Customer Reviews

Diary of a Small Business Owner: A Personal Account of How I Built a Profitable Business

5 star:		(5)
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This book is a solid 10 and it blew me away! I actually had to go back after finishing the first chapter, to start over, because I didn't want to "gloss over" anything. There is MUCH to be learned, from someone else's mistakes and successes. Anita is so candid. I felt like a "fly on the wall" and this "ain't no book on theory", but a personal account. I truly felt like she was talking directly to me. I stopped "highlighting" notes in the book after a while, realizing that just about everything she says in the book is so, so important to let "sink in" and learn from. She does a fantastic job of getting so much powerful information in such a small book. There's no "fluff" here. Just the facts as they unfolded and lessons learned. I appreciate and can relate to her fears and how she worked to overcome them, whether she wanted to/planned for or not. I went thru many emotions reading this book, from excitement to scared to dismay to hope to sheer determination to make this work. I plan to keep this book within arms reach because I know I will have to refer back time and time again, but that's ok. Thanks Anita.

This is THE book for anyone starting a business on a 2nd mortgage or credit cards, without angels and VCs. I reread it about every 6 months as we build our company. It is reassuring, because you are convinced you could never make the mistakes Anita makes. It is packed with gems of wisdom that you ponder long into the night. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. And it will make you rejoice that Anita's company is still, in 2001, alive and thriving in Pittsburgh.

Like the other reviewers, I was blown away by how candid the author is in describing her trip from a small business being run out of her home to having many employees and grossing over $1 million. She gives us a bird's eye view of her trials and successes. I found it to be a real 5 star read, the best that I have found in the genre. So much so, that I stayed up half the night finishing it after picking it up in the afternoon.

The author starts by laying out an assessment of her skills and resources after deciding to leave her current employment and from there starts on building her business. Like a lot of entrepreneurs, she thought that just because she is good at the job (marketing), she could hit the ground running with a start up company. She does realize how much more there is to running a business early on (how useful it is to have support staff and management skills), but takes time to get systems in place, as she experiments with various ideas (and often trying to boot strap everything together due to cash flow issues).

Each chapter is organized in a diary format covering one year in the business, with the entries placed sequentially. At the start of the chapter, there is a recap of the prior year's achievements and a list of goals for the current year. From there, she walks us through what happened, how she dealt with it and what did and did not work for her.

The diary is simple to read as it flows easily. As well as her thoughts she includes some of the wisdom she gained from the experience. An honest account of the trials of running a small business.

I've gotten more than 1,000 letters, phone calls and e-mails from readers about the book. Mostly people who want to share their own war stories about building a successful business (and some not feeling so successful just wanting to chat). Our business is doing very well and I love getting the feedback. So please continue to write!