Book Review | The One Pound Challenge: The Ultimate Entrepreneurial Business Adventure by Alan Radbourne

I’m a crap listener. Even when I was paying him to paint the spare room - the spare room that he was crashing in for a few days - I didn’t fully fathom the magnitude of what Alan Radbourne was doing. He spoke of the “One-Pound Challenge” as if it were this well-established, age-old tradition; the business equivalent of walking the Yorkshire Three Peaks or running the London Marathon. In truth, he’d invented it himself; just dreamt it up one monotonous Monday as he ruminated on his post-graduation entry into the world of work and desperately tried to avoid revising for his final undergraduate exam.

So what is the One-Pound Challenge? In short, it’s taking a quid and grafting it into £20,000.00 over the course of a year. No set hours, no red tape and no grief from Da Man. Sound appealing? Well, before you hand in your notice, bear in mind that there’s no sick days; no annual leave; and, crucially, no safety net.

The first half of the book focuses on Radbourne’s enterprises over his challenge year. From his twee stumbling upon a pound coin on the floor of a church car park – an almost absurdly poetic beginning that, if I didn’t know him, I’d never have believed - to its investment (in a bottle of washing-up liquid), to bespoke wood-carving commissions and ambitious vehicular renovations, Radbourne provides an insightful and inspiring overview of his business endeavours. 

Beyond the glimpses offered into his thought processes, and his weighing of the competing considerations borne of marital and even parental expectations, I even enjoyed reading the chapter-opening summaries that keep track of his monthly profit and running totals. If anything, I’d have been interested to see him go a step further and really drill down into the ins and outs of his various contracts and transactions with greater detail. As it is, Radbourne gives you just enough to keep your interest piqued without losing those amongst his readership who care only for the story, and not the stats (or over-exposing himself to agents of HM Revenue & Customs…)

The only weakness in his account is that it’s unclear exactly what he’s living off as the challenge progresses. This really isn’t anyone’s business of course, but when it becomes plain that the running total is not being spent in a salary-like manner on mortgage and grub, the obvious question is begged, and even his wife’s telling chapter on “Being Married to the One-Pound Challenge” (which I found an especially lovely touch) doesn’t fully explain the situation.

Such paltry qualms are as nothing though when measured against the book’s, and indeed the challenge’s, greatest strength: its championing of hard work, perseverance and fair business practices – virtues too-often neglected in a world of celebrity, greed and ruthless aggression. Reading the book’s later chapters, in which Radbourne espouses his firm and frank views on everything from advertising to Apartheid (well, nearly...), I was reminded why my wife always whinges about how hard it is being his sister. He’s a first-class student whose excellence in athletics and world-class carpentry are second to only his good looks, charm and ineluctable likeability. Already a champion of church and charity, he’s now - despite his book’s humble claim to the contrary - effectively reinvented the business wheel for what he hopes will be a happier and more ethical generation, reminding us all in the process that self-determination can be as effective as employment. 

And damned good fun too.

The One-Pound Challenge is available to download from Amazon’s Kindle Store for £2.05, and is available for free to KindleUnlimited customers. The paperback edition of the book can be purchased from My One Pound Challenge for £5.00 (plus £2.00 postage and packing).

Alan Radbourne is a Loughborough University graduate in geography and sport science (“colouring-in and running”) with a passion for small business start-ups and encouraging good personal financial management. He is available to speak at business conferences / groups.

Follow Alan Radbourne on Twitter @Pound_Challenge, or drop him a line at onepoundchallenge@gmail.com.