Use the Pumpkin Plan to Grow Your Business

If you haven’t heard of Mike Michalowicz, creator of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, then you may be taking your business too seriously. Mike’s in-your-face style of writing, and his funny, yet there’s-a-point videos, break small business issues and challenges into manageable, bite-size pieces.

In his new book, The Pumpkin Plan, Mike takes the same approach. He shares a simple, step-by-step plan for growing a business from the ground up. If you already own a business, you can use the same strategies to change what isn’t working.

Mike’s Pumpkin Plan is easy to follow, and is the same plan he used to grow and ultimately sell two, million-dollar businesses.

• Step One: Identify and leverage you biggest natural strengths.

• Step Two: Sell, sell, sell.

• Step Three: As your business grows, fire all of your small-time, rotten clients.

• Step Four: Never, ever let distractions — often labeled as new opportunities — take hold. Weed ‘em out fast.

• Step Five: Identify your top clients and remove the rest of your less-promising clients.

• Step Six: Focus all of your attention on your top clients. Nurture and protect them; find out what they want more than anything, and if it’s in alignment with what you do best, give it to them. Then, replicate that same service or product for as many of the same types of top client as possible.

• Step Seven: Watch your company grow to a giant size.

Throughout the book, Mike gives examples of how you can apply his Pumpkin Plan to any type of business. There were a few businesses that I couldn’t imagine being able to follow the plan, but Mike made the connection.

You don’t have to be a pumpkin farmer to apply the steps in this book. All you need is an open mind, a clear vision, and the patience to grow your business the same way a pumpkin farmer grows a prize-winning pumpkin.

For some reason, I expected to see to a picture of Mike in overalls or in a Photoshop version of himself in the famous painting American Gothic. But then again, you never know what he’ll include in his next video.

If you’re serious about starting a new business or taking your current business to the next level, grab a copy of The Pumpkin Plan. (Overalls are optional.)