Publication date: October 25, 2010
Publisher: Motion Publishing

A small seafood restaurant attracts new customers with virtually no marketing budget. An iPad case manufacturer generates more than $1M in revenue in four months with only four employees. A voice-over company is able to connect thousands of artists with opportunities, all without expensive hardware and software. A law firm increases access to key information while dramatically reducing technology-related costs and risks.

And these four companies are hardly unique. A new breed of small businesses is using Software as a Service (SaaS), free and open source software, social media and networks, mobility, cloud computing, and other emerging technologies to do things simply not possible even five years ago.

In The New Small: How a New Breed of Small Businesses Is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies, you’ll discover how these companies creatively and intelligently use technology to reach new customers, reduce costs, increase internal collaboration and communication, and create flexible work environments.

Rife with profiles from a wide variety of industries, The New Small offers pragmatic advice and lessons about how small businesses are harnessing the power of emerging technologies. It’s a must-read for small business owners—and those thinking about starting their own shops.

After focusing on large companies in my first two books, I decided to go in a very different direction with this text. As a small business owner and admitted technophile, I had a blast locating and interviewing the progressive folks profiled in this book. I found kindred spirits all across the country in a wide array of industries.

My favorite quote in the book comes from Chef Tony Marciante. “There are two parts of my brain,” Tony told me. “Technology and food. I spend all of time time thinking about how to stitch the two together.” Also, this book led to my first TV appearance. Mom was thrilled.

This was the first book from Motion Publishing.

What’s the book about in three minutes? Watch below to find out.

“Terrific. Simon avoids the typical book-writing trap of focusing on widely reported success cases. Instead, he sought out potential companies to write about by using his website, LinkedIn groups, other social networking sites, and Help a Reporter Out. The filtering challenge was two-fold: find companies different from each other enough to be interesting, and find companies open enough to admit mistakes and missteps. For me, the net result of that filtering makes for an immensely practical and, thus, applicable narrative.”

–Matthew E. May, author of In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing

“From arrows to gunpowder, from ATMs to email, technology has always been the great equalizer. In this powerful and indispensable book, Phil Simon shows how small and medium-sized business can out-duel the big guys through smart and sharp adoption of nimble tech. The New Small shows precisely why, what, and how inexpensive technology can improve every facet of your business. It’s not a book, it’s an investment in transformation.”

–Jay Baer, co-author of The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social

“A veritable treasure chest of management tips and technologies. Simon’s storytelling rivals Malcolm Gladwell and his knowledge of technology rivals Chris Anderson. A must-read.”

—Paul Spiegelman, author of Why Is Everyone Smiling?

“We’ve known for a while that ‘small is the new big,’ to quote Seth Godin, but a piece has been missing—specifically the piece that explains how technology has been accelerating the trend and how companies can harness technology to take advantage of it. In The New Small, Phil Simon does a masterful job of filling that void. I heartily recommend it.”

—Bo Burlingham, Inc. Magazine editor-at-large and author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big

Head over here.

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