Growing a Startup Like a Pumpkin?

My latest read that really  is called The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz.

He uses the metaphor of growing REALLY big pumpkins to taking your business to the next level.

This definition of what is an entrepreneur was especially sharp:

“Entrepreneurs identify the problems, discover the opportunities and then build processes to allow other people and other things to get it done.”

Here are some of the great things I marked in the Pumpkin Plan:

• Finding your best clients — the ones you actually like and sync with who you are. He calls it the ‘desert island’ approach. “If you could only bring one client to a desert island, who would it be? Who could you stand to be with for the months or years it takes you to figure out how to get off the island? Who can you trust? Who do you love?”
• Interviewing clients to find out what they really want — we’re looking through our top 1000 customers right now to find commonalities and to begin talking to them with some of the questions he suggest
• His product launch sequence — something I’m going to think through with our next product … “Predict,” “Appreciate,” “Announce,” “Engage,” “Ask,” “Limit,” “Over-deliver,” and “Keep Track.”
• Three questions he uses to empower employees to make the best decisions — we’ll likely refine these but here they are: “1. Does this decision better serve our top clients? 2. Does this decision improve or maintain our Area of Innovation? 3. Does this decision grow or maintain our profitability?”

Get it The Pumpkin Plan here from Amazon.

Here’s my Amazon WishList to see what I’m either reading or wanting to read soon. By the way, what books are you reading right now?