The full title of this book by Ken Blanchard Don Hutson and Ethan Willis is
The One Minute Entrepreneur: The Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars. This means Worthwhile.
Here is my review.
Not as good as I’d hoped but worth reading if you’re thinking about starting a business
I love the early One Minute Manager books and I had high hopes for this one. It follows a story format as usual for the One Minute series, looking at the story of Jud and Terri McCarley and their speaking business JTA.
The foreword by Michael Gerber quotes some scary statistics about business failures. Why does this happen? Because businesses are started by technicians – see his book The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
It is very clear that budding entrepreneurs need to learn more before they start. This is often when many key decisions are made and they also need to continue to enhance their skills throughout their business lives. The professionals have a requirement for continued professional development and education but no one says that entrepreneurs need to continue to learn.
The four big cornerstones of The One Minute Entrepreneur book are very simple but capture the essence of being in business:
1 – Sales have to exceed expenses
2 – Collect your bills
3 – Take care of customers
4 – Take care of your people
Obvious but many people struggle with at least one of them. It’s that old problem, of moving from thoughts, ideas and knowledge to putting them into action consistently.
The story is a roller-coaster ride. At one time things appear to be going well on the surface but underneath there are problems. Many business owners know this roller-coaster feeling all too well.
In traditional One Minute style, you have the story and summary pages with a few bullet points to reinforce the message of the book. This is a very effective way of communicating and means that you can read it at two levels – the detail or just flicking through reminding yourself of the key messages which is invaluable.
Various insights are highlighted including:
– Associate with people you admire
– Be open minded
– Keep a notebook of ideas
– Success occurs when opportunity and preparation meet
– Don’t quit your day job until you have some success under your belt
– If no one will pay you, you have a hobby
– Profit is the applause for taking care of your customers and creating a motivating environment for your team
It ends with a list of 20 attributes of successful entrepreneurs.
The book didn’t meet my expectations but is quite interesting to read if you’re thinking of starting your own business. It’s by no means essential so if you’re short of time and you want to get on with doing, look elsewhere including the Gerber book I linked to above.
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