BUSINESS
My first serious job was in finance. I later worked in marketing for a number of years, with clients of all sizes - from a large PLC to a farmer selling his own CDs. Later still, I started my own business, a consultancy based on the successful Beermat books.
Beermat author Mike Southon and I taught Entrepreneurship and Marketing Strategy at City University / Bayes Business School.
Here are my business books, starting with The Beermat Entrepreneur, co-authored with Mike Southon. It was first published in the UK in 2002 and became an Amazon bestseller and has been translated into nine languages. A fully updated new edition was issued in 2018, and was Book of the Month in WH Smith Travel (that's the Smiths at airports and railway stations) in September of that year.
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The Beermat Entrepreneur
Turn your good idea into a Great Business
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Before this book came out, books on entrepreneurship had been rather dry texts featuring lists of dos and don'ts. The Beermat Entrepreneur bought the process to life, and became a classic. I still regularly meet people who were inspired by it, and it is still selling. Basic truths don't change.
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In late 2017 / early 2018, Mike and I produced a new edition, completely updating the old material (though the basic points, I'm glad to say felt as relevant as ever).
“I recommend this book to any aspiring entrepreneur.”
Charles Dunstone, Founder, Carphone Warehouse
“This book, for me, says it all… It should become standard reading for all employees, managers and founders of start-up businesses.”
Professor Sir Christopher Evans OBE, Founder, Merlin Biosciences
“Mike and Chris understand with unusual clarity what drives a start-up.”
Tim Smit, Founder, The Eden Project
"If I were to advise an aspiring company founder in any part of the world to read just one book, this would be it.”
Robert Sutton, Professor of Organizational Behaviour, Stanford Business School, and author of Weird Ideas That Work
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Sales on a Beermat
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​Lecturing at City University, I have been shocked by how little sales training is given to business students. This is an essential business discipline - even if you don't end up working in sales, you must understand how it works.
This book isn't just for students, however, but for anyone setting up a business and worrying about that essential question: 'How do I get customers?'
The book is especially for people who hate the idea of selling. It demystifies the process, and combats the myth that selling is sleazy and dishonest. 'Beermat' selling is done with pride and integrity.
This new edition of this book was published in 2021.
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"A truly practical guide for everyone, from the novice to the experienced sales professional."
Michael Hartig, Corporate Director, Larger Business, Barclays Bank
"Highly entertaining, original, and full of practical and concise tips."
Iain Henderson, Partner, Accenture
"Mike and Chris’ books are acquiring a reputation for readability and entertainment, but also for having a lot to say. Sales on a Beermat carries on a fast-growing tradition."
Lucy Armstrong, Chief Executive, The Alchemists
Finance on a Beermat
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I wrote this book with two qualified (and very entrepreneurial) accountants, who ran a business offering part-time FD services to start-ups. Between them, they had experience of almost every kind of business and its financial needs. This book covers all aspects of start-up finance - in a way that (I'm particularly proud of this) many people have said is unusually clear.
“If you want to get someone to invest in your business, read this book.”
David Beer CA, Chairman and Founder, Beer and Partners
“The finance function isn’t just a ‘rear-view mirror’, but an essential tool for the ambitious business. Here’s a book that really understands this, and explains in jargon-free English how to use it.”
Paul Walker, Chief Executive, The Sage Group
"At last! Finance truly demystified.”
Gita Patel, Director, Stargate Capital
Marketing on a Beermat
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This was my chance to make my own contribution to the Beermat series. I take the reader through the marketing journeys of six very different new businesses, from a shop to a consultant and a high-tech start-up.
The marketer's toolkit has evolved since this book is written in 2008, but the basic principles and philosophy of marketing don't change.
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"Comprehensive and easy to read, this book is just right for the uninitiated... Perfect for any small business, start-up or entrepreneur."
The Marketer (Chartered Institute of Marketing Magazine)
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The Boardroom Entrepreneur
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This is the odd one out in the Beermat series, about 'Intrapreneuring', being entrepreneurial within a corporate context. This goes in and out of fashion - it was 'in' in the early 2000s, thanks to the internet. As the decade advanced, it became less so. Its time will come again and this book will have a lot to offer when it does.
"Valuable reading for entrepreneur and corporate manager alike."
Bill Samuel, Director, Foyles
"Clear-headed, practical, profound." Chris Nichols, Ashridge Business School
"If you’re kicking your heels in a large organization, read this book and start stirring things up." Jason Porter, co-founder, Friends Reunited
Think Like an Entrepreneur
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There is a fascinating area where business success and personal development overlap, and this book, co-authored with successful entrepreneur and coach Robbie Steinhouse, is placed slap in the middle of that. It is a mixture of NLP techniques, some of them jaw-droppingly powerful, and business wisdom. It is Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich for the twenty-first century!
"A masterclass in the tools, techniques behaviours and processes of turning an idea into a successful business. A must-read for all budding entrepreneurs."
Suzan Barghash, Regional Director, Cargill.
"Demystifying, inspiring, rejuvenating!"
Bernie Wales, Entrepreneur
Myths About Doing Business in China
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Though this is a business book, it is at its heart a book about Chinese culture, how people live and think in what will soon be the world's largest economy. The book is co-authored with Harold Chee, who is now Academic Programme Director at the Judge Business School, Cambridge. We made a good team. I had been a foreigner looking in at China, often with bafflement. He is Chinese but had lived much of his life in the west and experienced similar bafflement on how 'we' do things... Between us, I feel, we built an excellent bridge.
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"Unlike many China-for-outsiders books, this one gets to the heart of how things are done here. It is written with a real love of China and Chinese culture, but never loses sight of the difficulties that newcomers will encounter."
Fu Ping, HR Manager, Kraft Foods
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"An excellent read." Humphrey Keenlyside, China-Britain Trade Review