Table of Contents

About the Author Acknowledgements Introduction: 15 Principles of Successful Entrepreneurs The Rules 1. Just do it... 2. Learn from your mistakes 3. Never blame the market 4. Take care of yourself 5. Know yourself 6. Measure success properly 7. Sharpen the saw 8. Make your passion your business 9. Nothing but the truth - and quick 10. Don't pin your hopes on a premature retirement 11. Never work to 'save jobs' 12. Avoid the 'we've just got to survive the recession' fallacy 13. Proper profit is profit margin 14. The second goal of business is sustainability 15. How to set a business-sale goal 16. Run the business for dividends (shareholder profit) 17. Use the dividend cash flow to value your business 18. Focus on cash-flow forecasts 19. Check your bank balance daily 20. Don't do guilt 21. Beg, borrow and barter 22. Use win/win negotiation 23. Deliver your promises up-front 24. Keep collaborating 25. Run a 'to-stop' list 26. Freelance is best 27. Hire freelancers correctly 28. Constantly question whether you have the right people in the right roles 29. Hire better than you need 30. Grow only as fast as your resources allow 31. Hire hunger (humble and hardworking), not the best (proud and expensive) 32. Pay the right price for the person 33. Never over-promote 34. Meet the spouse for senior roles 35. Use references early in recruitment 36. Avoid job titles 37. Pay recruitment fees on 'success' 38. Keep new roles temporary 39. Quality team equals low stress levels 40. When staff leave, let them go without a fight 41. Commit to excellence - fire the 'good' 42. Measure team performance 43. Three months never says it all 44. Managers and recruitment 45. Making the KPIs solid 46. Poor performers get fired - not made redundant 47. Deal with personnel problems immediately 48. Use great questions to tease out performance 49. Promote anyone who makes their job redundant 50. 100% management support - all the time 51. Know employees by their fruits 52. Do away with formal meetings 53. The team is the hero 54. Have a wise head on hand 55. Reward long-term value creation 56. Be wary of bonuses? 57. Use profit-share bonuses 58. Pay out some profits as dividends for directors 59. Keep two accounts 60. Pride goes before a fall 61. Don't diversify to escape trouble 62. Let go - faster 63. Letting others have a go will help them develop greatness 64. Eliminate puff 65. Build your brand 66. Protect your brand and IP 67. Product = brand = product = brand 68. Establish clear ownership of code, content and process 69. Own your clients 70. Refocus your brand - regularly 71. Measure resolutions as well as complaints 72. Rattle the cage to maintain excellence 73. Know your source of world-class business excellence 74. Know your business's economic engine 75. Ideas are cheap - unless they are patentable 76. Live above the shop 77. Remember the risk to your reputation 78. Put it in writing - and make sure you sign it 79. Understand fixed costs 80. Never let tax drive your decision making 81. Someone has already solved your problem 82. Put business before technology 83. Control credit 84. Tough decisions are the right ones 85. Plan your exit from your business 86. Avoid management and board meetings 87. Use the envelope test 88. Marketing comes first, design second 89. Set in place a feedback loop 90. Solve problems with three-way conversations 91. Avoid shareholders 92. Never let family be shareholders 93. Debt is like a disease 94. Build a strong non-exec team - prudently 95. Understand the three stages of a business 96. No share options 97. Let yourself be ousted - at the right price 98. Cease trading before it is too late 99. Choose the right opportunity 100. Business comes, business goes - you'll always be an entrepreneur Postscript

About the Author

Neil Lewis is a media entrepreneur and business leader based in the North West of England. A partner in MediaModo and the driving force behind new digital magazines, business events and entrepreneur accreditation assessments, Neil has over 22 years experience in publishing and business investment. His specialist skills include business strategy, online publishing and media plus business investment and start-ups. Neil regularly speaks at university and entrepreneurial networking events where he shares what he has learnt from his experiences. MediaModo offer recently won a North West Development Agency grant to develop a new entrepreneurial accreditation scheme that will revolutionise the way investors and entrepreneurs work together.