HONEST BUSINESS: Superior Strategy for Success

by Michael & Salli Rasberry Phillips ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1981

This manual on running a business without falling into the usual commercial patterns often sounds like a series of outtakes from The Serial--as in the case of the entrepreneur who wrote, illustrated, and self-published an item called Liberating Masturbation which she sells at her ""body/sex workshops."" Or the success story of the marketing of Protopipe, ""good for the life of an ordinary pot smoker."" (Also cited as a model of managerial excellence, without further comment, is the Church of Scientology.) Most of the case studies, though, feature such counterculture staples as a vegetarian soup kitchen, an organic bakery, a custom-manufacturer of wind-powered generators, a holistic health center, and a variety of arts-and-crafts endeavors (weaving, potting, silk-screening, framing). There is little, however, in the way of practical advice. Indeed, the material on income statements, balance sheets, lending sources, collection procedures, and other business fundamentals is almost ludicrously abbreviated and unworldly. In partial extenuation, there is a vaguely documented endorsement of open books which, the authors maintain, can help shoestring operators mollify impatient creditors and underpaid employees. Note is duly taken, in this regard, of the frequent willingness of committed individuals to work for sub-standard wages. And there's no avoiding the issue of sex: ""Some small-business people,"" we're told, ""take a sex break instead of a coffee break,"" while others have other specified recourses. Even for ex-hippies, more than a little unreal.

Pub Date: March 1, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1981

Categories: NONFICTION