Some years back, serial entrepreneur and author Mike Michalowicz was on his third business. And it, like the two businesses before it, wasn’t going well. 

“I had two exits early on, both in the tech services space… they were never profitable, and so that meant the valuations got pushed down,” he says. “The third business I started as an angel investor. I sucked. I call myself now, in retrospect, the Angel of Death. I was so bad. Every business I destroyed. But it woke me up to the fact that I was waiting for profit to happen.” 

(3:45 )

Mike was making a mistake that he believes most entrepreneurs make. 

“I thought one day the switch would flip. If I got that next big client, that was the moment I’d be fine and be profitable. But as I looked at those businesses, I realized that profit isn't an event as I destroyed my third business. It's a habit, and it needs to be baked into every transaction every day.”

(4:30 )

That was when Mike started transforming his approach to profit through small, everyday actions. Those actions ultimately laddered into the behavioral management system that’s the basis of his book, “Profit First.” In this episode of The Anthony Sarandrea Show, Anthony and Mike talk about the fundamental flaws that most entrepreneurs make in their understanding of profit and the health of their businesses — and how these fundamental flaws can be replaced with Mike’s Foundational Five approach.

 

What You’ll Learn:

• Why the narrative around revenue for entrepreneurs is such a toxic, flawed one
• Why the psychological key to change, rather than a cold-turkey transformation, lies instead in “continuing to behave in the certain way we’ve always behaved, but now channeling that to drive results” (5:45 )
• What Mike calls the “momentum effect” and the difference it can make in your day-to-day
• And much more!

 

Favorite Quote:

“Top-line thinking is basically ‘how big is it?’ It’s dick-waving content, to be honest… The new question we’ve got to ask ourselves is ‘how healthy is the business? That’s the big question. And the next time someone asks you, ‘Oh, tell me your revenue’ or ‘how many employees do you have,’ actually say, ‘You know what the better conversation is? Let’s talk about how healthy our business is.’ You’ll see some people pop their eyes open.”

— Mike Michalowicz

(10:50 )

 

Connect With Mike: 

LinkedIn

Instagram 

Facebook

 

How to Get Involved:

Anthony Sarandrea, the founder of SiteFlood, is a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker known as a renowned customer and lead generator across the globe. 

Be sure to follow him on LinkedIn, Instagram, and gain access to his consulting and speaking engagements via his website.

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