There are four stages in the development of an enterprise, each with its own challenges; Michael Masterson gives us a complete picture of them giving us each step methods, tips and tricks to meet and exceed our company 100 million euros in turnover, or more.

In an introduction much like that of The 4-Hour Workweek, Michael Masterson began by explaining that he owns dozens of companies in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Germany, Spain, Africa South and India in various fields ranging from the sale of vitamins up to a newsletter on the business read by hundreds of thousands of people, to property management companies, public relations, or Health … Read the rest of this entry »

This guide to networking by Misner, the founder and chairman of BNI (Business Network International), is an invaluable roadmap for businesspeople seeking to develop or fine-tune a necessary and often overlooked skill. Misner and Donovan’s title stems from a study that spawned the six degrees of separation theory, which actually revealed that only 29% of the population is connected to this extent.

The authors say that despite its proven necessity, networking is scarcely taught in business schools, and their self-study course aims to fill the void with a self-assessment test and 52 weeks of assignments to beef up networking skills. Accessible and smartly structured chapters include action items and helpful tidbits like worksheets, assessments and questions to help readers schedule their networking from day to day and over the course of a career, from setting preliminary goals to becoming a Networking Mentor. While readers might not be able to make it into the exclusive ranks of the highly connected 29%, they will assuredly derive new tactics, tools and motivation. Read the rest of this entry »

Two former corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and now professors Hess and Goetz combine their wisdom and experience to offer new and wannabe business owners some critical thinking, management strategies, and tried-and-tested pointers. Their book is written in a simple albeit very academic style, with logical headlines, practical sidebars, and summarized “lessons learned” at the end of each chapter.

Although the authors are generous about sharing the ABC’s of business, whether it’s how to find and keep good employees or explanations of financial gotta-haves, the overall subtitle—8 Steps to Take—gets buried in a welter of other numbers: the 8 mistakes business owners make (e.g., pricing incorrectly), the 7 techniques to get a customer to try your product (references/testimonials), the rule of 3s and the rule of 7s (only manage 7 or fewer people at any given time). Use this as a novice’s springboard. Read the rest of this entry »

The Truth About Starting a Business reveals 53 bite-size, easy-to-use techniques for choosing, planning, launching, and growing your winning business.

You’ll learn how to generate and test business ideas, and pick the one that’s best for you…select the right entry strategy…name and locate your business…raise capital…build your team and get expert advice…protect your business secrets and intellectual property…effectively brand your business and market its offerings…handle pricing, distribution, and sales…manage your finances to specific objectives…prepare for growth…and even maintain your work/life balance as an entrepreneur.

This isn’t “someone’s opinion”: it’s a definitive, evidence-based guide to building your own successful enterprise–a set of bedrock principles you can rely on whoever you are, wherever you are, and whatever business you choose to launch. Read the rest of this entry »

In this first new and totally revised edition of the over two million copy bestseller, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business.

Next, he walks you through the steps in the life of a business — from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed — and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether it is a franchise or not.

Finally, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business. After you have read The E-Myth Revisited, you will truly be able to grow your business in a predictable and productive way.

One of Gerber’s most striking observations is that most small businesses are started by “technicians”, that is people who are skilled at something and who enjoy doing that thing. (A technician can be anything from a computer programmer to plumber to a dog groomer to a musician or lawyer.) When these technicians strike out on their own, they tend to continue doing the work they are skilled at, and ignore the overarching aspects of business. Read the rest of this entry »

Understanding Business by Nickels, James McHugh and Susan McHugh has been the number one textbook in the introduction to business market for several editions for three reasons:

1. The commitment and dedication of an author team that teaches this course and believes in the importance and power of this learning experience
2. we listen to our customers and
3. The quality of our supplements package. We consistently look to the experts –full-time faculty members, adjunct instructors, and of course students– to drive the decisions we make about the text itself and the ancillary package.

Through a series of focus groups, symposia, as well as full-book, single-chapter, revised manuscript reviews of both text and key ancillaries, heard the stories of more than 500 professors and their insights and experiences are evident on every page of the revision and in every supplement. Read the rest of this entry »

The tenth edition of this best-selling introductory text features an up-to-date, comprehensive survey of the functional areas of business: management, marketing, accounting, finance, and information technology.

Core topics highlighted within these areas include ethics and social responsibility, forms of business ownership, small business concerns, and international issues. New coverage in this edition more closely examines cutting-edge topics like the 2008 economic crisis, green business, and sustainability. Read the rest of this entry »

No One Would Listen is the exclusive story of the Harry Markopolos-lead investigation into Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. While a lot has been written about Madoff’s scam, few actually know how Markopolos and his team-affectionately called “The Fox Hounds” by Markopolos himself, uncovered what Madoff was doing years before this financial disaster reached its pinnacle. Unfortunately, no one listened, until the damage of the world’s largest financial fraud ever was irreversible.

Since that time, Markopolos openly has testified and questioned the enforcement and fraud investigation capabilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), shared a sliver of this page-turning story with 60 Minutes, and become perhaps the world’s most visible and insightful whistleblower on fraud and conflicts of interest in financial markets. Read the rest of this entry »

Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami. From inside the corner office at Lehman Brothers to secret meetings in South Korea, and the corridors of Washington, Too Big to Fail is the definitive story of the most powerful men and women in finance and politics grappling with success and failure, ego and greed, and, ultimately, the fate of the world’s economy.

Through unprecedented access to the players involved, Too Big to Fail re-creates all the drama and turmoil, revealing never disclosed details and elucidating how decisions made on Wall Street over the past decade sowed the seeds of the debacle. Read the rest of this entry »

Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the “self-made man,” he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don’t arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: “they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, “some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky.”

Outliers can be enjoyed for its bits of trivia, like why most pro hockey players were born in January, how many hours of practice it takes to master a skill, why the descendents of Jewish immigrant garment workers became the most powerful lawyers in New York, how a pilots’ culture impacts their crash record, how a centuries-old culture of rice farming helps Asian kids master math. Read the rest of this entry »