When the Shit Hits the Fan!: How to Keep Your Business Afloat for More Than a Year

by Barry Thomsen

More than a million people start a small business every year. Unfortunately, about the same number go out of business every year. The mortality rate for small businesses is high because most... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156414979X
• ISBN13: 9781564149794
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Career Press
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.5" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A savvy primer on entrepreneurship

A savvy, seasoned entrepreneur, Barry Thomsen provides business beginners with plenty of street-smart advice on what to do and not to do when you go into business. He offers valuable, if not original, insights on business start-ups, hiring, finance, suppliers and especially customer service in this rundown of problems that commonly beset new ventures. getAbstract recommends his advice and acumen, even if his handy manual's vulgar title precludes mentioning it to your boss. That is, of course, unless you are the boss, in which case Thomsen wrote this for you. Read it before disaster strikes.

Best business book I've read in a long time!

I found this book in a Barnes and Nobel bookstore in their used book section. The title caught my attention immediately. It has been the best business book I have read in a long time--and believe me I have read a lot. My favorite chapter was Chapter 9 where the author talks about "massive competition." This chapter gave me the idea to hold free classes in my place of business. I am currently working on them and expect to have them going shortly. The local paper will list my class in the "community events" column in the paper for free. I figure it will look good for folks to drive by and see all these people in my store. And the class will be considered "community goodwill." If I hadn't read this book, I never would have hit upon this great idea. Thomsen also has a lot to say about cash flow which is very important to me. And I summarized something from his book which I found very helpful. It is "When your business hits tough times, hang on to your regular customers, worry less about profits and more about purchases and cash flow." Great reading!!!

25 chapters of street smarts necessary to successfully own and operate your small business!

I just loved this book. The author has over 30 years of experience as a small business owner and operator. And he has written a wonderful book in a style that demanded that I kept turning the pages. The book identifies 25 chapters worth of business problems that can sink your company if you don't plan ahead to avoid them. Smart business people always try to identify their problems early so they can have the best chance of fixing them. This book was written to help the wanta-be entrepreneur or small business owner properly establish her way of thinking in order to succeed at things that will make her company stand out, grow, and prosper. Included in this book are the following chapters: 1. Poor customer care 2. Insufficient marketing 3. Owner attitude 4. Poor employee training and supervision 5. Paying suppliers slowly 6. Excessive spending 7. Owner neglect 8. Bad publicity 9. Massive competition 10. Excessive salaries 11. Major order error 12. Lack of business knowledge 13. Obsolete products or services 14. Ownership change 15. Collection problems 16. Cash reserve 17. Shoddy bookkeeping 18. Pricing problems 19. Losing a big account 20. Cash flow shortfalls 21. The unpredictable 22. Raising capital quickly 23. Tax problems 24. When there's no hope left 25. Starting over again All the chapters were good. My favorite one was Chapter 16 regarding the importance of cash reserves and how to store cash in banks and other depositories. I believe the chapter titles adequately describe the actual content of the book. So I'm not going to analyze too much what the author says in each. Just take my word for it that the book is well organized and well written. Since the author is mostly street smart, and admittedly not book smart, this book will help the reader develop street smarts without necessarily having to suffer through a period of wallering in the streets. After reading this book you should be able to run your own business using more brains than brawn. 5 stars!