Of all things, I just published my first non-fiction book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DRQHVWG

Here's the synopsis:
 

"When I started out I was given all kinds of advice about owning a small business. Most of it was wrong even when it was meant to inspire me—especially when it was meant to inspire me. 

But reality has a way of imposing itself. 

What I’m offering in this book is what I’ve learned from thirty-five years of mistakes, trial and error, and of listening to bullshit. 

Business is hard but it doesn’t have to be impossible.

There are a lot of myths in small business and much of the common wisdom is flat wrong. The myths are perpetuated by the promotional/inspiration/advertising industry whose job really is to sell you on the idea of owning the business, not on the actual nuts and bolts of running a small business. 

Most of all, this book is meant to steer you toward listening to your own experience and instincts. 

To think for yourself. 

To be skeptical of easy answers. 

To look for the reality beneath all the mythology.

If I can save you from even one of my mistakes, then this book will be worth it."

So...what inspired me to do this after sitting on the manuscript for a couple of years?

A guy recently purchased a store and I went in to talk to him. I gave him a little advice and he seemed receptive, so I gave him a condensed version of my Contrarian's Advice.

I thought maybe he actually heard me.

Two months later, I go in and he proudly announces all the things he's doing, as if I'll approve.

I don't say anything even though just about everything he's doing is diametrically opposed to what I'd recommended. He has been totally captured by the trade organization's version of what his store should be like, and by what I've come to call, The Promotional/Inspirational/Advertising Industrial Complex.

Anyway, it spurred me to read what I'd written, and I felt not only was it written pretty well, but that the advice still holds up.

If you've read this blog for long, you've heard many of the same issues aired, though maybe not as organized and concise. 

So what the hay. I'm putting it out there. A contrarian is rarely listened to, though in some ways they can give the most valuable advice. But there it is. My thirty-eight years experience in running a small business.

I can hope that it might save a few small businesses unnecessary heartache.