When Bette Frick launched her freelance writing and editing business in 1990, not having completed formal business training meant she would make more than a few mistakes. But not applying MBA models meant that as her company grew, her business model fit her rather than some business-school template.

As Bette learned her (sometimes) painful lessons, she shared them in her column, Business Matters, in Intercom, the magazine of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), from 2003 to 2012. Business Matters republishes those articles, substantially revised and arranged thematically, along with several new chapters.