Kicking Against The Pricks

Business books are usually written for, and about, the large corporate sector. However there are millions of people managing and working in small businesses all over this country, as in others, so it is arguably a more important sector than its larger cousin. Certainly most product and service innovation, as well as new ideas, come from small businesses. But small businesses have to deal with big business, and therein lies their problem, because, with a few heroic exceptions, Big does not care how badly or unethically it behaves; ditto Government or quasi government organisations, like the Post Office. I believe it is time to describe the experiences of a running a small business for 30 years and, by-the-bye, taking on the big corporations, so that you will have been warned about what will happen when you start a new business, particularly in the high-tech arena. Or, if you are already in business for yourself, maybe this book will resonate with you, as it often feels pretty lonely running a Small. But above all, I have tried to emphasise the fun that can be had from business, because as Robert Townsend, author of "Up the Organisation", arguably the most acute, and probably the funniest, book ever written about business still in print, who almost 50 years ago wrote "If you don't do it excellently, don't do it at all, because if it's not excellent it won't be profitable or fun, and if you're not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing there?" He also observed that excellence and size are fundamentally incompatible. Most small businesses will remain just that, if they survive, so if you, like the vast majority, are never going to make a fortune, why not try and get some fun from it? That is impossible, in my experience, if you do not stand up for yourself, take on the big boys, and thereby maintain your self-respect, however hard that can be - and just sometimes allies from surprising sources will seek you out.