Running a 21st-Century Small Business: The Owner's Guide to Starting and Growing Your Company

by Randy W. Kirk

Book Overview

Starting a small business and becoming your own boss is appealing to most people, but over 65% of small businesses fail within their first five years. Budding entrepreneurs simply do not have the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446696188
• ISBN13: 9780446696180
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Business Plus
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

You won't get this in college

The "small business cemetary" wouldn't be nearly as full if the information in Randy's book was taught in college. Think of all the money and time people have invested in "higher" education, only to fail in small business. The chapter on "Goal Setting and Success", by itself, is worth more than the book is selling for. Everyone who is contemplating small business should read this book at least twice.

Soup To Nuts

An excellent book that covers starting up a business from "Soup to Nuts". This should be required reading for any entrepreneur before taking the financial risks involved in any such undertaking. As with all things learned, this book provides a solid starting point to continue to grow from. Randy covers it all from the idea stage, to raising capital, the business plan, building sales, legal issues--you name it--all the way to an exit strategy and selling the business. The section on goal setting alone is worth the price of the book. For those business people with years of experience, it serves as a valuable guide to freshen up on the basics--and should really be a part of any office library. After reading, many people may ask themselves the question, "Why didn't they teach me this in college?"

The best guide I've ever read...

This is the type of book I wish I had when I started my own business two years ago. The discussion of the start up process is concise, but thorough. And the one telling insight for me is two simple sentences early in the book: "You _will_ fail. Even if your enterprise is a success... you'll endure many failures on the way to success." No other guide I've read deals up front with that simple fact. The books is divided into sections dealing with the lifecycle of your business: Starting up? It's in there. Dealing with growth? In there. Dealing with the cause of failure that strangles many business (a hint: are your receipts in a shoebox)? Covered. Bringing on additional employees? Yes, it's in there too. He is especially honest about how an entrepreneur with little experience can deal with the various joys and sorrows of the hiring and firing process - again with an honest and easy to understand writing style. Most guides about starting a small business don't deal with how to stop running it. But this guide is different - talking frankly about exit strategies (How to plan on selling your business). This book is not just a start-up guide. It's a RUNNING guide - designed to be used over and over as your enterprise moves through phases. It has earned a place on my bookshelf and should be dog earred and well worn before long.

A Small Business Guide

This book is an excellent guide written in very easy to understand language and is well laced with case histories and anecdotes. For those entering the world of small business, this book could well be like a GPS.

great book for those wanting to be in private business

This is a great book introducing a person interested in starting or running a business. The author has extensive experience in being an entrepreuner and explains in well written terms the commitments, expectations, and frustrations that running a business entails. Running a business is not for everyone. It takes a lot of time and effort, but done properly it can be rewarding. For those readers who are seriously considering that opportunity, this is one book to read. Kenneth Barden