January 1982 RAIN Page 7 WORK Honest Business: A Superior Strategy for Starting and Managing Your Own Business by Michael Phillips and Salli Ras- berry, 1981,209 pp., $6.00 from: Random House 201 E. 50th St. New York, NY 10022 If you're thinking of starting a small business, or even if you already have, you may find this book to be indispensable. "Being honest is a superior way to do business. Being open about business is important, beneficial and necessary. . . . The authors have worked with over 450 open businesses [the Bay Area's Briarpatch Network] in the past eight years. Of these, less than live percent have since failed." They ought to know. Phillips, who co-authored with Rasberry the successful Seven Laws of Money, is a former vice-president of the Bank of California and was a key organizer of Mastercharge (now Mastercard). In this handbook-of-sorts they outline, with numerous examples, the principles and methods of honest business, from studying and opening the books to honest business management. The chapter called "Short Bits of Advice" is a mini-encyclopedia of essential information, which alone is worth the price of the book. The people and businesses the authors describe in illustrating their points are at least as interesting as the honest business techniques they employ. Filled with models, methods and inspiration, the book is clear, direct and refreshing! The book's only weak part is the discussion of "honest business in the broader context"—stuck in the back under "Appendix B." The authors skirt over the relation of "honest business" to "benign capitalism" and sidestep the issue of business' responsi- bililty (not just goodwill) to its community. Likewise, the questions of growth and scale are addressed apart from concerns such as worker control (not just profit sharing), which somewhat sterilizes the political implications of honest business. Those who see "the system" as "the problem" might be a little put off by stories of enlightened California entrepreneurs, but they would be sadly mistaken to dismiss the message o(Honest Business. Open, honest business has proved very successful in major industries in West Germany and Japan as well as in the co-ops and boutiques of the West Coast. It is also the guiding philosophy, claim the authors, behind the successes of J.C. Penney, A.P. Giannini (founder of the Bank of America), Theodore N. Vail ACCESS (founder of American Telephone and Telegraph Co.) and William Cooper Procter (of Procter and Gamble—"honest return for an honest dollar"). Honest Business will not tell you how to make a lot of money. In examining the facts and fancy of money the authors tackle the illusions that money provides freedom, respect or security. "Rather than seeking possessions, develop strong friendships and become an interesting person. ... You can have a great deal of freedom and respect during your life and security in your old age." What Honest Business will tell you is how to start in business and how to stay in business—you could hardly ask lor more. —MR A few quotes from Honest Business: • Tradeskill is the cluster of attributes that allow people to effectively start and run a business. The people who have this set of attributes find them extremely valuable in their business lives. These attributes can be boiled down to four: persistence; the ability to face the facts; knowing how to minimize risks; and being a hands-on learner. Each of these is a necessary element of tradeskill, yet none of them individually is sufficient for business success. • What are the things we can learn about our businesses from studying the books ? Two good things are: what days off you can take, and when you can take a vacation. • To survive the onslaught of the mammoth agency [the IRS], keep accurate records and pay your business taxes. If you are not withholding your employees' taxes in your business when you should be, we suggest that your resulting anxiety is probably not worth it. Partnership is the solution we suggest. In the long run, you'll find that the emotional benefits of openness are worth finding a way to achieve it. • The concept of community is significantly different from the traditional business view of "the market." • In the successful collective, the issues of administration are separated from the issues of decision making. Individuals are selected from the collective to administer the decisions and report back to the decision making body. • Should you incorporate your business? There are four alternatives to incorporation: form a cooperative, operate a muddle, be a sole proprietor or become a partnership. • If you have a business that can avoid having employees, don't hire any. • Instead of "marketing plan," substitute the phrase, "two-year budget projection with explanations." Nearly everyone in business can tell you how to do this, and recognize one when it is done. Most of all, those people can realistically appreciate how unreliable such a projection can be in the real world. • "A partnership is a divorce agreement signed when the parties involved are still in love." • The unfortunate fact is that one out of five sexual relationships end with antagonism and sometimes hostility between partners. Thus, if your business relationship is important, it's not worth the 20 percent chance of jeopardizing that. Otherwise, you may have to quit your job or fire someone or do something drastic that will probably end up to be out of proportion to the sexual rewards in the first place. • Retirement is not discussed here. We don't know clearly what it is. Some people seem to have "retired" at age twenty-four, and others like Bucky Fuller never retire. Solar Food Dryer, by Ray Wolf, 88 pp., $14.95 from: Rodale Plans Rodale Press 33 E Minor Street Emmaus, PA 18049 Though not particularly elegant in appearance, this latest useful item from the Rodale workshops is one of the better designs I've seen. The simple front/back pass air collector utilizes a downdraft baffle lor increasing airflow through the dryer, and there is room for an electric backup for supplementing the solar heat if necessary. In general, it looks like it should work pretty well. The book is geared for beginners, with clear plans and instructions, and includes some useful information on food drying and storage times. Like the other books in this series, it also contains a considerable amount of fluff and is vastly overpriced, one of my pet peeves. Rather than attempting to appeal to the hot tub hobby farmer set, Rodale would do well to stick with a tighter, less slick format that is more affordable. —KB
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz