Toilet Paper Entrepreneur ‡

Since its after Christmas, and you are probably flush with a bit of holiday cash, and you are ready to start on a new business endeavor…how about about spending some of that money on a book? The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur is small book (175 pages) that cover a lot of ground about starting a business.

Ok, before I start, why might you ask would I review a business book on a tech site?  Two reason: first, most computer books are boring, you probably wouldn’t want to read them even if they were ‘good’. Second, this book is peppered with tips about how to use tech to help run your business on a shoestring budget.

The book’s primary focus is small ‘bootstrapped’ start-ups. If you are  planning a $5MM venture round, while some of the techniques in the book could be useful, you are probably not the focus of this book. On the other hand, if you’ve got an idea for a small business, or you are running small business this book may be for you.

The first two sections of the book cover motivation, and creating a vision of where you want your business to go, while the second part deals with a more nuts and bolts approach to running your business.  If you are just getting started running your business, or trying to decide where you want to go with a business,  this book could be very helpfull to you. Be warned, the author, Mike Michalowicz uses some crude language, so it’s not for the under 16 set, but its very easy to read, and he is able explain concepts well.

Here is the tech tie in, throughout the book there are gray boxes with TPE TIPS, a good number of them deal with Internet tools to help you run your business. Its like a getting an extra bonus in your book.

Whether you get the book or not, the author also has a blog that’s worth reading.

Buy this book at Amazon‡

1. Don’t buy a Cadillac when all you need is a Chevrolet. Microsoft has lured us into believing that we should have software with every feature possible. We will never use most of these features, but we still pay for them. Only buy what you need. There are plenty of free and inexpensive applications out there that will get the job done.  For example OpenOffice vs. Microsoft Office, Quicken Home and Business vs. QuickBooks. Make sure you are getting what you need, not paying for what you don’t need.

2. Technology doesn’t solve problems. People solve problems, and sometimes they use technology to do it. For example If your accounting person cannot accurately write checks by hand, a piece of software won’t solve the problem–I know from experience. Your technology is only as good as the people who are using it, and the procedures you have in place to run it. Make sure you have the right people and procedures in place before you get new technology.

3. Don’t buy a solution looking for a problem. Too many people (me included) will get the newest gee-whiz tool out there, and then try to come up with a justification for using it. For example buying a PDA when you Paper Organizer works fine; all that’s going to happen is that your going to be disorganized until you go back to the paper organizer.

4. If you are putting in new technology have a plan. It is true with technology that those who “fail to plan, plan to fail”.

5. Keep it simple. If all you need are two computers that can share files, don’t put in a full fledged network with file servers; Don’t host your own email if you don’t have to; Don’t write software if you can buy it; and so on.