Joan Baker - Dont Get a Job, Build a Business

Best-selling author and business consultant, Joan Baker is committed to helping others get the life they want. Joan is a company director and consultant to a broad range of large businesses and SMEs in private and not-for-profit organisations both in Ireland and abroad. She has written eight books specialising in helping individuals and organisations achieve success. Currently residing in New Zealand, Joan works internationally as a skilled consultant in high performance. She can be contacted at

Joanne Hession is a successful entrepreneur and recognised leader in training, mentoring and business in Ireland. Joanne is responsible for training thousands of budding entrepreneurs through her business QED Training

As we finalise this book in December 2012, we are only too aware that we are living in a time of difficult economic conditions and that these conditions may continue for quite a while. It may not seem, therefore, like the most opportune time to consider setting up a business, but we strongly believe that in these conditions owning your own business may be a much better use of your talents and energies than scrambling to obtain employment. Be aware, however, that there is much more to owning a business than simply becoming self-employed! Business creation is not just about one job for one person, its about building a wealth-creating asset that delivers value and employment for the owner and for others.

The majority of entities described as businesses are no such thing! Many trades-people, professionals, contractors and consultants merely have a job rather than owning and running a business. Its relatively easy to register an occupation as a business and begin to work. Unfortunately, that is all many who consider themselves business owners do. A technician rather than an entrepreneur sets up most such businesses, immediately getting busy doing the technical work that they are good at and neglecting to work on and develop an actual business.

When, therefore, you start in business for yourself it pays to think about it as a business concern (i.e. a separate entity from yourself) right from the start. Whether you envisage it as always remaining small or eventually becoming large, the same basic principles apply.

We have spent a collective fifty years working in and on businesses, managing others, observing what works and what doesnt. We are both driven to achieve success and we both have a passion for helping others succeed. We decided to write this book in order to share many of the useful things we have observed, lessons we have learned and positive business techniques we have experienced and taught with success.

Whether you are already in business, or still thinking about setting up, we hope you will find the ideas in this book constructive and helpful. We suggest that you read it with a pen and paper to hand, so that you can note what you need to do for your enterprise to give it the best chance of flourishing.

How to use this book

Business books can be confusing and overwhelming as there are so many subjects and issues to discuss. We have tried to keep this book as simple as possible by organising it into only three sections:

The first section looks at you as a business owner, and the special mindset you need to have to run your business successfully.

The second section considers the organisation of your business and how you can step back from its day-to-day running to free up time to enable you to think strategically and make longer term plans for its development and for your personal life.

The third section looks at the people you work with: your employees and your customers. It tells you what you need to know to attract and retain great staff and loyal customers for the long-term, successful growth of your business.

Hopefully, this will allow you to dip into whichever subject has the most use or more immediate relevance for you.

We think that good questions can often be even more useful than answers, so we have sprinkled Killer Questions throughout the book. The idea is for you to learn to ask the important questions whenever appropriate then, even as your business and circumstances change, you will focus on the essential matters. Again, its a good idea to write these questions down, answer them and work out what changes you need to make to help your business thrive. Answers vary from business to business and from time to time, but good questions rarely change!

We hope this book helps you achieve the success you are looking for with your business. Wed love to hear about your experiences and your suggestions as to how you feel we could help further. You can contact us through our website, www.dontgetajobbuildabusiness.com.

Joan & Joanne