Common Sense Rules: What you really need to know about business

by Deborah Meaden

Deborah Meaden is known to millions for her straight-talking, no-nonsense approach on BBC2's Dragons' Den , and in Common Sense Rules she shares insights and observations gleaned from a life lived in business. Some of them come from witnessing the successes - and the failures - of others. Many more, though, are drawn from her own business ventures. She shows, for example, how an early stint in a holiday park gave her a crash course in customer relations. She frankly and honestly analyses why her first enterprise, which started so promisingly, turned sour. And she explains why turning down a multimillion-pound offer for her chain of holiday parks was the best decision she ever made.As direct and to-the-point on the page as she is in the Den, Deborah Meaden is a superbly clear-sighted and experienced observer of business success, and her book is guaranteed both to inform and inspire.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Biography, Entrepreneurship

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 7, 2009

Reviews

[Clarissa Brincat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me exactly a year to get through this book! Usually, my reading pace is inversely related to how much I’m enjoying a book. But this book doesn’t fall under ‘reading for enjoyment’. I read it to learn, and I wasn’t always in the mood for learning about business, so there were months when I didn’t read a single page. Overall, I think this book packs a lot of value. I felt very inspired by the first part, which dealt with deciding whether or not to leave employment to set up your own business. The part about having employees lost my attention since it’s not relevant to me, but that doesn’t make the advice less valuable. It might be a good idea for DM to update this book to reflect changes since this book was published (particularly when it comes to technology, the Internet)

[Andy Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straight advice from an absolute expert

I love this book. There is no flannel to cut through, I found it very easy to read and it had great content.

[Tony Line · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great business advice.

[Zentara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pragmatic. Useful if you’re building a business. Deborah has been my role model for many years, so whatever she says about money and businesses, makes sense to me. You can learn a lot from her!

[Bjorn Hardarson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dragons Dens is a great program on BBC. You see lots of good and bad entrepreneurs pitching their companies and inventions. You also get the look on what the VC's are checking for and which kind of entrepreneurs and ideas they "really" invest in. I have been reading few of the Dragons stories, they are all good and interesting. All the other books have been life stories success and failure (something you can learn from) What Common Sense by Deborah Meaden has done in this book is not tell her story but instead tell what needs to be thought of done and watch out for to make it. An excellent reading

[Nevra Yagmur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deborah Meaden has been my favorite dragon from the 'Dragons' Den' television series. In her book, she mentions her thoughts about business with examples drawn from her own experience and that of other successful entrepreneurs, as well as contestants from the programme..I find her ideas very practical and innovative.