Growing a business

the long version

Nearly everyone harbors a secret dream of starting or owning a business. In fact, 1,000,000 businesses start in the United Sates every year. Many of them fail, but enough succeed so that small businesses are now adding millions of jobs to the economy at the same time that the Fortune 500 companies are actually losing jobs. Paul Hawken-entrepreneur, environmentalist, and bestselling author-wrote Growing a Business for those who have set out to make their dream a reality. He knows what he's talking about: In the early 1970s, while he was still in his twenties, he founded Erewhon, the largest distributor of natural foods. Later, he founded Smith & Hawken, the premier garden tool company. Using examples like Patagonia and Ben & Jerry's shows that the successful business is an expression of an individual person. The most successful business your idea for a business will grow from something that is deep within you, something that can't be stolen by anyone because it is so uniquely yours that anyone else who tried to execute your idea would fail. He also dispels the myth of the risk taking entrepreneur. The purpose of business, he points out, is not to take risks but rather to get something done.