This brief guide to planning, funding, starting, growing, and selling a small business is also padded with checklists and quizzes, so Seagraves, founder of business advice company Catchfire Funding, does not have the page space to offer any in-depth information. Aimed at midcareer, upper middle-class professionals, each point in the book is illustrated with a short example from the career of a business or franchise owner. Even though most of the ideas are not new, they are sensible and down to earth. The author's advice on funding a start-up with a self-directed 401(k) is an unusual topic for a business book. This would be a solid choice for readers who picked up Starting a Business All-in-One for Dummies and found it too dense. VERDICT This decent, very short work is recommended for midcareer readers who are beginning the process of starting a business.-Jessica Spears, Brooklyn P.L. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Any number of books have been written on doing your own thing workwise, aka entrepreneurship. And most offer the same or similar advice, from assessing readiness to working hard and having no life for a few years to exiting the successful business. This one's different: CatchFire founder and serial entrepreneur Seagraves gets right to work on the psychological-mental-preparedness aspect. For example, chapters about alternatives are filled with explanations and a goodly list of pros and cons and a concluding checklist (in case you skimmed or didn't get the essence). Quizzes help set the positive mental attitude as well as help readers understand their appetite for risk. Chapters are blessedly short, featuring real-life stories of self-starting business owners. This beginning guide for midcareer start-ups offers a cursory explanation of a business plan and details about marketing and sales.--Jacobs, Barbara Copyright 2016 Booklist