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Starting A Business Books

The decision to start a business brings many issues suddenly into focus.

I’m wary of working with new start-ups because business owners often have unrealistic ideas on what’s needed to succeed. The lean start-up movement that began with IT projects is useful in that it aims to quickly confirm commercial viability at a low cost.

Keeping costs down is usually essential so it’s well worth investing in some of these books along with those on the other topics before you spend too much time and money making common but costly mistakes.

FIVE STARS

Will It Fly?: How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money by Pat Flynn – An excellent guide to test-driving your new business before the blood, sweat and tears start to flow. Amazon.co.uk

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E Gerber -this is perhaps the most important but also the most frustrating small business book that’s been written. I’ve put it in the starting a business section because it’s best to avoid these mistakes. Too often business owners know how to do the operational work but don’t know how to build a business (this link takes you to my review). Amazon.co.uk

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E Gerber

The book is available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Summary: The E-Myth Revisited: Review and Analysis of Gerber’s Book – An excellent summary that gives you the important ideas of Michael Gerber without the irritating bits. Amazon.co.uk

The Chic Entrepreneur: Put Your Business in Higher Heels by Elizabeth Gordon – A terrific book written for female entrepreneurs which should also be read by men because it gives an all around look at how to manage a business successfully (this link takes you to my review). Amazon.co.uk

Elizabeth Gordon The Chic Entrepreneur

This is available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

The Start Your Own Business Bible: 501 New Ventures You Can Launch Today by Richard J. Wallace – I’ve been asked several times “what’s the best business to start?”The answer depends on lots of different things but especially the business owner and his or her talents and interests. Amazon.co.uk

The Start Your Own Business Bible: 501 New Ventures You Can Launch Today by Richard J. Wallace

The book is available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

FOUR STARS

Wake Up and Change Your Life by Duncan Bannatyne – Recommended for anyone thinking about starting a business. Amazon.co.uk

43 Mistakes Businesses Make…and How to Avoid Them: Your Expert Guide to Better Business by Duncan Bannatyne – Good for anyone thinking about starting a business. Amazon.co.uk

The Best Laid Business Plans: How to Write Them, How to Pitch Them by P Barrow – Identifies four types of business plan and guides you through what’s needed. Amazon.co.uk

Introduction to Investing in Startups – Creating your own custom system for saying yes or no to offers to invest in new businesses by Karl Dakin – a useful guide to reviewing an investment decision and therefore it’s useful to see the other perspective if you want to raise money. Amazon.co.uk

The One Page Business Plan: The Fastest, Easiest Way to Write a Business Plan by Jane Horan – A very interesting way to develop or summarise your plans for a business. Amazon.co.uk

Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal by Oren Klaff – A fascinating approach to making a pitch about your business to investors or customers. Amazon.co.uk

Start at the End: How Companies Can Grow Bigger and Faster by Reversing Their Business Plan by David Lavinsky – a very useful guide to start-up businesses, even if it wasn’t focused on the reverse engineering principle as much as I’d have liked. Amazon.co.uk

The Star Principle: How it can make you rich by Richard Koch – a terrific book for helping you to think about starting in a particular niche or whether you should continue with a struggling business. Less value if you want it as a guide for investments. Amazon.co.uk

Summary: Review and Analysis of Masterson’s Book: Ready, Fire, Aim – A book that you probably should read in full as it guides you through four growth stages from infancy (0 to $1 million) through to maturity (over $50 million). Amazon.co.uk

The Beermat Entrepreneur: Turn Your Good Idea into a Great Business by Mike Southan and Christopher West – A guide to start building a big business. Amazon.co.uk

THREE STARS

The One Minute Entrepreneur: The Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business by Ken Blanchard et al – Not as good as I’d hoped but worth reading if you’re thinking about starting a business. Amazon.co.uk

Beyond The E-Myth: The Evolution of an Enterprise: From a Company of One to a Company of 1,000! by Michael E. Gerber – Sorry but it’s a non-essential follow-up to The E-Myth Revisited. Small business owners are different to entrepreneurs. Amazon.co.uk

Summary: The E-Myth Enterprise: Review and Analysis of Gerber’s Book – Summarised update to an early Gerber book The Power Point. Amazon.co.uk

Summary: Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: Review and Analysis of Gerber’s Book – A condensed version of the entrepreneur ‘s creation process without the waffle. Amazon.co.uk

The Small Business Life Cycle: A No-Fluff Guide to Navigating the Five Stages of Small Business Growth by Charlie Gilkey – A business faces new challenges as it grows. Amazon.co.uk

From Startup To Scale Up: How to double the size of your business in 12 months or less AND grow it to an 8-figure valuation! by Russell Streeter – Mainly a lead generation tool for a business coach. Amazon.co.uk

TWO STARS

Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies by Michael E. Gerber – Very disappointing. I expected far more from this small business guru. Amazon.co.uk

ONE STAR

the golden rule for start ups: a guide for emerging business owner by bafs folarni – Don’t bother with this one, the clue is in the careless way its on Amazon without any capital letters. I know it looks strange but I just copied and pasted the book title and author name from Amazon.

Successful Franchising: Expert Advice on Buying, Selling and Creating Winning Franchises by Bradley J Sugars – One of the worst books every written by an expert in the subject

Would You Prefer To Watch Videos And Listen To Audio Recordings Instead Of Reading?

Is Your Business In Trouble, Struggling, Stuck Or Simply Not Growing As Fast As You Would Like?

This is a link to an exceptional business growth training system. When I saw this, I gave up all ideas of developing my own information product because I can’t develop anything as comprehensive or as well presented. I am an affiliate so, if you decide to try it, I will receive a commission.

Is Your Business In Trouble, Struggling, Stuck Or Simply Not Growing As Fast As You Would Like?

See My Review Of The Training

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