If I were to write an endorsement for Secrets to a Successful Startup: A Recession-Proof Guide to Starting, Surviving & Thriving in Your Own Venture it would be that I wish this book had existed when I started my first company. Although the book shelves were stocked full with management advisory tomes, there was no practical guide for helping the fresh entrepreneur navigate from starting to survival and onward to success. For me the startup phase was like learning to swim without a coach by simply closing my eyes, holding my nose and jumping in the deep end.Through trial and error, surviving a lot of what I now know were dumb mistakes, I made it to a successful business which I sold for over $100 million six years later. Despite the sometimes difficult lessons, the journey was a blast and I became addicted to startups… I’m on company #5 now and each subsequent adventure has been quicker and easier due to all the lessons learned in that first startup. Learning from mistakes is lauded, but life is a lot more fun if we can learn from other people’s mistakes and best practices. And that’s another powerful reason I wrote Secrets to a Successful Startup.

You can follow this practical guide which takes you all the way from coming up with a winning idea to structuring your company in a way that gives you the best chance of surviving long enough to hit a home run. Remember… 82% of startup failures are for the same reason. I know what it is and what to do to avoid it.Yes, it’s in the book.And I’m not alone in wishing this book had existed before now:I wish I’d had this book when I started my own business twenty years ago! Trevor Blake walks you through every stage of the process of launching and running a viable business. He writes in an easy-to-understand style, avoids jargon, and has a track record of success in business. What more could you ask for?— BRUCE WEINSTEIN, PhD, The Ethics Guy®, author of Ethical Intelligence and The Good OnesSo for less than the price of an entrée at your local restaurant, you can buy a roadmap to entrepreneurial success. As you can see, I’m not shy about extolling the virtues of Secrets to a Successful Startup… and I hope you’ll take a moment to order your copy.No matter what success you want in life — whether in commerce, the arts, or music (or something else)…Why stumble along alone?Cheers,Trev