Author Ken Blanchard has achieved
a unique accomplishment: He’s
been inducted into Amazon.com’s “Hall of Fame” as one of its top 25 bestselling authors of all time. Blanchard
has built his impressive book-selling
track record on the notion that the best
advice we ever receive, in business and
in life, is given to us in less
than a minute.
Blanchard’s latest book,
“The One Minute
Entrepreneur,” follows in
the tradition of brevity
found in his earlier works,
such as “The One Minute
Manager” (and several
spin-offs), “The Generosity
Factor,” “Know Can Do!”
and “Whale Done!” As he
often does, Blanchard collaborates with other successful entrepreneurs —
this time it’s corporate performance trainer Don
Hutson and entrepreneurial
coach Ethan Willis. Essentially, “The
One Minute Entrepreneur” pays homage
to two entrepreneurs: Charlie
“Tremendous” Jones, founder of
Executive Books, and Sheldon Bowles,
the best-selling author and business
executive.
The authors weave Jones’ and Bowles’
life lessons and advice, garnered from
their collective experience, into a fictional parable about the challenges facing an entrepreneur and his family. The
authors focus on three principles that
they believe are critical to
achieving and sustaining
entrepreneurial success.
The beauty of using dialogue,
such as that found in “The
One Minute Entrepreneur,” is
that the authors can anticipate the questions readers
might have and include the
appropriate answers in their
fictional characters’ conversations. Where it gets tricky
is weaving real quotes from
the lives of Jones and Bowles
into this virtual environment.
Thankfully, the authors make
it work.
In addition, for readers who want
some immediate feedback, the authors
offer an informative exercise in the
book’s brief appendix. Blanchard and
Hutson have included the 20 attributes
of successful entrepreneurs, and to help
readers learn more about how their
own attributes match up, they offer a
free online self-assessment tool.
The One Minute Entrepreneur: The
Secret to Creating and Sustaining a
Successful Business Doubleday Business
©2008, 139 pages, $19.95
(ISBN 978-0-385-52602-9)
Lessons learned
- The authors offer solid advice on managing money. Keeping a steady cash flow in
the revenue pipeline is key. A critical component of this principle is ensuring that
customers pay their bills in a timely manner. - Their second principle focuses on company talent and empowering employees to
take responsibility for your business. It’s a smart strategy since it motivates workers
to share the heavy lifting of growing a new business. - The third principle offered is that you have to figure out the best way to take
considerable care of your customers so they can take care of you. - The most useful elements of the book are the “One Minute Insights” that appear at
the end of each chapter. These, for the most part, are good takeaways, especially
when their insights offer a new angle, such as “A strength taken to its extreme can
be a liability,” or, “If nobody will pay you to do what you love, you have a hobby
not a career.”
Required reading
Top-pick books on creating a business
Be the Elephant by Steve Kaplan | From
the author of the best-selling “Bag the
Elephant,” Steve Kaplan shows entrepreneurs and small-business owners how to
grow big enough to make an impact,
remain financially healthy and be smart
enough to dodge the “five killer mistakes.”
He also lends advice on how to
strengthen sales and how to avoid growing too slowly or growing too fast. Kaplan
started his career by growing Sampling
Corporation of America from a basement
operation into a $250 million international
marketing company.
Workman Publishing, 224 pages
SalesBURST!! by Patrick Evans | Patrick
Evans conversationally explains entrepreneurial sales training. This is a very easy
read with plenty of tips on how to connect
with customers and prospects. Its concise
messages are inspirational and entertaining. The thought process on which the
book is based allowed Evans to dramatically increase sales within his own business. Evans created EVCOR, a shipping/software integration firm that developed a software-based system to ship
packages for Intel, Dell, Abbott Labs,
Oracle, Sony and about 3,000 other
firms. Evans and his wife started EVCOR
out of their house and sold the business
for $60 million.
John Wiley & Sons Inc., 185 pages
The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki |
“The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested,
Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone
Starting Anything” was published in
September 2004 and remains among the
top-selling books on small business
enterprises and entrepreneurship.
Kawasaki deciphers every phase of creating a business, from the very basics of
raising money and designing a business
model through the many stages that will
eventually lead your company to doing
the right thing and giving back to society.
Kawasaki, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, tested his ideas on real start-ups as
founder and CEO of Garage Technology
Ventures.
Portfolio, 240 pages.
