Last month I was asked by Teresa Morrow of Key Business Partners if I would be willing to do a book review.  I spent a little time researching her site and I was totally impressed with Key Business Partners and what they do in terms of building community.  I agreed to review the book “Upbeat” by Rajesh Setty and awaited the book’s arrival in my mailbox.

Rajesh’s book arrived about a week ago along with a book of inspirational tweets and a DVD titled, “The Fulcrum Effect”.

Upbeat‘s subtitle is, “Cultivating the right attitude to thrive in tough times.”  At a little less than 100 pages, Upbeat is an easy read.  Rajesh does a great job of providing a positive spin on the tough economic times.  His style is not preachy or condescending and although it is apparent that English may be his second language, there is nothing distracting enough to take away from Rajesh’s message.

The book is full of profound statements based on his experiences through good and bad economic times.  Rajesh takes great care to point out that a recession is actually a perfect time to develop and take advantage of new (and old) business partnerships and opportunities.  “People need help… to get through these trying times.  Right now,this minute, you should focus on helping people.”  Rajesh is saying that if you make yourself one of the ten percent that are helping the other 90 percent who are awash in a sea of despair, you will have no choice but to come out on top.

One of the major tenets of this book is the concept of tenacity.  “Giving up is easy – Anyone can do it.”  Just by virtue of the fact that you continue to strive for excellence, you put your self in a whole other class of people:  people who have the tenacity to be successful.

Overall, it’s hard to argue with the positive message of Upbeat.  There are strategies designed to help you focus on the positive and come out on top.  There is nothing earth shattering in these concepts that Rajesh presents.  It’s just that he presents them in a logical manner that ties everything together in a clear manner.

It’s safe to say that I liked this book.  It is one of those treasures that after reading, the inclination is to pick it up and read it all over again.

A little about Rajesh:

Rajesh’s mission in life is to bring good ideas to life. With love!

Rajesh is involved in a few companies in some combination as a founder, operating executive, board member and/or an investor. Apart from that, he has written a few books and is working on a number of them. His first book was published at the age of thirteen. While he is not building companies or writing, he enjoys speaking at conferences and company events.

You can read his latest thoughts on his blog Life Beyond Code or on Twitter at UpbeatNow. If you are really curious to know the events that shaped his thinking, you can read his story so far here.

Rajesh lives in the Silicon Valley with his wife Kavitha and son Sumukh