ABSTRACT
In the last chapter we examined the process of starting up in business; in this chapter we report the experiences of the same group as they actually ran their new businesses. First, we provide basic information about the firms and examine some key issues (for example, business finance, premises, managerial style). Following this, we look more directly at the experience of entrepreneurship which will lead us to a consideration of the expectations people had and the likely future of their enterprises. The focus then switches to the experiences of those who no longer traded in the enterprise culture and looked back upon their earlier business practices often with a more critical eye. Before concluding the chapter, we offer an analysis of the success and failure of these small businesses based on a three-fold typology of the experiences of informants.
