Just finished “Rework” by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson. What a great book! Truly a small treasure in the midst of so many horrible business books. By the way, the authors contribute to a a great blog that I read often and I’d recommend you check it out.

My business philosophy has always been a bit unorthodox, no doubt influenced by my junkyard upbringing. I prefer bread/butter opportunities, not flashy stuff. I like keeping things small and never gave in to “bigger is better”. I hate meetings, strategic plans, outside investors, and 60-hour work weeks. That stuff may be fine for others, but it’s never worked for me (my worst investments had elements of all those things). Most business books focus on innovative management styles (which is not very helpful if all you have to do is manage about 6 people as I do), or they emphasize style over substance in a way that makes me laugh. They all like to point to the dozen or so truly innovative Fortune 500 companies that have also been successful, but none of them are relevant to millions of small companies that could never apply the lessons of those giant companies to their little operation.

That’s why, for my style, “Rework” gets it. This is a short book that gets right to the point. It’s essentially a collection of short blog entries brought together into one binding, and that makes it very simple to read. There’s no deep philosophy here, and no structured academic justification for certain business principles. It’s basically two guys saying, “hey, this worked for us, and it will probably work for you.”

If you own or run a business, you’ll enjoy it. If you own or run a small business, you’ll love it. And it will free you up to ignore a lot of advice that the more celebrated (yet less experienced) business “experts” provide. I’ve been in business nearly my whole life, I’ve started a dozen or more endeavors, and I’ve read hundreds of business books. This one is in my top five list for small business owners. Buy it.