A summary of things you should know about Get A Grip according to Mike Paton: Introduction In this episode Mike Paton takes a deep dive into his book, Get ARead More
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]]>In this episode Mike Paton takes a deep dive into his book, Get A Grip, where he discusses how to get everything you want from your entrepreneurial business.
In his book Paton shares the entrepreneurial story of two startup founders that uncovers the real-life hardships and accomplishments that come with starting an entrepreneurial business. The goal of the book is to help you understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur, how to resolve typical issues that come with running a startup, and how to create a more effective team.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who are in a business partnership or own a business that is team oriented and need an action plan to improve their organizational operations.
The book is a real world, in the trenches, gritty, true story of a topical entrepreneurial organization. It’s very instructive, it’s a system full of simple practical tools, and our intent was to write this book in a way where an entrepreneurial owner or leader might read the book, see things that feel and sound familiar and be able to take the techniques to solve their own business problems.
This book is much more logically digested front to back rather than diving in and out.
Vision without traction is hallucination. And the common entrepreneurial challenge isn’t a lack of vision. The real challenge is migrating that vision into the trenches of that business, helping everybody in the organization understand it, internalize it, and own the appropriate piece of it so together everyone is executing on that vision and what you want actually happens. I believe EOS and the tools we characterized in the book is a great way to help the typical entrepreneurial leadership team get better at that fast.
The book illustrates the people who founded and are running a typical small business. There are about 35 people in this organization, it’s called Swan Services, and the founding entrepreneurs have been wildly successful in the first seven years of this business. We meet these owners when they have begun hitting a few ceilings and starting to feel as though the business is running them rather than the other way around. What the readers are introduced to are a lot of the common frustrations, challenges, and root causes of the inevitable ceiling that people who run and own small businesses hit from time to time. As the story unfolds we take a deep dive into those root causes and we watch the members of the leadership team get together in a room with the aid of a professional EOS implementer and master the tools, disciplines, and simple concepts that EOS teaches to identify, prioritize, and resolve those common obstacles and issues.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 06:10
“Every entrepreneurial business needs a system for operating.” – Mike Paton
I am a lifelong entrepreneur, grew up in an entrepreneurial household and today I spend all day, every day, surrounded by entrepreneurs and their leadership teams helping them implement a system for running a small business called EOS (The Entrepreneurial Operating System).
My co-author and I both individually believed that this book needed to be written. We both work in the trenches with entrepreneurial leadership teams all the time, we both are avid learners, and both fallen in love with a forum for a book and we believe that telling the EOS story using the entrepreneurial approach would be a compelling read for most of the people we surround ourselves with.
Traction: Get A Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman
Buy Get A Grip by Mike Paton and Gino Wickman on Amazon today
Visit EOSWorldwide.com to learn more about the book and download free chapters
Follow Mike Paton on LinkedIn and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
All in Startup by Diana Kander
The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz
Fairness if Overrated by Tim Stevens
Relevant advice and tips:
7 Signs That You Have What It Takes to Be An Entrepreneur
4 Common Reasons Why Startup Companies Fail
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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]]>Who is Mike Michalowicz and what you can learn from him: Mike Michalowicz launched his first company when he was 24 years old. After selling it in 2002, he foundedRead More
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]]>Mike Michalowicz launched his first company when he was 24 years old. After selling it in 2002, he founded PG Lewis & Associates, which he sold in 2006. He now works as a writer, speaker, and consultant through Provendous Group. He helped found the company, which is a profit sharing venture group, and currently serves as the CEO.
Mike is more than happy to share his success with other aspiring entrepreneurs. His books are full of advice, and his blog is loaded with helpful articles. Here are his top 5 pieces of advice for new business owners.
Get rich quick schemes are a fool’s dream. You can build a large and successful business. But it will probably take 10 to 15 years. If you go into a new project expecting instant wealth, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. When you don’t reach your goals, you’ll likely become discouraged and may give up on your dreams too soon. Setting realistic goals is the most important thing you can do for your new company.
If it was common place to become a billionaire by opening your own business, everybody would be doing it. It isn’t uncommon for people to open a new business planning on astronomically large financial returns. Realistically, just managing a business that keeps its doors open is a huge success. Don’t expect to make millions by doing it.
You also need to step back and watch for long term results. Any new venture is going to have setbacks. Keep reminding yourself that big success takes time and perseverance. It also takes a little luck much of the time. As long as you see forward progress towards your goals, be content with the pace at which things are moving. The only really bad sign is if your company remains stagnant for a long period of time.
Just because nobody else has the exact same idea as you doesn’t mean that you won’t face competition. Any available alternative to using your product or service is competition for your business. This includes the possibility that people choose to do nothing.
It isn’t enough to convince people that there isn’t anything like your product on the market. A truly superior product almost always costs more- you need to convince your customer base that the extra features of your product are worth the extra money it costs. People might recognize that you have the best product on the market, but they don’t need anything that does what your product does. You need to convince them that they do.
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of putting their entire lives on hold as they focus on getting their business off the ground. If you don’t take care of yourself, however, your business will suffer. Everybody needs time off to relax, de-stress, and remember why they do what they do. A little time away from your company can serve to remind you how much you love it and send you back to work with a renewed enthusiasm.
Nobody can fire on all cylinders 100% of the time. As you get more stressed, you will become harder to work with and for, affecting your employees. As you get more tired, you will start to miss little details that just slip right past you in the rush. If you run yourself too hard, your health will start to suffer. In order to take care of your business, you need to take care of yourself.
Startup companies succeed in attracting employees away from established corporations by having a worthy goal for people to rally around. A dedicated team of people focused on the same outcome is a very powerful force. But if you attract different people with different messages, you aren’t going to have a unified objective. It’s okay to tailor your pitch to each party a little, but the core message has to remain the same.
This is also true in marketing. There are countless outlets for you to use to raise brand awareness. Different outlets lend themselves to different messages and you’re going to want to refine your message to reach your target audience with each marketing campaign. Newspaper ads, for instance, as far more likely to be seen by an older audience, so you’ll want to present yourself slightly differently than you would on a social media site with a young following. But you company image has to be consistent across all these platforms. If people don’t know who you actually are and what you do, they aren’t going to become customers.
The Internet is not known as the Information Highway for nothing. One tiny leak can spread across the globe in seconds. For this reason, it is very important that you are always upfront about everything. It is almost certain that anything you try to cover up will become public knowledge. People will forgive and forget a mistake that you own up to relatively quickly. But a cover up that gets exposed in a juicy scandal will hang over your company for years. Your reputation may never recover from such a blow.
Preview The Pumpkin Plan with Mike Michalowicz himself
Buy The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz on Amazon today
Preview The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur with Mike Michalowicz himself
Buy The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz on Amazon today
Preview Profit First with Mike Michalowicz himself
Buy Profit First by Mike Michalowicz on Amazon today
Visit MikeMichalowicz.com to learn more about Mike and his books
Follow Mike Michalowicz on Facebook and Twitter
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]]>4 Common Reasons Why Startup Companies Fail You have a superb business idea. The question is – how do you know it will be a success? The answer is simpleRead More
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]]>You have a superb business idea. The question is – how do you know it will be a success?
The answer is simple – you don’t. And unless you try it out, you will never know it for sure. You need to take the step to find out whether your brilliant idea will transform into a successful business.
But before you take the step, be cautious.
The facts can be dampening – 8 out of 10 startups fail. But if you are aware of the common pitfalls, you can try to steer clear of them. Why exactly do startups fail? Often a combination of reasons works together and ultimately leads to failure.
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy
Let’s take a look at the most common reasons why startup companies fail:
The idea may be too small, and attract only a small niche market, in which case you won’t be able to attract investors. Or, it may be the solution to only a really frivolous problem, in which case you won’t get customers.
Another possibility is that the product or service you offer really isn’t necessary, but only an addition to whatever is already available. In each of these circumstances, the possibility of building a successful new business will remain a distant dream.
Tip: The best way to assess the potential of your idea is to present it to investors.
Perhaps you miscalculated how much you may need, or you spent more than you can afford, or you misjudged the time you will need to break even, or maybe it was some other reason. Whatever it is, it can spell doom for a startup.
Also, if you want to run it as a lifestyle business, you may not want to involve investors. But this strategy won’t work if you want to build a big business. Running out of cash can forestall any chance of success, and eventually lead to shutdown.
Tip: Plan your budget; and double it. Also, keep aside an emergency fund.
Put together a directionless leader, an unmotivated team, and no advisors – and you have the perfect recipe for disaster! A startup needs a team with all the components right; and one that knows how to manage a startup.
You need to come up with a management that understands how to build up a new business, a team that works together with the same vision, mission and ethics, and advisors who can help overcome the hurdles on the way.
Tip: Don’t take it all on yourself; it will go haywire if you have to stay away for a week.
Unless your startup involves an original invention, you have to worry about competition, even in the first phase. Be it selling pencils or managing yacht charters, many new businesses are outcompeted by the established ones.
Again, sometimes your product may be too complicated to use, or your service may really be unnecessary. And customers prefer the time-tested solutions to innovations. If there’s a gap in your strategy, your idea may never become a successful business.
Tip: Do thorough market research, especially about your competitors, in advance.
A startup may fail for any of these, or some other reason. And even if yours does, it’s no cause to think of it as a failure and regret your step. Even Edison failed 1000 times before he came up with the light bulb.
Instead, analyze why you failed, and learn from your mistake. It’s the only way to success.
How to Ruin A Business Without Really Trying by MJ Gottlieb
The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz
Zero To One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
Fail Fast or Win Big by Bernhard Schroeder
The Startup Survival System by Kurt Won
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]]>5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Business Failure Now that you have started a new business, brace yourself for failure. Sounds a little pessimistic – doesn’t it? Well, every entrepreneur needsRead More
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]]>5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Business Failure
Now that you have started a new business, brace yourself for failure. Sounds a little pessimistic – doesn’t it? Well, every entrepreneur needs to be prepared for the worst. Even super successful individuals such as Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Colonel Sanders, or Henry Ford didn’t succeed at their first attempt.
In fact, it took most successful entrepreneurs and leaders multiple attempts to reach their goals. What was the likely key to their ultra success? It’s their approach that differentiated them. As Edison summed it up – “I haven’t failed; I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work”.
But the question is – why do startups fail often? The reason is simple – you just don’t have the necessary experience to run a business. This leads you to make many mistakes, and soon they start to make a significant impact on your day. No planning, forgetting taxes, emotional pricing, wasting money on unnecessary details, and so on lead to trouble.
And if you don’t identify your mistakes and rectify them on time, you end up as a failure. But if you think it is the end of the road, you are seriously on your path to a letdown in your life. It is at this time that you need to think and act and turn your failure into success.
How do you do it? Here’s how I’ve learned that top entrepreneurs overcome business failure:
Switch to a positive mode
No, it doesn’t mean you try to fake a smile and look happy even when you feel down in the dumps. It implies that you treat your failure as a life lesson. Don’t fight it; embrace it. Only then you will be able to understand what an experience it was. Create a spreadsheet and write down what you did right and what you didn’t.
Appraise your assets
Be it an office space that you have leased or great relationships that you have created – don’t ignore their potential. Consider what worked splendidly for your startup – was it your employees, or, your certain client relations, or, your intellectual property? Draw up a chart to understand and evaluate your best assets.
Sell off whatever you can
Whether you want to give away your business or sell it, you need to get in touch with the right people. If you think that it may still work, keep a percentage in it. If not, just give it away to a new entrepreneur. If you decide to sell, don’t be shy; contact everyone you know to see who you can sell it off to.
Read up
Akio Morita began Sony selling a rice cooker. But it burned the rice. Yet, Sony is one of the best success stories of today. Fred Smith almost failed his business management course with his business idea. It later developed into FedEx. And good old Edison actually failed more than 9000 times before he made the light bulb.
Most importantly, start again
Now that you have failed, you have two choices – you can leave it and go back to where you were before you tried entrepreneurship. Or, you can get up, brush off the dust from your fall and tread along towards your next venture. And when you choose the second option, you will have the lesson you learned to guide you.
Success in business, quite similar to success in life, is not dependent on whether you make it at the first jump. It relies on whether you have the courage to get up and get going and make your failure just a stepping stone on your journey to success.
The Art of War for Small Business by Becky Sheetz-Runkle | Listen to my interview with Becky here
The Road To Reinvention by Josh Linkner | Listen to my interview with Josh here
Getting Things Done by David Allen | Listen to my interview with David here
Invent Reinvent Thrive by Lloyd Shefsky | Listen to my interview with Lloyd here
The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz | Listen to my interview with Mike here
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]]>A summary of things you should know about Profit First according to Mike Michalowicz: Introduction In this episode Mike Michalowicz joins us for a third time to share his latestRead More
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]]>In this episode Mike Michalowicz joins us for a third time to share his latest book, Profit First. Michalowicz challenged the formula for business when it comes to profitability.
In his book, Michalowicz shows you the correct formula for success as opposed to the original from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles of GAAP. He proposes a new formula about selling as much as you can, extract your profit from your business first and then pay your expenses with the remainder. His approach changes the entire paradigm.
This book is perfect for all entrepreneurs who have based their businesses profitability on the formula of sales minus expenses equals profit. By taking the advice from this book, there will be less money for expenses, your behavior will change and you will find ways to get the same things done with less money.
Every book I have read to this point has talked about Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) which is the formula that businesses base their profitability on. I challenge this formula and say it is totally flawed because profit is the leftover or after thought and it’s the worst formula for the way our minds work. I propose a new formula about selling as much as you can, extract your profit from your business first and then pay your expenses with the remainder. This changes the entire paradigm.
This is a beginning to end book. You start at the beginning and there are action steps at the end of each chapter.
Hands down it is flipping the formula of sales minus expenses equals profit or sales – expenses = profit. This formula does not work and hurts your business. I want people to take home the new formula of sales minus profit equals expenses or sales – profit = expenses. By taking your profit first there will be less money for expenses, your behavior will change and you will find ways to get the same things done with less money.
In the book I go over the four principles of Profit First. I found that in the fitness, health or diet industry there are four core principles and these four principles translate into a healthy business as well.
The first principle is about the intake of fewer calories. The diets and extreme workouts don’t work because they aren’t sustainable. The one way dietitians found very successful is simply by changing the size of the plates at your house. By getting smaller plates you now get to leverage your habits and that little change has a huge impact. In our business we have to realize that we have one massive plate called the checking account. All of our money goes in there and all our bills get paid out of this one account. The strategic step we need to make is to have multiple small plates which will reduce the size of that account for expenses, spread the money out into small plates and by doing this you see that less is available and you consume less for expenses.
The second step I leaned was to eat your vegetables first. In the health industry they found that most people eat their food simultaneously and most of the time that means the vegetables get pushed aside and never eaten. If we simple eat your vegetables first you’ll get the nutrients and vitamins from it and take in fewer calories. In business we do the same thing. When money comes in our account the very first thing we should do is spread it out to different plates and then the leftover should be used to pay expenses. By doing this you’ll have less money for expenses and you will be more likely to spend less on expenses.
The third step is to remove temptation. In the health industry they say that if you like soda, the best thing to do is not have any in your house. In business when we have our profit reserved the first step is to take that profit, transfer it to a second bank and now with the profit removed you are less likely to borrow or steal from yourself. By doing this you will feel more pressure to cut your expenses and make sure they fit in with the amount of money that is left over.
The final step that is taught in the health industry is our eating frequency. Most people eat too infrequently and the optimal amount is five small meals a day instead of three big ones. In business we need to establish a rhythm of going through the process of paying bills about twice a month. If you do this you see money come in piling up as income and then you allocate and pay your bills.
“Take your profit first always.” – Mike Michalowcz
I am an author targeted toward small business books and how to grow them to be successful and competitive in market. I challenge all the beliefs that are out there about growing a business and study other businesses to find the current formula for success.
After selling my second company I thought I knew the formula to success and became full of myself. I decided to become an angel investor, took my own money and started 10 companies and threw money at these businesses believing that the only thing that mattered was my involvement. This ended up being a train wreck and caused me to lose basically every penny I put in it. The day I lost my last penny became a defining moment for me and the realization that what I thought was the formula to success was in fact wrong. I thought that profit was an event and I became to realize that profit is not an event, it’s a habit.
The Starfish and The Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
Buy Profit First by Mike Michalowicz on Amazon today
Visit MikeMichalowicz.com to learn more about Mike and his books
Follow Mike Michalowicz on Twitter and Facebook
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: Show Me The Money by Alan Barrell | High Profit Selling by Mark Hunter | Hyper Sales Growth by Jack Daly
Relevant advice and tips: Top Financial Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Creating A New Business
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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]]>A summary of things you should know about The Pumpkin Plan according to Mike Michalowicz: Introduction In this episode Mike Michalowicz takes a deep dive into his bestselling book, TheRead More
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]]>In this episode Mike Michalowicz takes a deep dive into his bestselling book, The Pumpkin Plan where he helps you implement a unique strategy for growing your business.
In his book, Michalowicz utilizes the techniques that farmers use to grow colossal pumpkins. His theory is that pumpkin farming provides some similarities in growing a successful business and he provides you all of the steps to do so.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs and business owners who are struggling to grow their business and have too many tasks on their plate. Michalowicz gives you the steps to focus on that one thing you do well and becoming a master at it so you can experience colossal growth.
I am a big believer in the stories, at the end of the day to remember 200 to 300 pages worth of stuff is impossible. In my books I wanted to paint pictures in the readers mind so instead of that one sentence, they can walk away with that one vision.
You will need to read from beginning to end.
Less is more. If you want to grow your business stop trying to do more things, the natural tendency. If you want to grow your business find that one thing to focus on and become a master at it.
The essence of The Pumpkin Plan is five significant steps.
The first step is called Seed Selection. In the pumpkin industry there are two types of pumpkin farmers, the ordinary farmer and the colossal famers. Ordinary farmers pick ordinary and cheap seeds while colossal farmers are focused on quality seeds. Colossal farmers become highly selective of their seeds and spend hours investigating individual seeds looking for indications of strength.
Many entrepreneurs are after the cheap and easy seed but the colossal entrepreneurs pick colossal seeds. There are three major components in a colossal business, firstly it has to exploit the uniqueness of the entrepreneur, secondly there has to be demand for it, and lastly is the component of systemization.
The second step I talk about is the sprout. If you are an ordinary farmer you look for any sprout. Colossal pumpkin farmers focus on strong sprouts. If you want to grow a colossal business you have to focus on the strong elements of it. The one thing I really emphasis on is being selective of your clients.
The third step I talk about is the watering process. Ordinary pumpkin farmers use a saturation strategy while a colossal farmer uses a quenching strategy. It’s at this stage that the colossal pumpkin can grow ten times faster than the ordinary pumpkin. For a Colossal Business using the pumpkin plan I recommend the strategy of quenching. Once you identify your best customers that you want to clone, your next step is to find out where they congregate and start contributing to those environments. Now you become a contributor as opposed to someone just trying to take and this will change the relationship to a much more positive one.
The fourth significant step is what’s called Rude Analysis. Ordinary farmers don’t even look at the root system but colossal farmers get tools and devices to look at the roots because it feeds the entire plant. The root system for a colossal business is the vendor network. After you find out who your best customers are you need to find out who else they work with, what other vendors they use and build relationships with them. The whole goal is to circulate with the vendor network that is serving your best clients.
The final step is the pruning process. Colossal farmers don’t prune so much as they do what is called killing and as little pumpkins come up on the vine they will kill them immediately. Every time a little pumpkin is allowed to grow on a vine it is stealing nutrients from the colossal pumpkin. As applied to business colossal entrepreneurs will focus on their best clients and turn away all the other opportunities. You grow by saying no and colossal entrepreneurs get this. They have to focus on what’s best and the only way to do that is to say no to everything else.
“He’s a very handsome young man.” – Mikes Mom
I am an author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, The Pumpkin Plan and Profit First. I write books to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. I challenge all the beliefs that are around because I believe most of our beliefs are hurting our businesses and propose new ways to do it.
I started studying colossal pumpkin farmers and I realized that they basically follow the same process as ordinary pumpkin farmers do but change a few elements. Just by changing 5% or 10% of the growing process the pumpkin responds with explosive growth. I figured that if you can do this natural, why not do it with businesses and I put it to the test.
Influence by Robert Cialdini
Buy The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz on Amazon today
Visit MikeMichalowicz.com to learn more about Mike and his books
Follow Mike Michalowicz on Twitter and Facebook
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: How To Get Unstuck: 25 Ways to Get Your Business Growing Again by Barry Moltz | Zero To One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters | Vision To Reality by Honoree Corder
Relevant advice and tips: 5 Important Things That Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know About Starting a New Business | 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Business Failure
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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]]>A summary of things you should know about The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur according to Mike Michalowicz: Introduction In this episode Mike Michalowicz shares his book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur whereRead More
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]]>In this episode Mike Michalowicz shares his book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur where he gives you the business tools to get ready for building a business and the kick in the behind to get started.
In his book, Michalowicz provides his perception on what entrepreneurship is and how you can navigate starting and building a business when you have no resources. The difference between this book and others like it is Michalowicz connects entrepreneurship to the bathroom experience when we find a way to survive on a very small amount of toilet paper.
This book is perfect for the aspiring entrepreneur who needs the tools to startup when they don’t have money and for the established entrepreneur in need of realigning their business.
I think it’s the analogy I use. I have to argue that the content that I talk about has been addressed by others in different ways so for a book to be fresh it just has to be a new spin. In Toilet Paper Entrepreneur I connected entrepreneurship to the bathroom experience. If you are every stuck in the bathroom with three sheets of toilet paper we find a way to survive it on just three sheets. It’s all about leveraging the fact that what you have is enough.
All the books I write build on the prior concept so this isn’t a jump in jump out, it’s a read through and at the end of every chapter I give specific actionable steps.
Resources are perhaps your biggest asset. When we have resources then the path we want to take becomes the doable path, conversely when you have no resources the obvious may not be doable and therefore it forces you to think of alternatives. And that’s where innovation comes from, when you can’t follow the obvious you have to break that rules.
I broke Toilet Paper Entrepreneur down into three different segments which are belief, focus and action.
The first part of the book is about the mental game of entrepreneurship, a big part that is not normally talked about. A lot of different resources talk about the strategies of entrepreneurship and they definitely apply but the big question first is to make sure your mind is behind it. The first chapter is titled Natures Calling and what I mean by this title is simply what you feel naturally compelled to do. A lot of people know there passion but I am taking one step further in this chapter and talking about what your purpose is. Passion is something you love to do and purpose is the reason behind why you are doing what you are doing.
The second chapter I call A Little Piece and Quiet in your mind and what I talk about in this chapter is the power of beliefs. Beliefs can either be a wall or channel. We are all wired in our minds to prove ourselves right. If you say you can’t get something done, it’s in your best mental interest to not get it done. And if you say to yourself that you will get it done, you will find a way to get it done. Our beliefs can be channeling where they can move us towards an accomplishment or they can be a wall. When it comes to entrepreneurship we have to investigate what the internal conversation is going on in our heads and then convert it into a channel. A channel will get us to our vision; a wall will prevent us from getting there.
The third chapter I talk about the fire in your belly which is the Why. When you know what your purpose is in your business and how it connects with you, you will know why you are doing it and that keeps driving you forward. I totally believe that the foundational component of entrepreneurship that so many people miss is the mental game.
In the next couple of chapters I talk about getting down to the actual execution of your ideas. One strategy that I talk about and strongly suggest is a strategy called tacking. Tacking comes from an analogy/strategy used by sailors. Tacking is where you identify the place you’re going but how you get there might not be straight on. It is about avoiding the obstacles’, leveraging yourself and redirecting your steps but ultimately you will get to your destination.
The final section of Toilet Paper Entrepreneur is the Action section. One of the biggest actions that entrepreneurs can take is to have the discipline of saying no. There are numerous stories and strategies that I share in this section pertaining to this issue. I talk about how to burn the boats in your business so that there is no plan B, it’s all about plan A, and you execute it until it works.
I wrap up with talking about money and equity which is an extremely important component. I talk about how to grow a business when you don’t have money and those resources. I show you how to extract some money when you don’t have traditional financing in place.
I believe The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur gives an aspiring entrepreneur all the tools to get ready and the big kick in the ass to get started. And I think for established entrepreneurs it realigns them with where they are and with their relationship of their business.
“Successful businesses don’t get richer quick, they get rich right.” – Mike Michalowcz
I am an author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, The Pumpkin Plan and Profit First. Prior to becoming an author I was a fulltime entrepreneur growing a couple companies and today the forefront of my activities is writing books and talking about them.
I wanted to challenge all the academic reads that were out there. I believe there are a lot of great content books but most of the books I was reading about business you have to bore your way through it. And so I decided to write my perception of what entrepreneurship is and how you can navigate starting and building a business when you have no resources.
Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
Buy The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz on Amazon today
Visit ToiletPaperEntrepreneur.com to learn about the book and download the first chapters
Visit MikeMichalowicz.com to learn more about Mike and all of his books
Follow Mike Michalowicz on Twitter and Facebook
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Related books: The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz | Profit First: A Simple System to Transform Any Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz | The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs by Kevin D. Johnson
Relevant advice and tips: 7 Unique Styles Of Entrepreneurs | 5 Personal Qualities That Make Up a Lifestyle Entrepreneur
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