A Sugar-free, Dragon-slaying start-up guide for the simple small business

By Ken Horn

If you want to start your own airline, this book isn’t for you.

This is the business book for everyone tired of being told they have to have the next big thing in order to make a living running their own firm. It’s the down-to-earth, insider’s guide to starting a great business that thrives – without having to takeover the world. Or dance to Lord Sugar’s tune. Or go cap-in-hand to the Dragons.

Author and business advisor Ken Horn has helped thousands of people to be a success running their own business, reaching freedom and financial security not by winning the Big Business Idea Lottery but simply through delivering traditional services in existing markets.

Bringing a master’s knowledge of the ins and outs of starting and running a successful small business, Ken:

– strips away the mystery surrounding starting your own business
– packages up the common challenges of starting up and helps readers tackle them
– cuts through the information overload and provides only what you really need to know to launch a small business
– reveals in what order to best tackle things and what can be left till later or ignored entirely.

He also uncovers a whole host of secret shortcuts that are too easily missed – especially when it comes to sales and marketing.

Straight-talking, bursting with examples, packed with inspiration – and promising not to waste a minute of your time – this book is like having a top business mentor on hand throughout your start-up journey. Get going now!

Over the course of ten years, business advisor Ken Horn has helped thousands of people successfully run their own business. With his help they have turned interests and skills into long-term, flourishing businesses - not setting out to conquer the world like contestants on The Apprentice or Dragons' Den, but reaching freedom and financial security by delivering traditional services in existing markets. This is the world of the everyday entrepreneur - where you don't have to be starting an airline to make a living, or trying to invent the Next Big Thing before you get going. It's what 99% of start-ups set out to do ' and what 99% of business books and advisors don't know the first thing about.

In his former life, Ken worked in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, supplying leading retailers, grocers and brands. He has closed businesses, sold businesses, developed businesses and in 2005 launched his own business following a failed acquisition of a leading sports distributor. Since then, Ken has lent his expertise to a range of leading business support agencies, colleges and universities.

In 2011 Ken launched a new nationwide business support platform called Kick Off in Business. Working with Premier and Football League clubs from Newcastle to Portsmouth, the scheme has encouraged countless people across the country to set up their own business.

He has been featured on BBC Breakfast, ITV News and Channel 4.