Working 5 to 9 and making sense of business

Working 5 to 9 and making sense of business
June 3rd, 2010

Entrepreneurship needs to be firmly at the heart of our future economy and people with business ideas need the inspiration to take them a step further. As such it is always interesting to see decent books aiming to help and inspire entrepreneurs.

Two books I?ve seen recently are the perfect addition to anyone?s catalogue of entrepreneurial support tool kit. Here?s a quick review:

Emma Jones
Working 5 to 9: How to start a successful business in your spare time

Emma?s infectious and delightful passion for entrepreneurship seeps through every page. Even the staunchest corporate striver will begin to dream about extra-curricular business ideas. What the book does so well is converting the concept of home enterprise into reality the most effective way possible ? by demonstrating real people, setting up real businesses in their spare time. 50 case studies are given from publishers to pig farmers, jewellery designers to photographers, toymakers and magicians to translators, and ebay traders to virtual PAs (I didn?t know they existed but like the sound of one!). Each story gives their own account of why they started up from home, and tips to be successful in their own trade.

In case you?re immune to this inspiration and still don?t see a home enterprise option that works for you, then Emma offers 15 franchise ideas that could help get you started on your enterprise journey. The book follows up these case studies with useful next steps information ? such as dealing with the taxman, researching your business idea etc ? and it?s the first entrepreneurship book I?ve seen that has a guide to getting the most out of Twitter, Facebook and social media gadgets for your business.

A major barrier to starting up a business is the sheer scale and upheaval people fear from creating a new company. The ideas in this book show that this needn?t be such a painful and massive leap, and that there are lots of people ? just like you ? who are just trying things out from home in their spare time as a first step. It?s a really inspirational read for anyone considering a staged start-up. As soon as I read it, not only was I thinking about ideas that I could start up (is anyone yet running a social enterprise estate agents?) but loads of friends sprang to mind that should read the book ? so get your copies in now for Christmas gifts!

(And as someone who is not averse to writing a daft tune ? the version of Dolly Parton?s 9-5 at the end was a nice touch!)