Sometimes I Feel Like a Piece of Bologna

Step into Your Future

When I was invited to join the blog tour for Rosemary Hossenlopp’s book, Step into Your Future: A Businesswoman’s Path To Profits, I was excited. I’m always looking for ways to grow and improve my small business, especially in these times. The fact that she is a Christian and works not far from my home base added to my interest.

Step into Your Future is a small book—just 142 pages. That’s a plus with my schedule these days. I liked the almost-outline form. Lots of bullets and boxes replace what most authors would say in too many pages of prose. That made for quick reading. Step into Your Future is also a workbook. She recommends reading it with a journal in hand. After each point, she offers a “Powerful Planning Tip”—an opportunity for you to personalize the information just gained to your own situation. Nice touch.

I think the information in Hossenlopp’s book is useful. However, I couldn’t be sure. I don’t have an MBA, but I have been in business for about 35 years—much of it seat of the pants, I’ll admit. Although I’m familiar with many small business concepts and terms, I kept getting lost in the book. I’m not sure if it was the lack of examples or the fact that much of the book read like notes I would use for speaking. I often found myself wanting lengthier explanations and some examples. I would have loved for her to give us a case company or two that she’d follow through each chapter, showing how they implemented her advice. If those had been set apart in text boxes, readers could choose to read or not, depending on their need. In fact, some chapters offered very brief examples, but they were random, too brief, and not connected. The book would also have benefited from a stronger edit. Sometimes sentences were just plain hard to follow.

In a recent interview, Hossenlopp said, “The heart of success is figuring out what gets you the best results. You hear about business planning techniques that can help you focus on getting the business results you want. But you procrastinate in implementing them. I know this because I have been there too. It is overwhelming when you need to be the plumber, the accountant, the salesman and the person who delivers the goods. It is hard to make the time to work “on” the business and not work “in” the business.”

If you want to know more, she is offering a three-hour teleseminar April 13, 20, and 27 at 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT. Price of admission is one book purchased from Amazon.com. Not bad. You can get to know her a bit better in a video on YouTube.

Labels: small business