Small Business Center

“It is time to rework work. Let’s get started,” declares the authors of the new business book Rework by 37signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.

They want to change how businesses are run, and to borrow a segment title, “Make a dent in the universe.” They are definitely knocking on the universe’s door.

I read a review copy, and was inspired to rework my own thoughts on entrepreneurship and business strategy.

What Worked Well in Rework

This is a book you don’t want to judge too quickly. On first blush the short content seems gimmicky for a book claiming to have a revolutionary outlook.  The chapters cover an arc of business growth with intriguing names:  Takedowns (addressing the barriers to starting a business), Go (Getting started in business), Progress, Productivity, Competitors, Evolution, Promotion, Hiring, Damage Control, and Culture. Within each chapter is a bold statement, a short page or two of explanation, and a memorable image, all with a ready-for-e-book feel.

Ah, but what seems lacking on the surface can be fulfilling when examined.  Rework will pleasantly surprise you once you delve in.  This book offers simple been-there-done-that advice  — and it is anything but shallow.

It distills the typical business subjects to essentials, then offers inspired suggestions with a sharp imaginative eye. Here’s one piece of realistic advice that rings true:   entrepreneurs should seek alternative means to get their business  exposure besides major media publications.  In the “Forget about the Wall Street Journal” segment they write:

“Pitching a reporter at one of these place is practically impossible… you’re better off focusing on getting your story in a trade publication or picked up in a niche blog.”

The Takedown segments get the ball rolling, with sharp headlines throughout the other chapters.  Hansson and Fried explain why Meetings are Toxic and Press Releases are Spam.  Especially powerful was the segment on the “Myth of the Overnight Sensation”:

“It’s not the whole story.  Dig deeper and you’ll usually find people who busted their asses for years to get into a position where things take off…. Trade the dream for overnight success for slow, measured growth…. You have to do it for a long time before the right people notice.”

I loved the musings on “Learning from Mistakes is Overrated”:

“You might learn what not to do again, but how valuable is that?  You still don’t know what you should do next…. Evolution doesn’t linger on past failures, it’s always building upon what worked.  So should you.”

Every idea proposed shows imaginative ways to spur you to intriguing decisions.  Example:  letting your customers outgrow you:

“When you let customers outgrow you, you’ll most likely wind out up with a product that’s basic….  Small simple needs are constant. There’s an endless supply of customers who need exactly that.”

Steps in the growth process are turned on their head without being dumbed down.  Tips such as “Hire managers of one” will re-imagine the hiring process for leaders.  “Resumes are ridiculous” says resumes are “filled with action verbs that don’t mean anything.”

Rework relies on the authors’ perspective, who deliberately set about creating a small business and avoided being bogged down by external factors such as venture capital or extensive research.  That’s the perspective of this book.

References to outside sources to support their views do appear, like in the overrated mistake learning example (it mentions a Harvard study on entrepreneurship and failure).

Readers are cautioned to de-emphasize traditional tools for early efforts — “Your Estimates Suck” dovetails into the concept that not having a plan is okay. It is based on the authors’ experience.  These ideas are valuable for startups or small businesses with a few employees.

What Might Have Worked Better

In a few instances subjects contradict or need more explanation than a page or two.  A tip to “Pick A Fight” – calling out your competitors – seems to contradict a later query “Who cares what they’re doing?”  which is about ignoring your competitors.  Moreover, the Audi example in the “Pick A Fight” segment breaks a marketing rule to never mention your competition (doing so can remind your customers of the competition’s advantage over your product).

Miscues are rare, though.  In a brisk and comfortable pace Rework experiments well in reframing business.  It offers  practical steps for establishing culture, strategy, and productivity.

Who Should Read Rework

The advice in Rework fits small service firms with simplicity at their operational core.  Refreshingly the authors own up to their perspective, offering no apologies for its honest language, or for the fact that it is written mostly from the 10-year experience of running a 16-employee software firm.

Rework may not fully appeal to firms with engineered products or joint ad-hoc projects that want more detail regarding processes.  Managing a joint project between businesses can require coordination to make a profit.   Such joint collaboration is not deeply covered, a particular point given the increased tendency to coordinate small businesses remotely together.

Rework is right for entrepreneurs and small businesses that offer services and are intent on steady solid growth and profitability.   If you have a services type of business, this book will be ideal for you. The flexibility to scale advice, coupled with clear explanations, is what makes Rework a rousing success in its mission.  In its originality Rework has found a clever way to stir the entrepreneur in everybody.

We hope you’re enjoying your daily small business news roundup here at Small Business Trends. Here is the latest from news sources and blogs we are following regularly.

Marketing

What can Lego teach us about guerrilla marketing? Shane Gibson talks about giving away real value and offering a variety of options in the digital world. Closing Bigger.net

Does your business really need customers? Here’s a completely different way to look at and treat the people you serve each day. Walt Goshert

Self-Development

How to create your own online business training. Whether you attend an accredited business school or design your own “personal MBA” with online and other resources, the key to a good education is the information you take away. Copyblogger

Learn better speaking skills with seven simple steps. When it’s time to do a presentation for your small business, some simple advice will help you shine. MarketingProfs Daily Fix

Tech

Google Translate breaks the online language barrier. Think Skype is something? Joel Libava will tell you about one more tool that will increase your small business’s global reach. The Franchise King

New mobile devices may challenge Apple products. What will a Sony line of products offer by way of small business tech tools? WSJ

Operations

Want to make more money from your small business while putting less time in? Who doesn’t? But the key to success may be much more than simply increasing your efficiency. Bloggertone.com

Embarrassed by your profit margin? Remember, profitability is a sign of a healthy business and of good value delivered to your clients and customers. MyProjectTracker

Does your small business need a lawyer? Better read this first. Open Forum

Do you take notes while meeting with clients? Or when having any kind of important business meeting where issues are being discussed and hashed out? You should and here are some more tips on how to do it right. Sales Tip A Day

Startup

A great business is about more than a great idea. When it comes to launching your next venture, you’ll need plenty of hard work and the right skills. 37 Signals

Actions speak louder than words. What’s the difference between talking about that startup idea and making it happen? The answer is simpler than you think. Chris Brogan

Ever dream of launching an online retail store? Entrepreneur Cristian Dorobantescu talks with one small business owner about his experiences in the competitive world of e-commerce. Entrepreneurship Interviews

Policy

Are more loans really the key to recovery? Or is easy credit what got us into this mess in the first place? Cato Institute

More sales not government incentives are the key to economic growth. Businesses are happy about any tax breaks, but a $15 billion jobs bill won’t create new hires on its own. WSJ

In order to provide users with the absolute most relevant search results, Google is doing its best to provide a more local, a more social results page. The days where location doesn’t matter on the Web are over. Over the past year we’ve seen a strong push from Google to improve results by showing users what’s located closest to their neighborhood, be it a physical neighborhood or simply the neighborhood where they “hang out” on the Web. First they began automatically personalizing results by IP, then it was real-time and social signals. And they’re not slowing down.

Let’s look at two new advancements made by Google last week and how it may affect small business owners.

More Local

On Friday afternoon Google launched ‘Nearby’ search option. The new feature will allow users to filter their search results based on a geographic location that they can set instead of appending location names directly to their search. For example, many users have grown accustomed to performing searches like [New York City pizza] or [Denver plumber] in order to receive local results. Now they don’t have to. Instead, searchers will be able to refine their search by their default location or a custom one by using the Search Options panel that appears on the left hand sidebar. It, arguably, makes search easier.

The feature is live on the google.com domain but if you’re not seeing it, Google has pre-defined some searches for people to test out.

For example, Google listed the following search examples:

[things to do on st. patrick's day] – In the Minneapolis region
[food blogs] – Near you
[farmers market] – Near the city of Ithaca
[dmv] – In the same state as Tucson

More Social

Back in December Google announced it would integrate real-time search into its search results. The change instantly put live news, tweets, and blog posts directly into the search results and gave small business owners yet another reason to be proactive about monitoring their online reputation. Well, last week Google added another prominent source to pull content from and display in its real-time search results – Facebook. While Google won’t be pulling information from your individual profile, it will publish official updates from Facebook Fan Pages, profiles generally created for celebrities, major brands and, of course, local businesses.

This is a pretty cool new addition from Google because it gives small business owners another way to dominate the search results for their name. And because Facebook will only pull updates that the owner of the page creates themselves, there’s less of an online reputation management headache to worry about. You control what Google may or may not see about you. You can make sure that customers find out about special deals, events, and whatever’s going on at your business.

What Does All This Mean?

It means you need to start thinking differently about how you market your site. It used to be that location didn’t matter. Google ranked sites based on the relevance to a particular keyword or phrase. More and more we’re starting to see Google giving more prominence to information that is relevant based on other factors.

Local is more relevant. You need to ensure that Google knows where you’re business is located. That means getting the proper local citations, making sure your Local Business Listing is accurate and that you localize your Web content by using a complete address.

Social is more relevant. If you haven’t created a Facebook Fan page for your business, now’s the time to do it. Google is pulling this information into the search results and using it when someone searches for you. Use this to your advantage. Make sure you’re sending out valuable information and that you’re also letting them find a profile that is well-built and user-friendly. We’ve previously shared tips on how to get the most from Facebook Fan pages and how to get people to join your Facebook Fan page, which may be worth another read. With Google consistently turning up the social knob and updating its idea of relevance, you need to make sure your relevant in 2010’s version of search.