Books

A new book from entrepreneurial Wellington publisher and author Jenny Douché is aimed at helping bridge the sometimes huge gap between innovation and successful commercialisation. Foolproof: How to Find and Test Great Business Opportunities was written after Douché noticed how few business people take the time to properly test ideas for new products or services before launching to market.Market validation helps ensure that businesses deliver market-orientated offerings. She recently surveyed 53 business people who validated the market before launching a new product and, as a result, 86 percent changed the features of their product or service, and 70 percent changed their promotional plan. These changes likely resulted in increased sales and significant cost savings. With its 13 true stories of

Peter Yealands is the quintessential Kiwi entrepreneur who has also been described as “a true maverick”. In a career spanning 50 years he’s tried his hand at almost everything from his home base in Marlborough, and made major contributions to New Zealand’s aquaculture, deer farming, forestry and wine industries along the way.Now somebody has managed to encapture this man’s remarkable life and business experiences in one book. Tom Percy’s A bloke for all seasons: the Peter Yealands story engages the reader right from the start as a young Peter Yealands begins to make his way in the world, following in his father’s impressive footsteps. As each chapter rolls by, you get a better understanding of Yealands’ solutions-focused attitude applied to

There is an awful lot to learn when you launch your first business – and all the time you’re in business you never really stop learning. How do you read financial accounts? How do you harness digital marketing? Are you even made of the right stuff to run a business?There are so many questions that need answers. And fortunately there are so many answers in the Sixth Edition of The Small Business Book – a bestselling publication by Leith Oliver and John English that has become the go-to reference book for thousands of business owners in New Zealand.If you want to go into business now, this is the book that will help you to get started. If you are already

Coming in at under 180 pages, Gavin Waring’s guide covering business structure, debt, tax and other issues SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) struggle with, is not a big read, but promises real-life answers.   “For a business to succeed, they first have to survive,” Waring says.   The author’s insight is heart felt.  Having lost his own family home when his business failed, Waring now successfully helps small business owners recover from often serious financial difficulty.   As the CEO of Australia-based consultancy Your Business Angels, Waring stresses the importance of getting even the small, basic things right, saying; “These things can be the make or break of a business”.   Waring emphasizes the importance of getting the right advice by ensuring the

How do we protect our business when times get tough?” This is the most common question Andrew Griffiths is asked nowadays. With 25 years’ experience as a business owner and numerous publications targeting small businesses to his credit, including his ‘101 Ways’ business building advice series, Griffiths says “business success or failure is totally dependant on attitude” and “survival depends on the action you take”.  Griffiths says his latest book is smaller than usual, with around 160 pages set out in five sections, to make it convenient to be kept handy for use.  Whether you are simply worried about the financial future of your business, or it’s in bad shape now – or worse still you are looking down the

  This cute little book is written by London born and Australian based business trainer and human development organiser, Rum Charles. Currently the PR manager of Nintendo Australia, Charles has also worked with big-name musical acts such as Madonna, Guns N’ Roses and Paul McCartney.  Following on from such big sellers as Who Moved My Cheese and The One Minute Manager, Charles uses entertainment to deliver client-focused training and marketing solutions to his book. The idea for The Shower, the Course and the Thought Bubble, described as a communication tool, came to Charles while in the shower. The story introduces us to and takes us through the EQUAL philosophy which has been at the core of each Indigo Training (the company he