Brad Burton came to entrepreneurship through adversity and has written a compelling book about his rise from dole queues and pot-smoking to running a successful international networking business.

He was born on a council estate in Manchester, his father was a heroin addict and he left school with no qualifications. Hitting a low with a personal debt of £25,000, he decided to change his life. In 2006, he was delivering pizzas to keep his start-up business – 4networking afloat. He now claims to have 50,000 members connected online and runs 5,000 events a year.

The book is his take on how to succeed in business. It is full of pithy advice delivered in short paragraphs. When you transition from the corporate world to the self-employed world you are almost mentally chained to your desk, he observes. Forget about formal business plans and lengthy to-do lists. Concentrate on short-term, achievable goals, measured in hours and days.

Burton has over 150,000 Twitter followers. The book is interspersed with tweets from followers. Winning is about being happy with who you are. His message is this: get your mind right and you’ll get your business right.