So, You Want to Start a Business?: 8 Steps to Take Before Making the Leap [Paperback]

Edward D. Hess (Author), Charles D. Goetz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0137126670 | ISBN-13: 978-0137126675 | Edition: 1

“Hess and Goetz present a roadmap for how to avoid the things that can cause you to stumble and how to build a business the right way.”

–JEFF ZEIGLER, CEO, TechTurn.com, Austin, TX

 

“When I started my graphic design business, I knew I had enough talent to impress and keep my clients, but I struggled with the day to day running of the business. So, You Want To Start A Business? is the blueprint I needed to get organized and put all the right things in place.”

–KORY BAILEY, Owner, Creative Counterpart

 

Build the Successful Company You’ve Always Wanted to Own!

• Avoid the 8 disastrous operational mistakes that kill new businesses
• Walk step-by-step through the entire process of building a winning business
• Master 55 amazingly simple rules of business success
• For every entrepreneur and potential entrepreneur...no previous business experience necessary!
• Launch the winning business you’ve always wanted…or make more money in the business you’ve already started!

More than 5,000,000 new businesses are started each year…but 70% of them will fail. Now, two renowned experts on entrepreneurship identify the 8 “killer mistakes” that cause most business failures–and give you the knowledge, tools, and hands-on advice to avoid them, so you can build a business that thrives.

 

Unlike other books on entrepreneurship, this book focuses on the crucial operational issues associated with consistent profitability. You’ll learn how to identify the right opportunities and customers; design winning products and services; set the right prices; overcome customer inertia; avoid common day-to-day management mistakes; find and keep good employees; and finally, smoothly manage growth.

 

Throughout, the authors draw on real life entrepreneurial experiences, case studies, and leading-edge research. There’s nothing theoretical here: This is fast-paced, 100% practical advice you can use to make your business dreams and goals come true–starting right now.

 

What really makes a successful entrepreneur?

What they do, how they act...and how to find your best path to business success

 

Get the 3 “Ws” right from the start

What will you sell, who will buy it–and why will they buy it?

 

55 simple, indispensable rules for success

What you must know about customers, competitors, and your employees

 

The art and science of managing people, operations, and growth

Create processes, set priorities, maximize quality, measure people–and improve every day

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

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 (and remind the authors to follow their own advice: keep it simple!). --Barbara Jacobs

About the Author

Edward D. Hess, JD, LLM, has spent most of his business life advising entrepreneurs and financing their business ventures. He is currently Professor of Business Administration and Batten Executive-in-Residence at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. He founded and led the Center for Entrepreneurship and Corporate Growth and the Values-Based Leadership Institute at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University. His books include The Successful Family Business, The Search For Organic Growth, and The Road To Organic Growth. He has personally built three successful service businesses. His website is www.EDHLTD.com.

 

Charles F. Goetz, MBA, Distinguished Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Emory’s Goizueta Business School, has built nine successful businesses in six industries. He serves on the boards of several entrepreneurial ventures and not-for-profits. He recently published The Great Entrepreneurial Divide. His specialties are marketing, customer acquisition, and product development.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (August 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137126670
• ISBN-13: 978-0137126675
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #348,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Edward D. Hess is a Professor of Business Administration and Batten Executive-in-Residence at the Darden Graduate School of Business, The University of Virginia.He spent over 30 years in the business world prior to joining academia as a lawyer, investment banker, strategy consultant, and entrepreneur.

He is the author/editor of 9 books, over 60 business school cases, and over 60 articles dealing with high performance organizations, growth, values-based leadership, and family businesses. His current research is in the areas of Smart Growth, managing the challenges of private company growth,growth leadership, growth systems, growth processes, and enduring organizations. His work can be found @ www.EDHLTD.com. His work has appeared in over 200 media outlets worldwide the last 4 years including WSJ Radio, Dow Jones Radio,Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, NPR, Fox Business News, Forbes, Bloomberg, Business Week, Investor's Business Daily, CFO Magazine, Leadership Excellence, Chief Learning Officer, Washington Post, Financial Executive,Big Think, Business Insider, MSNBC Radio, and Money Magazine.

He has extensive experience advising and financing growth companies and multi-generational family businesses. He also has extensive research and consulting experience in the areas of public company organic growth and is the co-author of the Darden Growth/Innovation Model. His organic growth research has produced the concepts of The Growth System, The Growth Risks Audit, The Organic Growth Index financial model, and The Organic Growth Progression.

His business experience includes tenures with Warburg Paribas Becker, Boettcher & Company, The Robert M. Bass Group, Jones Lang Wooten, and Arthur Andersen Finance.

He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Florida, and obtained a J.D. from the University of Virginia and an LL.M. ( Taxation) from New York University.

He was raised in Carrollton, Georgia and worked his way through college as a student football mathematician for the Florida Gators. He is happily ( most days) married, loves to cook, travel, read, and play with his grandchildren and two tibetian terriers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lesson5/ Chapt1: IQ, education, family background, race, religion, & ethnic origin aren't predictive of entrepreneurial success!, September 21, 2008

By 

Jeff Lippincott "JLIPPIN" (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: So, You Want to Start a Business?: 8 Steps to Take Before Making the Leap (Paperback)

What a book. Just wonderful. I've been reading books on business plans and books related to business plans on and off over the past couple of years. I have found a number of adequate books on business plans, but this book (and "The Business Rules" ISBN: 1599180618) both do a pretty good job explaining what you need to know in order to write a great business plan.

Neither book tells you how to write a business plan. However, they are great books to help you polish up the business plan you have already written. If you are interested in preparing a great business plan, or in need of some strategic planning regarding a business plan you have already written, then I highly recommend you get a copy of either or both books and study them.

Included in this book is great content related to what the author claims to be 124 Business Lessons spread over 10 chapters as follows:

0. Introduction

1. Can you be a successful entrepreneur? (15 lessons)

2. Basic rules of business success (8 lessons)

3. What is a good business opportunity? (10 lessons)

4. How do you choose the right business customers? (9 lessons)

5. How do you design your product or service? (14 lessons)

6. What is the right price for your product or service? (9 lessons)

7. How can you overcome customer inertia? (9 lessons)

8. How to manage your business (22 lessons)

9. How do you find and keep good employees? (15 lessons)

10. How do you manage growth? (13 lessons)

11. Conclusion

As you read this book with your business plan in mind I guarantee you will think of many things you have left out of your business plan that should have been included. I also guarantee that you will think of things that you have included in your business plan that should be changed. This book is a goldmine of information you need in order to tweek your business plan so your business will be as successful as possible. And if your business cannot be successful, then this book will have helped you figure that out, too.

The conclusion to the book is basically just a summary of the 124 lessons learned. And it also summarizes "55 Business Rules" the author plants throughout the book that provide great wisdom.

I would have liked the book better if it had included a chapter, some lessons, and business rules regarding marketing. The book is totally lacking when it comes to that subject. But what the book does cover it covers well. 5 stars!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful Food for Thought, November 8, 2010

By 

Jacob (Saitama, Japan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: So, You Want to Start a Business?: 8 Steps to Take Before Making the Leap (Kindle Edition)

The book is a useful run down of the things you NEED to think about before starting your own business. It poses questions you need to be able to answer about your own venture before runnng with it.

The only short coming of this book are the often short explanations about "how" to do something. This book answers more the "why" plan your business and "what" to plan but not really how to go about it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read" for anyone thinking about starting a business..., November 8, 2008

By 

Eric Barger (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: So, You Want to Start a Business?: 8 Steps to Take Before Making the Leap (Paperback)

If you are thinking about starting your first business, you are already counting the money you will make. Do yourself a favor and read this book before you make the leap. It will save you a lot of heartburn and after you have started.

Being a large business owner and the owner of a new startup company, I can tell you from personal first-hand experience every word in this book should be taken to heart. Be brave and go for it, but know the pitfalls that most people fall into after they have started their business.

One example from the book is that people who are ready to start their own business are counting the money they are already going to make. I have been there and done that. It was nice to see a book that will ground you so you don't make the mistake of succumbing to the negatives that outlook can have.

Read the book! Be successful! Make lots of money and do it wisely!