Shortform Books

The Bait-and-Hook Business Model: Explained

What is the bait-and-hook business model? How do bait-and-hook businesses make a profit? The bait-and-hook business model is where a business sells the main product (for example, coffee machine or printer) at a low cost in order to generate profit by selling complementary products/refills/top-ups (for example, coffee capsules, printer ink) at a high price. In effect, businesses choose to initially make a loss in the hope of making a future profit from ongoing purchases. In this article, we’ll take a look at the concept behind bait-and-hook business models and how they generate revenue.

The 4 Risks of New Product Testing

How do you test new products? What are the four major risks that need to be addressed? A crucial part of the product development and discovery process is new product testing. There are four major risks that need to be addressed during these tests: value, usability, feasibility, and business viability. Keep reading to learn how to assess the four risks of new products.

How to Design Your Customer Relationship Strategy

How do you communicate with your customers? Does your business have a customer relationship strategy? Customers expect businesses to understand the relationships they want and to respond appropriately. However, despite spending billions trying to understand customer relationships, businesses often don’t understand these expectations and end up undermining their interaction efforts. There are two steps to designing your customer relationships strategy: 1) define your touchpoints, and 2) define your interactions. We’ll discuss both of these concepts below.

Sleep in Old Age: Do Seniors Need Less Sleep?

Why do seniors seem to sleep less? Do human bodies require less sleep in old age? According to Matthew Walker, the author of Why We Sleep, seniors require the same amount of sleep as they did when they were younger. However, they often struggle to get their full 8-hours for a number of reasons. Continue below to learn why sleep gets more difficult as you age.

Review of The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

Is The Automatic Millionaire worth reading? What is David Bach’s process for automating wealth-building? The Automatic Millionaire provides a simple but powerful action plan for you to quickly automate your finances, build your wealth, and achieve financial freedom. David Bach argues that, with just a few dollars a day, you can immediately benefit from this book’s advice and start growing your finances. The following The Automatic Millionaire review will cover the book’s context, the author’s background, and critical reception.

How to Start Contributing to Charity

Do you want to start contributing to charities? What charity causes do you want to support? While it certainly feels good to spend your wealth on new gadgets and luxuries, the real value of money comes from how you use it to help others. Consider donating a portion of your income to a cause you care about. Not only will you feel good about yourself, but you’ll also actually feel wealthier and your pursuit of money will feel more meaningful. Let’s explore how you can share your good fortune with others and contribute to a better world.

The Most Inspirational Books for Women, by Women

Are you looking for inspirational books written by women, for women? How can reading these inspiring women’s stories help empower you to live your best life—whether it be your personal life or your work life? In this guide, we’ve put together a list of the most inspirational books for women and split them into three categories: memoirs, personal life, and work life. Most of the authors on this list struggled greatly in life—from childhood traumas, to racial inequality, to workplace discrimination—and managed to come out the other side even stronger. And now they want to encourage you to do the

The 3 Different Kinds of Decisions in Nudge

What are the three kinds of decisions that warrant nudges? How can you improve your decision-making skills? In the book Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein explain that we make choices without realizing how the way they’re presented affects us. Not all decisions require nudges, but there are three common types that do. Keep reading to learn about the three kinds of decisions that warrant nudges.

The Diffusion of Innovation Model (aka TALC) Explained

What is the Diffusion of Innovation (aka TALC) model? How many categories of customers are there in the TALC framework? The Diffusion of Innovation model (also known as the Technology Adoption Life Cycle) was developed by Beal and Bohlen, two agricultural extension agents working for Iowa State College in the 1950s. They developed the model based on studies of when farmers started using new agricultural innovations, such as fertilizer and hybrid seed corn. Others soon generalized the model to technological innovations outside of agriculture. In this article, we’ll take a look at how the Diffusion of Innovation Model explains the

The Benefits of Building a Personal Brand

Why is building a personal brand a good idea for anyone? What are the three top benefits of a personal brand? According to social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk (a.k.a. Gary Vee), every business owner, employee, and aspiring entrepreneur should build a personal brand. The benefits range from boosting sales, to developing a following, to building a resume. Here is Gary Vee’s advice for why you need a personal brand.