An afternoon nap may seem like a luxury to most small business owners. We tend to associate it with lazy folk who live in hot climates and eat dinner around midnight.

However, a new book by Harvard University sleep expert Dr Sara Mednick, Take a Nap! Change Your Life, describes the the practice of taking a nap as a “lifesaving habit”. She claims that snoozers make fewer mistakes and enjoy “boosted brainpower”.

One of her experiments involved one group taking a nap, another group drinking a mug of coffee (200mg of caffeine), and a control group taking a placebo.

They were then given a series of tasks, including typing and spatial skill tests. The coffee drinkers performed much worse than the placebo takers, while the nappers performed best of all. So the common assumption that coffee will keep us going through the day is simply not true.

Dr Mednick, a psychologist and research scientist, has accumulated a lot of evidence that a simple siesta in the afternoon is the best medicine for a more productive work life. In addition, people who sleep for 30 minutes at least three times a week had a 37 percent lower chance of a heart attack, according to a lead researcher from the Harvard School of Public Health.

In another study, recently published in Nature Neuroscience journal, the Dr Mednick put 30 well-rested people through the same set of tasks four times in the course of a day, starting at 9am through to 7pm.

Performance dropped by 50 percent in those who stayed awake all day. However, the volunteers who took an afternoon nap kept up their performance throughout the day.

NASA has also made a contribution. Tests conducted by them show that astronauts who took a brief snooze doubled their alertness even if they were not tired before the nap. They also increased their work productivity by at least 13 percent.

The ideal time to nap apparently is between 1pm and 3pm which enables the most restful kind of sleep pattern for boosting performance.

Small business owners need to keep on top of their game since they rarely have a backup team ready to take over at short notice. Time off can cause all sorts of problems, especially if it’s prolonged. Half an hour a day would seem a small sacrifice to keep on keeping on.

The subtitle of this book is, “Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich”, which just about sums it up. You should, however, factor in the author’s weird way of doing just about anything.

That’s not necessarily a deal-breaker though, as Timothy Ferriss uses counter-intuition as a positive business tool.

The core message of The 4-Hour Workweekis a powerful one, and it contains much food for thought for anyone stuck in a boring career, or running an ailing business.

A few questions emerge as you start to read. Did Timothy Ferriss really become national kickboxing champion of China by using a loophole in the rules allowing him to push his opponents out of the ring a number of times to disqualify them from the contest? And why did the judges allow such a pathetic bending of the rules?

He also claims to have been a motorcycle racer in Europe, Argentine Tango champ in Buenos Aires, a scuba diver in Panama and a skier in the Andes. Oh, and a language teacher in Thailand and Japan and … much more. Bear in mind he’s only 29, or was when he wrote the book.

Ferriss is a very smart cookie. His main ideas, like the low-information diet, outsourcing the boring stuff, reducing work to what you do best, have much in common with the 80/20 principle, but go that extra mile to the very limits of absurdity. The brakes screech on at the last moment, though, and he avoids complete overturn — just. Maybe that’s his motor-racing experience coming through.

The book is also interestingly interactive. We’re referred to his website for the latest, or most detailed information. It’s a good way to drive traffic as those of us who advocate print/online synergy have been saying for a while. Be aware, he also embeds passwords in the text for the most intriguing documents online. This is a total tease, but one way to make sure you read the whole book.

By now you will have realized that Timothy Ferriss is a bit of a flamboyant sort of chap. While that may be the new blue in business book style, the main question for this reviewer is : does it contain enough meaty nuggets of new ideas and information to justify trawling through the whole book with umpteen visits to the website?

I would say, yes. It certainly made me rethink many of my lazy, received-wisdom notions about business. That’s what Ferriss does to you, he gets you branching out laterally in ways you never intended.

Whether any of his schemes will stick enough to actually change anything remains to be seen. I also have to say, that some of them appear to be marginally illegal. You must make up your own mind whether you want to be as batty as he is.

However, I would recommend this book if you have a taste for out of the ordinary activities and don’t mind flouting conventions. Of course, if you do things his way, you may find yourself perched on a giant Ferris wheel unable to get off. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

A New Series on Business Startups — Part 3

Now that you have established your venture concept and fleshed out some details, it’s time to look at the initial engine of business growth : finance.

We’ll look at debt and venture finance later, but first a few words about using your own money to get started.

I’ve long been an advocate of self-dependence in business, particularly at the startup and early stages. This is sometimes called “bootstrapping” in the sense of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps”.

Many successful business folk prefer “self-resourcing” — using own-resources for the seed funding stage. Thereafter, in an ideal situation, income will fund growth and the business will be self-financing. All other sources of spending muscle introduced into the pot should be treated like fissile material — with great caution.

There are many things you can do without spending money you haven’t got. The principal method is cash-flow management — essentially, keeping costs to a minimum and collecting cash payments as deposits or complete fees upfront. This is not as difficult as it seems, but depends on the type of business you are in. If the industry standard is a “cantango” period of three months or so, after which a buyer pays you, be aware that this is not a suitable enterprise for a bootstrapper.

Other ways of collecting cash early from customers include, deposits to cover the cost of materials, stage payments — monthly fees paid over the life of a long project — or just plain cheek : asking customers to pay upfront. Any that refuse could be shown testimonials from satisfied customers or simply sent on their way. You won’t need everyone to sign up, just enough to get the business going, so don’t be disheartened at first.

The power of own-resources can vary, of course, but every time you use the resources of others, whether debt or by share sale, you reduce your power to control the business. Indeed, once the venture capitalists move in you’ve set yourself up for eventual sale or an IPO (Initial Public Offering on the stock market).

Either way, you can no longer look forward to building a business that can be handed down the generations. Unless, of course, you do what Evan Williams did with Odeo and buy back the shares from investors.

Another own-resource you’ll need to use early on is your brain. Many of the tasks in even a simple business are expensive to outsource. Building any business is painstakingly complex, so you’ll need to be up to much of the technical side, like setting up websites, bookkeeping, and designing your own literature and stationery. Add to that, the ability to write your own publicity, and it comes down to an intimidating package of learning curves to master.

That takes time, and you just have to grin and bear it. Later, you’ll have the cash to induct new personnel and outsource much of the work, but not at first.

If it’s just making money you’re after, you may think the VC route is no bad thing. But if, like me, you build a business for the sheer challenge and exhilaration of it, you may not wish to sell chunks of it to often fixed-tracked minds with very different aims from your own.

Bootstrapping, though, is not for someone looking for very quick results. If you really are a business farmer looking for a big buyout, go the venture route by all means. Be aware though, the pitching period is gruelling and long, maybe up to four months even for a relatively small sum. This is because the VCs are already anticipating further rounds of funding. First they put masking tape on your mouth, then they start cutting lengths of twine to restrain your hands, followed by thick ropes to thoroughly encase the rest of your body.

I’m told some people enjoy being trussed up like a turkey, but you may have other ideas.

Bootstrapping a business is for the buccaneers. Or else they’re so cashstrapped, there’s no alternative to penny-pinching their way to the top.

So it all comes down to those old antagonists : Time and Money.

If you’re time-rich but cash-poor, bootstrapping is made for you — make sure you have a decent limit on your credit card, though. If you’re cash-rich but time-poor why on earth would you want to start a business in the first place?

Go to Part 4.

A New Series on Business Startups — Part 1

Many people dream of fleeing the rat race and starting up on their own. Thoughts of freedom — being one’s own boss — and all that lovely money to be made waft across the mental screens of most of us at some time or another.

But have you got what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Do you have the grit and stamina to see it through? Above all, do you have the right talents and personal qualities to succeed where many others fail?

At the outset, before the business has any assets, only one object exists : YOU.

Do you cut the mustard? Frankly, are you up to it? In this first part of the series, let’s look at you and decide whether you measure up to the most demanding of templates.

Are You a Creator or an Operator?
What attracted you to the idea of setting up a business in the first place — was it the prospect of all those creative juices running free; the fascinating research; developing a plan of action (business plan); and carving a business entity out of nothing but ideas in your head?

If you answer Yes to any of these, consider the next question : how does running the business appeal to you? You know, all the dull, day-to-day routine of office work, bookkeeping, chasing orders, attending to staff problems, tax returns etc.

Strangely, many folk prefer one or the other. Most can’t abide the thought of doing both.

If you’re a creator, you’ll build your business from scratch. If an operator, you may have to consider buying a franchise — a ready-made business with all the detail worked out and provided from a central source.

It’s important therefore to know which of the two personality types you are. If you can handle both, you are very fortunate. It’s a good idea in any case to try out a SWOT analysis and pin down your real motivations and abilities.

SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.

Take a large sheet of paper and draw two lines vertically and horizontally across the middle of the paper. You should now have divided it into four equal quadrants. Mark the top left of each with one of the four SWOT categories.

Now fill in the spaces with your qualities and situation as you see them in respect of any business idea you are considering.

When you have finished, take a long, hard look at what you’ve written. You may want to move some of your items from one square to another.

The SWOT profile should give you a good basis for determining your current position and freedom to act.

A similar excercise should be undertaken with Skills, Skill Gaps, Likes, Dislikes. This looks more to your personal qualities in respect of the business proposition.

These two sheets of paper will reveal more to you than any amount of head scratching and speculation. They are the first steps toward making a success of your startup.

Go to Part Two.