Never Quit! The Ups & Downs of Running A Family Business

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Summary: Practical advice for any would be entrepreneur!
Review: A practical straight forward look at the hectic world of small business. It speaks to both the joys and frustrations of business ownership. An absolute must read for anyone starting or thinking of starting their own business. You will find both practical advice and energy-giving inspiration between the pages of this very easy to read book. Thank you Donna Gray for sharing!

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Summary: Never Quit! The Ups and Downs of Running a Family Business
Review: I picked up the book Never Quit! The Ups and Downs of Running a Family Business thinking that I could read it between flights, hoping that in the pages of the book, I'd find some little piece of sales wisdom to restate at the upcoming sales manager's meeting - that's where I was flying. I was looking for a quick-read, something that would be in my hands and in my briefcase only long enough to hold in front of my sales staff as proof that I'd spent my travel time wisely -- a lesson to them. And so I began reading in the terminal.

Even after the plane settled into its altitude, I couldn't put Never Quit! down. I continued to read, even forgetting to make a few notes in a margin. The notes were already made - the author has bullet list after bullet list of helpful pointers. But what kept me engrossed was the story of running a family business. Gray offered personal glimpses of challenges as well as successes, and then held them both up as examples of opportunity for positive growth.

Here's one example: ''Syndicated columnist Sydney Harris said, 'Few men ever drop dead from overwork, but many quietly curl up and die because of under-satisfaction.' I can always tell when someone on our team is under-satisfied during times of repetitive work. We try to liven things up when that happens by switching tasks. Or we have a five-minute teaching break so that the person can share the pride in what's been accomplished so far. Sometimes, the projects we work on seem impossible, and that's when I'm reminded of something Walt Disney said: 'It's kind of fun to do the impossible.'''

This is a business book, yes. However, it is a family business book. The title Never Quit warns there will be reasons to, and readers see those reasons in every chapter of the book. They are the real stories of real people. But the real art of this book is the encouragement it provides to small business owners to define core principles and when those are challenged, to use those core beliefs to find another method to achieve the desired right results. And so, when a business owner comes up against something they believe is beyond their control, they will re-define success or the ways they might get there. They will never quit.

The focus on customer service also came at a good time for me; this is a huge talking point at our company, which is struggling to maintain excellent customer service at a time when sales are (thankfully) outpacing customer service rep availability, and so customer interactions are being timed and evaluated. It's a challenge, but I found something in almost every chapter of Gray's book that boils customer service techniques down to something as simple as a customer-friendly greeting. It makes it seem do-able.

This book is going to be a hit with family business owners everywhere. It is well-written, but more important, it is a good read. I thought I was buying a book which would later languish on our company bookshelf, but I've decided instead to buy a copy for everyone in our sales and service department, and to keep it in my briefcase to refer to again and again.

Splendid job, and thank you, Ms. Gray.