Buy the book

I love to learn and I love to read. Every year I invest thousands into my business education. I use this knowledge for my own business and also share the understanding I gain with my clients. I also ask every business owner how much time they spend learning and the name of the last business book they read. The majority tell me about their on-going clinical training and education, but most admit that they haven’t read any business books, or if they have, then it was a while ago. Not everyone likes reading and most people are too busy, although if they do, they read a nice novel to help them relax. I am always asked which business books I recommend, as there are so many to choose from. So, with the summer holidays coming up I thought now would be a good time to see if I can tempt you away from your poolside novel into a world of non-fiction. I have hand-picked five of my favourite books that can help with a wide range of challenges that aesthetic business owners face every day. Never before have so many people started their own business, particularly in aesthetics. Some are happy to build a lifestyle business with extra income, some are happy leaving their day job and being self-employed, but for those who do wish to build a business that can work independently of them – my first suggestion is an essential read. One of my all-time favourite books is one I wish I had read 10 years ago when I had my first aesthetic business – it is a book I often talk about and refer to. THE E-MYTH REVISITED – WHY MOST SMALL BUSINESSES DON’T WORK AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT, MICHAEL E GERBER Michael E Gerber learned from his consulting work that people in small businesses generally work far too much for the return they get. The ‘Entrepreneur’ or “E-Myth”, is the belief that anyone who starts a small business is an entrepreneur. The daily doing of the business often means that most people never have the time to take an objective overview of what they are doing. Most end up working harder than they ever have before, for much less return. The problems begin because people may know a lot about their specialty, but nothing about business itself. After the initial start-up excitement, they realise they have become the boss (of themselves), and are soon exhausted and demoralised. Knowing their specialty has not prepared them to run a business – in fact, it becomes a liability, since they become unwilling to hand over the work reigns to anyone else. As Gerber says: “Suddenly the job he knew how to do so well becomes one job he knows how to do plus a dozen others he doesn’t know how to do at all.” This book is a recipe for putting yourself back in control of your work – in short - it is a must read for those new to business, or those stuck in the daily doing, where you want to build a business and not just build yourself a job. BECOME A KEY PERSON OF INFLUENCE (KPI), DANIEL PRIESTLEY Another of my favourite books, which also has a place in the aesthetics market for those who want to build their own personal and business brand – is Daniel Priestley’s Key Person of Influence (KPI) – his first best-selling book. For those of you who saw Daniel speak at Aesthetic Medicine Live recently you will know his latest book Oversubscribed is also very relevant and useful for our industry, but for now I am going to concentrate on KPI. This book provides guidance on how to take your passions and existing business to the next level; by becoming a KPI. He highlights that being at the top of your “game” in any industry does not necessarily make you any more successful than the majority, unless you take these steps to elevate yourself into the realms of being a KPI. At first it seems fairly easy to: develop your “perfect pitch”, write a book, develop a product, get known on the web and, set up partnerships and joint ventures. Easier said than done, because there can only be very few such people, yet Priestley shows how this can be done. One of the critical tricks is in defining your segment or “micro-niche” and becoming known for just one thing. This is hard for the aesthetic ‘newbies’ who don’t have any competitive advantage. I agree with many others, that a lot of this material isn’t “original”, I’ve read a lot of books in this field but I do think that the KPI approach is a simple, comprehensive, and credible system for becoming known as an expert in your field, the authority in your own local geographic area, or, if you are really ambitious , a KPI amongst your colleagues and peers. THE ULTIMATE BLUEPRINT FOR AN INSANELY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS, KEITH CUNNINGHAM Many aesthetic business owners don’t enjoy the financial aspect of their business. They are either “forced” to look at their books with their accountant, but they don’t really understand them, or worse, they don’t capture the basics in the first place and end up running their business blindly – which in my opinion is a bit like driving a car without a dashboard. A few years ago, I was recommended Keith Cunningham’s The Ultimate Blueprint for an Insanely Successful Business. Cunningham simplifies business finance and provides a step-by-step guide for business owners explaining how to improve your business finances. There are some solid business strategies combined with some basic business accounting analysis that are essential for any business owner. Although Cunningham is constantly selling his own financial software, the actual lessons on what to track and how to read the numbers is simply brilliant. This book helps you to understand how you can set up measuring systems to get the financial results you need, as well as how to create useful accounting indicators that you can act on weekly or monthly rather than waiting for the quarter or year-end. This is an essential read for any business owner struggling financially or for anyone who claims (as I used to) that they “can’t do maths, won’t do maths”! INFLUENCE: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSUASION, ROBERT CIALDINI For those aesthetic business owners who aren’t getting a return from their marketing efforts, then another book to consider reading is Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by professor of psychology and marketing - Robert Cialdini. Cialdini originally wanted the book to be used as a warning to learn when we are being persuaded to act and react in many ways that are not always to our benefits. It however ended up as a bible for all sales and marketing professionals – both the ethical and the not so ethical ones. If you are going to use the approaches in his book, make sure that you use them honestly – by being completely truthful, and by influencing people to do things that are right and good for them. I don’t need to tell you that as a HCP with a professional code of conduct, if you persuade people to do things that are wrong for them, then this is manipulative, and it’s unethical. And it’s clearly wrong to cheat or lie about these things – in fact, this may be fraudulent. Think about your ultimate objectives, and decide which principles will be most useful in your situation. A good reputation takes a long time to build. But, you can lose it in a moment! BOTTY’S RULES, NIGEL BOTTERILL To end on a lighter note, one of my favourite business books was written by one of the UK’s most successful business owners – Nigel Botterill. Not everyone’s cup of tea, Botterill’s approach to business is fun and light hearted, but no matter what you think, he gets results. Botty’s Rules is a great book if you are in business and feel lacking in motivation or direction. This book shows you how to achieve success by focusing on the right things. It is an entertaining read, as Botterill gives us a very personal insight into the mind of a self-made man. Whilst a lot of the rules are plain common sense, the way the book brings all of the ideas together, explaining each rule with real life examples, gives you the feeling that success is accessible if you use his advice and take massive action. By describing failures as well as successes, Botterill comes across with passion and honesty. The only downside is how often he plugs the Entrepreneurs’ Circle. Otherwise it’s a must read for any business owner who needs to learn the basics of business, or get their existing business back on track. We all know that you can find a book on just about any subject from how to get rich, to how to be a size zero and if we all followed them to the letter then we would all be skinny and extremely wealthy. However in reality that doesn’t happen, because most of the time, we simply don’t take action – so please just don’t let these books be “shelf help” as chances are you need them more than your shelves do. Happy reading all. Pam Underdown Pam Underdown is the founder and owner of Aesthetic Business Transformations, a business growth specialist working exclusively to help medical aesthetic business owners increase their profits and reduce their costs. Pam has more than 25 years of business development, sales and marketing experience and has been specialising in the aesthetics industry since 2005.