Thinking Like an Entrepreneur

by Peter I. Hupalo

Book Overview

"Thinking Like An Entrepreneur" teaches you to reason entrepreneurially and to make fundamentally sound business decisions. Whether you contemplate starting a business or are in the process of growing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0967162408
• ISBN13: 9780967162409
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: HCM Publishing
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A must read for existing and future biz owners

Finally a book written on entrepreneurship that has so much to offer! A guide for fledgling IT entrepreneurs as well as a resource for those faced with the myriad problems of the modern business environment. It is also an introduction to computer consulting and building a multimedia company. Readable, concise, precise, and pragmatic. The in-depth coverage and sound counsel make this a book that should be in every business person's library. I've read my copy twice. It's twenty-seven chapters of very good, easy-to-read inspirational reading. A must read for anyone thinking about starting or expanding their existing business. Highly recommended!

Great for [inexperienced] and veteran entrepreneurs

Peter Hupalo has written a unique book for Entrepreneurs. I've read a lot of books about business and entrepreneurship, but this one is different. It speaks to people just thinking about starting a business and yet it has a lot to offer to the veteran entrepreneur. If you're thinking about starting a business, the first few chapters will do a great job of helping you think about the risks in quitting a "safe" job and starting your own company. It's not as risky as you might think. This isn't the book to read about business licenses or accounting systems - it is much more important than that! It really is as the title suggests a book about thinking like an entrepreneur.I've been in business for more than 10 years, but I'm still making mistakes and trying to learn new things. A mark of a good book for me is the number of pages that I dog-ear to mark interesting ideas. My copy of Thinking Like an Entrepreneur has at least 20 pages marked, and I've referred back to it many times since I finished reading it. It will definitely go on my favorites shelf of business books. I've already recommended it to my entrepreneur friends.The author's style is to mix stories about experiences from actual entrepreneurs with good step-by-step walkthroughs of "thinking like an entrepreneur". It is 272 pages with 27 chapters. Each chapter can stand alone, making it easy to focus on the areas you're really interested in while skimming the ones that don't apply so much to your business. Peter seems to have a technology background, but I think any businessperson will find a lot to learn in this book.My favorite chapters include:* Don't Get Bournouillied - an interesting discussion of risk* Men are cheaper than guns* The importance of margins - Most books don't cover this VERY important topic* Expectation Values and Decision Making* Personality and Business Choice* You Know Enough, But Keep Learning Anyway* The Role of Luck in Business* An introduction to the Nature of Compounding and the Time Value of Money* Relationship Marketing - The cost of losing clients* The Value of TimeThis is a very readable book. It is entertaining while having good solid information on important topics that you'll find yourself rereading several times. Highly recommended!

GREAT BOOK - BUT A SOMEWHAT INACCURATE TITLE!

With thirty years experience in business management and psychology, both in teaching and counselling, I have great respect for this author's way of thinking and his apparent ability. He definitely knows entreprenrship inside out. So, the editing in the book is not perfect, but the valuable material contained here far outways the lack of editing skills, and the book is still deserving of a five star rating for the valuable information it contains.However, with all due respect, the title did not seem quite fitting or appropriate, although the message was clear. No one can make you "think" like an entrepreneur or like anything else for that matter. Many successful entrepreneurs "think" in many different ways. The thought process in each human being is unique and individual as we are. We may have similar thoughts that we agree, or disagee, upon, but the thinking process, itself, still remains unique. What most successful entrepreneurs do have in common is the ability to follow basic business principles which ultimately lead to viable, long-term business. Entrepreneurs who know how to make a business grow to its full potential, guarantee customer satisfaction, invest in their employees and treat them with respect and dignity, keep expenses in line with sales and achieve maximum profits, have learned how to make sound business decisions. I thoroughly enjoyed this author's book and highly recommend it to anyone contemplating their own busines start up.

The When, the Why, and the How

Initially I was a little skeptical about this book, because I could not find anything about what the author actually does for a living. I was expecting another "let me show you how to write the best business plan" kind of book. Instead, I found a very enjoyable and practical book that should be a must-read for every aspiring entrepreneur, regardless of which industry this aspiration may lie in.The 266-page book is divided into 27 chapters, each covering a specific topic. That makes about 10 pages per chapter, which translates into material that's easily understandable and digestable. Topics covered range from risk assessment to basic accounting (very basic indeed, but an excellent way to start especially becuase many of us find accounting unbearably boring) to managing resources to, yes, writing a business plan. The author mixes his philosophical musings along with anecdotes and hard business lessons (like calculating NPV and profits). His constant humor and approachable style make the book very easy and fun to read.The emphasis of the book is on how an entrepreneur should *think*. Of course, thinking often is not enough; action is also paramount. But starting with the right mindset increases the chance of success -- and also helps one live more happily. The author points out very early on that we all fear failure, and this fear holds most of us back from starting our own businesses. He then delves into how we can overcome this fear partially by analyzing the risks associated with an adventure. This approach makes the subject much less boring than one otherwise expects and also makes the material easier to absorb. As Zhuangzi, the ancient Chinese philosopher, once said, "Starting with the right mind set increases your chance of success tenfold." The constant mind coaching from this book is what I appreciate the most.The author writes as he speaks, so there are a few grammatical and punctuation errors, but overall this book is highly readable and you may be like me and not want to stop in the middle of a chapter. Each chapter should be read at least twice. In this regard, this book reminds me of Dale Carnegie's classic volume on achieving popularity: full of useful and practical information so that you can never re-read it too many times.