All entrepreneurs - from the beginners to the seasoned veterans - are hit with business challenges that can range from the minor blip to the near-fatal. Often, business owners are at a loss for how to handle the situations.
Enter ProNetworkTV CEO Ruth King, who released her first book, "The Ugly Truth About Small Business," earlier this year. Her goal was to advise and prepare entrepreneurs for every possible situation.
King features stories of 50 entrepre-neurs - including her own - and the daily challenges they face in owning their businesses. Stories in-clude bank disasters, prolonged illnesses, trusting the wrong people and other horrors that took the businesses owners by surprise.
King decided to write the book after experiencing near-disaster while attempting to launch ProNetworkTV: She lost $500,000 of her own money, while a company that was going to invest $1.6 million cut the planned seed money.
"The world I had so carefully and lovingly crafted had crashed, and it landed right on me," she writes in her book.
With the support of her husband, King persevered and went on to build a small studio and launch the TV network - even after her partner bailed out.
"I knew we weren't the only ones to go through this," King says. "I knew that others went through the same mistakes."
King contacted 150 of the largest chambers of commerce in the country, where she was put in touch with the 49 other entrepreneurs profiled in the book. "Listening to their stories, to their trials and tribulations, was my favorite part of the process," she says.
Rochele Hirsch, CEO of Atlanta-based video conferencing business Comm-Express, is one of the book's contributors. After a business venture in Singapore in 1994 left her in financial limbo, Hirsch was overwhelmed with stress and anxiety over her future.
"In order to clear the emotional blockage, I had to go through and find out what the fear and upset were," Hirsch says. "My biggest upset had more to do with disappointing my mother and brother than with financial troubles."
Hirsch sorted through her emotions, allowing her to open the doors to new opportunities. In addition to running her business, Hirsch is an organizational business consultant who specializes in improving emotions in the workplace.
Some business owners see the book as a good learning tool for clients. Chris Kouloukas, CEO and founder of SOHO HERO - an Atlanta-based business service center company - gives his new franchisees copies of both the book and the audio version before the new owners open their doors.
"I send them the book so that they know it's not all palm trees and piña coladas," Kouloukas says. "There's big misconception out there of 'if you build it, they will come.' Businesses run into obstacles, even with franchises. The book prepares them for problems so that they can focus on the problems if they arise."
Kouloukas says that his franchisees have responded well to the book. "It teaches tenacity - that they can overcome almost anything," he says."You might think you are at your darkest moment, but you see that there are always people who have had even darker moments but have seen the light."
King learned a thing or two from the entrepreneurs while writing the book.
"Never have just one banker or work with one bank exclusively - keep your options open," she says. "I also learned that persistence will get you through - it may take a long time, but persistence will always get you through."
