Just a quick post to ask if anybody could recommend any Entrepreneur / Business themed books that are worth a read.
The reason I ask is that whilst on holiday I read a few books and I think the contents of the books will help me to better assist clients in the future.
When I get some cash I plan to buy Michael Gerber's The e-Myth Accountant: Why Most Accounting Practices Don't Work and What to Do About it.
One book I did read and found a helpful and relatively quick read was Seth Godin's Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.
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.................just an ICB student, at the moment.
My favourite business book is 'Boo Hoo: A Dot Com Story'. It's about boo.com and is written by its founder Ernst Malmsten and charts the set up and eventual failure of one the first dot com companies. I particulary enjoyed reading about how the founders burnt through several millions of dollars on private jets and the playboy lifestyle.
Not a great ending for the company, which IMO seemed to be ahead of its time in terms of technology, but a very enjoyable read.
It's the only book I've ever read more than once and it always makes me want to set up an internet company, albeit a successful one!
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Stuart
Birmingham City FC - Blues is my religion St Andrews is my church
Exploring Corporate Strategy by Johnson, Scholes and Whittington.
JSW very much stand on the shoulders of better men (such as Porter) with their management thinking but this book brings together a lot of sound management thinking. Make sure that you get the text and cases version as it's good to read how management theory is put into practice. This one is an ACCA set text for the advanced level papers (P1, P3 and P5).
Then the light one :
50 management ideas you really need to know. by Edward Russell-Walling.
no more than four pages per idea and written in a humerous way that makes you want to know more. - This one is my toilet reading as you just randomly pick a management theory and you can read it insode five mins. This one covers things like Porters five forces, Performance Pyramid, Benchmarking, TQM, BPR, Value Chain, etc. etc.
Actually, I know that I only promised two but another one worth a read is :
Strategy Bites back by Henry Mintzberg, Joseph Lampel and Bruce Ahlstrand.
This one takes a very cynical view of corporate strategy and reads between the lines of some of the great thinkers. Again it's one to read on the toilet as you can just dip in and out of the book.
Have fun,
all the best,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I've just finished McDonalds: behind the Arches by John F Love. As the name suggests its the history of McDonalds, and as a franchisee myself, although bookkeeping not fast food, I found it really insightful. Regardless of what you think of the food, there are some very sound business lessons in it.
Would echo Ray's tip of the e-myth, it is a good and interesting way to think of business, particularly if you want to avoid the traps of 'lifestyle' businesses and want a model for growth.
Hi Ben, Ooooooo, you're in a minefield here - everyone has an opinion......
I found Why Entrepreneurs Should Eat Bananas by Simon Tupman an excellent read with 101 ideas for growing your business but like most books, they are generalised and some aspects might not apply to your business.
I took the route of finding inspirational people to me, Richard Branson, Alan Sugar etc. and read their stories - certainly enlightening and helpful but most of all provide the motivation we sometimes lose sight of.
I think you need to try and answer your question first:- how to better assist clients in the future? Books are not going to tell you how to do that, they might provide pointers but only you can decide how to answer that question. I would start with producing a business plan (ignore the financial aspect of it as it's irrelevant) and concentrate on who you are, what makes you different, why should the client come to you, where do you want to go, what is your 3 year plan and 5 year plan, who are your competition, what do they offer that you don't etc etc.
What you should end up with is a comprehensive plan of how you are going to move and expand your business and a time frame for doing so. If you say you want 10 new clients before 31st December, you have a plan and a benchmark; if you get the 10, you have succeeded, if not why not?
Remember, this is your business and only you can make it succeed and only you will be responsible if it fails (which I hope it doesn't).
