A Book Review of Ask, Part I by Ryan Levesque
Levesque, R. (2015). Ask: The counterintuitive online formula to
discover exactly what your customers want to buy ... create a mass of raving
fans ... and take any business to the next level. United States: Dunham
Publishing Group.
Ryan
Levesque Ask book was first presented to me on the internet. I think I paid
shipping to get a free copy of the book. I purchased it because it promised to
help with business. As a small-business owner, I am always looking for books
that help with business. Oddly enough, I received two copies of the book. I’ve
had them on my shelf for a while, but decided to pick it up and start reading
it tonight (January 24, 2016).
Part I
of this book is a self-written autobiography by Rayn Levesque. He discusses his
life aspirations and how he came to discover and put together his famous “Ask-technique.”
This technique isn’t revealed until part 2, (which I haven’t read at this
time).
Neuroscience
is something I don’t know anything about. I had posted a blog entry at my Rec
Therapy Today blog earlier today [on Sunday, January 24, 2016] regarding 13
books that Neuroscientist Sam Harris recommends for people to read. I didn’t
recognize any of the books recommended. The post did mention and suggest the
Tim Ferris Show. Ironically, The
Four-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss is pointed out as a book that he had read
while in China.
Levesque
discusses how he studied neuroscience at
Brown University because he was originally planning on becoming a doctor. He
didn’t take that path. He makes a reference to the sour grapes fable, where the
fox who is not able to reach the delicious grapes, decides to call them sour
and pretend he didn’t really want them.
Self-determination
is also discussed in his book. Levesque posts a self-reflection question in his
that is strikingly similar to the one Daniel Pink asked in his (2009) book,
Drive. He has a choice to select a high salary ($120,000) or take a third of
that salary ($42,000 with no bonuses) but have a very intrinsically rewarding
career. Levesque takes the path less
taken and goes for the personally fulfilling career.
Law of
Attraction (LOA) experts argue that you attract and bring into your life
whatever you think about most. Levesque doesn’t discuss LOA, however, he
appears to have implied in his chapter on “an unexpected twist,” where he
receives a message about an opportunity at the right time.
Levesque
includes a long letter that he had written to his mother. The letter consists
of goal to makea lot of money from a business concept. He discusses several of
his personal qualities that gives him faith that he can make it happen.
These qualities consisted of:
- ·
Goal-setting
- ·
Hard-work: to learn more
- ·
Taking courses: to learn more information
- ·
Persistent: keeping at it and improving
He
appears to be self-validating of his own accomplishments when addressing this
letter to his mother. He appears to be seeking her validation as well and yet determined
to go for his dream of making money without any validation from others.
Levesque
appears to have always had an interest in business, marketing, and copywriting
from an early age. He shared how he had studied
copywriting from Gary Halbert Letters.
Part 2 (The techniques) will be covered in the next Rec
Therapy Today blog entry.
Bibliography
Levesque, R. (2015). Ask: The counterintuitive online formula to
discover exactly what your customers want to buy ... create a mass of raving
fans ... and take any business to the next level. United States: Dunham
Publishing Group.
Pink, D. (2009). Drive
