Summary:
From weighing up the pros and cons of jumping ship in the first place to establishing and maintaining a successful solo enterprise, this book is all you need to make the leap to working alone.

All aspects of setting up a new business are covered including:

- managing resources, time, clients etc.
- establishing good working practices and maintaining a desirable work/life balance for those who choose to work from home.
- getting the financial aspects right - one of the biggest pitfalls in going it alone.
- being a 'five to niner' - building up a business in your spare time while still employed.

Practical examples of best (and worst) practices are provided, gleaned from interviews with dozens of people from across the globe who are successful solo workers. Be your own Boss contains hundreds of relevant examples and genuine, tried and tested tips and practices which really work.

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 at www.teachyourself.com to give you a richer understanding of how to keep your small business afloat and going strong.

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.

• Timely publication in a climate where more people are having to seek less orthodox ways of making a living
• Written by an author with masses of personal experience of going it alone
• Packed with case studies , including famous people who have gone solo
• Written with humour in a lively yet practical style, making it easy to learn the right way to do things
• Includes interviews with dozens of successful solo workers from across the globe

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Weighing the options – should you stay put or is it time to leave? - pros and cons of quitting, do you have what it takes to go solo?
Staying put – how to improve your situation – and your salary, working from home
Quitting your job – deriving maximum benefit from quitting, strengthening ties, sharing contacts, lining up future work, taking the leap, becoming the MD of your own life
Future paths – same career but with a new company, a different career with a different company, same career or different career but going solo
What going solo actually means and how to do it - baby steps, doing what you do best, turning your passion into your job, accentuating the positives
Setting up your solo work life, shared office vs. your own space, renting an office, working from home
Effective home working - using your home as your office, home life vs. work life;separation and synergy, time & space, creating your environment, maximizing efficiency in your workspace
Maximizing home-office potential - achieving the best work/life balance, the advantages of home working – and how to leverage them, the disadvantages of home working and how to avoid them, avoiding distractions, prevarication & transference
Targets & planning - why conventional business plans don’t work for solo workers, creating a soloist’s roadmap, setting realistic targets; optimism vs. realism, problem solving strategies, charting your position and plotting a profitable course, write your own, and your company’s, obituary, avoiding distractions, prevarication and transference, motivation
Dealing with clients - creating the right impression, project management, streamlining your working practices
Mobile working - increasing flexibility, minimizing costs, virtual’ businesses
Maximizing soloing potential -downtime and how to use it to your advantage, exercise in the workplace, learnings from wage slaves, commuting (to the room next door),
Working 5-9, -
IT for the solo worker – information, communication, instant response
Funding - finding what’s out there, applying for grants and loans,
Insurance for the solo worker - protecting the bottom line, coping with barren spells,
Breaking the rules - the rules for solo workers, why they were made to be broken, how to break them to maximum advantage
Reasons you are bound to fail (and other excuses) -
Maximizing your assets -recognizing your assets, protecting your assets, building new assets
Research - the soloist’s approach to market research, quantitative & qualitative vs. formulative
Dealing with clients -
Celebrating your successes -
Conclusion
20 reasons to be cheerful
20 things to do when you’re bored
budget psychometric profiling

About the Author(s):
Matt Avery currently runs two successful companies : a marketing consultancy and a copywriting agency. He also writes on workrelated issues for several bestselling magazines and has previously written a number of other business books.

Readership:
Anyone thinking of working for themselves