Growing A Business is about core business principles.

   Though Paul Hawken discusses business plans, balance sheets, and how to treat employees, he is mostly concerned with the overall strategy needed by a new business.

   This book has been a bible for entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs for many years. It is a wise guide to starting a business and being in business.

   Paul Hawken founded Erewhon Trading Company, a natural-foods wholesaler, in the 1960s. That business grew out of his own experience. He had food allergies and couldn't find the foods he needed to eat.

   He later co-founded the Smith & Hawken garden supply company. That company grew out of his observation that it was impossible to find sturdy garden tools in the United States. So he began importing good tools--the kind you can pass on to your children--from England.

   More recently he helped found Metacode, a software company, and Groxis, a graphic information delivery provider. Growing A Business was the foundation for a series on business on public television.

From Growing A Business:

--"For a small business, too much money is worse than too little."

--"Character is your strongest asset. Be honest with everyone: employees, suppliers, customers, everyone."

--"A bootstrap operation places you in the heart of the market sooner than any other structure. With low overhead, frugal means, and fragile budgets, you can't buy your way out of problems."

--"When what you do touches a fertile vein in people, it touches the most fertile and permanent vein in the marketplace."

--"Thriving businesses succeed because their founders gave something to their customers more precious than money."

--"Start your business with quality and truth, and you will never have to recover them."