Many entrepreneurs starting up their own business have a great idea, but they fail because they haven’t spent enough time planning how to carry it out. In this book, a team of successful entrepreneurs, business advisors and subject specialists lay out the process of planning and starting your own enterprise, introducing you to the world of entrepreneurship and advising how to grow a business. Drawing on their personal experiences in the different phases of start-up and establishing their businesses they add valuable hands-on information.

Entrepreneurship – An African Perspective is a theoretical as well as practical guide on how to develop business ideas to establish a successful enterprise. In it you will find:

• the procedure the entrepreneur must follow before establishing a business
• guidelines on identifying a feasible business idea
• how to conduct a viability study
• how to draw up a business plan
• a comprehensive introduction to the world of business and its most important role-player, the entrepreneur, specifically in the South African context
• basic business concepts that explain the business environment and business in general
• African case studies and examples of what successful entrepreneurs do and what contributes to successful entrepreneurship
• essential business management functions relevant to a start-up and new business, such as marketing, finance, operations, human resources and purchasing

The authors use an accessible approach to guide readers to be positive yet critical, and creative yet practical in their research and analysis of a business idea, and ultimately to develop a business idea that will be profitable.

Feeling lonely on your journey as an entrepreneur? You just haven't found your mentor - and this book will show you how. Serial entrepreneur Mark Timm offers readers a glimpse behind the curtain by sharing intimate conversations with his mentor, the legendary businessman Kevin Harrington. Together, they delve into the power of mentorship and uncover strategies you can use to not only scale your business but also your relationships. You'll learn how to: * leverage your aggressive curiosity to find business opportunities... and build meaningful connections with your family * 'plan up to 80% of the way' rather than long-term strategizing for better success in executing business plans... and helping your children achieve their dreams * ditch elaborate plans, embrace spectacular failure and find the motivation and confidence to take action * multiply your business endeavours, your relationships and your time 'With the lessons I've learned from Kevin Harrington, every relationship in my life is so much deeper and stronger today than before, when I was compartmentalizing the entrepreneur in me.' - Mark Timm

With 10 simple rules, this book will help readers build confidence, shift their mindset and learn the tools to take control of their lives and begin on a path toward their own definition of freedom. Ray and Jessica Higdon have built their lives on a shared desire for freedom and balance. They started with almost nothing and achieved their dreams through network marketing - and now they share their success secrets in their book. Whether you define success as becoming your own boss full-time, taking an extended parental leave without worrying about how to pay the bills, or saving money for your children, you can follow these rules to make a positive change in your life and learn to: * make room for change in your life by banishing doubt and anxiety. * create a vision for your personal brand of freedom outside the corporate grind of the status quo. * research and prepare before you go into business with yourself or another company * talk about money without shame - the money you have and the money you want * wave 'goodbye' to your inner perfectionist * have a commitment strategy, not an exit strategy * always remember that money can't buy happiness!

The new edition of this highly successful textbook draws on the authors' extensive industry experience and academic research to provide a concise and practical approach to developing and implementing strategies. Offering a highly readable text alongside an effective mix of theory, case studies and updated pedagogical features, the book covers both strategic and managerial elements of innovation. The tools described by the well-respected and authoritative author team can be used to improve performance in both service and manufacturing companies, and the text is an excellent practical resource for students and managers alike. This textbook caters primarily for MBA and executive students of Innovation Management. In addition, it is an essential text for upper level undergraduate and postgraduate students of Innovation Management, as well as for practitioners seeking to enhance their understanding of the subject.

A no-nonsense, implementable handbook for taking part in the Entrepreneur Revolution We are living in revolutionary times; times with an impact as significant and far-reaching as the previous Industrial Revolution was to the Agricultural Age. Technological shifts have allowed micro-businesses to compete with large corporations. Small business can now have a global footprint, can be structured in low tax environments, move products anywhere in the world, and access unprecedented levels of support. Entrepreneur Revolution means taking the initiative to do something that you love, something that you're good at, and something that will make you money. This masterclass in gaining an entrepreneurial mindset will show how to change the way you think, the way you network, and the way you make a living. Includes new statistics, activities, case studies, and research Takes a look at how the brain can affect the entrepreneurial mindset Offers new ideas for entrepreneurs starting a new business Helps you shake off old ideas and make a great, independent leap forward This inspiring and practical book shows you how to break free from The Industrial Revolution mindset, quit working so hard, follow your dream--and make a fortune along the way.

How digital technology is upending the traditional creative industries-and why that might be a good thing The digital revolution poses a mortal threat to the major creative industries-music, publishing, television, and the movies. The ease with which digital files can be copied and distributed has unleashed a wave of piracy with disastrous effects on revenue. Cheap, easy self-publishing is eroding the position of these gatekeepers and guardians of culture. Does this revolution herald the collapse of culture, as some commentators claim? Far from it. In Digital Renaissance, Joel Waldfogel argues that digital technology is enabling a new golden age of popular culture, a veritable digital renaissance. By reducing the costs of production, distribution, and promotion, digital technology is democratizing access to the cultural marketplace. More books, songs, television shows, and movies are being produced than ever before. Nor does this mean a tidal wave of derivative, poorly produced kitsch; analyzing decades of production and sales data, as well as bestseller and best-of lists, Waldfogel finds that the new digital model is just as successful at producing high-quality, successful work as the old industry model, and in many cases more so. The vaunted gatekeeper role of the creative industries proves to have been largely mythical. The high costs of production have stifled creativity in industries that require ever-bigger blockbusters to cover the losses on ever-more-expensive failures. Are we drowning in a tide of cultural silt, or living in a golden age for culture? The answers in Digital Renaissance may surprise you.

With women leading only twenty-four Fortune 500 companies, female founders receiving only 2.2 percent of US venture capital, and the continued presence of sexual harassment and double standards, the gender gap continues to hinder the advancement of women in the professional world. In Digital Goddess, Montgomery-Brown-founder of Big Think, a collection of experts across all fields and disciplines that are either at the top of their field or disrupting it, shares her story in an entertaining and educational light. Told from the unique, female entrepreneurial perspective that unpacks all the hurdles other female founders may face in their own journey to the top, Montgomery-Brown shares the real-world lessons she's learned along the way, such as: Never lie to your investors, even when you just got arrested. Raising money is a poker game-learn how to play. The power and money still lie with men. Pretending it's not that way, or being angry about it, won't lead to success. Your relationship with your co-founder is like a second marriage, so forget about keeping the personal out of the workplace. The more authentic you are, and the more fun you have, the better your experience will be. This book is about dealing with the way things are, even when you don't like it, and being yourself, even when it seems like a drawback. It's about sucking it up, making the hard choices, and dealing with the consequences. It's about being honest no matter what is going down. Victoria's been called "the anti-Elizabeth Holmes," for a good reason-unlike the ill-fated Theranos CEO, she's transparent with her investors even when she fears they will walk away. Digital Goddess is a story for entrepreneurial women at any stage of life who want to know what it actually takes to build a business in a world that's not always fair, predictable, or politically correct

Make Consulting Your Dream Job-On Your Own Terms

When you start your own consulting business, you can be your own boss, set your own hours-and make big profits! But that only happens if you're truly prepared. Are you familiar with the biggest consulting myths? Do you know the 12 success factors for consultants? Have you ever owned your own business before? "How to Build a Successful Consulting Practice" has all these answers and more-distilled by consulting guru Jack Phillips from years spent researching and reviewing successful firms that are still in business today. This essential volume shows how to: Develop a bulletproof business planFind and keep clients for lifeBuild your brand with magnetic marketing strategiesWrite spot-on proposalsUse the Internet as a secret weaponBecome a charismatic public speakerAvoid financial, legal, and ethical pitfallsAdjust to a new work life

'A wise, exciting and life-changing book' Arianna Huffington, author of Thrive 'In this incisive book, Christian Busch reveals that luck isn't always dumb. People who can see what others don't - who are awake to the high probability of the improbable - can achieve and contribute in ways their more blinkered colleagues cannot. The Serendipity Mindset is a bracing and hopeful antidote to a world addicted to efficiency and control' Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of When and Drive 'How to create the opportunities for a successful and fulfilling life? Christian Busch shows convincingly that it's more than blind luck in The Serendipity Mindset, which offers excellent practical guidance for all' Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever and co-founder of IMAGINE ___________________________________________ What if being lucky was a skill that you could master and share with other people? Modern life is full of chance encounters, changing plans, delayed journeys, human errors and other mishaps. So, what if we use such unpredictability to our advantage? Dr Christian Busch has spent a decade exploring how, if acted upon, unexpected encounters can enhance our worldview, expand our social circles and create new professional opportunities. In this book, Christian reveals the secrets behind the hidden force that rules the universe: serendipity. The Serendipity Mindset is a revolutionary, well-researched exploration of a well-researched and essential life skill that we can all develop in a few simple steps. By learning to identify, act on and share serendipity, we can use uncertainty as a pathway to more joyful, purposeful and successful lives. From couples who first interacted during chance encounters to businesspeople who invented multi-million ideas after a best-laid plan misfired, Christian has studied hundreds of subjects who improved their lives by learning to see opportunities in the unexpected.

A practical guide to effective business model testing 7 out of 10 new products fail to deliver on expectations. Testing Business Ideas aims to reverse that statistic. In the tradition of Alex Osterwalder's global bestseller Business Model Generation, this practical guide contains a library of hands-on techniques for rapidly testing new business ideas. Testing Business Ideas explains how systematically testing business ideas dramatically reduces the risk and increases the likelihood of success for any new venture or business project. It builds on the internationally popular Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas by integrating Assumptions Mapping and other powerful lean startup-style experiments. Testing Business Ideas uses an engaging 4-color format to: Increase the success of any venture and decrease the risk of wasting time, money, and resources on bad ideas Close the knowledge gap between strategy and experimentation/validation Identify and test your key business assumptions with the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas A definitive field guide to business model testing, this book features practical tips for making major decisions that are not based on intuition and guesses. Testing Business Ideas shows leaders how to encourage an experimentation mindset within their organization and make experimentation a continuous, repeatable process.

24 Steps to Success! Disciplined Entrepreneurship will change the way you think about starting a company. Many believe that entrepreneurship cannot be taught, but great entrepreneurs aren t born with something special they simply make great products. This book will show you how to create a successful startup through developing an innovative product. It breaks down the necessary processes into an integrated, comprehensive, and proven 24-step framework that any industrious person can learn and apply. You will learn: * Why the F word focus is crucial to a startup s success * Common obstacles that entrepreneurs face and how to overcome them * How to use innovation to stand out in the crowd it s not just about technology Whether you re a first-time or repeat entrepreneur, Disciplined Entrepreneurship gives you the tools you need to improve your odds of making a product people want. Author Bill Aulet is the managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship as well as a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. For more please visit http://disciplinedentrepreneurship.com/

How to overcome barriers to the long-term investments that are essential for solving the world's biggest problems There has never been a greater need for long-term investments to tackle the world's most difficult problems, such as climate change and decaying infrastructure. And it is increasingly unlikely that the public sector will be willing or able to fill this gap. If these critical needs are to be met, the major pools of long-term, patient capital-including pensions, sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, and wealthy individuals and families-will have to play a large role. In this accessible and authoritative account of long-term capital investment, two leading experts on the subject, Harvard Business School professors Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner, highlight the significant hurdles facing long-term investors and propose concrete ways to overcome these difficulties. Presenting the best evidence in an engaging way by using memorable stories and examples, Patient Capital describes how large investors increasingly want and need long-run investments that have the potential to deliver greater returns than those in the public markets. Yet success in such investments has been the exception. Performance has suffered from both the limitations of investors and the internal structure of their fund managers, often resulting in the wrong incentives and a lack of long-term planning. Yet the challenges facing long-term investors can be surmounted and the rewards are potentially large, both for investors and society as a whole. Patient Capital shows how to make long-term investment work better for everyone.

If you are looking for an engaging textbook, rich in learning features, which will help you to guide your students through the process of developing and launching a start-up, this is it. With his innovative New Venture Creation Framework, Paul Burns breaks the venture creation process up into three key phases: Research, Business Model Development, and Launch. At every stage crucial steps and considerations are revealed, providing comprehensive coverage of the subject. Practical advice is combined with academic research, enabling you to run a course which is both relevant and rigorous. The second edition of this popular textbook is essential reading for any undergraduate or postgraduate course in new venture creation. It will also prove useful for shorter courses on entrepreneurship and in enterprise centres and entrepreneurship hubs.

The ground-breaking and exhilarating exploration into how to succeed in the 21st Century.

'David Epstein manages to make me thoroughly enjoy the experience of being told that everything I thought about something was wrong. I loved Range.' – Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of Outliers.

From the ‘10,000 hours rule’ to the power of Tiger parenting, we have been taught that success in any field requires early specialization and many hours of deliberate practice. And, worse, that if you dabble or delay, you'll never catch up with those who got a head start.

This is completely wrong.

In this landmark book, David Epstein shows you that the way to succeed is by sampling widely, gaining a breadth of experiences, taking detours, experimenting relentlessly, juggling many interests - in other words, by developing range.

Studying the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors and scientists, Epstein demonstrates why in most fields - especially those that are complex and unpredictable - generalists, not specialists are primed to excel. No matter what you do, where you are in life, whether you are a teacher, student, scientist, business analyst, parent, job hunter, retiree, you will see the world differently after you've read Range. You'll understand better how we solve problems, how we learn and how we succeed. You'll see why failing a test is the best way to learn and why frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers.

As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, Range shows how people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive and why spreading your knowledge across multiple domains is the key to your success, and how to achieve it.

Real-world tools to build your venture, grow your business, and avoid mistakes Startup, Scaleup, Screwup is an expert guide for emerging and established businesses to accelerate growth, facilitate scalability, and keep pace with the rapidly changing economic landscape. The contemporary marketplace is more dynamic than ever before--increased global competition, the impact of digital transformation, and disruptive innovation factors require businesses to implement agile management and business strategies to compete and thrive. This indispensable book provides business leaders and entrepreneurs the tools and guidance to meet growth and scalability challenges head on. Equal parts motivation and practical application, this book answers the questions every business leader asks from the startup ventures to established companies. Covering topics including funding options, employee hiring, product-market validation, remote team management, agile scaling, and the business lifecycle, this essential resource provides a solid approach to grow at the right pace and stay lean. This book will enable you to: Apply 42 effective tools to sustain and accelerate your business growth Avoid the mistakes and pitfalls associated with rapid business growth or organizational change Develop a clear growth plan to integrate into your overall business model Structure your business for rapid scaling and efficient management Startup, Scaleup, Screwup: 42 Tools to Accelerate Lean & Agile Business Growth is a must-read for entrepreneurs, founders, managers, and senior executives. Author Jurgen Appelo shares his wisdom on the creative economy, agile management, innovation marketing, and organizational change to provide a comprehensive guide to business growth. Practical methods and expert advice make this book an essential addition to any business professional's library.

The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is the first comprehensive global compendium that clearly describes the national approaches to sustainable enterprise. Through a systematic review of each country, this quick-to-access reference guide showcases the similarities and differences in each region. Every country profile includes key information about the relevant history, country-specific issues, trends, research, and the leading organizations operating in the field as well as best-practice case studies. The guide comprises four volumes, each dedicated to a specific region of the world. In a world where organizations are working increasingly across national and regional boundaries and research takes a joined-up and international approach, this book is an essential guide for practitioners and researchers in the disciplines of business sustainability, social enterprise and corporate responsibility. The first of its kind, this reference book provides the reader with a unique insight into what is the current state-of-play in each country. Each edited volume provides expert contributions from around the world; the contributors have been selected on the basis of their knowledge of the country and their clear experience in sustainable enterprise. Each regional/country profile includes the following subsections: Sustainable Enterprise in context; Priority issues; Trends; Government policies; Case studies; Further resources; and References. This unique resource will be an essential acquisition for all organizations who need to benchmark their sustainable enterprise strategies throughout different regions and cultures and want the best possible intelligence on the key issues and concerns relating to sustainable business and social responsibility in all of the markets in which they operate. It provides a useful companion reference collection to the World Guide to CSR, also edited by Wayne Visser. The full Four Volume Set of The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is available for purchase as a single item at a 25% discounted rate.

Property Investing the Wealth Dragon Way Property Entrepreneur explains how anyone can make money from property, regardless of their financial situation. Author Vincent Wong is one of the UK's most dynamic and respected property entrepreneurs, and this book outlines his approach to creating wealth through property investing for both seasoned and aspiring investors. Emphasising the importance of treating property investing as a business, the author shares the wisdom of his first-hand experience and his investment techniques to help you navigate the ever-shifting property market and become a true property entrepreneur. There is more than one way to break into the property game, and it doesn't have to involve saving for one large deposit after another; this book covers tried and tested strategies beyond the traditional approaches to property investing. Whether you're contemplating your first, fifth or fifteenth property, Property Entrepreneur will help to light your entrepreneurial spark and show you how to turn property into profit. Property entrepreneurship is like any other business: if you want to succeed, you must take the time to learn from those who have mastered the best techniques. This book gives you access to the mind, motivations and methods of a top investor to help you start and build your own property business. This book will show you: * How to start viewing property investing as a business * Why you need to eliminate unproductive habits and attitudes * The best ways to maximise profits and create a secure, passive income * How to nurture your entrepreneurial spirit and watch your business grow Property investing can look daunting and complex to those without experience. The rules are constantly being rewritten, the goalposts are regularly shifted and the market looks like an unpredictable beast. Property Entrepreneur will challenge your preconceptions, and help you navigate the path to real, lasting wealth.

The essential playbook for the future of your business What To Do When Machines Do Everything is a guidebook to succeeding in the next generation of the digital economy. When systems running on Artificial Intelligence can drive our cars, diagnose medical patients, and manage our finances more effectively than humans it raises profound questions on the future of work and how companies compete. Illustrated with real-world cases, data, and insight, the authors provide clear strategic guidance and actionable steps to help you and your organization move ahead in a world where exponentially developing new technologies are changing how value is created. Written by a team of business and technology expert practitioners who also authored Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business this book provides a clear path to the future of your work. The first part of the book examines the once in a generation upheaval most every organization will soon face as systems of intelligence go mainstream. The authors argue that contrary to the doom and gloom that surrounds much of IT and business at the moment, we are in fact on the cusp of the biggest wave of opportunity creation since the Industrial Revolution. Next, the authors detail a clear-cut business model to help leaders take part in this coming boom; the AHEAD model outlines five strategic initiatives Automate, Halos, Enhance, Abundance, and Discovery that are central to competing in the next phase of global business by driving new levels of efficiency, customer intimacy and innovation. Business leaders today have two options: be swallowed up by the ongoing technological evolution, or ride the crest of the wave to new profits and better business. This book shows you how to avoid your own extinction event, and will help you; * Understand the untold full extent of technology's impact on the way we work and live. * Find out where we're headed, and how soon the future will arrive * Leverage the new emerging paradigm into a sustainable business advantage * Adopt a strategic model for winning in the new economy The digital world is already transforming how we work, live, and shop, how we are governed and entertained, and how we manage our money, health, security, and relationships. Don't let your business or your career get left behind. What To Do When Machines Do Everything is your strategic roadmap to a future full of possibility and success. Or peril.