Growing your business

Growing Your Business

Growing Your Business

Sanjyot p. Dunung

Growing Your Business

Copyright © Sanjyot p. Dunung, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic,

mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations,

not to exceed 400 words, without the prior permission of the publisher.

First published in 2010 by

Business Expert Press, LLC

222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017

www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-60649-133-1 (paperback)

ISBN-10: 1-60649-133-4 (paperback)

ISBN-13 (e-book): 978-1-60649-134-8

ISBN-10 (e-book): 1-60649-134-2

10.4128/9781606491324

A publication in the Business Expert Press Small Business Management and

Entrepreneurship collection

Collection ISSN: 1946-5653 (print)

Collection ISSN: 1946-5661 (electronic)

Cover design by Jonathan Pennell

Interior design by Scribe, Inc.

First edition: May 2010

10 987654321

Printed in Taiwan

To Shanth, Yash, and Anand:

Find your own special star and reach for it.

Follow your hearts and true passions.

To my fellow entrepreneurs:

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where

there is no path and leave a trail. ”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Abstract

In the hard-fought business world, only one new business in 20 lives to see

its fifth anniversary. Typical management books do not address the unique

nuances o f early-stage companies. Most entrepreneurial books often pro￾file successful entrepreneurs or companies who are better known, which

usually includes only the small percentage that achieve stratospheric suc￾cess. Growing Your Own Business shares the secrets o f long-term survival

and success, detailing practical guidelines, and relevant “tales from the

trenches” to help entrepreneurs tackle common concerns and obstacles.

A welcome combination of first-person how-to advice and peer m entor￾ing support, this comprehensive, essential resource book provides sound,

battle-proven advice for developing effective sales and marketing strate￾gies, managing employees, and navigating business cycles. Growing Your

Own Business continues after the first book, Starting Your Own Business.

This resource is designed to work as independent resource or integrate

into business curriculums.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship, guerilla marketing, small business, managing a business,

governance, small business cycles

Contents

Acknowledgments................................................................................................. ix

A uthor’s N o t e ......................................................................................................xi

Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1

C hapter 1 M arketing and Sales...................................................................... 7

C hapter 2 M anaging, Governance, and A dvisory................................. 33

C hapter 3 Entrepreneurship on the F l y ................................................ 55

C hapter 4 Keeping the F a ith .......................................................................85

Glossary................................................................................................................95

I n d e x .....................................................................................................................99

Acknowledgments

Books like Growing Your Business com e from years o f collective experi￾ences and discussions. T here are many, m any people whose wise counsel

and insight I have benefited from and w ho have directly and indirectly

contributed to this book. I am grateful to all o f these people w ho have

through the years touched m y life and m y businesses.

I also w ant to express m y sincere gratitude to the people w ho worked

for, w orked w ith, advised, or invested in my com panies. T he concept for

this book came as I navigated the entrepreneurial opportunities, bum ps,

and challenges. O ver the years, m any o f you also experienced the same

entrepreneurial cycles w ith me and generously shared your insight, wis￾dom , enthusiasm , professionalism, and above all, friendship. T hank you.

This book w ould not have em erged in its current form if it weren’t for

the inspiration and input o f some w onderful fellow entrepreneurs and

friends. T heir stories b rin g to life m uch o f the lessons o f Growing Your

Business and follow in the pages hereafter. All o f their personal experi￾ences, attitudes, passions, and enthusiasm highlight w hat attracts so

m any to the intriguing w orld o f entrepreneurship. All o f you have been

instrum ental as I navigated the gray, fuzzy space between professional

and personal worlds that each o f us m ust com e to term s w ith at various

junctures in our lives.

To m y w onderful boys, Shanth, Yash, and A nand, thank you for your

patience in letting me spend the weekends needed to finish this book.

Your contagious giggles, hugs, and antics provided inspiration and clar￾ity at just the right times. To my parents, a m ost heartfelt thank you for

always being there w hen it was needed m ost and em bodying the lifelong

values o f hard work, passion, kindness, integrity, discipline, and generos￾ity o f heart and spirit. For m any decades, you have both lived exemplary

lives and you continue to do so.