Small Business Success

We can play small - even shrink to the size of a grain of sand - in search of equanimity, but it always eludes us. We can chase money, wanting to be rich and famous in the belief that our material possessions give us equanimity. Our hearts are left empty, still. We can waste valuable time fantasizing about an easier, less stressful life, wishing our dreams to magically manifest.

What does it take to create the career you want? It's no secret that the world of work has changed, and we're shifting toward an ever more entrepreneurial, self-reliant, work-from-wherever-you-are economy. That can be a liberating force. But there's a major obstacle professionals face when they contemplate taking the leap: how to actually make money doing what they love. You may have incredible talent and novel ideas, but figuring out how to get started, building your reputation in a new realm, and bringing in a steady flow of new clients can be a daunting prospect.

For more than 40 years, The Boston Consulting Group has been shaping strategic thinking in business. The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy offers a broad and up-to-date selection of the firm's best ideas on strategy with fresh ideas, insights, and practical lessons for managers, executives, and entrepreneurs in every industry. Here's a sampling of the provocative thinking you'll find inside.

Think about your five closest friends. Are they happy? Do they live their lives with purpose? Do you? We put on a fake front for what we want people to see and think about us, but the reality is most people aren’t happy. We’re lost. We settle. We aren’t happy with where we are. You can’t be happy if you don’t know your purpose. It’s not possible. You want more but you don’t even know where to start. You know there is more out there. You see others having success and you want it, too; there is nothing wrong with that. You just need help finding your purpose.

The $20 SaaS Company: From Zero to Seven Figures Without Venture Capital describes the story of a young entrepreneur who built a $20 investment into a multi-million dollar software company. With no investors, role models, high-tech equipment, or marketing team, the audiobook tells you how to beat venture capital based companies at their game. This audiobook contains the secret strategies to running a profitable SaaS company, describing the tactics to get the word out about your product for free.

This book will shift your mindset from entrepreneur to EXITpreneur. After all, the majority of all the money you’ll ever make from your business comes on the day you sell—so it’s important to get the exit right. In The EXITpreneur’s Playbook, Joe Valley shares his experience in all facets of exiting an online business through direct experiences and real-life examples, with clear math and logic.

James Altucher, the noted entrepreneur, venture capitalist, bestselling author of Choose Yourself, and host of the podcast The James Altucher Show—which has over 40 million downloads—has interviewed 15 of the most successful people in the world to figure out just what makes them tick. And the conclusions might surprise you. From the founder of Spanx to the entrepreneur behind Home Depot, from a craft beer aficionado to the investors on Shark Tank, these visionaries honed their ideas and creativity, and used what they loved as a compass to guide their curiosity.

Using stories from his time at Netscape, Apple, and Slack, Michael Lopp presents a series of small but compelling practices to help you build leadership skills. You’ll learn how to create teams that are highly productive, highly respected, and highly trusted. The essays in this book examine the practical skills Lopp learned from exceptional leaders - as a manager at Netscape, a senior manager and director at Apple, and an executive at Slack. You’ll learn how to apply these lessons to your own experience.

Generating and executing great ideas is the key to staying ahead in a rapidly changing world. It seems so basic. Why is it so hard to actually get right? According to innovation expert Phil McKinney, the real problem is that we're teaching people to ask the wrong questions about their businesses - or none at all. There has to be a better way. In Beyond the Obvious, McKinney will help you use his proven FIRE (Focus, Ideation, Rank, Execution) Method to dig deeper and get back to asking the right questions - the ones all companies must ask to survive.

Filled with illuminating case studies and brilliant in-depth analysis, this invaluable book provides a multitude of insights that will help you weather market upheavals, adapt to disruptions, and optimize your resources to your best advantage.

How did the trailblazers of Indian business turn their dreams into reality? The Pilani Pioneers profiles twenty-five accomplished BITS Pilani graduates, including startup founders, entrepreneurs and CEOs, who have made an indelible mark on the Indian and global business landscape while deftly navigating the twists and turns of their professional and personal lives.

How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski reveals his personal principles for leadership, from dealing with adversity in life or on the basketball court, to taking responsibility for your actions and learning how to trust your heartfelt instincts in times of trouble. Leading with the Heart is about bringing out the best and demanding the best, from ourselves, from those around us, and from any organization that is playing to win.

Behind every entrepreneur's success story, there's a never-ending list of gut-wrenching failures, missed opportunities, and jaw-dropping setbacks. Real estate mogul and serial entrepreneur Manny Khoshbin is one of those entrepreneurs with a story of perseverance that will make you believe in the American Dream all over again. Driven: The Never-Give-Up Roadmap to Massive Success goes beyond Manny's personal ride through the entrepreneurial journey to deliver the habits, mindset, and insights aspiring entrepreneurs need to turn dreams into reality.

The youngest of her parents’ combined 21 children, Sarah Frey grew up on a struggling farm in southern Illinois, often having to grow, catch, or hunt her own dinner alongside her brothers. She spent much of her early childhood dreaming of running away to the big city - or really anywhere with central heating. At 15, she moved out of her family home and started her own fresh produce delivery business with nothing more than an old pickup truck. Two years later, when the family farm faced inevitable foreclosure, Frey gave up on her dreams of escape and took over the farm.

The world of work has changed. People in previous generations tended to pick one professional path and stick to it. Switching companies every few years wasn't the norm, and changing careers was even rarer. Today's career trajectories aren't so scripted and linear. Technology has given rise to new positions that never before existed, which means we are choosing from a much broader set of career options - and have even more opportunities to find work that lights us up.

Can a short 18-minute conversation I overheard from a millionaire make you a fortune? It did for me. And it can do the same for you. Go back to 1996 and eavesdrop on the tense 18-minute argument I unwittingly heard. An altercation between two friends. One living a dream. The other faking it. Listen in on the powerful conversation that changed the trajectory of my life and ultimately made me a millionaire - many times over.

Adam Braun began working summers at hedge funds when he was just 16 years old, sprinting down the path to a successful Wall Street career. But while traveling as a college student, he met a young boy begging on the streets of India. When Braun asked the boy what he wanted most in the world, he simply answered, "A pencil." This small request became the inspiration for Pencils of Promise, the organization Braun would leave a prestigious job at Bain & Company to start with just $25 at the age of 24.

With up to date legislation and incredible industry insight, this audiobook is the only recruitment audiobook you'll need to start and run your own agency successfully. Josh Wellman's new audiobook The Recruitment Startup Success Plan is the perfect training manual for anyone interested in starting their own agency, whether you're new to the industry or a seasoned professional. After mentoring many new business owners since 2016, Wellman had put his teaching material together to create this easy, methodical listen for everyone to enjoy.

Every successful business is based on a vision. In this presentation, Marc Allen shares his secrets for envisioning and creating success. He helps you to understand how to build a truly visionary business - one which supports its employees, its community, and the environment. This engaging guide presents 25 practical, concrete principles for creating your visionary business. Visionary Business will teach you how to manage by goals rather than by crisis, use your business plan and mission statement as visionary tools, recognize the benefits within adversity, plan your work and work your plan, and much more.