Start Your Own Business, Fifth Edition: The Only Book You'll Ever Need (IPRO DIST PRODUCT I/I) Paperback – 16 Oct. 2010

An extraordinarily large book that has the bold claim of being the only book you will need to be inspired and empowered to start up your own business. The claim is a bit far-fetched but it can still be a good resource.Written for those based in the United States, it certainly does try and take you through the whole A to Z of starting a business. It cannot be everything to everyone but it has a reasonable stab at covering all of the bases and, if nothing else, acts as a great jumping off point to other reading and research. For those who are not based in the United States, there will be a lot of irrelevant information you will need to skip over, but maybe you will still get your money’s worth!Another way to look at things is that for the cost of a few coffees you get an immense resource to help you decide whether you really want to go into business yourself and how you might make that journey.On the whole the information given is clear, reasonably uncontroversial and quite helpful, yet this reviewer believes that it shouldn’t be your only book should you decide to go along the path of business creation. Treat it as a source of good, outline advice and you won’t go far wrong. Generalising is difficult as there are times when you would want to or need to make a business plan but in some situations if you spend several months on your business plan, refining it and polishing it until it could blind you, you might have lost the competitive advantage as another agile person has the idea and has already got their prototype to market.The glossary at the end is excellent and can be a great help in navigating unfamiliar jargon. It is hoped that the index is similarly comprehensive as the rest of the book – it would be essential here – although it was missing in this pre-release review copy.As you dig deeper into the book you might be advised to not take everything at face value. The advice, given as an example of a direct mail marketing campaign, of sending headache tablets to prospective customers is a “cute idea” and one understands the thought process, but ethically the idea of sending legal drugs to a prospect leaves this reviewer cold. As the recipient they’d go straight in the bin, you don’t know how they’ve been handled or stored or their real contents and I think the company would be at the bottom of any consideration list due to their lack of foresight. Play on the “solving a headache” line by all means, even promise a free pack of headache tablets with a consultation and present a sealed retail package at your meeting. Yet sending a couple of tablets to an unknown person in the mail…. Run away!It is a shame that such advice can sour the otherwise great advice given by this book. Seeing such nonsense or “errors of judgement” stick in the mind, taking away the otherwise good that it can offer.It is an enjoyable book with a lot to possibly give. You could easily get your money’s worth and a lot more besides, even if you never do start a business. Yet a little more thought might have made a big difference!

All you will need to know, as to where to start. What will be needed, how to do things and where to go. What things you will need to be clued up about and what info will be needed.