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

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Successful UK businesswoman and entrepreneur Deborah Meaden is best known as one of the dragons from BBC 2's hit show Dragons' Den.

She's had an extremely successful career in business, starting out at the age of 19 with her own glass and ceramics import company, moving on to run one of the first UK franchises for Stefanel, an Italian footwear and clothing firm, and eventually joining the family company, Weststar Holidays. She staged a management buyout in 2000, and in 2007 sold the business in a deal worth £83 million, giving her the freedom and capital in invest in new opportunities.

Her Dragons' Den investments range from MixAlbum, an automated music mixing system, and Magic Whiteboard, a product that combines the best of a flipchart and a whiteboard, to yoodoodoll, a doll that you can make resemble anyone you like (or dislike).

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Deborah Meaden is known to millions for her straight-talking, no-nonsense approach on BBC2's Dragons' Den. A brilliant entrepreneur herself, she knows exactly what questions to ask and what pitfalls to avoid when deciding whether or not to invest in a new venture.

In Common Sense Rules, Deborah shares the secrets of her success, drawing on years of experience to offer advice that is both candid and straightforward. How do you turn a bright idea into a commercial proposition? How do you inspire others to get on board? How do you ensure that a setback doesn't become a disaster? Above all, how do you make sure that you stay focussed and achieve the goals you've set yourself?

Some of Deborah's insights come from observing the successes - and the failures - of others. Many more, though are drawn from her own life and business ventures. She shows, for example, how an early stint as a bingo caller 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 multi-million 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 guide to business success, and her book is guaranteed both to inform and inspire.