Two Books for Small Businesses

NON FICTION BOOK REVIEW  

374 words

Title: Fail-Safe Small Businesses: How They Work, 
Why They Succeed; by Ron Tepper; John Wiley & 
Sons Inc.; ISBN 0-471-01437-0; paperback; 239 pages; 
US$14.95, CAN$19.95. 

Title: The Joy of Working From Home: Making a Life 
While Making a Living; by Jeff Berner; Berrett-Koehler 
Publishers Inc.;  ISBN 1-881052-46-X; paperback; 173 
pages; US$12.95, CAN$18.95.

Reviewer: A. T. Connellan, "The bottom line is that 
these are a lot of book for very little money."

2 Books for Small Businesses

Our work world is wrapped in a renaissance. Over 
33 million of us across North America are working 
from home. Before long this movement will encompass 
over a third of the work force. 

Add to this the increase in small business start-ups, 
and the result will be that soon the overwhelming majority 
of the population are going to be employed in the 
non-corporate sector.  

The trend is driven, in part, by corporate downsizing 
or its new term "smartsizing," and the practice of 
"contracting out" work. But there is much more to this 
trend than simple job loss. 

In todays society we are experiencing a re-alignment 
of personal priorities, and lifestyle trade-offs. Fueled 
by disillusion with company oriented security, and 
a yearning for individual independence, for many 
the question has become, where to go, and what to do? 

These books parallel and compliment each other. 
In Fail-Safe Small Businesses one of the first tenets 
is; "make it evolutionary, revolutions fail." This is just 
one of a long list of very good points that author Ron 
Tepper causes us to note for choosing a small 
business path to follow. 

Chapter 1, Why Businesses Fail is a good precautionary 
note to start on, and in the pages that follow there is a 
fund of clear eyed straight-from-the-shoulder counsel. 
You will find yourself ah-ha-ing your way through 
chapter after chapter. 

The author's advice on category research, successful 
start-up and operation, is well supported by the 
resources of the appendixes. 

Jeff Berner has been successfully home-employed 
for more than a quarter-century. How, and why he chose 
his work/life style provides the solid base from which 
this book is drawn. He check-lists all the pitfalls to a 
productive home-based business environment, and 
provides guidelines for locating lists of companies 
who encourage employees to work at home. 

There is an old saying in business, "time only works 
for you or against you." Thankfully the author sets out 
methods for screening work time and environment from 
uneconomic intrusions, while setting out techniques 
for generating business contacts when you're 
"out of the loop." 

As someone who has been through it, I couldn't find 
any bases he left untouched. The bottom line is that 
these are a lot of book for very little money.