Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months by Melinda Emerson - Book review

Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months

A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business that Works

By: Melinda F. Emerson

Published: March 18, 2010
Format: Paperback, 272 pages
ISBN-10: 1605501115
ISBN-13: 978-1605501116
Publisher: Adams Media








"To achieve success as a small business owner, you need to be flexible, pay close attention to your market, and figure out what you do not know about running a business", writes entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda Emerson in her very practical and results oriented book Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months: A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business that Works. the author describes a plan for preparing and launching a business in twelve months, combined with a personal plan for becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Melinda Emerson understands the critical importance of planning to achieve success in an entrepreneurial venture. She also recognizes that not only does a business require planning from the idea stage to the grand opening, but that the prospective entrepreneur must learn some crucial life lessons about what it means to be an entrepreneur. Not only does a potential business owner require a Plan A, but also a Plan B, Plan C, and even more, to ensure that unexpected events don't derail the entire enterprise. Because there is so much business and personal planning required to start the business off on a successful path, Melinda Emerson provides a twelve month preparation process. This one year time frame is designed to ease the steep learning curve, and to establish an entrepreneurial mindset in the new business owner. Since potential entrepreneurs often don't even know what they don't know, each month, another piece of the knowledge gap is added toward bridging that divide.



Melinda Emerson (photo left) covers the essential knowledge areas that a new entrepreneur must learn in order to start a successful company. The author shares how a potential entrepreneur must establish his or her personal long term goals, and how these goals must be in harmony with the type of business start-up and its commitment level. At the same time, Melinda Emerson also stresses that a budding business owner must understand his or her own personal strengths and weaknesses, as these factors can help or impede business success. The book also examines the critical importance of understanding personal as well as business finances. The author helps the new business owner set a time line for developing the needed business skills, and concentrating on activities for achieving a successful transition from employee to entrepreneur. The book contains powerful advice for setting business goals and for anticipating and overcoming obstacles.

For me, the power of the book is how Melinda Emerson shares her own real world entrepreneurial experience with the reader in a logical and sequential way. The author stays true to her vision for the book of creating a twelve month process for making the personal transition from employee to entrepreneur, and from the idea stage to opening a new business. Because Melinda Emerson brings her business start up knowledge to the book, she describes openly the pitfalls awaiting the unprepared, and the personal sacrifices necessary for success.

These vital lessons provide an often needed antidote to the over enthusiastic, but very unprepared would be entrepreneur. As a result, the book's main premise is that planning of both one's personal life, and the imperative of a business plan, form the backbone of the book. The twelve month process for preparation to become a business owner follows the central theme of planning for both the entrepreneur, and for the business.

I highly recommend the must read and essential business start-up guide Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months: A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business that Works by Melinda Emerson, to anyone seeking a no nonsense step by step primer for starting a new business the right way. The author describes the process of becoming an entrepreneur, both in outlook and in business knowledge so well, that any would be business owner can utilize this book to make the transition from employee to business person.

Read the passionate and insightful book Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months: A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business that Works by Melinda Emerson, and make the move from cubicle to business ownership. This book is your one stop road map to personal and entrepreneurial success.

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