Praetorian Marketing reviews their latest read ’43 Mistakes Businesses Make…and How to Avoid Them‘ by Duncan Bannatyne.
Praetorian Marketing was a little sceptical about reading the latest book to come from one of the Dragon’s Den ‘Dragons’. Was is simply going to be a read plugging the show with no real lessons to be learnt? The Birmingham based marketing company was pleased to find that the book was actually incredibly informative.
Geared more towards start-ups than those already running successful companies the book is simply set out with each chapter dealing with one of the 43 pitfalls. Interestingly for such a negative title the book is very encouraging. The book deals more with persuading individuals to trust their gut when it comes to a business idea and encourages you not to feel you have to conform to pre-prescribed ideas about running a business.
Unsurprisingly the book draws on many examples from Dragon’s Den, both good and bad, but Praetorian Marketing doesn’t feel that this is at the expense of providing some great lessons. For the target audience it is a perfect way to show what has worked and what hasn’t, from idea conception right through to managing sales.
Some of the mistakes are simply tips to prevent you wasting your time or embarrassing yourself whilst others are geared towards making sure your business doesn’t fail completely. “What was most interesting to me,” comments the director of Praetorian Marketing, “was mistake 43. Bannatyne believes that the biggest mistake that anyone can make in business is to never start your idea in the first place.”
He continued, “The huge variety of tips on offer means that even though not everything will be relevant there is definitely something for everyone to take away from the book. There are even a few things that company directors can learn.”
Praetorian Marketing’s verdict? “A perfect book to inspire, educate and encourage the budding entrepreneur with some humour thrown in as well.”
