The Bluffer's Guide to Small Business

Bluffer's Guide to ...

by John Winterson Richards

Small is big The best way to own one's own big business is to start with a small one and make it bigger, and the best way to do that is to convince everyone that the small business is already a big business. Bank managers Trying to bluff a bank manager is a bit like trying to out-eat a it's theoretically possible but just not very likely. Planning The Business Plan must include a Budget. When it becomes clear that this is completely unrealistic, it can be updated by Forecasts, which in turn can be replaced by Revised Forecasts when they, too, prove to be inaccurate. It is absolutely vital that you are always able to point to an up-to-date plan which shows that the finances are on target (even if that plan was only produced the night before to formalize an existing situation). The unexpected The only things that are guaranteed to happen are those that could never be imagined (the First Law of Business expect the unexpected). Good accountant A good accountant should be defined as one who saves you in taxes almost as much as he charges in fees.

92 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 1999

About the author

John Winterson Richards is a Welsh entrepreneur, writer, and former local councillor. He held his first company directorship at 19, and at 22 founded a consultancy specialising in small business. He is the author of the Bluffer’s Guide to Small Business and the Xenophobe’s Guide to the Welsh, published by Oval Books. These two books have between them been reprinted twenty times in English and have been translated into eight other languages. More recently, he has been a regular contributor to the Mind Your Own Business podcasts and main contributor to that website’s blog.

In 1986, aged 22, he won a by-election for the seat of Lisvane and Old St Mellons on Cardiff City Council, becoming the youngest member of that Council. Six months later he was promoted to Shadow Chairman of the City’s Economic Development Committee, then under the Chairmanship of Alun Michael, MP. He eventually rose to become, at the age of 31, the last Leader of the Opposition on the City Council before Local Government Reorganisation. He played an important role in lobbying for that Reorganisation, which established unitary authorities throughout Wales. He was the only Conservative elected to the new Cardiff County Council in 1995.

He also stood as a Conservative and Unionist in the Rhondda, the safest Labour seat in the country, in the 1992 General Election. He was not elected but retained his deposit. In 1999 he decided to let his membership of the Conservative Party lapse and not to stand for the Council again.

In 2004, he co-founded Cardiff Independent Citizens as a vehicle for those wishing to stand for the Council as Independents.