Customer Reviews

You Need to Be a Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's weird. I notice that all the reviewers give this book a 5-star rating, and at the same time, all reviewers come from IL. The author, Barry Moltz, is from IL as well. I would conclude that Barry Moltz has a lot of good friends ready to write a review on Amazon.

Anyway...

I think the book is great for people who are thinking about creating their own business but haven't started yet. It gives a lot of food for thought. However, if you have already created your own business, you will be a little disappointed because you will not learn much.

This book is about the rollercoaster ride that is awaiting people who wants to start their own business. What you should expect to go through emotionally: everything that you should know and the problems you will go through with your family, your business partners, your health, etc.

Don't look for insightful comments and business recommendations. That's not what the book is about.

If you have already been through the trouble of creating your own business, you will probably already know what Barry Moltz is talking about.

This is a guru book, mostly filled with 'emotional wisdom'. There isn't much solid info to be had, just entertaining stories and anecdotes. To paraphrase what I found useful: "You can read and study business til the end of time, but you just have to jump in and do it!" Consider this book an emotional primer, nothing more, nothing less.

After reading so many glowing reviews here an Amazon, I bought this book. I began reading and quickly found myself wondering when the introductory comments would end and the book itself would begin. Then it dawned on me... the entire book is written as a relatively loose collection of thoughts. Ugh!

I pressed on, hoping that some enlightenment might be found among all these scattered thoughts. On and on I went, far past the point of pain. I found myself reading with an oddly-placed determination that this book MUST have something more to it in order for it to have been so universally praised.

Well, I've made it through roughly half of the pages, and that is more than enough for me. Reading this book is like sitting down to lunch with your manic-depressive uncle during his manic phase. Worse, he's just had his second latte' and can't seem to focus on a single topic for more than a couple of sentences. There appears to be little thought given to structure or construct, and the result is a hyperactive jog through the author's mind. Unfortunately, you quickly start to recognize the scenery as you are led in various ways through the same small plot, and ultimately you are led nowhere.

To top it off, his experience actually seems quite narrow and brief. Thankfully, he relates the stories of a dozen other entrepreneurs, but these are too broad and anecdotal to provide much insight. The net result is a book of brief, common-sense admonishments.

I've rarely been so disappointed in a book. How it has received so many good reviews is beyond me.

Most of the entrepreneurs I've met are looking for a magic bullet. They are searching for A "Top Ten List" for Business Success. Moltz is here to tell you that there isn't any such list and you just need to keep plugging away, slowly but surely. There are no short cuts and even a few hundred million in VC money is no guarantee of future riches.

I must admit, I was pretty depressed when I finished You Need to Be a Little Crazy. I seriously thought about going out and getting a job, because honestly, I was looking for a way to make some great money by running my own business. I did some long, hard soul searching about my life and my business because of this book. Now, several months later, I am really grateful to have such an honest, realistic guide, because I know I am on the right track. Turns out that my goal in life is to never have to work for anyone else again. I don't need that much money, I just need my freedom and I'm willing to take the emotional roller coaster ride that goes along with it.

What makes this a great book is Moltz's willingness to reveal the ugly dark side of business. You will get sick, your partners will throw you out of your own company, and you might even FAIL. Failure is such a dirty word that most of the books I read on this subject don't even MENTION it, unless it's to say, "Failure isn't an option." (Over 500,000 business closed in 2000, so it must be an option for quite a few people!)

One of my favorite chapters is called "Networking is Not a Verb; Take This Card and Shove It" and it's all about the importance of knowing how to network properly. I go to so many networking events where a stranger pushes their business card in my face and says, "Let me know if you hear of any business for me." Of course, as Moltz points out, networking is all about building relationships and a 2 minute conversation at a crowded networking event can hardly qualify as a solid relationship. It's much better to spend that time getting to know about the person and what he or she is doing and then wait to see if there is a chance for you to do business together in the future.

I could go on and on and but this is the type of book you should read, let it sink in for a few weeks or months and then go back to. There are a lot of simple yet very powerful ideas in this book, most pertaining to the real world daily grind of running your own business. Being an entrepreneur isn't for the faint of heard and this book isn't either. It's required reading for those who are serious about doing whatever it takes to grow your own business and especially for those who have survived failure before and are ready to dust themselves off and get back up on the horse again.

Author Barry J. Moltz is not a brilliant business strategist. He does not intend to propose a set of holy rules that, if followed, will ensure that your new enterprise is a roaring success. Indeed, one of his primary messages is that new businesses fail so routinely that only someone crazy would consider opening one. If that's you, think of Moltz as a revered mentor who has successfully negotiated several start-ups of his own, and has volunteered to talk to you about what opening your own business will entail. He discusses the character traits you need to make a successful go of things, how to deal with partners and employees, and the best ways to win customers and clients. While Moltz scatter-shots his concepts and points, we endorse his good-humored book, nevertheless, as a worthwhile guide. It offers numerous valuable lessons from a seasoned veteran on what starting a new business really entails. Consider yourself warned.

I have started three companies and there are still many days that I find myself wondering if I am nuts to be an entrepreneur. This book is entertaining and reminds me that, yes I am certifiably nuts, like most other entrepreneurs. Very little "how to", but very easy to relate to for an experienced entrepreneur (for instance, the sections on the emotional roller-coaster ride of starting up or partnering, or the little Buddhist sayings that get you through the tough days). If you are about to start a your first business this is a good primer, but its sort of like reading books about being a parent before you have your first child - you really won`t appreciate most of it until much later on.

This book talks about the ups and downs of starting a business, and it may be a good overview of the positives and negatives of running a business for someone who has never gone into business for himself. There are, however, more valuable books out there with more concrete advice. It is more realistic than the "Go Into Business and Get Rich Like I Did" type of books, but there is little in it that seems new. It is not as entertaining as the advance reviews led me to believe it would be. (I was expecting a Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, Steve Martin style from all the comments on the entertaining style.) This is not a must have book for the budding entrepreneur.

Too many business books written these days focus on the positives of running a business ninety percent of the time and gloss over the negatives with the remaining ten percent of the book content...not Moltz. He is so candid and dead-on accurate with his observations/advice it will make you wince at times. If you still want to go into business for yourself after reading this book then you are either very prepared to do so...and/or a little bit crazy.

Barry Moltz, a high-flying consultant turned into a serial entrepreneur, provides a down to earth read documenting the psychological ups and downs of starting and managing your own business. Set in a conversational tone, the book is focused on the emotional aspects of entrepreneurship: family and friends, dealing with failure and success, managing expectations, networking, and leadership.

"You need to be a little crazy" is a good-humored book, with plenty of great quotes, and well heeded advice. Personally, I am just embarking on the road to entrepreneurship, but many of Barry Moltz's concepts already ring true. Don't expect a tactical checklist, or a new management theory, that's not what this book is about. "You need to be a little crazy" is about the human side of starting a business - the pains, the victories, and everything that gets caught in between. Few business textbooks cover these topics, highly recommended!

This is a one-of-a-kind book that provides an emotional look into the world of the entrepreneur. The book delivers key insights into how to approach certain situations, but more importantly it delves into the trials and tribulations of being an entrepreneur like no other book available. For current entrepreneurs, Barry's book reads like a conversation with a businessess confident who has experienced exactly what you are currently going through and what you have experienced as an entrepreneur. For anyone considering the start of a new business, this is the only book I have found that can prepare you for the emotional roller coaster that you may encounter. This is a must for any business book library.