View source for Winning Without Losing: 66 strategies for succeeding in business while living a happy and balanced life by Martin Bjergegaard and Jordan Milne

{{infobox1
|title=Winning Without Losing: 66 strategies for succeeding in business while living a happy and balanced life
|author=Martin Bjergegaard and Jordan Milne
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=Sixty six brief essays giving suggestions for ways in which you can improve your work/life balance.  Although directed at entrepreneurs a lot of the suggestions are valid for anyone who has ''stuff'' to get through.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=304
|publisher=Profile Books
|date=May 2013
|isbn=978-1781251508
|website=http://www.winningwithoutlosing.org
|cover=1781251509
|aznuk=1781251509
|aznus=1781251509
}}

It's a common assumption that if you're a serious entrepreneur then you're going to have to dedicate your life to making money, passing up on the good things (apart from those which can be ''bought'', obviously) such as a happy family life, the world outside of work and quite probably your health too.  But what if there was a way to have it all?  ''Winning Without Losing'' doesn't give a blueprint which will enable you to go out and make your first million and have a wonderful life outside work - but it does give you sixty six ideas for ways in which you could adjust your working life to make the most of it without ruining everything else.

Martin Bjergegaard and Jordan Milne are passionate entrepreneurs.  They run a 'company factory', Rainmaking and they've spoken to twenty five very successful entrepreneurs who still manage to have a life away from the coal face.  What they discovered has been distilled into this collection of essays - and if the word 'essays' puts the fear of God into you, don't let it.  It's simply the best way of describing these pieces, usually no more than a few pages in length which examine a specific topic and make suggestions as to how improvements can be implemented.

The role models are varied in terms of their sphere of interest but it did strike me that only two of the twenty five are women.  It could, of course, be that it's down to bias on the part of the authors, but somehow I doubt this.  It's more likely that women traditionally have more responsibilities outside of work or that not as many women have yet broken through the glass ceiling - but I would like to have seen more input from women.

The topics covered are diverse and they're grouped into themes, such as ''Efficiency Boosters'', ''New Ways of Doing Old Things'' and ''Beware the Time and Energy Wasters''.  Some points might sounds obvious, such as picking your co-founders carefully, but the reasoning is illuminating and the essays on acquiring finance are gold dust, particularly for the novice entrepreneur.  At the other end of the scale the advice on dispensing with distractions which don't add to life is good, although I had to chuckle when the actions were lauded when done by a younger person but one of the authors seemed to think it a retrograde step when it was done by his 66-year-old father.  I guess it comes down to the reasons ''why'' something is done, rather than what, specifically ''is'' done.

It's thought-provoking and it's very easy reading, falling cheerfully into the 'I'll just read another one before I put the book down' category.  I'd have loved an index as there were a couple of points which I wanted to go back and think about a little more.  Don't think that you have to be an entrepreneur to get benefit from the book - you'll get a great deal from it wherever you're placed in your working life and I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

And yes - I'm going to take up the final suggestion in the book.  I'm taking tomorrow off!

If this subject interests you then we can also recommend [[How to be a Social Entrepreneur: Make Money and Change the World by Robert Ashton]].  Those just starting ou will appreciate [[Make it Happen: The Prince's Trust Guide to Starting Your Own Business by The Prince's Trust]].  If you want to start your own business, try [[Start It Up: Why Running Your Own Business is Easier Than You Think by Luke Johnson]].  You might also find [[Understanding the Value Proposition of Document Assembly]] useful.

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[[Category:Martin Bjergegaard]]
[[Category:Jordan Milne]]