Title: Built to Sell
Author: John Warrillow
Review: This is a great book for the business owners or the person wanting to start a business. The principles are told in the form of a story and it is fast to read yet interesting. Having a business is one thing, but building a business that can work without you is the hard part. How can you run a successful business that will run well without your constant supervision, or run without you completely when you decide to sell? Read this book and find out how. The story reads well, followed by an implementation guide to help you follow the steps. The end is a summary of tips from the story.
The story follows a small business owner through his decision to sell. It is interesting and fast to read, now if every business was a success like this one. Many hard decisions were made, but they lead to the outcome the owner desired. Now if I could come up with a business plan.
Many businesses are worthless if sold, they are built with the owner as the one that runs everything. Plumbers, electricians, service professionals, it’s tough to sell a business that is focused on the owner and worthless without them. How can you change your business to grow and run without you? Read this book and start your business on a whole new path, one that you can take a break from and enjoy the bounty of all your hard work.
Publisher: April 28th 2011 by Portfolio Hardcover
ISBN: 1591843979
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 176
Quick Review: 3 stars (out of 5)
Why I Read It: This looked interesting.
Where I Obtained the Book: I won this book on Goodreads.
Synopsis: According to John Warrillow, the number one mistake entrepreneurs make is to build a business that relies too heavily on them. Thus, when the time comes to sell, buyers aren't confident that the company-even if it's profitable-can stand on its own.
To illustrate this, Warrillow introduces us to a fictional small business owner named Alex who is struggling to sell his advertising agency. Alex turns to Ted, an entrepreneur and old family friend, who encourages Alex to pursue three criteria to make his business sellable:
• Teachable: focus on products and services that you can teach employees to deliver.
• Valuable: avoid price wars by specializing in doing one thing better than anyone else.
• Repeatable: generate recurring revenue by engineering products that customers have to repurchase often.
Author Biography: From the authors web page. I’ve started four companies, the most recent of which was a research business I tried to sell in 2004 only to be told by an expert that it was too dependent on me personally. Learning that my business was unsellable was frustrating. First I denied it. Then I got angry. Finally, I set about remodeling the business into one that could thrive without me. After lots of trial and error, it started to take off, and we were acquired in 2008 by a publicly traded company. I learned a lot in those four years, and those lessons became the inspiration to start this blog.
I think the world needs more entrepreneurs. If I had to rely on anyone to get me off the side of a mountain, I’d want a creative, tenacious and tough-minded entrepreneur beside me. When I vote, I prefer candidates who have started a business. I believe entrepreneurs will be the ones to solve our biggest problems and bring the developing world the quality of life that Westerners enjoy, which is why I’ve created a team of Built to Sell readers who lend money to entrepreneurs in the developing world through an organization called Kiva.
Most of the year, I live with my wife and kids in a town called Aix-en-Provence in southern France, where the climate enables year-round cycling and running, which is important to me because one day I’d like to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Until then, I will have to settle with being a middle-of-the-pack age-grouper in the few races I do each year.
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