Over the years one common phrase is used by business owners across the world. Owning and running your own business is like a mental rollercoaster ride. Amazing highs and despairing lows.
There is not a successful entrepreneur out there, including Alan Sugar, Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, who during their rise to fame and fortune have not experienced their own rollercoaster ride. Just read their biographies. It is also not only business where this is true. Success in any field, from sport to music, acting to artistry, usually happens to those who deal with the mental rollercoaster the best.
The Big Dipper tells the story of a character named Ken, who is just a normal guy who has a crazy idea to give up a good job and start his own business. He is not a born entrepreneur - if they truly exist - just a guy with a dream to achieve something for himself and his family.
This book is written by a business owner, for all you business owners, no matter where you are in your journey, from starting to exiting and selling your businesses. Every business owner goes through similar ups and downs, and this book will give you the confidence to take your business to the next level and overcome any fears you may have.
You'll learn from the key lessons that Ken faces, with action points that you can apply in your business, to make the rollercoaster ride an enjoyable rather than a scary experience.
Kevin Stansfield was born into an entrepreneurial family. His mother and father had their own businesses and from an early age Kevin got to see the highs and lows that come with starting, owning and running your own business. Rather than taking the easy option and joining the family firm, Kevin decided to create his own career and studied to become a Chartered Accountant with the vision of having his own accountancy practice one day. This career did not go exactly to plan because the entrepreneurial seed had already been sown. Not wanting to be "stuck" in the accounting world, Kevin's path took him to become a freelance Finance Director working with some amazing fast growth companies, culminating in a group with annual sales of £100m employing over 400. This stretched his accounting knowledge to include all areas of business, from sales and marketing, to building management teams and systemising detailed operations. Realising that his own entrepreneurial talent had not yet been realised Kevin took the brave decision to give up this successful self-employed role and go back to university to do his Masters in Business Administration (MBA). Now having a theoretical databank to add to his practical one, he decided to set up his own business and bought a franchise with the World's #1 business coaching organisation ActionCOACH, which would give him the support and additional tools to help as many businesses as he could. Ten years on, he has built one of the most successful and awarded business coaching firms in the UK, helping hundreds of business owners, just like his parents to build the businesses of their dreams.
