This book has been sitting on my coffee table for weeks. Maybe it was the title because it read like an undeliverable promise. Most small business owners aren’t yet at the “I want to be embarrassingly rich” stage of the conversation. They’re just trying to make ends meet.
Maybe it was the forward by Mark Cuban. “I wish I had this book when I was getting started.” — really, I mean you’re Mark Cuban for crying out loud. I don’t think any single book made Mark Cuban a great entrepreneur. Mark Cuban made Mark Cuban a great entrepreneur.
Sorry if I’m being a bit salty. I just want you to understand the headspace I was in before I read Entrepreneur to Millionaire.
Call me a jaded marketer, but all these magnetic marketing titles and phrases that have been tested on small business owners and optimized for conversion rates, make me want to run away.
So, the book just sat there, week after week. I knew I should have picked it up and read it, but I had already told myself that it was going to be one more book filled with war stories from someone who had success but couldn’t convert his experience to business owners like you — and like me.
As it turns out, what Mark Cuban said in the forward was what I thought when I finally read the book,“I wish I had read this book when it showed up!”
Those darned marketers.
Kent Billingsley Knows How to Make Millionaires
Over the last 20 years, Kent Billingsley has “created content and trademarked programs that have turned thousands of entrepreneurs into millionaires and multi-millionaires.” He’s known as America’s Revenue Growth Architect.
Billingsley is committed to solving one main problem every entrepreneur has — being great at what they do, but not making enough money.
While I’m not a fan of the writing style of this book, the passion and advice is spot on. Billingsley writes with an authoritative style and he pulls no punches when she shares his advice. He writes with passion and confidence when he introduces his counterintuitive principles that land like a loving whack on the side of the head:
“None out of ten entrepreneurs don’t need more of most things they believe they need to grow and make money. They need less:
- They don’t need more leads — they need fewer leads of higher quality.
- They don’t need more proposals, they need to learn how to win more and lose less.
- They don’t need more customers, they need higher quality customers who pay more. “
It’s Time to Work Your Business Instead of it Working You
The question isn’t whether or not you can succeed using Billingsley’s process, it’s whether or not you have what it takes to take a critical look at your business.
I think that’s the most difficult part of this book. Taking the time to read each chapter and seriously reflect and look at the mistakes you’ve been making.
Yep. In each chapter, you’ll either find common mistakes or popular excuses that Billingsley has run into with clients.
Here are some of the ones that really stood out to me:
Relying on word of mouth for fast company growth: Yikes! You and I both know that the most popular marketing strategy for every small business I know is word of mouth or referrals. But, Billingsley says that word-of-mouth alone is no way to grow a profitable business fast. I can understand why. Most small business owners don’t have a referral system . Hence, their referrals aren’t controlled and they are unpredictable. And, since they don’t have a referral system, referrals don’t scale and they tend to be of inferior quality.
Or, here is another example. Which of these excuses for weak marketing messages have you used?
- We’ve just overhauled our entire website and we don’t want to change.
- Our marketing message is fine.
- We hired an expensive ad firm and they created our content.
- None of our prospects have reacted negatively to our message.
Things I love about Entrepreneur to Millionaire
There are so many elements of this book that I found powerful and useful. The organization of the book is spot on. Each chapter contains short sections with large headings. And that makes the book easy to read.
What Would Make the Book Even More Transformational for Small Business
As it is now, Billingsley shares his wisdom and it’s up to you to make the most of it. Personally, I like that. I like reading through a book with a notebook and taking the time to think things through, brainstorm and strategize.
Some folks, however, prefer to have access to worksheets and guided questions as they go through a process.
If you visit Billingsley’s website RevenueGrowthCompany.com you’ll find a variety of resources that are a companion guide to the book.
How Long Are You Willing to Wait for Real Success
Every entrepreneur has a dream. Whether yours is to become a millionaire or not is beside the point. What’s more important is whether or not your business is working for you and delivering on the reason you started it in the first place.
My guess is that it’s not
While many business books focus on a specific problem that YOU think is keeping your business from being successful, Entrepreneur Millionaire will address the root cause of what keeps your business from scaling to its best, most profitable self.
Image: amazon
This article, "Entrepreneur to Millionaire Will Solve Your Cash-Strapped Problem" was first published on Small Business Trends
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