A businesswoman from Leek has become an Amazon bestseller after her second book reached number one in five categories within a week of publication.
Emma Hine’s latest book, Do Less. Grow More, was published earlier this month and quickly climbed to the top spot across multiple Amazon categories.
The book’s message is that business success often comes from simplifying rather than adding more.
The achievement marks Emma’s second book release, but also the second time she has written it after making a decision to scrap an earlier version and start again from scratch.
Emma, who previously co-ran online retail company Cards and Gifts Direct with her husband Adrian, spent 15 years building the Staffordshire-based ecommerce business into a seven-figure operation. However, despite its financial success, she says the reality behind the figures was far from glamorous.
She said: “We cut it back on purpose and the revenue dropped, which most people thought was mad.
“But I was working 80 to 90-hour weeks, taking my laptop on every holiday and having one day off a year. On paper we’d made it. I hated every minute of it and I couldn’t say so, because what on earth do you complain about when the numbers look that good?”
The couple ultimately chose to shrink the business before closing it altogether in 2023. Emma now works with established business owners across the UK as a growth strategist and mentor, helping them create more sustainable businesses.
She believes many entrepreneurs are trapped by the idea that growth requires ever-increasing effort.
Since the book’s launch, Emma has gifted around 70 copies to members of her business community, which spans the length of the UK.
She added: “Too many offers, too many platforms, too many things they said yes to years ago and never stopped doing.
“The most profitable thing most of them could do is take things away rather than add more.”
“There are a lot of people running businesses who are absolutely knackered and won’t say it out loud,” she said. “If a free book stops one of them doing what I did for 15 years, that’s a good use of 70 books.”
The book also reflects significant personal changes in Emma’s life. While revisiting her first book, published in 2022, she decided its message no longer represented who she had become, particularly following the loss of her daughter Becky in 2023.
She said: “I sat down to update it and realised I didn’t agree with the woman who’d written it anymore.
“The person I am now would not have written that book.”
Do Less. Grow More. is available now in paperback and Kindle formats through Amazon.
