Street Smarts

For years I’ve complained about the dearth of books for the small business owner. Too many business books focus on creating a Fortune 500 company, or at least managing one. There are few resources for the millions of us who own a small business and have no goals to be large. Like me, most small business owners just enjoy running our own company, being our own boss, and and are very happy staying at a certain size. So I’ve always been disappointed more books are not written for this huge segment of the marketplace.

Then recently I picked up Street Smarts: An All-Purpose Tool Kit for Entrepreneurs by Norm Brodsky. I can no longer complain about the shortage of books on the topic because this one covers so much so well. This book is perfect for the rest of us. It’s tangible lessons from a guy who has successfully built a half dozen companies but always kept things focused. Whether you employ 1000 people or run the company by yourself, there are a ton of things in this book you can use.

The legendary Tom Peters said of the book, “One is tempted to say the only book you’ll need on starting a business. Brilliant! Genius! Choose your superlative – it’ll fit.”

That’s over the top, of course, but you get the idea. With each chapter I found myself thinking, “Yep, I’ve faced the same challenge and learned the same lesson.” The big difference between Brodsky and me is he took the time to identify these lessons and then document them in a book. Well, okay, there are a lot of differences — including the fact I’ve never had a company on the Inc 500 list! But my point is after my 30+ years running a small company, I found all of his ideas insightfully accurate.

I’ve already gone on Amazon and bought several more copies of the book for people I work with. It’s that good. I hope you think so too!