About me
I was born in 1954. After school, I worked in the City, then went to the LSE as a mature student to study economics and philosophy, getting a first.
I then worked in PR and marketing, with the mk Group in Norwich. I was involved with clients of all sizes from sole traders to large corporates. With local marketer Graham Michelli, I also set up a marketing consultancy for angels and VCs.
At the same time, I wrote four crime novels set in contemporary China, where I had travelled as a student. The first of these, Death of a Blue Lantern, was nominated for Best First Novel at the World Mystery Convention, and has just been reissued (follow this link to find out more about these www.christopherwest.info ).
In 2001 I collaborated with Mike Southon on The Beermat Entrepreneur. This was published by Prentice Hall in March 2002, went straight to the top of the UK business book ‘charts’ and has now established itself as a classic text on entrepreneurship. It still sells well and has been translated into ten languages. Following that, I co-authored the ‘Beermat Guides’, that go into specific aspects of the start-up business in greater depth: Sales on a Beermat, Finance on a Beermat and (as sole author) Marketing on a Beermat (all published by Random House). I also wrote the ‘From the Beermat’ column in Director Magazine for four years.
I am also co-author of Myths about Doing Business with China, with Harold Chee, and sole author of Perfect Written English - a terrible title (there’s no such thing as perfect writing) for a nice little book on how to write well. My most recent book is Think Like an Entrepreneur, co-authored with entrepeneur and NLP trainer Robbie Steinhouse.
I teach both writing (for anyone) and marketing for small businesses.
I guess that behind all my activities is a stong belief in the power of ‘personal development’. Everyone can improve their lives, though entrepreneurship, through psychological understanding, through creativity. It’s a real joy to be able to help people on those journeys.