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| The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up | 
 enlarge | Authors: Norm Brodsky, Bo Burlingham
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $15.97
You Save: $9.98 (38%)
New (32) Used (11) from $12.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1591842212
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.11
EAN: 9781591842217
Publication Date: October 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: P20081115113924G
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Product Description
Two of Inc. magazines hugely popular columnists show how small-business people can deal with all kinds of tricky situations.
People starting out in business tend to seek step-by-step formulas or specific rules, but in reality there are no magic bullets. Rather, says veteran entrepreneur Norm Brodsky, theres a mentality that helps street-smart people solve problems and pursue opportunities as they arise. He calls it the knack, and it has made all the difference to the eight successful start-ups of his career.
Brodsky explores this mind-set every month in Inc. magazine, in the hugely popular column he co-writes with journalist and author Bo Burlingham (best known for his acclaimed book Small Giants). In both their column and now their book, they tell stories about real companies facing real challenges, and show readers how to apply the knack to their own businesses.
Brodsky and Burlingham offer essential advice such as:
Follow the numbersthats the best way to spot problems before they become life threatening
Keep focusing on your real goal--its amazingly easy to get sidetracked by secondary concerns
Dont get so close to the problem that you lose all perspective Brodsky and Burlingham prove that street smarts and business acumen can be within any entrepreneurs reach.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
One man, two businesses, wide-ranging usefulness November 20, 2008
Two businesses are what I'm remembering = delivery and records management. Norm may see them differently.
My debate on this book was four or five stars; five star books change my life and I'm not completely sure this will BUT: I read a library copy and his chapter on cash flow and the need to protect cash has changed my thinking. So, I'll suggest you protect your own cash-on-hand and read a library copy and give him the (free-to-me) fifth star. He's already saved me $45 on a purchase I actually don't need today. YMMV.
Norm's view of business opportunity is almost as far from mine as I can imagine. I have a boatload of schooling and want to own my own job. He aims at $100M revenues and employs a significantly under-educated work force. In as much as he writes specifically and in detail about exactly what he knows, I can map his experience to my situation. People who write in more general, superficially "universal" terms rarely provide as much take-away value.
After the cash-flow chapter, the next-most useful paragraph, to me, was his wife's explanation of how they can work in the business together, and how it took them 20 years to be married enough to be able to do it.
While Norm does not say much about how TO write a business plan, he has a lot to say about how NOT to. The lesson about reality-testing expectations of the future is useful.
I'll go back over my copy and take more notes before I return it. May also read some of the other books other reviewers have recommended. However, I came to this one first, after a host of essentially useless "you can make money" entreprenuerial how-tos. Infinitely readable and well worth the time you give it.
 Includes wonderful insights based on a ton of real-world experience. And the suggestions and recommendations included were great November 17, 2008
I liked this book. It's more of a rant on the subject of starting a business instead of a how-to or checklist or guide. It kind of reminded me of "The Art of the Start" (ISBN: 9781591840565). But I thought Kawasaki's book was better. The instant book being reviewed has 17 chapters as follows:
0. The knack ... and how to get it
1. How to succeed in business
2. The right stuff
3. Why startups fail
4. Where the money is
5. Magic numbers
6. The art of the deal
7. It begins with a sale
8. Good sales, bad sales, and the ones that get away
9. Customers for keeps
10. How to lose customers
11. The decision to grow
12. Becoming the boss
13. The one thing you can't delegate
14. Selling is a team sport
15. Help! I need somebody
16. When the student is ready, the teacher appears
17. Keeping up with the stones
I found the book to be well written and well outlined. I'd probably give it 5-stars if I hadn't felt I'd read it before in other books. The same old material on how to start a new company can only be re-written in just so many different ways. And then there is the fact that there is no chapter devoted to business plans. That's not good if an author wants 5 stars from me.
If the subject of this book interests you, then I recommend you consider reading two others along with it: "Startup Nation" (ISBN: 9780385512480), and "Growing Your Business" (ISBN: 9780671671648). I found the instant book being reviewed had wonderful insights that seemed to be based on a ton of real-world experience. And the suggestions and recommendations included were great. So I cannot poo-poo the book. But it just didn't measure up to the three other books I cite in this review. 4 stars!
Practical Business Reference Guide November 10, 2008
This is a great book that reads like a very practical, informative, and sometimes entertaining business reference guide. The book contains the accumulation of knowledge, experiences, and advice given in the authors' column in Inc. magazine. It is a great book for: (1) new or aspiring entrepreneurs, (2) executives in establshed small/medium sized companies, (3) 2nd tier executives in small/medium companies, (4) 2nd generation family business leaders, (5) bankers who lend to small and medium sized businesses, and (6) government officials who deal with small and medium businesses as part of their job. All will benefit from understanding the mindset, the thinking, and the energy that goes into succesfully managing a small or medium sized business.
Well written and an eye opener to those who are trying to find their way October 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great examples of people who came from many different backgrounds that made their dreams come true. Should be required reading. Check out their FREE seminars coming up. I am going to the one in Los Angeles in November. These guys know their stuff.
Like having a mentor in your hand... October 27, 2008
I got this book on Thursday night, started reading it on a plane ride Saturday, and stayed up until 1am Sunday to finish it! As an entrepreneur whose business involves occasionally offering advice to other would-be entrepreneurs, I've read a ton of business books. Most of them-- under the guise of providing 'essential' information-- offer common platitudes that are easily obtained elsewhere. Not so The Knack, which contains truly unique insights about how one needs to THINK in order to build a successful company.
Reading the book, I felt like I was getting unvarnished, pragmatic advice from a trusted mentor who'd been through the ups and downs, learned from his experiences, and now was taking the time to share his wisdom with me. It might be tough to face the truth of what he says (i.e. not all sales are good sales), but if I listen and learn I'll have a healthier, more profitable business.
I tell my clients who want to start their own business that they must, must read 'The E-Myth' by Michael Gerber. I will now add 'The Knack' to that list-- it is a classic of that caliber.
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