Entrepreneurs often struggle with many aspects of business: planning and financing company growth, creating a company vision, recruiting, leading, and managing people, as well as personal costs. In Lessons from the Edge, more than 50 business owners and entrepreneurs offer a wealth of real-life stories--in their own words--that provide rare insights about keeping a company healthy and growing. Here is a unique collection of first-person accounts by entrepreneurs who describe their mistakes in business and the lessons they have learned as a result. The stories cover a wide range of experiences from the trials and tribulations of partnerships, to the loss of key customers, theft, finding and retaining employees, and the personal cost of living on the edge. The authors have drawn on interviews with more than 50 entrepreneurs, all of whom are under 45 years of age and are founders or presidents of companies with revenues over $1 million and growing rapidly. They volunteered to share their stories, describing why they lost or almost lost their companies, what they did wrong, and the lessons they have learned. Their narratives are full of mistakes, failure, courage, moments of realization, and timely moves that saved the day. Every company owner will find these accounts insightful, compelling, and occasionally gut wrenching, especially because most face similar challenges and live with the reality that they too could fall off the edge. This instructive and inspiring book brims with lessons for all business owners about courage, persistence, and survival. Lessons from the Edge is an essential read for both established and prospective entrepreneurs.
Author(s): Jana Matthews, Jeff Dennis
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 268
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 12
Preface......Page 16
Introduction......Page 20
Section-at-a-Glance......Page 34
Overview......Page 36
The Price of Distraction: Ken Wolf......Page 41
Right Moves, Wrong People: Douglas Mellinger......Page 45
Stealing the Company Blind: Frank Nemiroff......Page 49
You Gotta Believe: Marx Acosta-Rubio......Page 54
Riding the Roller Coaster: Mark Moses......Page 58
Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later: Joshua Schecter......Page 63
Back To Where It All Began: Bob Kirstiuk......Page 68
Losing a Partner: Charles Tetrick......Page 74
Inheriting Problems: Anne Bain......Page 79
Building a Business or Building a Company: Kevin Daum......Page 82
Wrap-up......Page 86
Top Ten Lessons in Leadership......Page 89
Section-at-a-Glance......Page 92
Overview......Page 94
Brewing up a Perfect Business: Sam Boyer......Page 98
Aiming for the Fairway: Craig Pollard......Page 102
When Disaster Strikes: Damon Gersh......Page 106
Always Behind the Curve: Howard Getson......Page 111
No Systems, No Results: Alex Rusch......Page 114
Picking the Wrong Guy . . . Again: Paul Hickey......Page 119
Wrap-up......Page 125
Top Ten Lessons in People......Page 127
Section-at-a-Glance......Page 130
Overview......Page 132
Starting with a Bang, Ending with a Whimper: Jeff Dennis......Page 138
Get it in Writing: Julie Pearl......Page 143
A Matter of Interpretation: David Dash......Page 146
Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Peter Davies......Page 149
Getting Conned: Mike Meek......Page 153
Always Knows Where the Exits Are: Greg Ferguson......Page 156
Selling Yourself Short: Tina Holden......Page 160
Wrap-up......Page 163
Top Ten Lessons in Partnerships......Page 165
Section-at-a-Glance......Page 168
Overview......Page 170
Surviving the Dot-Com Explosion: Sanjay Parekh......Page 178
When Good Money Chases Bad: Niv Ben-Haim......Page 182
Making the Right Moves: Tim Riley......Page 186
Diversify Your Investors: Robert Kulhawy......Page 190
Putting Your Eggs in One Basket: Lance Stendal......Page 194
On the Outside Looking In: Michael Beirne......Page 197
Swimming Against the Current: Kirsten Knight......Page 202
He Offered to Loan Me My Money: David Schulhof......Page 206
Caught in the Act: Bill Kimberlin......Page 212
Getting Thrown a Curve Ball: Greg Levin......Page 218
Feeling the Burn: Derek Harp......Page 223
Wrap-up......Page 228
Top Ten Lessons in Money......Page 231
Section-at-a-Glance......Page 234
Overview......Page 236
Losing Your Company, Losing Everything: James Fierro......Page 239
The Young and the Restless: Parvinder Singh......Page 244
The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Bill Lee......Page 248
An Inside Job: Louette Glabb......Page 252
Learning to Shift Gears: Isaac Rosenberg......Page 256
Merging Without Looking Both Ways: Laura McCann......Page 260
Out of the Ashes: Barrett Ersek......Page 264
Wrap-up......Page 269
Top Ten Lessons in Personal Issues......Page 270
Conclusion......Page 272
B......Page 278
C......Page 279
E......Page 280
F......Page 281
I......Page 282
M......Page 283
P......Page 284
R......Page 285
S......Page 286
Z......Page 287
