rework - you need less than you think

As many of you know, Business Ready is all about helping small businesses get ahead.  Lately I’ve been working with a lot of companies that are starting to contract very “big company” people to provide guidance.  Now, by big company I mean individuals whose work experience reflects the ten years they just spent at that little company that had 40K+ employees.  I’m not quite sure they really fit into a world that operates MacGyver style - building most everything with just duct tape and paperclips.  Yes, they do bring different perspectives and valued experience but they also operated in a world that had expensive infrastructure - a luxury for small business.

so what is the alternative to glean solid information on how to start, build and grow a small business?

Take a little over two hours of your life, $30 and go buy and read Rework the latest from the fine folks behind 37signals: Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.  I’m not big on management books but this one is pure genius, easily digestible and spot on in a very humorous way.

For instance, many software companies offer a free trial as sort of a teaser - an easily digestible introduction that allows people to try without investing a lot of time or money up front.  Hopefully they come back and buy the full product.  Many management books set aside whole chapters to review the importance of this topic.  Rework has one page that starts:  “emulate drug dealers … they know their product is so good they’re willing to give a little away for free upfront.  They know you’ll be back for more - with money”. And it goes from there.  Using dry wit drives the point home (and makes it unforgettable).

There are so many gems I wanted to highlight but really I’d just be retyping the whole book so the only alternative is to encourage you to buy and read the book.  I few of my favorite “chapters” (remember a chapter is at most two pages long):

• planning is guessing / your estimates suck;
• enough with the “entrepreneurs”;
• scratch your own itch;
• outside money is Plan Z;
• start a business, not a start-up;
• four-letter words;
• inspiration is perishable.

There is a quote on the inside jacket cover from Mark Cuban, cofounder of HDNet and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, that sums up the must read nature of this book:

if given a choice between investing in someone who has read Rework or has his MBA, I’m investing in Rework every time … Mark Cuban

Nice.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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this post is dedicated to a very dear friend.  I was in a bit of a writing funk and in order to kick my ass she gave me a copy of Rework to inspire me to get back on this blog and continue to share with people the little, unknown but highly valuable, details behind starting, growing and building a business.  It worked.  Thanks, D.