Boss Life

Small business owner Paul Downs’s chronicle of a year in the life of his woodworking shop describes a world where the biggest triumph is survival. Downs brings life and drama to such details as customer churn, production flow and employee problems. At times, he may get a little too granular in reporting his daily cash fluctuations, though if you’re running a small business, every detail will ring a bell. Downs’s candid account of how he learned the necessity of reaching out to mentors – in the form of consultants and business peers – is particularly helpful. getAbstract recommends his company’s life story, which may serve as a reality check for budding entrepreneurs, especially those hoping to turn a passion into a profession.