Lessons from the Edge: Survival Skills for Starting and Growing a Company

entrepreneurs Often Struggle With Many Aspects Of Business: Planning And Financing Company Growth, Creating A Company Vision, Recruiting, Leading, And Managing People, As Well As Personal Costs. In lessons From The Edge , More Than 50 Business Owners And Entrepreneurs Offer A Wealth Of Real-life Stories—in Their Own Words—that Provide Rare Insights About Keeping A Company Healthy And Growing. Here Is A Unique Collection Of First-person Accounts By Entrepreneurs Who Describe Their Mistakes In Business And The Lessons They Have Learned As A Result. The Stories Cover A Wide Range Of Experiences From The Trials And Tribulations Of Partnerships, To The Loss Of Key Customers, Theft, Finding And Retaining Employees, And The Personal Cost Of Living On The Edge. The Authors Have Drawn On Interviews With More Than 50 Entrepreneurs, All Of Whom Are Under 45 Years Of Age And Are Founders Or Presidents Of Companies With Revenues Over $1 Million And Growing Rapidly. They Volunteered To Share Their Stories, Describing Why They Lost Or Almost Lost Their Companies, What They Did Wrong, And The Lessons They Have Learned. Their Narratives Are Full Of Mistakes, Failure, Courage, Moments Of Realization, And Timely Moves That Saved The Day. Every Company Owner Will Find These Accounts Insightful, Compelling, And Occasionally Gut Wrenching, Especially Because Most Face Similar Challenges And Live With The Reality That They Too Could Fall Off The Edge. This Instructive And Inspiring Book Brims With Lessons For All Business Owners About Courage, Persistence, And Survival. lessons From The Edge Is An Essential Read For Both Established And Prospective Entrepreneurs. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Preface......Page 16 Introduction......Page 20 Section-at-a-Glance......Page 34 Overview......Page 36 The Price of Distraction: Ken Wolf......Page 41 Right Moves, Wrong People: Douglas Mellinger......Page 45 Stealing the Company Blind: Frank Nemiroff......Page 49 You Gotta Believe: Marx Acosta-Rubio......Page 54 Riding the Roller Coaster: Mark Moses......Page 58 Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later: Joshua Schecter......Page 63 Back To Where It All Began: Bob Kirstiuk......Page 68 Losing a Partner: Charles Tetrick......Page 74 Inheriting Problems: Anne Bain......Page 79 Building a Business or Building a Company: Kevin Daum......Page 82 Wrap-up......Page 86 Top Ten Lessons in Leadership......Page 89 Section-at-a-Glance......Page 92 Overview......Page 94 Brewing up a Perfect Business: Sam Boyer......Page 98 Aiming for the Fairway: Craig Pollard......Page 102 When Disaster Strikes: Damon Gersh......Page 106 Always Behind the Curve: Howard Getson......Page 111 No Systems, No Results: Alex Rusch......Page 114 Picking the Wrong Guy . . . Again: Paul Hickey......Page 119 Wrap-up......Page 125 Top Ten Lessons in People......Page 127 Section-at-a-Glance......Page 130 Overview......Page 132 Starting with a Bang, Ending with a Whimper: Jeff Dennis......Page 138 Get it in Writing: Julie Pearl......Page 143 A Matter of Interpretation: David Dash......Page 146 Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Peter Davies......Page 149 Getting Conned: Mike Meek......Page 153 Always Knows Where the Exits Are: Greg Ferguson......Page 156 Selling Yourself Short: Tina Holden......Page 160 Wrap-up......Page 163 Top Ten Lessons in Partnerships......Page 165 Section-at-a-Glance......Page 168 Overview......Page 170 Surviving the Dot-Com Explosion: Sanjay Parekh......Page 178 When Good Money Chases Bad: Niv Ben-Haim......Page 182 Making the Right Moves: Tim Riley......Page 186 Diversify Your Investors: Robert Kulhawy......Page 190 Putting Your Eggs in One Basket: Lance Stendal......Page 194 On the Outside Looking In: Michael Beirne......Page 197 Swimming Against the Current: Kirsten Knight......Page 202 He Offered to Loan Me My Money: David Schulhof......Page 206 Caught in the Act: Bill Kimberlin......Page 212 Getting Thrown a Curve Ball: Greg Levin......Page 218 Feeling the Burn: Derek Harp......Page 223 Wrap-up......Page 228 Top Ten Lessons in Money......Page 231 Section-at-a-Glance......Page 234 Overview......Page 236 Losing Your Company, Losing Everything: James Fierro......Page 239 The Young and the Restless: Parvinder Singh......Page 244 The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Bill Lee......Page 248 An Inside Job: Louette Glabb......Page 252 Learning to Shift Gears: Isaac Rosenberg......Page 256 Merging Without Looking Both Ways: Laura McCann......Page 260 Out of the Ashes: Barrett Ersek......Page 264 Wrap-up......Page 269 Top Ten Lessons in Personal Issues......Page 270 Conclusion......Page 272 B......Page 278 C......Page 279 E......Page 280 F......Page 281 I......Page 282 M......Page 283 P......Page 284 R......Page 285 S......Page 286 Z......Page 287 Entrepreneurs often struggle with many aspects of business: planning and financing company growth, creating a company vision, recruiting, leading, and managing people, as well as personal costs. Here, more than 50 business owners and entrepreneurs offer a wealth of real-life stories - in their own words - that provide rare insights about keeping a company healthy and growing