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A review by smgrable
Business for Bohemians: Live Well, Make Money by Tom Hodgkinson
4.0
I added this book to my TBR list after listening to author Tom Hodgkinson, along with Chris Guillebeau, interviewed on The Secret Library Podcast.
My favorite thing about this slim little business book is the truly real-world perspective that it takes on running a small business. A miniscule minority of business endeavors are going to land as Fortune 500 enterprises, with the vast majority ending in failure. For the average "bohemian" who starts a business with the dream of being free from enslavement to the corporate rat race, the risk of diving in without a reality check is huge. This author has made the mistakes and chronicled them here so you don't have to. He pulls aside the enticing curtain of the dream of running a bookshop cafe to reveal the litany of everyday hurdles to be jumped, from making sure the taxes are paid to managing recalcitrant staff and organizing your books. And he doesn't mean the ones on the shelves for sale.
Hodgkinson also delves into the philosophy of freedom and self-employment, and the seeming difficulty of being in business for profit while promoting a lifestyle of anti-consumerism. I particularly enjoyed his passages discussing the tradeoffs between more lucrative employment and the frequently-thankless hustle of self-employed business.
If you're looking for detailed how-to's of bookkeeping and business management, this is not your book. But there are thousands of those out there. This is a lovely, philosophical book that will both inspire and warn the free-spirited aspiring businessman. As a bonus, delightfully written; anyone who can tether classical Greek philosophy with references to The Sex Pistols has my vote.
My favorite thing about this slim little business book is the truly real-world perspective that it takes on running a small business. A miniscule minority of business endeavors are going to land as Fortune 500 enterprises, with the vast majority ending in failure. For the average "bohemian" who starts a business with the dream of being free from enslavement to the corporate rat race, the risk of diving in without a reality check is huge. This author has made the mistakes and chronicled them here so you don't have to. He pulls aside the enticing curtain of the dream of running a bookshop cafe to reveal the litany of everyday hurdles to be jumped, from making sure the taxes are paid to managing recalcitrant staff and organizing your books. And he doesn't mean the ones on the shelves for sale.
Hodgkinson also delves into the philosophy of freedom and self-employment, and the seeming difficulty of being in business for profit while promoting a lifestyle of anti-consumerism. I particularly enjoyed his passages discussing the tradeoffs between more lucrative employment and the frequently-thankless hustle of self-employed business.
If you're looking for detailed how-to's of bookkeeping and business management, this is not your book. But there are thousands of those out there. This is a lovely, philosophical book that will both inspire and warn the free-spirited aspiring businessman. As a bonus, delightfully written; anyone who can tether classical Greek philosophy with references to The Sex Pistols has my vote.