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The Entrepreneur's Toolkit  By  cover art

The Entrepreneur's Toolkit

By: Michael Goldsby, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Michael Goldsby
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Publisher's summary

This course teaches you how to be an entrepreneur and how to think like one - skills that are essential whether you are starting a business, expanding an existing business, boosting your career as an employee, pursuing a social cause, or seeking to increase your impact as a teacher, coach, minister, or other professional. Packed with fascinating lessons from legendary entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, and Henry Ford, these 24 lectures are entertaining as well as practical.

You begin by investigating what makes a good business idea. Then you learn how to turn that idea into a successful enterprise by defining the market and the customers you will serve, attracting backers, building your brand, and growing your venture to the point where you can sell it, if you want, for an impressive profit.

Topics covered include market research, choosing a business structure, the all-important business plan, financial statements, running a home office, family businesses, franchises, intellectual property, employee and customer relations, and entrepreneurial exhaustion. Professor Goldsby also discusses different entrepreneurial styles, and he looks ahead to your career options after you succeed and are ready to try another challenge. He notes that entrepreneurs play an indispensible role in society: they are the ones who find problems, recognize the opportunities in those problems, then fix them and make the world a better place.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2014 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2014 The Great Courses

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What listeners say about The Entrepreneur's Toolkit

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Smart first half, lacking and slow in the second.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

If not for the ability to speed the audio up 2x speed, I don't think I would have been able to put up with the reader's many awkward pauses and slow pronunciations.

Was The Entrepreneur's Toolkit worth the listening time?

If you highly value your time, I would only recommend the first half of this lecture at 2x the speed. Please read my additional comments below for a more detailed explanation as to why I've come to this conclusion.

Any additional comments?

There's a wealth of knowledge in this lecture, but most of that wealth is exposed in the first half of this book. The second half - although still relevant - pertains to basic business 101 and focuses on after-the-fact and day-to-day running of your start-up (which, i'd actually recommend taking a business and financial accounting course to prepare you for starting a business). With drawn out over-explanation of concepts and sentences, the second half of Professor Goldsby's lecture feels more like a "Business for Dummies" entry than a great lecture.

In the first half, the reader divulges valuable insights about idea cultivation, investor expectations, and start-up culture which is directly relevant today. For listeners like myself, who have taken at least one business course, I can only recommend the first half of this lecture.

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96 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This book is the real deal

I saw a lot of people commenting that this guy's reading pace was bad and unnatural. I would agree that his style is a bit odd, but it did not bother me, want to know why? Cause this guy is giving you actual information. For the last few months I've been buying books about finding success and most of those books were people saying "you have to be committed, hard working, be positive ....". Listen, that's great for 5 min, but not for a book. I want to know what I SHOULD be doing. I often think what it would be like to have a millionaire as a mentor. Someone who has made many businesses - someone with a lot of advice to offer. I doubt they will say things like " you have to work hard, you have to try your best, you can do this, you can achieve anything " ..... I"m sure they would offer more advice like " you might wanna do this, to avoid this happeneing, in that case do this..."

Imagine you purchase a piece of furniture and the instructions tell you to believe in yourself. I do not need that. I need some sort of guideline to build the thing. I understand that in life there is not instruction set for success but atleast share some sort of instruction set!!!

Anyway enough of the rant, this book does that. It takes you from idea, to creation, to business. If you have an idea for a product or service, but did not go to business school, or have no one to help you, get this book. It may be boring at times but just focus and getting through, Skip around, go back, etc. Good luck !!!

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54 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing toolkit.

The narration is perfect. he stumbles is words maybe 5 times.
I almost did not buy thus book because of the prevoius review. I am glad i did not listen to that review.

Amazing value in this book. I realy enjoyed it.
will listen to this book again.


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40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very helpful in developing my business plan

I am exploring a consulting business and through this course determined certain businesses that are not my target market that I had originally thought would be.

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27 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent source of info for any business owner!

I have owned my own business for over 16 years, and this with a very helpful book to me even now!

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25 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Step by Step

Would you listen to The Entrepreneur's Toolkit again? Why?

Yes, it is a step by step guide with tons of information.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything was broken down.

What about Professor Michael Goldsby’s performance did you like?

He spoke clearly and with knowledge of the subject

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it was a ton of information.

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25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent tools but too much on headline leaders

This audio book presented a lot of excellent tools in a clear and concise manner. These skills are extremely useful for anyone who is looking to start a business.

My only criticism is that he spent too much time focusing on the top headline-grabbing entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates rather than real world examples that are actually useful. Stories of those famous leaders are presented too often and are idealized so much that they turn into myth. I find more detailed examples of more relatable entrepreneurs to be better for teaching applicable lessons.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Thinking Persons Guide to a Entrepreneurial Life

This course is good food for thought but also a great motivator. It tells you what you need to know, to do and how to go about it to the entrepreneur goal of yours. It gives you the facts and benefits as well as the pitfalls and necessaries you kneed to make it happen. Even though it is US based, any budding entrepreneur would find this course great. Another great course and well worth the time and money invested in it.

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22 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Practical and Engaging

Dr. Michael Goldsby does an excellent job explaining the step-by-step processes to follow in order to start and grow a business. This lecture series was very practical and engaging. Dr. Goldsby does a great job using stories to illustrate his principles, both from his life, but also from the lives of great entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Walt Disney. Anyone thinking about starting their own business would do well to listen to the series first. Doing so will help them undoubtedly avoid becoming one of the 70% of the business start-ups that fail within the first few years. This would also be an excellent introductory course for anyone who is considering going for their MBA. In fact, perhaps The Great Courses should consider developing a full series of courses for people who would like pursue a MBA level of education, but are not concerned with getting an actual degree. I think Dr. Goldsby would be a great person to tap for a project like that.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Lot of strong content. Terrible narration.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Entrepreneur's Toolkit to be better than the print version?

I've never seen the print version, but I'd so no because the narrator's voice was so irritating.

Who was your favorite character and why?

n/a

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no. Just gave me good information and some insight.

Any additional comments?

The examples are bland at time (i.e. referencing Chris Rock as a master salesman), but he does pack some good material into the lectures. I'd recommend if you can put up the peculiar voice and cadence.

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20 people found this helpful