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Important Books to Read in the 21st Century

Doing business has changed a lot since the advent of the Internet. For example, it used to be that you could hire a company to create a hype behind your brand, product, or service. But this is not true anymore. You can no longer dictate to the consumers how they will view what you offer. Because if one customer is not satisfied, he is going to blog about it and a lot of people will know. Another thing is that, we don't sell to a single neighborhood anymore. My store may be located in Manila. But that doesn't mean that I can't sell to someone located in Los Angeles, London, or Vancouver. Likewise we should keep in mind that our competition isn't also limited to local stores anymore.

So how does one succeed in a world that offers so much opportunities and yet is also more competitive? Here are the most important books I believe could point the way to help us succeed in this 21st century.

1. The Long Tail:Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More - by Chris Anderson This book describes how the market place is a whole lot different today than during the previous decades and onwards.

2. Free : The Future of Radical Price - by Chris Anderson How can you make a profit when everyone these days expect a lot of things to be free? This book has the answer.

3. The Tipping Point - by Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Gladwell tells us the ingredients needed to turn our products and services into widely successful hits.

4. Freakomomics: A Rogue Economists Explores the Hidden Side of Everything - by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner Offers glimpses of how people behave in certain situations. Read it to find out how you can subtly persuade your customers to buy what you are offering.

5. Art of War by Sun Tzu The principles written in this classical text is still true today as it was during the 6 B.C. It is an indispensable guide on how to beat your competition.

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