Books

How These Books Are Different

One day, I realized my bookshelves were full of best-selling business books that were only partially read. You know, those weighty business tomes written by Harvard professors based on their years of research.

Those are important books with important statistics, important examples, and lots of graphs. My wife will often have to take one of those books off my chest during the night and turn off the light. Months later, after starting the book six times and never getting past chapter four, I give up and put it on the shelf alongside all the other unread business bestsellers.

Looking at my bookshelves, you would think I am well read and erudite. The reality is, by the time I get home at night, I am too exhausted to read and absorb the information in those weighty books. Even if it is important.

So I wrote a book for the rest of us on how to run a profitable, smoothly-running small business.

Each chapter of Hunting Alligators deals with a topic that is relevant to every small business owner. You won’t find yourself skipping over sections.

In addition, each chapter is freestanding and based on a story that teaches just one business principle so it’s easy to understand and digest. These are the stories I tell my employees when someone asks, “Why do you want me to do it that way?” The anecdote I tell that employee explains why we have a particular procedure.

Some of the stories are funny, others are pointedly serious. Most have a humorous twist to make them readable. The accounts are drawn from personal experience and from contemporaries who have shared their successes and foibles with me—tales from the trenches where we small business owners live and work. You will relate to the narratives and learn techniques to help you avoid the mistakes I have made (and learned from).

The story format makes not only the stories memorable, but helps the principles taught by the stories stick with you. Remember those stories from childhood told to you by your parents, your grandparents or Uncle George? We all remember those family stories, because people are wired to remember stories. That’s why I use stories as the basis for teaching lessons in the book.

The stories in Hunting Alligators will be equally easy to remember and will jog your memory to the principles taught by each story!

How you use "Hunting Alligators"

The chapters in Hunting Alligators are grouped according to four general business divisions –

          · Management
          · Sales and marketing
          · Working on the business
          · Operations.

The chapters are also separately indexed by the principles they teach. This will enable you to go directly to a chapter that deals with a particular problem you may be having.

You can read every chapter in order or jump around a bit. Just make sure you read all the chapters before you put the book back on your bookshelf!

Here are some chapter titles from Hunting Alligators to whet your appetite (while causing you to scratch your head wondering what that chapter could be about) –

Hunting Alligators                                                    (Working on the business)
Tangiblitation                                                           (Sales and marketing)
A sure-fire method for losing your shirt                (Managing for profitability)
Taking a shower in the kitchen                               (Managing employees)
Pigs can fly and suppliers never lie                       (Managing suppliers)
Evenafish                                                                  (Managing the unexpected)
Dirigibles and armadillos                                        (Managing your market)
Bras and a peanut stand                                         (Sales and marketing)
Giving away your brain                                            (Managing for profitability)
Ordering another man’s dog around                       (Managing employees)
Dollars per headache                                               (Business strategies)

. . . and more!

Hunting Alligators sequel

Stay tuned, as there’s sequel to Hunting Alligators that is almost complete. Watch for it!