Thomas Friedman talks of 10 things that made the world flat: 1. Fall of the Berlin Wall The events of November 9, 1989, tilted the worldwide balance of power toward democracies and free markets. 2. Netscape IPO The August 9, 1995, offering sparked massive investment in fiber-optic cables. 3. Work flow software The rise of apps from PayPal to VPNs enabled faster, closer coordination among far-flung employees. 4. Open-sourcing Self-organizing communities, � la Linux, launched a collaborative revolution.

Link: HBS Working Knowledge Maximization does not work as a measure of success What is the right measure of success in your eyes? What is it for your company or school? Is being really successful inevitably a matter of being the best, highest, youngest, richest, smartest, and prettiest on every scale you know—that is, celebrity winner-take-all? Such standards are maximized forms of accomplishment. Simply put, maximization is any form of going for the extreme—genius intelligence, superhuman effort, the best house, the unique lifestyle, and the most profit possible.

If one can start a service which involves yoga for TODDLERS! , yes Toddlers, it definitely classifies for a purple cow. Link :Itsy Bitsy Yoga .

A vending machine that beams software to Palm organizers is a Purple Cow. It never runs out of inventory, it appeals to people with credit cards and with time and money to spare, and the profit margins are pretty good. EZ ZAP sells both commercial software and advertiser-supported freeware. You can find one at a local airport if you’re lucky. The freeware is a great way to get someone to try the machine in the first place, don’t you think?

I had read this book 6 months back, but I had to reread this, because I felt I had not learnt the essence of it in the first read. Now this by itself says a lot about the book. E-Myth gives a classic insight in to the working of small companies and what it can possibly do to become a successful company. What is E-Myth ? It is a fatal assumption of many an individual who start businesses.