Growing a Business

Nearly everyone harbors a secret dream of starting or owning a business. In fact, 1,000,000 businesses start in the United States 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 and best-selling author — wrote Growing a Business for those who set out to make their dream a reality. He knows what he's talking about; he is his own best example of success. In the early 1970s, while he was still in his twenties, he founded Erewhon, the largest distributor of natural foods. More recently, he founded and still runs SmithandHawken, the premier mail-order garden tool company. And he wrote a critically acclaimed book called The Next Economy about the future of the economy.

Using examples like Patagonia, Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, and University National Bank of Palo Alto, California, Hawken 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 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.

"Growing a Business is highly readable....It's ideas on doing business deserve widespread circulation, discussion and recognition." San Francisco Chronicle

"A standout in an overcrowded field." Kirkus Reviews

"...a wonderful combination of hardheaded business acumen, plain common sense, humor, and warmth." Entrepreneur

The companion volume to the public television series explains what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

CONTENTS

1 SOMETHING YOU LIVE TO DO

2 BE CAREFUL, YOU MAY SUCCEED

3 SMALL, FAT, AND HAPPY

4 IF IT'S A GOOD IDEA, IT'S TOO LATE

5 THE ART OF THE INCREMENTAL

6 THE COMPANY YOU KEEP

7 MONEY

8 THE LEMONADE STAND

9 IF YOU MEET THE BUDDHA ON THE ROAD, SELL HIM

10 YOU ARE THE CUSTOMER, YOU ARE THE COMPANY

11 IN GOOD COMPANY

12 THE VERGER

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX