- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Paperbacks (Jan 12 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0140255400
- ISBN-13: 978-0140255409
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,657,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Gill and Paterson formerly worked in advertising, and their background is apparent here in the persistent underlining of certain themes and the insistence that all entrepreneurs develop a brand identity and a "USP"?a unique selling proposition. The book sets out to be a guide to what you can expect to experience from being self-employed. The results of many interviews with independent business people, ranging from owners of one-person services to proprietors of large manufacturing plants, are scattered anecdotally throughout the text. Chapters take readers through the psychological need for internal rather than external validation; how constant worry (distinguished from fretting) makes winners; the many handicaps of the home office; and how to choose those vital professionals?bankers, lawyers and accountants. Perhaps the most important chapter details how to write a mission statement and make a strategic road map defining your own business. At the end of the book is "The Ultimate Test," which consists of 11 questions to determine whether you have the right stuff to become an entrepreneur. If, at the end, you can answer definitely either yes or no, this guide will have served its purpose for you.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
What sets Gill and Paterson's book apart from other entrepreneurial how-to guides is the focus on the emotional and psychological aspects of being one's own boss or working (and sometimes living) with a partner. Considering both those who leave corporate life because they are unhappy and those who are "forced out" because of downsizing or restructuring, the authors suggest ways to make smooth the transition to running one's own enterprise, provide tips on financing and finding professional assistance, and offer advice on mission statements and marketing. Gill and Paterson use numerous real-life examples to drive home their points and illustrate their caveats. The two of them have "been there, done that." Both worked in corporate marketing positions before leaving to form their own separate consulting practices. David Rouse
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Joy of Sex with Your Business Partner,
By A Customer
This review is from: Fired Up (Paperback)
"You can hardly breathe....You are sitting in a meeting...and so they talk, and every word they say seems to diminish the supply of fresh air, and fresh ideas....Your brain begins to go numb...the corporate institution encourages this insane situation." I was looking for a book on public relations and stumbled across Michael Gill and Sheila Patterson's introduction to becoming an entrepreneur in Fired Up! Before I left the parking lot, I had already done the one thing every reader never admits to-I read the last two chapters first and took "The Ultimate Test." Sigh...I passed the test. I was ready to leave my executive position of 15 years and go out on my own. I had had enough of being told to do those things that I felt inside were headed in an unexciting, unrewarding, and basically wrong direction. Having discussed this with my beau, we decided the time was now. We would do this together. Following the guidelines on writing a business plan, we painstakingly conducted the required market research and found that our idea was indeed unique. Next step-we rented office space, away from both our homes, and moved in there together. We interviewed several corporate attorneys and chose one, and did the same for an accountant and a banker. Next, we tested our idea and it worked. Like a cookbook, we pursued each suggestion as if we were on the path to the holy grail. Not one failed us. Having developed our unique selling proposition, we gleefully learned that we had become the front-runners. That's not to say that we didn't suffer through some of the "Detours to Disaster" described, such as saying out loud "We can do that" when we really didn't want to and should not have...and such a project took us off-course for a while, but we returned to our road plan, a bit more weary and a bit more hardened to the life of an entrepreneur. As Gill and Patterson stress, there is nothing like working for yourself. Read this book and glean the lessons of successes and failures, and accept the fact that you will be telling your own stories of both. Follow each step included in this guide and you will have no reason to fail. I've purchased several copies of this book and gave them to my friends, with express direction to read during their corporate meetings. Before you decide that working for yourself is the next step, please read the appendix ("Eleven Steps You Can Take Right Now Before You Leave Your Job")-it will save you the heartache of emotional and financial destitude if this lifestyle is not for you. And you will have made your own decision to move from fearful employee to fired up entrepreneur! As for the joy of sex-well, better saved for another book review!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Joy of Sex with Your Business Partner,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fired Up (Paperback)
"You can hardly breathe....You are sitting in a meeting...and so they talk, and every word they say seems to diminish the supply of fresh air, and fresh ideas....Your brain begins to go numb...the corporate institution encourages this insane situation." I was looking for a book on public relations and stumbled across Michael Gill and Sheila Patterson's introduction to becoming an entrepreneur in Fired Up! Before I left the parking lot, I had already done the one thing every reader never admits to-I read the last two chapters first and took "The Ultimate Test." Sigh...I passed the test. I was ready to leave my executive position of 15 years and go out on my own. I had had enough of being told to do those things that I felt inside were headed in an unexciting, unrewarding, and basically wrong direction. Having discussed this with my beau, we decided the time was now. We would do this together. Following the guidelines on writing a business plan, we painstakingly conducted the required market research and found that our idea was indeed unique. Next step-we rented office space, away from both our homes, and moved in there together. We interviewed several corporate attorneys and chose one, and did the same for an accountant and a banker. Next, we tested our idea and it worked. Like a cookbook, we pursued each suggestion as if we were on the path to the holy grail. Not one failed us. Having developed our unique selling proposition, we gleefully learned that we had become the front-runners. That's not to say that we didn't suffer through some of the "Detours to Disaster" described, such as saying out loud "We can do that" when we really didn't want to and should not have...and such a project took us off-course for a while, but we returned to our road plan, a bit more weary and a bit more hardened to the life of an entrepreneur. As Gill and Patterson stress, there is nothing like working for yourself. Read this book and glean the lessons of successes and failures, and accept the fact that you will be telling your own stories of both. Follow each step included in this guide and you will have no reason to fail. I've purchased several copies of this book and gave them to my friends, with express direction to read during their corporate meetings. Before you decide that working for yourself is the next step, please read the appendix ("Eleven Steps You Can Take Right Now Before You Leave Your Job")-it will save you the heartache of emotional and financial destitude if this lifestyle is not for you. And you will have made your own decision to move from fearful employee to fired up entrepreneur! As for the joy of sex-well, better saved for another book review! |
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