Six Ways to Excel in Business Today by Ruth McKay and Ben Cartwright
Ruth Mckay and Ben Cartwright from UNIQ The Academy for Entrepreneurs (www.souniq.co.uk) offer six ways to excel in business. Podcast recorded in Edinburgh on 15 September 2010.
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Rachel Bridge ‘How to Make a Million Before Lunch’
Rachel Bridge is the Enterprise Editor at The Sunday Times where she writes about entrepreneurs and small businesses. As part of her job, she has interviewed dozens of successful entrepreneurs. Many have started a business with a modest outlay and resources. These meetings inspired Rachel to write this book, How to Make a Million Before Lunch, and a solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2010. I first became of aware of this book and the Fringe show in the Scottish newspaper Business 7. I was intrigued by the title and idea behind the book. As a graphic designer the title and cover had already won me over, and I expected the content to be equally engaging.
Of course, making a million before lunch is unrealistic, but it’s a compelling title to encapsulate the notion of earning serious money from a business that’s only a few years old. The book is aimed squarely at individuals who are going into business for the first time, and ultimately aim to generate a multi-million turnover or sell the business at some point in the future. Some might wish to do so at retirement, others might wish to exit within a few years.
If you wish to start a business, then this book provides 20 shortcuts for creating a booming enterprise – along with practical advice and the pitfalls to avoid. These 20 shortcuts were abridged into nine key points for Rachel’s Edinburgh Fringe show in August 2010.
Rachel Bridge’s Fringe show ‘How to Make a Million Before Lunch’
Rachel structured her show using time which was marked with the aid of a child’s toy clock. The day starts at 5am – as there is no time to waste until lunch at 1pm. Each of the nine shortcuts is explained in around five minutes and includes the mention of a successful business to back up her key point. Many are well known consumer brands such as Eat Natural cereal bars and Burts Chips (crisps) and she generously handed out these products at the end of each ‘hour’ on the clock. A nice touch which was appreciated by the audience. Another freebie was chocolate money courtesy of A Quarter Of which I will write about later.
Rachel is an experienced public speaker and the show was well presented and entertaining. One of the shortcuts that sticks in my mind, is her warning not to invent a new product if you are a first-time entrepreneur. None of the Dragons’ Den panel are inventors after all.
Taking new products to market is hugely expensive and time consuming and should only be considered by an established business who have a mountain of cash and resources. Apple launched the iPod, and latterly iPad, after being in the computing industry since the seventies. They have billions at their disposal can easily afford the best talent, engineers, lawyers, R&D, etc.
Even successful companies can get it wrong. Sir Clive Sinclair’s electric vehicle the Sinclair C5 only sold over 12,000 after much expense (£12 million), research and publicity in 1985. Rachel’s demonstration of the driver’s close proximity to the ground and traffic reminded everyone what at laughable concept the Sinclair C5 is.
The book
After attending the show I read the book within a few days. It was easy to read and compelling. I was keen to find out about the other eleven shortcuts that weren’t included in the Fringe show. For me, the main theme of the book, is to think about starting a business with the sole purpose of making a substantial amount of money by avoiding traditional approaches and mind sets.
Think twice about having an office, shop, premises or staff. If you can work from home or sell online then this is recommended, especially when starting out. Opening a shop is a dream for many, but it is really necessary? For example, a new shop has opened up in the city centre where I live. They sell retro sweets that were popular in previous decades (Refreshers, Kola Kubes, flying saucers, etc) and other hard to find confectionery. The shop is amazing and well presented, but the city centre lease, operational costs and staff will be a big financial commitment.
In the book, Rachel explains that a similar retro confectionery business, A Quarter Of started a few years ago, but avoided the high street shop approach and instead sold the sweets online. From a modest outlay of £80 for sweets and a website built by the owner, the business now has an annual turnover of £3million. The owner and his family have since moved to Spain as he realised with today’s technology he didn’t have to be tied to the UK.
For the first-time entrepreneur there are many things that might seem necessary but really aren’t, and some are a complete waste of time. This book suggests what to avoid and contains numerous anecdotes on how other entrepreneurs discovered opportunities and grew them into successful businesses.
While many have been lucky to cash out in a few years, some have taken much longer and made huge sacrifices along the way. Rachel warns that she has interviewed entrepreneurs who have risked financial ruin or lived in a shack for 15 years in order to make their business a success. To be on the safe side, she suggests starting the business in your spare time and then quit the day job if the business can provide you with a livelihood.
Whether you are in business or thinking about starting one, I am sure you will gain valuable insights from this book. It’s business jargon free and well-written. I find myself dipping into chapters again whenever I need inspiration or motivation in running my own business.