Resources
This page will be a constant work-in-progress. As I find things . . . books, articles, websites, etc. . . that I believe would be helpful to an entrepreneur, I will post them here.
Books
Bookstores are crammed with business books, but here are a few that are excellent and particularly well-suited to the entrepreneurial small business person.
The E Myth Revisited
Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
by Michael E. Gerber
Duct Tape Marketing
The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
by John Jantsch
Now, Discover Your Strengths
The revolutionary program that shows you how to develop your unique talents and strengths
by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton
Good to Great
Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . And Others Don’t
by Jim Collins
Useful Websites
Your public library has useful reference tools that you can probably access from your computer with only your library card number. Reference USA is a particularly useful database carried by many libraries. You can look for companies by name, by size, by industry, by geographic area and so on. Ideal for developing a list of sales targets.
The James J. Hill Reference Library in St. Paul, MN can provide information on just about any business topic you can imagine. It can be particularly useful in market research, giving you a picture of the competitive landscape for a given market. You can do the research yourself, or use one of the Library’s staff researchers to do it for you. View their website at www.jjhill.org.
www.meritline.com is an online store for computers, printers, accessories and supplies. You can often find some real bargains here.
www.linkedin.com is a powerful web-based networking tool. It connects you to people you want to meet through people you already know.
www.constantcontact.com can help you maintain regular contact, not only with existing customers, but also with target customers.
www.proceedinnovative.com is located in Schaumburg, IL and servicing clients in Chicagoland and USA. Google is the world’s most popular search engine. More and more people use Google on a daily basis to connect to potential partners or find specific products and services. For a business to succeed these days having good presence on Google is a must. If you need any help with your website, including development, SEO, Paid Search or understanding analytics (Google Analytics) connect to our digital marketing provider, Proceed Innovative.
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Small Business Owners and CEOs . . . is your business stuck?
Despite everything you try, is the business under-performing or failing to grow as it should?
Hi, I’m Andy Rockwood, owner of Rock Solid Business Development. Since 1997, I have been helping small business owners and operators restore the joy of running a business. In today’s economy, it’s easy for small business people to get stressed out. Competition is fierce. Your customers are demanding that you provide more service and more attention for a lower price. And you’re probably trying to do that with fewer employees. Under circumstances like these, it’s more important than ever for small business leaders to get above the fray of daily problems to take a longer term look at where the business needs to go and how it needs to get there.
If all this resonates with you, you’re in the right place. If you’re still not sure, click on the “Who We Serve” navigation key above to learn more about the business people I want to work with as well as recommendations from past and present clients. Or, if you would like to read some of the management tips I have written, click here to visit our small business blog.
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Albert Einstein
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
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Richard Palmer
"The nicest thing about not planning is that failure always comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by a period of worry and desperation."
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Richard Teerlink
"The result of leadership is a group of people working toward a common goal because they want to, not because they have to."
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George Patton
"If everyone is thinking alike, someone’s not thinking."
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William J.H. Boetcker
"If your business keeps you so busy that you have no time for anything else, there must be something wrong, either with you or with your business."
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Peter Schutz
"If you listen closely enough, your customers will explain your business to you."
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John B. Roberts
"One of the greatest challenges as a manager is how to delegate so effectively that once you have gotten the monkey off your back, your employees don’t return it to you . . . with instructions for its care and feeding."
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Wayne Gretzky
"You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take."
