In Search of the Small-Business Bible

 

16. Don't hesitate to contact the authors of relevant research reports you read about in periodicals. They may be flattered by your interest and provide you with useful information. And even if a report is expensive, a free summary may be available. (A)

17. If you're planning to start a business targeting a local market, be sure to talk to people in similar businesses in other cities. Because you will not be a competitor, they will often be very helpful. (H)

18. When you need a legal document written, first locate a similar one and borrow as much as possible from it. When you've prepared a draft, give it to your lawyer for revisions. That will save your lawyer time -- and you money. (D)

19. If you're looking for financing, don't approach your best prospects first. You might as well work out rough spots in your presentation with financing sources that are more of a long shot. (C)

20. Trying to line up a key supplier for your new business? Call its salesperson for your area and try to set up a breakfast meeting. The salesperson has the most to gain if you sign on, and a breakfast meeting won't cut into his or her selling hours. (B)

21. Don't forget small-claims court as a resource for collecting unpaid debts. Even if a debt is slightly larger than the small-claims limit in your state, it may make sense to pursue just the portion of the debt that is under the limit. (E)

22. How do you keep a research-and-development project (or any new project, for that matter) from getting out of hand? Before you start, ask your manager (or yourself), "What results would signify that this project should be halted?" Work out an agreement in writing, in advance, and stick to it. (D)

23. On your monthly statement or invoice mailings, you can include advertisements for your other goods and services. (B)

24. Always find out why a financing source rejected you and if the source has any suggestions about other people or institutions you should try. (C)

25. Take commitments you've made to family members as seriously as you do business appointments. If you wouldn't dream of canceling a business appointment because something else came up, why not be as polite to your family? (D)

KEY
A = Working Solo

B = When Friday Isn't Payday

C = The Entrepreneur's Road Map to Business Success

D = The New Venture Handbook

E = The Legal Guide for Starting and Running a Small Business

F = Starting and Operating a Business in Pennsylvania

G = The Woman's Guide to Starting a Business

H = Numerous sources

WHEN PROFESSORS WRITE BUSINESS BOOKS

It was probably inevitable. The strength of the start-up- books market creates lots of opportunity for writers -- of all stripes. Next thing you know, they're all over the place: start-up how-to books written by college professors.

It's a scary concept. Admittedly, there are some good textbooks. For instance, several of my colleagues say great things about New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship in the 1990s, a megatome by well-known entrepreneurship expert Jeffry A. Timmons. New Venture Creation does look like a good book -- but I couldn't get past the fact that it was nearly 700 pages and cost about $50.

How could I justify buying the book when so much fine information was available at less than half the price -- and length? Call me lazy, but I think there are certain questions a book should avoid raising in a reader's mind. One of them is, Should I read this -- or should I use it as a prop to help my small children see over the top of the dining-room table?

Timmons aside, I'd be wary of professor-written books. Starting a business is complicated enough. You don't need the added burden of trying to interpret baffling academic charts, such as [those in] How to Start Your Own Business...and Succeed, by Arthur H. Kuriloff, John M. Hemphill Jr., and Douglas Cloud.

Nor do you want to struggle with passages like the following, from The Entrepreneur and Small Business Problem Solver: An Encyclopedic Reference and Guide, by William A. Cohen:

"To calculate break-even, we start with profit. Profit is the number of units sold multiplied by the profit at which we are selling them less the number of units sold multiplied by the total variable cost minus the total fixed cost. Let's use an equation to make this a little easier to follow."

 PREV  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6  NEXT