Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own - Hardcover

Judson, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060731133 ISBN 13: 9780060731137

Publisher: Harper Business, 2004

Synopsis

There is an epidemic of unhappiness in the American workplace. A full 70 percent of workers in the United States report that they are disengaged from their jobs. When asked, "Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?" only 20 percent of nearly 2 million employees said yes. It is no wonder that 56 percent of all Americans dream of starting their own business. So why don't they do so? Because starting one's own business is seen as difficult, expensive, and risky.

In this extraordinary book, successful Go It Alone! entrepreneur Bruce Judson explains that the conventional wisdom about starting your own business is stunningly wrong. Using the leverage of technology -- e-mail, the World Wide Web, and the remarkable array of off-the-shelf business services now available -- it is dramatically easier to start your own business. Magnified by these new services, it is also possible to create, for the first time, a highly focused business.

Bruce Judson shows you the practical steps that will allow nearly any individual to create a business, often using job skills that seem to require an entire corporation for support. It is no longer necessary to spend time on the tasks that don't add value. It is now possible to stay small but reap big profits. Go-it-alone businesses allow the individual the freedom to concentrate on their greatest skills. After reading this book, your motto will be "Do What You Do Best, Let Others Do the Rest."

About this title

About the Author

Bruce Judson is a senior faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management. An entrepreneur and lawyer, Judson holds advanced degrees from Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College. He is the author of Go It Alone! and Netmarketing, and the coauthor of Hyperwars. In 2008 he both predicted and hedged against the market crash, beating the investment results of virtually every mutual fund and hedge fund.

From Publishers Weekly

This engaging, if optimistic, primer insists that you don’t need much capital, or much risk-taking, to start a business. Indeed, according to Yale School of Management professor Judson, author of Netmarketing and himself the founder of several allegedly successful small firms, the time has never been better for startups. With the Internet now offering every business service under the sun through online companies, solo entrepreneurs can—and must—outsource almost every aspect of their business and concentrate on leveraging their "unique skills." Judson lays out a number of useful rules of thumb (chief among them: don’t give up your day job until your business is profitable) illustrated by case studies of successful businesses, from which readers can glean enlightening tips on marketing, fee structures and customer management. Less helpful are his recommendations for figuring out what an entrepreneur’s unique skills actually are, as he relies on fuzzy introspective koans like "Find Your Source of Personal Energy." Interspersed is much motivational material on taking the first step, finding a way around obstacles, following your passion and facing down your fear. The book is not a step-by-step how-to, and its assurance that readers can beat the daunting odds against small business start-up success by avoiding typical mistakes is rather rose-colored, but those determined to take the plunge will find a good deal of easily digestible food for thought.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Business
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0060731133
• ISBN 13: 9780060731137
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 229