Book reviews
SECRETS OF SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS EXPOSED!
By Dale Beaumont, Dream Express International, 2007, 278pp
At Anthill, we like writing about lessons learnt the hard way, and reading about them, too. In ‘Secrets of small business owners exposed!’, a bunch of small (and some now large) business owners tell their stories of transformation: from failure into success, from frustration into passion.
Find out what successful people do and do the same thing until you get the same results. This is the advice entrepreneur and author Dale Beaumont regularly imparts when giving motivational speeches. He conceived the book as a way of bringing the methods and ideas of successful people to his audience.
Each chapter is presented in Q&A format, with business owners across a range of industries telling their ‘secrets’ in their own words. They don’t hold back, with many giving frank accounts of their own personal and professional turning points.
With more advice than most text books and more easily read to boot, ‘Secrets of small business owners exposed!’ will inspire any business owner stuck in a rut, as well as those just embarking on their brave new world.
BRILLIANT IDEAS: FROM THE WHEEL TO THE IPOD
By Xavier Waterkeyn, New Holland, 2006, 239pp
The telephone, the ball point pen, cling wrap; the great inventions we now take for granted started life as someone’s inspired idea. Author Xavier Waterkeyn reminds us of this fact and lets us in on the history, motivation and intrigue surrounding mankind’s most brilliant ideas.
Why is it called Duct Tape? How is the printed page responsible for the invention of air conditioning? Why tea bags? Inventions covered range from the trivial (paperclips, safety pins) to the more profound (antibiotics, the wheel). Each invention is illuminated with humourous prose, striking photography and witty captions making ‘Brilliant ideas’ an attractive, thinking person’s coffee table book.
For the budding entrepreneur, there is much to be gained by studying the commercialisation of these ground-breaking technologies. With hindsight, we have an armchair view as tales of cut-throat competition, inspired marketing and intellectual property battles are played out. Each disruptive technology left a trail of winners and losers in its wake, and we now have the perspective to work out why.
This is an entertaining read, with technical concepts aptly translated into layman’s terms. Use it for inspiration and education, or just leave it lying around on the coffee table, looking smart.
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