Small Business Survival: Teach Yourself

Summary:

Is this the right book for me?

Small Business Survival will give you all the help you need to not just "get by" in the present economic downturn but to help your business emerge stronger, too. The author, Kevin Duncan, is an independent troubleshooter with a vast knowledge of many business types, writer of 5 bestselling business books, and winner of many creativity and effectiveness awards. His no-nonsense approach to the subject guides you through the key issues and questions you will face and gives you clear, practical solutions - to help ensure your business survives and thrives.

Not got much time?
One and five-minute introductions to key principles to get you started.

Author insights
Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience.

Test yourself
Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress.

Extend your knowledge
Extra online articles to give you a richer understanding of how to keep your small business afloat and going strong.

Five things to remember
Quick refreshers to help you remember the key facts.

Try this
Innovative exercises illustrate what you've learnt and how to use it.

• Kevin Duncan's vast troubleshooting experience in the world of business provides
  you with a complete survival toolkit - from confronting difficult questions, to adapting your business, to refueling growth for your business' future.

• This practical, no-nonsense book is full of advice and tips on how to weather tough economic times - helping your business to survive and become stronger in the process.

• Extremely topical, this book will kick-start your business right now!

Table of Contents:
110 pieces of other peoples’ wisdom
· How to develop your business successfully
· The guide to growth
· Beating the blues
· How to plan the next big thing
· If I’d known this when I started…
Phase I: Confront
01. So your business is under pressure. What now?
· What to do when things go wrong
· You cannot be prescriptive about survival and growth
· Time for tough love and some tough thinking
· Some nasty questions
· Some So what? questions
· Can’t get no satisfaction
02. Are you disciplined enough to survive?
· New company: same as the old company?
· Ripping up the straitjackets you built yourself
· Turning native
· Growing panes: a new look through the business window
· Efficiency is a sophisticated form of laziness
· Are you suffering from attitude sickness?
· Beating the blues
03. Thinking is free
· Do it more often
· Try this. It might just work
· Why the next big thing might be small
· A strategy is when you have decided what to do
· KISS: Keep It Simple and Sensible
· KITSCH: Keep It Terribly Simple and Cool Headed
· Didn’t work? Try again
Phase II: Hone
04. Thinking stage 1: What are the facts?
· Rivers and dams
· Send it down to the boys in forensics or go completely ballistic?
· Common Sense Analysis
· Always admit if something was a fluke
· Remind me, what was the original idea?
05. Thinking stage 2: What’s your own opinion?
· The doctor who died of ill health
· Heed your own counsel
· The pragmatist who was sceptical about the cynic
· Death to compromise
06. Thinking stage 3: What can you learn from the experience of others?
· Six crucial questions answered:
1. What is the hardest thing about running and growing your business?
2. Is growth always a good thing?
3. Did you ever suffer from post-launch blues or a three-year itch?
4. How do you plan the “next big thing”?
5. If you could have known one thing when you started that you know now, what would it be?
6. Is there anything else you would like to pass on about growing or evolving your business?
Phase III: Evolve
07. Set up your business tripwires and grenades
· How to trip yourself up on purpose
· Write it down and it gets done
· Idea tripwires
· Personal planning tripwires
· Business planning tripwires
· Dropping grenades in fishponds
· Idea grenades
· Personal grenades
· Business grenades
· Don’t replace the original, replace the spare
· Multitasking versus Rapid Sequential Tasking
· Put the effort in only where it gets you somewhere
08. Write your own Lifesmile Statement
· What am I like?
· Decide your own style
· So what do I really want?
· I pledge…
· My Lifesmile Statement
· Try being angular
· A board meeting with yourself
· Nailing a jelly to the wall
Phase IV: What next?
09. Don’t confuse movement with progress
· Action not activity
· Outcome not output
· Spotting obfuscation
· Business does not have to mean being busy
· There’s a tidal wave coming. Here’s a paper cup.
· Everything busier than everything else
10. Corporations don’t have memories
· History does not repeat itself
· Corporations: just clusters of individuals
· Overcoming corporate amnesia
· Overcoming corporate apathy
· Overcoming corporate aggression
11. Everything may or may not be related to everything else
· “Butterfly destroys city”: chaos theory revisited
· Action and chain reaction
· Everything changes
· It’s all in your mind
· Yes, but have you actually done it?
· Closing remarks

About the Author(s):

After 20 years in advertising, Kevin Duncan has spent the last nine years as an independent troubleshooter, advising companies on how to change their businesses for the better. He has written 5 books, and has hands-on knowledge of how to run many types of businesses, overseeing over 1,000 projects and winning 35 awards for creativity and effectiveness.

Readership:
Those who own their own business

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