One Thing Required with Will Lee

8: Mike Michalowicz Uses Toilet Paper and Pumpkins to Build Great Businesses

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Mike Michalowicz is one guy every entrepreneur should listen to. Mike started three multi-million dollar businesses, one of which he sold to a co-founder and another of which was sold after only a few years to a Fortune 500 company. In addition, he has started and/or advised many startup businesses.

It's not all been roses, though. Mike has experienced some pretty heart wrenching business failures, too, which he discusses in the interview. The important thing is that he learned from all his experiences, both the good and the bad, and he's bounced back stronger than ever.

Now an author, Mike is following his passion. He has written three books on entrepreneurship which address the natural sequence an entrepreneur goes through when building their business.

    • His first book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The tell-it-like-it-is guide to cleaning up in business, even if you are at the end of your roll, has 450 5-star reviews on Amazon and is considered a cult classic on Entrepreneurship. It walks us through the steps to finding our business idea and getting started.
    • His second book, The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field, is about how to grow your customer list and sales by weeding out the losers and nurturing the winners. By following these principles, you can have a much better business in all respects.
    • His latest book, Profit First: A Simple System to Transform Any Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine., lays out a more effective way for entrepreneurs to make sure their business is profitable from the first sale onwards, and explains why the approach most business owners use is flawed.

      • In our interview, Mike talks about:

        • Why having too much money available when starting a business can lead to bad decisions and losses
        • Why the business "pivot" can lead an entrepreneur into a business he or she may grow to hate, even when sales are booming
        • What we can learn from pumpkin farmers to grow our businesses faster, increase profits, and make ourselves much happier in the process
        • How his "pay yourself first" concept leads to finding creative solutions and (almost) guaranteed profitability
        • How your best clients can help you find a wealth of new clients (and sales) just like them

          • Mike can be found on his website at www.MikeMichalowicz.com

          I highly recommend you check out his many FREE, VALUABLE downloadable resources here.

          Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or Stitcher and leave a review there, too. Thanks you, I appreciate it, and I appreciate you!

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          One Thing Required with Will LeeBy A show for the entrepreneur in all of us. If you are motivated by people like Tim Ferriss, Pat Flynn, John Lee Dumas, Seth Godin, and Gary Veynerchuck, you will love my interviews with successful entrepreneurs who tell exactly how they did it!