Book Review - Common Sense Business
Posted at 10:38 AM - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 by Joseph - 0 comments
Common Sense Business by Steve Gottry is jam packed full of solid business advice. The author started a business in the '70s and had tremendous success. Then through his own mismanagement the business went under. He has since started a new business that is now thriving.The main benefit to this book over other books I have read is that the author has been through the entire business cycle. He has started, succeeded, failed, started, and succeeded again. Someone who has over 30 years of experience running their own company should be able to give a few pointers to the new guys.
Gottry breaks the book down into three sections The Small Business Life Cycle, Building on Your Assets, and Conquering Your Natural Enemies. The first section is what you would expect and is quite similar to many other small business books. The other two sections are where this book really shines.
The second section, Building on Your Assets, is all about improving what you already have. Everything from your own personal skill set to your capitol and your employees and your relationship with the community. For me personally, the improving myself section is the most important. For the foreseeable future my company will be a one man shop, so I need to invest heavily in myself. One tip is to read up on new business trends from magazines. According to Gottry, these are the minimum: Wired, Fast Company, Inc., Fortune, Forbes, BusinessWeek, and local business magazines. I hope to be able to find time to at least glance through these magazines on a regular basis to keep my business knowledge up to date.
The Conquering Your Natural Enemies sections was quite helpful as well, but a bit short. I wish Gottry had spent more time fleshing out this section of the book. One main point I took away from the section is that just being busy is not mean being productive. I must make sure that I am always doing things that are useful and not just doing things. On the other hand, Gottry points out, I need to make sure that my business does not become an addiction. Becoming a workaholic would end up destroying my life. The point of me starting this business is so I can spend more time with my family and have more control over my time. If I end up spending all of my time working, everything is for naught.
Steven Gottry does a wonderful job of blending business sense with personal narratives. The book was highly enjoyable to read and quite useful. I highly recommend it!