How Audible Helped Make Gunaxin Possible

As founder, owner, and editor here at Gunaxin, I read and write content on the Internet for a living. So it may surprise you to know that I absolutely despise reading books. I can read an Internet article, but when it comes to actually putting my nose in a book, I just can’t do it. I read slow, my eyes have trouble focusing, and ultimately I fall asleep. It’s one of the contributing factors for why I dropped out of college. It’s not that I don’t like learning, because I do. It’s just that the de facto standard for delivering information does not work for me.

AudibleThen I discovered Audible, and it was like an entire world of enlightenment had opened up to me.

Audble is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day.

For me, that enrichment came in the form of non-fiction business books, primarily by Seth Godin. Godin is the author of 17 books focusing on marketing, business, and entrepreneurship. Once I discovered the ability to listen to Seth Godin reading his own books with an account on Aubible, I was set on a path that led to the founding of this site, me quitting my job, and doing what I love for a living. It was that pivotal in my life, and the very existence of this site. While it was the brilliant content of Seth Godin that inspired these actions, without Audible, I would have never been able to experience his brilliance.

Seth-Godin

So you can imagine that I was quite eager when contacted by Audible to share my experience with their spoken-word audio products. Audible literally has something for everyone with more than 250,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Everyone is different of course, and some people love listening to fictional audiobooks while driving to and from work, or while sitting on the beach enjoying a cocktail. For me, I listened to books from Audible on my headphones every day while sitting at my old desk. I dreamed of the day that I could take what I had learned and apply it to my own business, and be in control of my own destiny. While I’ve changed my listening habits since going full-time with Gunaxin, I still listen to an occasional audiobook while traveling on planes to press events all over the country. Again that is something that wouldn’t have even been possible without Audible.

Summer is a fantastic time to listen to a book, and I’d like to personally encourage you to try Audible, especially if you’ve found that traditional books just aren’t your thing. Many people prefer to escape into fiction, but if you are interested in learning more about the non-fiction business writing of Seth Godin, I have the following recommendations for you. I suggest starting with the book that got me hooked on his writing, Purple Cow :

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

Purple-CowWhat do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don’t? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last? Face it, the checklist of tired P’s marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed – Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few – aren’t working anymore.

Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us

TribesTribes are groups of people aligned around an idea, connected to a leader and to each other. Tribes make our world work, and always have. The new opportunity is that it’s easier than ever to find, organize, and lead a tribe. The Web has enabled an explosion of all kinds of tribes – and created shortage of people to lead them. This is the growth industry of our time. Tribes will help you understand exactly what’s at stake, and why YOU can and should lead a tribe of your own.

Linchpin : Are You Indispensible?

LinchpinThere used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there’s a third team, the linchpins. These people invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order out of chaos. They figure out what to do when there’s no rule book. They delight and challenge their customers and peers. They love their work, pour their best selves into it, and turn each day into a kind of art.

Honestly, I recommend all of his books, and personally have listened to all of them on Audible with the exception of his latest, The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? I think I know what I’m going to be listening to on my next flight. How about you? Get started now on your summer reading list with a Free 1-Month Trial of Audible.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Audible. The opinions and text are all mine.