Lately I have been on a roll with picking great books to read, and this week is no different. I read The One Minute Entrepreneur by Ken Blanchard, Don Hutson, and Ethan Willis. In this book the authors tell a fictional story about one man’s journey to create his own business.
They talk about many problems that entrepreneurs face when starting a business, and show how the decisions you make can affect your future. It is a very inspiring story, and it also makes you think about how you would react in the situations that the main character is put in throughout the book.
The authors provide us with a number of lessons about becoming an entrepreneur, and teach us how to build a business on a firm foundation.
My 7 Takeaways from The One Minute Entrepreneur
- Begin with a firm foundation. The story begins with the main character learning some tough lessons that ultimately put him on the right path. While still young he begins to focus on learning, and improving himself to build a foundation that one day he will build his business upon. He learns to read every book he can read, and meet every mentor he can meet. Doing so helped him build a solid foundation for success.
- Master the basics. If you want to become a successful entrepreneur you need to learn everything you can about the business you’re are going into.
- You can’t do it alone. While some people try to run a company alone, and some succeed on the business side, having a partner to share your highs and lows with is extremely important. There is a belief by many that to be a successful entrepreneur you cannot be in a relationship, but the authors point out that this is wrong. They make the point that “Becoming a successful entrepreneur and having a spouse are not mutually exclusive.”
- Seize the moment. Opportunity will knock at some point, will you be ready to seize it? If you want to be a successful entrepreneur you better be ready. To be prepared to seize the opportunity you need to create a big dream, and believe in yourself.
- Focus on the right numbers. It is easy to get caught up analyzing expenses and trying to cut costs, and that is important. But it is even more important to focus on profits. “Making a profit is always a necessity if you want to stay in business.”
- Go out of your way to serve your customers. Nothing will help your business grow more than legendary customer service. Listen to your customers and they will tell you want they want. Then give it to them better than anyone else ever has!
- Don’t let success go to your head. In the book the main character lets success get to his head, and it changes the way he approaches business. He stops caring about the reasons he went into business in the first place, and he lets his company consume his life. While this may be a fictional story, there is nothing fictional about this problem. Success can be worse for people than failure. If you let success get to your head you won’t hold onto it for very long.
This book is not very long, but there is a ton of wisdom packed in these pages. I would highly recommend giving this book a read if you are looking to become and entrepreneur, or already are one. Find it here at Amazon or iBooks.
Below are some quotes I pulled while reading:
- We are the average of the 5 people who we associate with.
- A good life is built on strong, solid values.
- Five years from now you will be the same as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read. – Charlie “Tremendous” Jones
- Success can only occur with the opportunity and preparation meet. – Kenneth McFarland
- It not who you know that counts, it’s who knows you and what they think of you.
- Take care of your numbers and your numbers will take care of you.
- Always visualize your desired outcome ahead of time.
- Identify what you are passionate about doing and look to do more of it.
- Becoming a successful entrepreneur and having a spouse are not mutually exclusive.
- When it comes to finding a life partner character and values trump personality and looks.
- Too many people dream too small. Remember you will never achieve more than you think you can so create a BIG dream!
- If you focus only on managing costs your business will never grow.
- Making a profit is always a necessity if you want to stay in business.
- As an entrepreneur the secret to success is generating cash, cash, cash.
- Profit is the applause you get for taking care of your customers, and creating a motivating environment for your people.
- Listen to your customers. Discovering their ideas for improving the customer experience can make your companies vision and service even better.
- An effective performance management system helps people win, rather than rating and berating them.
- Relationships at work, and at home, can deteriorate when they aren’t nourished.
- A strength taken to an extreme can become a liability.
- To live a happy and fulfilled life be generous with your wealth, time, and talent.
- We all leave legacies, be intentional about making a positive difference with yours.
