Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own [Paperback]

Bruce Judson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 2005

There is an epidemic of unhappiness in the American workplace. A full 70 percent of workers in the United States report that they are disengaged from their jobs. When asked, "Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?" only 20 percent of nearly 2 million employees said yes. It is no wonder that 56 percent of all Americans dream of starting their own business. So why don't they do so? Because starting one's own business is seen as difficult, expensive, and risky.

In this extraordinary book, successful Go It Alone! entrepreneur Bruce Judson explains that the conventional wisdom about starting your own business is stunningly wrong. Using the leverage of technology -- e-mail, the World Wide Web, and the remarkable array of off-the-shelf business services now available -- it is dramatically easier to start your own business. Magnified by these new services, it is also possible to create, for the first time, a highly focused business.

Bruce Judson shows you the practical steps that will allow nearly any individual to create a business, often using job skills that seem to require an entire corporation for support. It is no longer necessary to spend time on the tasks that don't add value. It is now possible to stay small but reap big profits. Go-it-alone businesses allow the individual the freedom to concentrate on their greatest skills. After reading this book, your motto will be "Do What You Do Best, Let Others Do the Rest."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This engaging, if optimistic, primer insists that you don’t need much capital, or much risk-taking, to start a business. Indeed, according to Yale School of Management professor Judson, author of Netmarketing and himself the founder of several allegedly successful small firms, the time has never been better for startups. With the Internet now offering every business service under the sun through online companies, solo entrepreneurs can—and must—outsource almost every aspect of their business and concentrate on leveraging their "unique skills." Judson lays out a number of useful rules of thumb (chief among them: don’t give up your day job until your business is profitable) illustrated by case studies of successful businesses, from which readers can glean enlightening tips on marketing, fee structures and customer management. Less helpful are his recommendations for figuring out what an entrepreneur’s unique skills actually are, as he relies on fuzzy introspective koans like "Find Your Source of Personal Energy." Interspersed is much motivational material on taking the first step, finding a way around obstacles, following your passion and facing down your fear. The book is not a step-by-step how-to, and its assurance that readers can beat the daunting odds against small business start-up success by avoiding typical mistakes is rather rose-colored, but those determined to take the plunge will find a good deal of easily digestible food for thought.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Using the success of his own two start-up companies as formulas for success, Judson offers sound, cogent advice for budding entrepreneurs. A well-known marketer himself, Judson explains how "going it alone" is different from being a typical small-business owner, the key being that the former is able to garner bigger profits despite a lack of resources, whereas the latter's revenue is tied to her own billed hours. So much potential exists, Judson argues, because in today's economy so many aspects of running a business can be outsourced, leaving the business owner to concentrate exclusively on what she does best. No great idea at the ready? Not to worry, Judson says, as he offers tips for finding a niche in an area where a person might prosper. Rounding out this handy, readable how-to are case studies that examine both successes and failures of go-it-aloners nationwide. An added bonus is a Web site that will feature discussions with the author, other resources, and updated case studies. Highly recommended for general business collections. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness (December 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060731141
• ISBN-13: 978-0060731144
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bruce Judson is a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of Management and a New deal 2.0 Blog Braintruster (a project of the Franklin and Eleanore Roosevelt Institute), and the author of the new book, "It Could Happen Here: America on the Brink," which was recently released by HarperCollins.

Judson is a bestselling author, a successful entrepreneur, and one of the nation's leading experts on how technology has transformed the workplace.
His interest in economic inequality, and intense study of its implications, arose from his experience in seeing how the benefits of the technological revolution were being divided within the nation.

Judson holds a JD from the Yale Law School and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He was the Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the "Yale Journal on Regulation" and a Senior Editor of the "Yale Law Journal."

Judson's books have been selected by multiple entities in the "short lists" of the best business books published in the year of their release, and his previous book, Go It Alone!, is believed to be the only non SBA book ever recommended on the learning home page of the Small Business Administration's Web site.

Judson is frequently quoted in the national media,such as "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," and "USA Today." His earlier work on entrepreneurship, and empowering individuals, was the subject of a special profile in "The Wall Street Journal"

Most people develop a point of view and then start to make noise. In writing "It Could Happen Here" Judson took an alternative approach: He spent years researching and writing the book "so that I would have a clear, meaningful perspective" he says. "If you get distracted by writing in response to each new event, you can lose the ability to focus on establishing a deeper understanding of what's happening in the nation, which was my overall goal" he says.

Now that the book is complete, Judson is participating in the important public debate surrounding these issues and has rapidly emerged as a recognized, unique perspective, that places what is happening in our nation today in the context of the nation's longer history. Posts at his blog, www.ItCouldHappenHere, are now regularly syndicated as featured articles on the "Huffington Post," on "The Business Insider", at the New Deal 2.0 Blog, and have been frequently referenced in "Economist's View."

At his blog, Judson describes why he wrote it "It Could Happen Here" and the purpose of his ongoing writing. He wrote:

"Income inequality is at the highest recorded levels in the history of the nation. Despite almost universal predictions that the Gap would decrease in 2008, as a result of the Great Recession, the latest data suggest that it increase. This is scaring and frightening: The nation is now in a self-perpetuating cycle which, as demonstrated by recent experience and history, will continue unless substantial, inevitably controversial reforms are undertaken.

To date, there appears to be no appetite for the kind of wide-ranging reforms that would be necessary to reverse our spiral toward a nation sharply divided between a privileged few and an underclass that struggles from day to day and lacks basic economic security.

America has never been a nation of have's and have not's. One of the great strengths of the nation has always been the self-correcting nature of or democracy. But, our most eminent political theorists have pointed out that there could easily come a time when the political power of the wealthy, who will inevitably fight to protect their prerogatives, may overwhelm our ability to self-correct. There is reason to believe we are rapidly approaching that point.

"It Could Happen Here" was written as a wake-up call. The book explores the dangers of our evolving society, and the impact of a collapsing middle class, combined with the growing distance between rich and poor, on our nation: the health of our economy, our democracy, our social fabric, and even our long-term political stability.

This blog is my ongoing effort to indicate how the issues in today's headlines relate to the central challenge economic inequality poses for America."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best $10 you are likely to spend on a business book, May 13, 2006

By 

William Rockwell (Chatsworth, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own (Paperback)

What this book delivers:

1. It proves you can start a substantial business without a lot of money, employees, specialized knowledge or risk. In fact most of those things would be a hinderance.

2. The principles are guideposts for you to follow. You also learn the biggest non-secret in business which is simply to do what is important.

3. It gives you numerous examples of how people turned the knowledge they had into the business they wanted. It is not hard to see the principles at work.

3. As a side benefit you learn about some business services that are available to you that you probably have not given much thought to such as Logos.



What you do not get in this book:

1. A list of the hottest businesses to start.

2. How to do accounting, marketing plans, or any of the other specialized courses they teach in business schools. Spend your time on what you do well not learning something that someone else can do for you.

3. Detailed handholding complete with checklists. The principles are presented clearly with numerous examples. It is your responsibility to apply them to your own situation.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for Work-at-home moms, April 4, 2005

By 

Victoria Carrington "Homeschool Parents" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own (Hardcover)

I loved this book! I recognized the truth that as solo business owners would do well to maximize their efficiency by concentrating on what they do best and outsourcing the rest. I am especially reminded of this as I spend hours trying to fix a website problem (I am a writer and a Mom's life coach, not a web designer!) instead of writing articles or thinking about growing my business.

Reading this book has caused some practical and immediate changes to my home business strategy and I am very grateful to the author for his efforts.

The real-life stories are very inspiring as well.

Get this book today!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good thesis, contained in too many pages, December 5, 2006

By 

Steve Woodruff "Connection Agent" (Boonton NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own (Paperback)

I should begin by saying that I am quite in sympathy with this book's thesis, which can be boiled down (to oversimplify a bit) to one phrase: Do what you do best, and outsource the rest.

Bruce Judson, the author, brings out some great reasons for pursuing "light footprint" entrepreneurship (my term, not his). So many functions and so much technology can now be outsourced, via web-enabled communications and applications, that a world of opportunity is now open which could not be dreamed of a decade ago.

One of the effective marketing approaches employed by Judson was to make the entire text of the book available on the web. If his bet was that this would entice a serious reader to buy the book after sampling some good content, then it worked in my case. I'd far rather read a printed book that scan a monitor.

If you're thinking about starting a one-person or very small business, I think the content here will be quite helpful and a needed boost of encouragement. However, the book (and accompanying website) are not without flaws.

First of all, the book is over 200 pages. It could easily have been 80-90, with better editing. There is a lot of repetition, including using the same examples over and over again. The overall structure is not tight - too sprawling. And, in various places in the book, various resources are offered on the website - but when you go to the site, no such resources are to be found.

That said, I'd buy the book over again, because it has been an encouragement and affirmation for my chosen course of entrepreneurship. Despite the less-than-optimal execution, Judson is onto something, and that's the main thing. If you're going to "Go it Alone", you'll derive some serious value from this book.