Common Sense Business: Starting, Operating, and Growing Your Small Business--In Any Economy!

by Steve Gottry

Book Overview

Do you own or plan to own a small business? Do you work for a small business and desire to better understand your boss? Do you know someone who owns a business and wants to be stronger, more focused, and more successful? This is the book for you. The truth is that many business books offer a lot of wonderful sounding theories, but they have little practical application in the real world of small business. Common Sense Business is full of life-and-death...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060778385
• ISBN13: 9780060778385
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: HarperBusiness
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.2" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Common Sense Business by Steven Gottry

This work is an important acquisition for any small business aspirant or entrepreneur. The author asks that we locate a need and fill it. He recommends that we network with peers to get support and advice. Small business growth will require control of overhead spending, efficiency and timely cost savings. Sometimes downsizing is necessary, as is hiring in upturns or business spurts. The section on capitalization recommends that we move capital quickly while utilizing it slowly. The author encourages us to save as much as possible and pay off debts slowly. The volume encourages us to seek successful implementation by utilizing both internal and external resources. A strength of this book is that it will focus your attention on seeking business opportunities which are vital to consumers. The smart business owner seeks to determine what people want and how to deliver products and services consistent with the demonstrated needs. This book will help with the planning, testing and initial implementation of any new business idea. For this reason alone, the purchase will be worth the price charged.

"Common Sense Business" lives up to its name

I have read a great many business books and this was by far one of the best. As an entrepreneur from the time he got out of college, Steve Gottry has a great deal of experience to draw from. As someone who built a phenomenally successful business only to lose it all and start over, he has something to offer to readers at all stages of the entreprenurial cycle. Perhaps most important, however, is that he comes across as a person of a great integrity. When his business went bust, he could have declared bankruptcy and had his debts wiped clean, but he didn't. Instead he made payment arrangements with his creditors, and in some cases, he worked off his debt. He is brutally honest about his own mistakes (in the hopes that others may learn from them). He also makes a point of emphasizing giving back to the community. While many business books deal in lofty ideas, "Common Sense Business" lives up to its name - it provides real world suggestions on how to run and improve your small business.

Common Sense Indeed!

As the owner of a few small businesses, I am continually on the lookout for other people's wisdom. With Steve Gottry's book on small businesses, I get a great deal of wisdom, since he has had more than one small business. He's also had the delightful experience of having a business fail and had the good fortune to learn from the experience. Small business is rarely separate from our personal lives and values. Lessons that we need to learn can be masked in a large corporation, but are front and center in a small business. Gottry tackles these issues head-on with the voice of experience. He is honest about his own foibles and encourages us to be honest about ours. He knows that only by realistically examining who we are in the face of business can we make a long-term success. Few people understand the stages of business, or even think about them when they hang up their business license. When I coach start-up businesses, it is a useful exercise to get the owners to take a good look at their business stage. Steve Gottry provides an excellent overview of each of these stages. The questions at the end of each chapter help the business owner focus and determine the stage of his or her business. Knowing where you are helps you figure out where you need to go. This is an excellent book worthy of the read.

For anyone who has even dreamed of setting up their own business

This is a terrific book for anyone who has ever considered or dreamed of going into business for himself (or herself). Frankly, that is about everyone. I suspect that you have thought about getting out of the 9-5 rat race or getting out of the cubicle farm, but have probably not made the leap into the unknown because too much is unknown and we have responsibilities that limit the risks we can afford to take. This book is much like sitting around with an experienced and friendly uncle who takes you step by step through the things you absolutely must think through before you can seriously consider walking into the jungle of business with the hope of walking out rich. Steve Gottry bases this book on his own entrepreneurial efforts; some successful, others ended in bitter failure. He not only shares the lessons he learned, but extends them into more general lessons about the broad considerations anyone in business must wrestle with. He groups the twenty-three chapters in three broad parts. Part One is in two parts: The Small Business Life Cycle, and The Alternate Route. The first part is for the person who has any kind of desire to be in business, but doesn't know what he would face. It starts with the dreaming stage and helps you get to something more solid. Of course, most of the dreams we have would make lousy businesses, but if you pan enough in the stream of ideas you might find a nugget of real gold. Such is one path to business. He then takes you through the planning and implementation stages. Once you are in business you hope you will have to deal with growth. You will also likely have to adapt and evolve your business, and at some point you will sell it, close it, or pass it on to heirs. The Alternate Route takes you through what you must consider if things go badly and you have to deal with creditors and possibly bankruptcy. He also guides you through your second start-up. Realistically, if you have what it takes to be on your own, you will never be happy working for someone else for the long term. You might have to get a paycheck to get back on your feet, but you will eventually head out on your own once again. Part Two takes you through the process of building on your assets. This is not as obvious as it might seem because it really is more than just your genius product or service. In order to build a loyal customer base, to fight off competitors, to have a great employee team, and to be happy with your life, you really do need to think through these issues. Part Three takes you through those negatives in yourself and your company that can drag you down. They include being distracted by being busy with non-core activities, a poisonous employee or culture, being sloppy, too much debt, getting on the wrong side of Uncle Sam, and letting your fears keep you from doing what must be done. It is a painful look in the mirror, but to be successful look you must! One feature of this book I particularly like is the "Think

If Your Business Faills, Learn from It.

The majority of small businesses fail. They fail for many reasons, but if you look below the superficial incidents, you find a common reason, the owner. ==Mr. Gottry started his first business with the traditiona used typewriter and a hundred dollars. He built it up into a nice sized company, only to see it eventually fail and for the standard reason - the owner believed more in the dream than in the nature of actually running a business. Like most entrepreneurs he took a close look as what happened and started over determined not to make these same mistakes. He also did a better analysis of what went wrong tham most. His analysis of the failure of his own company has been digested into this book. It's one of the better that talk about not trying to fix a giant corporation, but what an individual can do in his own small business.