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"Joel is extremely creative and innovative. He designed our organization's Intranet website and incorporated several applications that greatly improved our business processes and made people's jobs easier. The usability of his web designs was always excellent. He has a keen sense of business needs - beyond what the user asks for."
Kathy Souza
IT Director
Pacific Health Advantage
"I always enjoy reading your well-thought-out points of view. I'm amazed at how quickly you can put something so thought-out together. Your brain must have a section reserved for evolt [a web development email list] discussion. Some of these discussions require one to change gears quickly."
Jon Molesa
North Carolina Web Designers
This Book is not About Making Money
24 August 2007
Making money is to a business what being healthy is to a body: you need it, you want as much as possible, but it's not the purpose, it's part of the process. [2]
There; we've got that out of the way.
The purpose of the book is to provide a self-analysis checklist for entrepreneurs. When it comes to the skills we use (or would like to use) to make a living, many of us are self-taught. Often this leaves holes in our education. Some we're aware of, others, we're not. This book will help ferret out the latter and allow them to be filled in before they cause problems.
The 'commonsense' part of the title refers to the fact that little, if any, of this information is revolutionary in nature. Its purpose is to help you ensure your foundation is solid and complete.
When I talk about 'entrepreneurs' I'm referring both to those starting a business from scratch, and those who have the spirit that drives them to innovate and embrace risk, whether employed by someone else or pursuing an entirely non-remunerative mission.
[1] Each chapter in 'The Commonsense Entrepreneur' will include suggested listening, locations, and libations to enhance your reading and learning experience. I thought it would be fun. Note: although the CDs will be custom made, I respect intellectual property; any music included will be legally purchased. I thought you'd want to know.
[2] Adapted from an anonymous quote recorded in In Search of Excellence by Thomas J. Peters, 1982: Chapter 4, 'Managing Ambiguity and Paradox', p. 103 under 'The Importance of Culture'