When I initially was asked to read Ashley Elkins’ book, “Shoestring Empire,” I did not hesitate saying yes. Why? Because she’s my friend; because I have been amazed as I watched her step away from a job where we both worked at one time, and begin her own business that has done extremely well; because I don’t find it easy to say no.

I am executive editor of a magazine produced monthly, and I am doing a good bit of the writing these days. That means I have deadlines, and like most others, I often find it difficult to cram all I must get done into a day.

My thought was, I will skim this book and jot down a few thoughts and be done.

Truth is, when I started reading, I was sucked in soon after the title page. That was certainly surprising. “Shoestring Empire” is not a psychological thriller that keeps the reader turning page after page. Still, I found myself wanting to continue to read each page of Ashley’s book.

More than two decades ago, my sister and I found ourselves in jobs that made us unhappy and unfulfilled. Over lunch one day, we made a spur-of-the-moment plan to take a professional hiatus and … open a restaurant.

What did we know about starting and running a business? Not a single thing. Did we have a safe full of money to invest? Absolutely not. What did we know about restaurants? We enjoyed eating in them – and we played restaurant when we were little girls. And yet we moved ahead as if we knew what we were doing. We did not fail; we had a lot of first-timers’ luck. Still, with some guidance, we could have done much better.

As I read Ashley’s book, I kept wondering how different things could have been if we’d had “Shoestring Empire” as our road map back then.

The welcome and first chapter alone offer a great, big boost of confidence – for those contemplating a journey into a new business or those who simply need a good pep talk.

Seriously. By the time I reached Chapter 2, I felt like I could do anything. It was a great frame of mine from which to continue the book.

As an almost obsessive compulsive maker of lists, I was excited to learn Ashley is one as well. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been laughed at for my lists. Ashley’s words on successful list making put me at ease about my own habit, as I realized making lists can be a positive and helpful exercise, whether starting a business or not.

The admonishments to make goals more specific was appreciated. It’s something I’ve needed to be reminded of most of my life. It’s much easier to make a goal or a plan come to fruition if the plan is not so general.

What Do You Need? In Chapter 3 is a great primer in helping those considering starting a business know about sources of financial assistance, for example, grants. It’s important knowledge that would have been a wealth of help for us when we were flying by the seat of our pants to open our restaurant.

In Chapter 4, as well, the information about the importance of knowing your financial situation BEFORE starting your business is priceless. It’s crucial to know what’s coming in, what’s going out and how any new business will likely change all that.

Chapter 5 talks about the importance about developing the brand for the new business. When we opened our restaurant, the word branding was nearly a foreign concept. Even without known about branding, we had an artist friend design our name in a fun and colorful way. It would later be used on our menus, our work shirts and aprons, our signage – even painted on our cookie jar.

Again, this book would have helped us so much with the restaurant.

There are excellent resources for taking care of social media and legal aspects of creating a new business.

Ashley Elkins is a superb cheerleader for those who wish to start a new business. Her book is written in an easy-to-understand, conversational tone that makes you want to read it whether you are starting a business or not. It’s a book from which many important life lessons may be gleaned. I really believe this book would have made a great deal of difference in our multiple years in the restaurant business. And having given the opportunity to read it, I believe it has nuggets of wisdom that can be helpful in everyday life – whether you’re a business owner or just someone who needs more confidence in whatever you do.

I’m glad I read “Shoestring Empire.” I’m glad I said yes to Ashley. Though I’ve been there, done that when it comes to starting my own business. And I won’t be doing it again. But if I did plan to start a new business again, reading “Shoestring Empire” would be at the top of my required reading list before starting too much planning.

I would highly recommend the read.