A NEW book explores the start-up revolution and changing attitudes towards work.

Brighton businessman Richard Hall is fascinated by the growing movement of individuals who want to start their own business.

Start-Ups, Pivots And Pop-Ups: How To Succeed By Creating Your Own Business is the latest book by the 75-year-old, who has a background in marketing and is now a communications consultant.

Richard wrote the book with entrepreneur Rachel Bell, who shares his vision about the start-up revolution.

Richard said: “The book is about freedom of spirit.

“Our obsession is with big companies, when it’s the smaller companies that are more interesting.”

Richard focused on three groups for the book, which features case studies on entrepreneurs from Brighton and beyond.

One of these groups is millennials, who Richard said are not interested in working the same way their parents did.

He said: “Training to be an accountant and then being set in a job for life sounds terrible to them.

“Seventy per cent of the young people I spoke to said they wanted to start their own business.”

Richard also interviewed women and older professionals who had become disillusioned with corporate life and wanted to start their own ventures, or were looking to change workplace culture.

He said: “After they have worked in good jobs and taken a break to start a family, a huge number of women often find they want to do their own thing as well.

“None of the people I spoke to were concerned about money, or becoming millionaires, they just want the freedom to be their own boss.”

Richard said he was blown away by the optimism, energy and the smartness of the people he spoke to, many of whom are in Brighton.

“In a report by HSBC a few years ago, Brighton was named the capital of the UK’s rebellious alternative economy, which I thought was brilliant.”

Case studies include Brighton Gin and the modern workspace company Platf9rm, which has offices in North Road in Brighton and at Hove Town Hall.

Richard said: “It’s fantastic.

“They’ve spent a lot on the image of the place, which is really important – you have to build somewhere that people want to spend the bulk of their time.”

Richard believes Brighton has an appetite for growth, and said it is significant the city has so many successful restaurants.

“We have 23 restaurants in the Good Food Guide this year.

“Restaurants matter because they are by definition start-ups – they start from nothing, and usually have to change direction at some point.

“To survive as a restaurant you have to be doing something right.”

One of the food businesses Richard admires in the city is The Sussex Peasant – the mobile farm shop which sells organic vegetables out of a horse box.

“It’s great to see businesses like that developing,” he said.

“I want to retire gracefully and watch a new generation who are running businesses with craft and skill, and not just to make a fast buck, like Uber for example.

“That attitude is part of the alpha male past, which I hope we have gone beyond.”

Women are a driving force in that change, according to Richard.

One of the entrepreneurs he interviewed is Poppy Szkiler, who started Quiet Mark, an approval award programme which encourages companies to prioritise noise reduction in the design of machines and appliances.

“The beauty was in her belief of what she’s doing. Her idea has now been built into a movement.

“If you go to John Lewis, the quiet products are identified.

Against the backdrop of Brexit and negative economic predictions, Richard believes it is more important than ever for small, creative businesses to be able to flourish.

He said: “If more of the world was like the North Laine and less like a business park, we would be in a better place.

“I would rather a nation of shopkeepers than a nation of bankers.”

The book is available on Amazon for £10.49.