feature.

Interesting, I read recently that usage of characters like this in advertising has declined by about 30% over the last three decades. Which suggests they've fallen out of fashion... which as any smart marketer will tell you is probably a reason to consider having some kind of mascot to help promote your business.

A friend of mine has recently introduced a mascot to their hotel, and it's gone down very well with guests. In 2015 I turned my own dog, Barry, into the main 'superhero' character who appeared on the cover of my first book, How to Be Your Dog's Superhero.

Since then we've used Barry a ton of different ways.

We "pixified" him for my How to Disnify Your Dog Daycare, put him in uniform to promote my Dog Daycare Business Bootcamp, and there are even 'hidden Barrys' in my paid monthly newsletter The Ledger. An idea I stole from Disney's hidden Mickeys that appear throughout the parks for superfans looking for a more layered experience.

By Jack Weatherford

Book number three is an actual book—yup, I can actually read. Although I must confess I haven't read The History of Money in full, yet.

The reason I picked this up is part of my general quest to learn more about money, wealth, and prosperity. I'm a pretty good marketer and have built a pretty successful coaching program, but I'll be honest: I am less knowledgeable about how to build wealth. But, I want to be wealthy, so I'm learning.

A couple of interesting anecdotes from the book...

When we were kids we used to love to get chocolate money in our stocking. This was much more appreciated—and eaten a lot faster—than the tangerine or satsuma it arrived with.

Did you know though that chocolate cash was used 500 years ago, when the Aztecs used chocolate for money! Well, more precisely they used cacao seeds, usually called beans. With these cacao seeds one could trade for fruit, vegetables, corn, jewellery, clothing, sandals, weapons, and slaves.

Commodity money has the great advantage of being able to be used for consumption as well as a means of exchange. The Aztecs could grind their cacao money into chocolate paste, then beat it into a container of water to make a delicious drink.

Unlike paper money and cheap coins that can lose their face value, commodity money has a value in and of itself. Think on that next time you try and make a bedtime drink out of your worthless crypto code...

If there's a hidden lesson in this book, it's about stories. It's simply packed with wonderful stories that hook you in, keep you interested and then teach you something. And because the lesson came wrapped in a story, you remember it more too.

This is something AI simply can't do, so be very careful of using AI to create all your content. It might read correctly and be technically fine, but it will also be tasteless and forgettable.

Finally, we come to the last book I bought, which isn't a book at all, but rather an old magazine. It features an extensive look at how a Frank Lloyd Wright house evolved over time.

There's some interesting articles in there: 'If you want a good house, study the great homes'—now THAT's aspirational... and 'What Frank Lloyd Wright said about this house'—I mean who doesn't want to know that?

What really caught my eye—and the reason I bought it—are all the amazing adverts. From the gorgeous Cadillac 'insider knowledge' ad, to the amazing Famous Artist Talent Test advert, endorsed by Norman Rockwell no less, there really is something for everyone in House Beautiful.

There are hundreds of smaller but highly interesting ads for everything from the All Weather Cowichan (the World's Finest Outdoor Sweater) to the Electric Hairbrush (professional care for lovely hair), to the Day-N-Night Mailbox Marker, yours for just $1.95, guaranteed for 10 years and a perfect gift apparently. Not sure Beth would appreciate that for her birthday...

The most intriguing advert for me is the one the original magazine buyer clipped to purchase themselves! What was it... we'll never know...

So, there you go. A heckuva good haul I'm sure you'll agree.

And there's another reason I'm such a fan of—let's be honest—oddball books, strange magazines, and generally filling my brain with stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the pet industry...

...and it's because one of the biggest mistakes I see business owners make is only ever consuming information from inside their own industry bubble.

   - They read the same pet business magazines.
   - Listen to the same pet business podcasts.
   - They hang around in—and often get REALLY bad advice from—the same pet business Facebook groups.
   - Go to the same conferences.

 

And then they wonder why they struggle to stand out from the ever-growing competition.

Well, duh!

It's because everyone's marketing sounds the same. Their businesses look the same, with the same offers, same services, same language, and the same "we love dogs" promise. You can't be successful copying from your common competition.

Years ago, top marketer Sean D'Souza said something that stuck with me: Good inputs give you good outputs.

And he's right. Because if all you ever feed your brain is recycled industry chatter, don't be surprised when your business starts looking recycled too. The best ideas in my business very rarely came from the pet industry. They came from:

     - Disney books
     - History books
     - Museum trips
     - Theme parks
     - Biographies
     - Old advertising books
     - Fancy restaurants
     - Quirky hotels
     - Direct response marketers
     - Even Netflix documentaries about Tyson Fury – as you'll remember from Top Dog, Top Dollar Dispatch #4

 

If you only study your own industry, eventually you just become a slightly different version of everyone else in it.

 

Second-hand bookstores are brilliant for this because you aren't walking into an algorithm feeding you more of what you already believe. You stumble across ideas accidentally. You discover worlds you weren't even looking for.

 

And who knows? Maybe one random paragraph in one forgotten old book can spark an idea worth tens of thousands of pounds to your business...

 

Get curious and get out of your comfort zone.

 

That is my challenge for you this week.

Every Sunday, I deliver the unfiltered marketing and operational blueprints I've used to help 2,500+ frustrated dog daycare owners, to stop running a low-margin facility and start building the most expensive (and most wanted) pet destination in town.