One of the most surprising things about Personality Not Included for me has been just how popular the book has been when I introduce it or talk about it with small businesses. There are a few easy reasons I think why this probably is:

1. PNI is very case study heavy, so small businesses will likely find at least one example that relates to their business.
2. PNI is easy to read, particularly for people who may not consider themselves marketers, but need to promote their businesses nonetheless.
3. Small business owners connect with the idea of personality because often the vision, emotion or growth behind their companies has been the result of personal vision and personality on their parts.

As a result, I love doing events, seminars and podcasts devoted to small businesses. I have another one coming up tomorrow evening hosted by my good friend Shashi Bellamkonda and his company, Network Solutions. Frank Gruber from Somewhat Frank (and a super engaging guy) will be interviewing me and we’ll be leading a discussion with more than 100 small business owners about the importance of personality. Like our previous event we did at Busboys & Poets downtown, this event was sold out within a matter of days of it opening up and should be a great event. For those who can’t make it or missed signing up before it was sold out, check out Frank’s site for some audio and video from the event.

I’ve received lots of reviews of Personality Not Included from bloggers, marketers, businesspeople and journalists. There is one, however, that I think offers a great complete picture of the book for those who haven’t read it and says just about everything in one review. Thanks to Julie from PeopleMaps for the great review!

An innovative book in so many ways - the structure; the layout; the design; the marketing — all uber innovative. But what really counts is the content - and Rohit just nails it.

Rohit Bhargava is right up there with the likes of Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki. Why? Because he tells it like it is. There’s no jargonistic BS in this book. Just plenty of (super cool) examples and global ones at that - Rohit shows a refreshing awareness that we don’t all live in the USA!

The whole of Part Two is devoted to what to do with the revelations laid out in Part One. Yes - read this book and Rohit will tell you what to do for your business (though, to be honest I already had a page full of notes about things to do/improvements to make/nuggets to share from each of the chapters in part one as they unfolded - that’s how enlightening it is).

This book isn’t just for marketers. It isn’t just for trendy start-ups. It is for any business - from solopreneurs through to blue chip. It is also relevant to anyone in any position in the work place - anyone who wants to make a difference that is.

If you love Seth Godin, or Guy Kawasaki then you’ll love Rohit Bhargava. If you’ve no idea who any of these people are, but are looking for a refreshing and up-to-the-minute business read, then you could do no better. You won’t be able to resist taking action during and after this one.

Welcome to all of you BzzAgents who are making it to this site as a result of Frogpond campaign that I recently launched this week. I’ve been reading furiously trying to keep up with the nearly 2500 reviews and comments that you have left about this site and the book and contrary to what you might think, I don’t have a team of people to help read all of them so I’ve been going through all of them myself! From what I have learned so far, there are basically three categories of comments:

1. Not interesting - for BzzAgents who are just not into business and don’t know anyone who runs a business or works in business … the book didn’t have much to offer.
2. Like the book, but the website was confusing - many people read and enjoyed the excerpt (though many people wished for more content from the book to consume). Others thought it could be interesting, but were confused or turned off by the website.
3. Loved it and bought it - this was my favourite category (obviously!) of people who loved what they read on this site or through the excerpts and said they would go ahead and buy the book.

I haven’t done a full analysis, but these categories seemed about equal in their spread (33% each). As I spent some time this weekend thinking about what to do to incorporate this feedback, I decided to focus on two things. The first was to correct some BzzAgents who thought the campaign was run by a big organization (it wasn’t … it’s just me). The second was to offer the second group from the list above more information to hopefully address their concerns and help them figure out if the book may actually be useful for them or someone else they know.

To that end, I redesigned the main section of the homepage to use a better description of what the book is all about. In addition, I’m releasing another book excerpt of material, available at www.personalitynotincluded.com/pnibonusexcerpt.pdf. This excerpt is the first several pages of Chapter 6 and should give even more of an idea of what the book is about. Happy reading and if you’re a BzzAgent and made it here, let me know if any of this helps!

This weekend I put the finishing touches on the long awaited Reader’s Community for Personality Not Included and just put it live last night. The area has links to the official Facebook Reader’s Group, information for International readers, and a list of stores where you should be able to get a signed copy of PNI. Future features in the area will include the ability to buy PNI anonymously for someone, and even more extended international content. Check out the section at www.personalitynotincluded.com/readers-community and let me know what you think.

I first met Roxanne Darling at a great show for video bloggers called Vloggercon more than two years ago, and since then I’ve been following the rise in popularity of her video blog, BeachWalks with Rox. The show, shot daily from the beach at her home in Hawaii is the perfect reminder to stressed out east coast workers that they need to take a moment to slow down a bit and Rox is the perfect person to deliver that message in her natural and authentic style. So check out her review, and subscribe to her show to get some great ideas and thoughts delivered via video blog from a very unexpected place.

Beach Walk 648 - Personality Preferred

Tomorrow evening at Busboys and Poets in downtown Washington DC, there is an event that I’m particularly excited about for two reasons. First, because it’s a very unique format and will be highly entertaining, and secondly because it’s one of my first appearances talking about the book that will be focused on small businesses. The event is a live edition of Jonny Goldstein’s highly popular Jonny’s Par-tay podcast. For those who haven’t heard Jonny, he’s got a style that is extremely engaging and unique - probably the reason why his podcast is one of the most popular in the DC area. For those of you with longer memories, you’ll also remember that Jonny won the prize for Best Interview as part of my Virtual Interview Contest - so he’s clearly got personality as well and our conversation should raise some great topics. Even if you can’t make it to the live session in DC (it’s currently sold out), you can tune into the show live tomorrow evening (June 4, 2008) online from 7pm EST to 7:40 EST.

During our session, we’ll chat about the necessity for personality, how it works and answer lots of questions from entrepreneurs and small business people about the power of personality. Attendees will also have the chance to get their own signed copies of the book. Also, a special thanks to Network Solutions for sponsoring the event. Shashi Bellamkonda (the “Social Media Swami” at Network Solutions) has been a great champion of the book and has taken on the role of “accidental spokesperson” at his company to help them connect with more small businesses in a really innovative way by participating in social media and hosting events like this one. Thanks to his strong marketing efforts, the session sold out within a couple of days of announcing it. Given the popularity of this event, we’re already thinking of doing another one in DC in the coming months and perhaps expanding the event format to a few other cities as well.

Link Love and Thanks to Sponsors:

Network Solutions
DC Media Makers
Busboys and Poets
Jess3

One of my favourite topics is looking forward and trying to predict what’s next. Tomorrow I’ll be leading a great panel devoted to exactly that topic in New York at the IAB Social Media & User Generated Content event. Here’s a description of the session and the other participants:

The Future Is Now - What’s Here, What’s Next and What’s In the Way?

Advertisers and marketers are continually on the hunt for creative opportunities to be “in” the social space. The landscape is constantly evolving but there are some pioneers of the platform who “got there first” and did it right. This panel teaches future-thinking advertisers how to be on the outer edge of the social space by encouraging new ways of thinking as well as sharing emerging techniques & technologies which address the paramount issues of privacy, monetization, scale and brand control.

Moderator: Rohit Bhargava, SVP, Digital Strategy & Marketing, Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence
Aaron Lilly, Senior Marketing Manager, Microsoft
Geoff Reiss, CEO, Associated Content
Ian Schafer, CEO, Deep Focus
Chad Stoller, Executive Director, Emerging Platforms, Organic