Book Review: Spark & Hustle

This week there have been an interesting set of articles about the lack of bestselling women business writers. While this may be true statistically, I found it odd because the majority of business books that I read are by women authors. Granted, not all of them are bestselling, but if you look for them, they are there.

One of the most recent business books I have read is Spark & Hustle: Launch and Grow Your Small Business Now by Tory Johnson. It was quite good. I’ve got a bunch of bright orange post-it notes sticking out of it marking concepts, ideas, and systems that resonated with me. The book delivers exactly what it promises in the title. It takes you through the initial idea of starting your own business to launching said business to scaling the growth of your business.

This book is like a small business mentor in a box. In addition to being the founder and CEO of Women For Hire, she is a contributing editor at Success magazine and a contributor for Good Morning America. Not to mention, a wife and mother. She provides plenty of examples both from her own business experience, as well as business owners who have worked with her. So, there is no question that Tory knows what she is writing about. She breaks down the daunting task of starting and managing your own business into actionable chunks. None of the concepts in the book are all that revolutionary (which is true of the majority of the business books on the market), however, her presentation is top-notch.

The best parts of the book were the sales and marketing, the “hustle” of Spark & Hustle. There are a great deal of books out there that help aspiring entrepreneurs to find the spark, but not as many that explain how to execute the hustle. The book covers a lot of topics including product manufacturing and launches, pricing, referral requests “cold calling”, pitching to angel investors, and creating a media kit, just to name a few. The author is honest about the work that is necessary to make your business successful, but definitely makes you feel like it is something that you can tackle. Each chapter ends with “Act Now”, a list of takeaways from the chapter topic that you can immediately act on.

So, if you have ever entertained the notion of starting your own business whether full-time or on the side (and really who hasn’t with this economy), Spark & Hustle is definitely a must-read.

It won’t come down to where (or if) you went to school. It won’t come down to how much (or how little) money you have in the bank. It won’t come down to who you know. It won’t come down to the dream you have. It won’t come down to all the noise and chatter. Your bottom line will ultimately come down to what you do….Don’t get bogged down in assuming you’re lacking this, that or the other. You have exactly what it takes to create the success you envision. Now it’s up to you to put it into action. – Tory Johnson