Start Small, Finish Big: 15 Key Lessons to Start--And Run--Your Own Successful Business - Hardcover

Deluca, Fred; Hayes, John P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446524026 ISBN 13: 9780446524025

Publisher: Grand Central Pub, 2000

Synopsis

The founder of the Subway sandwich shop franchise draws on his own experience to present fifteen important steps to becoming a successful entrepreneur, offering helpful advice and key business strategies ranging from continually improving your business to believing in your people. 60,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

"FRED DELUCA is the co-founder of Subway(r). In 1996 in Milford, Connecticut, the home of Subway's corporate offices, he established MILE-the Micro Investment Lending Enterprise-a non-profit organization designed to provide loans for microentrepreneurs. Fred DeLuca lives in Florida.

John P. Hayes is the author of numerous books, a public speaker and trainer on business subjects, including franchising and network marketing, and a marketing coach for small business operators. He resides in Dallas, Texas.

Reviews

DeLuca was only 17 when he started what is now the Subway restaurant chain in 1965; he needed money to attend college and a friend offered to back him with $1,000 to start a sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Conn. That beginning led DeLuca to an enormously successful career: in addition to being president of the chain, he runs MILE, a nonprofit organization that offers loans to entrepreneurs. According to DeLuca, there are 15 essential principles for anyone starting a small business, some of which, DeLuca confesses, he learned the hard way (he had never made a submarine sandwich before opening day of his first shop). Among these pillars: Believe in Your People; Never Run Out of Money; Keep the Faith; and Profit or Perish. DeLuca uses his own business experience as well as that of other successful entrepreneursAe.g., the founders of Kinko's and Little Caesar'sAin addition to those of less well-known business people. Written in a conversational style, the advice isn't especially original or creative. However, would-be millionaires who are sitting at their kitchen table wondering if they should take that big step and start a business will find the book both instructive and inspirational. Agent, Bob Diforio.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

We've already seen "burger wars." This may be the start of "sub wars." Or perhaps it is just a coincidence that Tony Conza, cofounder of Blimpies, and DeLuca, cofounder of Subway, have now written books. DeLuca follows Conza's Success . . . It's a Beautiful Thing , a collection of reminiscences about getting started and advice for would-be entrepreneurs, with his own guide to business success. DeLuca tells how he started selling sandwiches at the age of 17; now Subway has 14,000 stores and annual sales of $3 billion. He adds tips from other entrepreneurs with similar experiences, such as the founders of Little Caesar's, Kinko's, and the world's largest commercial cleaning company. DeLuca emphasizes starting small. He explains how it is possible to start a business with $1,000 and touts the concept of microloans. In fact, he established the Micro Investment Lending Enterprise in 1996 to make such loans, and the proceeds from this book will go to that nonprofit organization. (Conza similarly earmarked his profits for a favorite cause, the Boys' Clubs and Girls' Clubs of America.) David Rouse
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

DeLuca, cofounder in 1965 of SUBWAY Restaurants and founder in 1996 of the Micro Investment Lending Enterprise (MILE), a nonprofit organization making microloans to entrepreneurs/microentrepreneurs, has written this humorous, down-to-earth guide to success as a small business owner. Coauthor Hayes is a writer (Computer Architecture and Organization, 1998), public speaker, and business trainer. Each chapter describes one of DeLuca's 15 key lessons and is illustrated with a real-life case study. None of the people in these cases is a household name, but businesses such as Kinkos, Little Caesars, and SUBWAY are. DeLuca doesn't claim that his guides form a master plan for success, but he optimistically believes that anyone can become Bill Gates, Lillian Vernon, or Henry Lay and that his lessons will increase the chances. His book also promotes and supports MILE, and the last chapter and appendix are devoted to information about it and its programs. Recommended for most small business collections.
Susan C. Awe, Univ. of New Mexico Lib., Albuquerque
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grand Central Pub
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446524026
• ISBN 13: 9780446524025
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 353