The Accidental Entrepreneur: The 50 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Starting a Business

Like many business owners, Susan-Urquhart Brown never expected to end up as an entrepreneur. Launching her own business spoke to her passions, but she soon realized there was much more to being a successful owner than she ever expected. In The Accidental Entrepreneur, she takes all the mystery out of going solo. For those who are just beginning to consider starting a venture as well as those who want to take their organization to the next level, she offers advice on what works and what doesn't. With hard-won wisdom and empathy, she shows readers: • the 8 questions everyone should ask up front • the top 10 traits of the successful entrepreneur • how to obtain a license and sellers permit • the best way to create a business plan • 10 simple ways to get referrals • the 6 secrets of marketing a business • smart tips for investing and finance • ways to avoid burnout • how to avoid the 7 biggest pitfalls in business Starting one's own business should be exciting, not scary. This is the one book that will show readers how to create a successful and fulfilling venture they can be proud of.

Customer Reviews:

Poor planning is one of the most common causes of small business failure. Get this book to help you avoid poor planning!

By Jeff Lippincott "JLIPPIN" - May 7, 2008

I liked this book. It is full of content and it is well-written. It seems to be an updated version of a smiliarly titled book the author wrote back in 2004. See "The Accidental Entrepreneur" with ISBN: 0975977806. The 2008 version has a new chapter added - the 7th in the following list of chapter titles:

1. Introduction
2. What is an entrepreneur, anyway?
3. Ready, set, go!
4. Taking care of business
5. What do you bring to the party?
6. Market and sell your socks off
7. Get connected to the Web for profit
8. Making room for more business

The author is a self-employed business coach and mentor to wanta-be entrepreneurs. Basically she does for pay what I do for free as a SCORE volunteer. Most of what she discusses in her book is what I discuss with my SCORE clients. About the only thing we differ on is the extent to which a person should put effort into preparing a business plan. The author suggests that the entrepreneur should... read more

Fail

By Modulok - March 4, 2012

I hate being that one person who gives a bad review when everyone else seems to
think otherwise, but the book was horrific. I had to stop reading it when I was
confronted by the diagram with a circle labeled, "comfort zone". Some months
later I picked it back up but it didn't improve much.

If you can imagine a book about running a small business, as written by someone
with zero experience running a small business, but was instead some kind of a
hybrid cross between a hippie and a high school guidance counselor - this is
it. (No defamatory remark toward the author intended. I don't know anything
about her. That's just the vibe I got while reading it.)

I bought the book thinking I was getting some insight about the art of making
money and instead all I got was a bunch of obvious and painfully general
advice. Throw in a few motivational fill-in-the-blank worksheets and a lecture
about saving the planet for some... read more

Don't start your business without it

By Daniel B. Beaulieu "Business book man" - June 29, 2008

I really like this book and as an entrepreneur cannot stress enough how helpful this book would have been to me when I started my business many years ago
This book is for those of us who woke up one morning and found ourselves owning our own business. Funny as it sounds isn't that what happens? I know that many of you in the rep business for example were sales people with real jobs for many years and then for a number of reasons: company cut backs, a principal who offered to set us up in business if we would agree to represent him or we went to work for a large rep firm and ended up either running it or splitting off to start our own firm. Others of us got an idea that we were passionate enough about to go out on that limb and risk everything to "follow the dream" Whatever the reason we became entrepreneurs...accidentally. So here we are, what do we do now?
We pick up and read Susan Urquhart- Brown's book The Accidental Entrepreneur that's what we do if were smart. This... read more