Using a Company to Save Tax
The book contains lots of calculations demonstrating what the best tax situation would be. To be honest I ended up skimming over a lot of these as I found it difficult to follow them as I read along, however if I do find that I need to research some of this myself (rather than just asking our accountant) then it’s good to know that they are there to go back to and look at in more detail.
If nothing else, the book has made me aware of just how much I don’t know and how complicated tax issues are. Thank goodness for accountants who are there to understand these things for us! This is an area that I obviously don’t take to naturally and I did have to force myself to keep reading at times (luckily it’s a pretty short book at 110 pages) but I feel like a better person for finishing it. Yes, it’s not an easy read but it’s a highly valuable book for the information that it imparts.
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Be your own best life coach
There’s no doubt that the author knows her stuff. However, maybe because I wasn’t following along with the activities, I didn’t find it to be the inspiring book that I hoped. As I say, I wasn’t following along so maybe if I was I would have been drawn into it more, but I didn’t get much of a buzz from it.
Even though each chapter included practical steps to help you look at things differently or discover something about yourself, I did feel like it was a bit disjointed. It felt like 52 completely individual steps rather than working through a process that built up throughout. But, as I said, I may not be the best person to judge as I was just reading it.
Not a complete no-no but if I was to start a program of changing my life I can think of books that I would turn to more readily.
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The New Rules of Marketing & PR
Why’s that then? Why aren’t I skipping off to my computer right now to market my business? (Oh yes, I’m already at my computer…) I’d say that the book is definitely food for thought. There’s no doubt that it helps you look at things with a fresh eye. But…
… I find myself left thinking “now what? now what do I do?”. Yes, it’s given me a lot of theory but nothing that I can really get my teeth into. I find books like that frustrating. It’s like I’ve asked a cook “how do I bake a cake?” and they’ve replied “in an oven, you can make chocolate cake, or carrot cake, or coffee cake, it’s great”, when what I really wanted to know is how much flour to use, how to compile the ingredients and how long to cook it for. Do you know what I mean?
So, I would say that if you’re interested in reading up on the theory of using the web to market your business then this could well be the book for you. But if you’re after a step-by-step guide to putting the theory into practice then you might not get so much from it.
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Brilliant Start-Up
The book takes you through the stages of setting up and running a business. It is an inspiring mix of practical information and entertaining writing style. If you’re toying with the idea of setting up a business then this is definitely the book for you. Our business has been going for a few years now but even though some of the book was covering old ground I still found it an interesting read, so I would say that it’s not necessarily just for start-ups. It’s given me a new perspective on parts of our business and I’ve set myself some homework to follow up on some ideas.
The only criticism I would have is the bias towards sales rather than marketing as a whole. There’s a whole chapter which is basically on telesales way before the whole marketing concept is covered, which I found offputting. However, the author began the book with explaining that it would be opinionated and this is an example of that. I can see the point he’s trying to make, I just don’t necessarily agree with it.
My previous book review was, I said, not one for lifting your motivation. This book is exactly that - whether you’re thinking of starting up a business, are in the process of doing so, or (like me) have been running a business for a few years, this book could provide you with the inspiration that you need.
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Preparing a Winning Business Plan
The book takes you step-by-step through the different sections of a business plan, explaining the information you need to compile and giving information about using resources. Each chapter also includes scenarios of different people setting up in business, which helps lift the dryness of the book a bit. However, I did feel that they could have been a bit more directly related to the subject matter of the chapter just covered to see how the advice could be practically applied.
The copy I have is the fourth edition, published in 2003, and it is therefore surprising that resources mentioned give postal addresses but not website details. If there is a more recent edition available I would hope that this has been rectified.
Overall a good information resource to have on your bookshelf but not a book to dip into when your motivation needs a lift.
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Inspiring Women: how real women succeed in business
However, what I’m not and have no plans to be is a mother and what this book is screaming at me is that to be a ‘real woman succeeding in business’ I have to have the added challenge of raising a family and spending enough time with the kids etc. Don’t get me wrong, I’m full of admiration for women who do manage to do both, but that’s just not who I am. I find it hard enough getting a decent work/life balance as it is! But, my idea of reading about how women have succeeded in business is more about learning about their experiences running the business, not the children bit.
Overall I did find the book very interesting but I found the focus on being a mother increasingly frustrating and at some points (which I quickly talked myself out of) began to feel inadequate for my lack of offspring. Does everyone have to be introduced as ‘blah, mother of three’ - if it was a book about men in business that wouldn’t happen. It seemed that even the types of businesses covered were fluffy women-friendly ones - maternity clothes, baby food/toiletries, fashion, secretarial. Let’s face it I obviously don’t fit into the target audience for the book - if I was a mother thinking of setting up a business I’m sure I would find the book incredibly inspiring.
How about a book about women succeeding in male-dominated industries … like web design for example? They can be women with or without children, I don’t mind, just don’t make it all about the motherhood.
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Keeping It Simple: Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT
The first part of the book is mostly aimed at sole traders, though I still found the simple explanation of bookkeeping records extremely relevant to our business (which is a limited company). Then to make me even happier there is a section on ‘Accounting for Limited Companies’ which explains some of the additional records that a company needs to keep. I’ve never seen such a clear explanation of a director’s loan account! There is then a fairly extensive section on VAT with some excellent advice to help you decide whether you should register for VAT or not (it doesn’t just boil down to how much your turnover is). Finally, the book ends with some general advice on small business issues - accounting software, taking on an employee, and choosing a bookkeeper or accountant.
I suppose I should say that the book doesn’t cover absolutely everything, however it’s not setting out to. If it had it would have become overly complicated like a lot of other accounting books. Instead it sets out just enough to get you started and gives you pointers as to what else you may need to find out about. It is nice and clearly laid out, with lots of example spreadsheets and uses case studies to help explain different scenarios.
The book’s blurb starts with “This plain-English guide is essential reading for all small business owners” and I couldn’t agree more. I wish that I’d had a copy when I was first starting out, it would definitely have helped me get my accounts on a firm footing, but even a few years down the line it’s clarified some issues for me and given me an idea of how I can improve my accounts in a managing the business context rather than just essential records for tax purposes.
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Press Here! Managing the Media for Free Publicity
Press Here!: Managing the Media for Free Publicity
I particularly liked the case studies at the end of each chapter. The author used three different scenarios - two businesses and one freelance journalist - and followed their stories throughout the book. Absolutely brilliant. They reinforced the advice given in a very accessible way, showing how it could be applied in a real situation. It was also very useful to get an insight into how a journalist thinks and the pressures they are under - somehow makes contacting journalists seem less daunting.
Definitely a book to refer to again when I’m ready to launch into some PR.
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Get into Bed with Google
The book is Get into Bed with Google
What’s this nonsense about if you do a Google search you get ‘about 12 results per page’. Eh? Google displays 10 results per page by default and you couldn’t even change it to 12 if you wanted to. Couldn’t he even be bothered to count? I know that’s a minor detail but it is a book about Google!
My advice is to steer clear of this one unless you’ve got an SEO expert to hand to check your facts with.
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How to Talk to Anyone
You know what it’s like when you go to a networking event and there are one or two there who seem to just breeze around the room, being greeted by loads of people they already know and talking to new people with ease? Wouldn’t you love to be just like that? I know I would, but instead I’m the one nervously standing in the door desperately looking around for a friendly face. Actually, I’m not as bad as I used to be, I’ve definitely got more confident but I would like to feel more comfortable with striking up a conversation with someone I’ve never met before.
One of my fears when it comes to networking is not knowing what to say when I meet someone for the first time. This book provides you with techniques for overcoming that - not just things to say, but the whole thing from how to enter a room and choose who to talk to, to how not to answer certain questions that might leave the other person at a loss as to how to respond. Great stuff! I can certainly see how I can do things differently. A lot of it is being more aware of how you are reacting to the situation.
I’ve got this one down as a book to dip into every now and then. I don’t think I’m going to be able to go out there and put all 92 tips into practice straight away, I’d never remember them all. So, I think the thing to do would be to try out one or two at a time and see how they help, gradually improving my networking and conversational skills.
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