About book The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy To Grow A Remarkable Business In Any Field (2012)
1. Книга будет явно послабее чем "Стартап без бюджета..." :( 2. Основная идея проста: оптимизируйте свою клиентскую базу; избавьтесь от низкоприбыльных и неудобных клиентов; работайте с теми 20%, которые приносят вам 80% прибыли. Идея дофига оригинальна :( , она есть в любом учебнике по менеджменту/маркетингу торговли. 3. "Плюсы" книги: - написано задорно и весло, мотивирует на подвиги :) , легко читается- много кейсов по оптимизации этой самой клиентской базы, причём на примерах очень разнопланового малого бизнеса- есть оригинальные идеи/советы о том, как именно эту самую оптимизацию проводить (кстати, если отжать из книги всю "воду", этих самых советов страниц на 5 наберется). 4. Главный "минус" книги: автор много писал про свой опыт и свои идеи, но как-то немного за скобками оказалось понимание правильного контекста для применения "метода тыквы". Во-первых, метод актуален только для зрелого бизнеса. Есть кривая ЖЦФ (жизненного цикла фирмы); вот как только мы преодолели плато, и наметился спад, то тогда чистка клиентской базы - оч.эффективная штука. Во всех остальных случаях, пока издержки на новых клиентов остаются допустимо низкими, то почему бы не продолжать наращивать (а не сокращать) клиентскую базу?Во-вторых, автор описывает банальную маркетинговую стратегию фокусировки - концентрации на предельно узком и прибыльном сегменте. Но забывает сделать важные замечания: сегмент должен быть растущим и потенциально большим. Т.е. в стране с относительно низким уровнем потребления (угу, это мы) такие сегменты ещё крепко поискать надо :( Разумеется, в стране с высочайшим в мире уровнем потребления (в США, откуда сам автор), можно и дифференцироваться, и концентрироваться до посинения :), зарабатывая свои миллионы. У нас особо не порезвишься; особенно в малом бизнесе. PS Книга неплохая, но применять без фанатизма ;) Kill your darlings and streamline success with The Pumpkin PlanThe writers out there will understand the reference to killing your darlings. We've all had to do it. We spend hours, days sometimes, lovingly crafting the perfect scene, or the perfect line, only to have to delete it in revision. Sometimes we kill it because it is overly purple, sometimes because it just doesn't fit the book anymore no matter how much we try to round the edges - it's still a square peg and we've written a round hole.The Pumpkin Plan is a blueprint for killing your real world darlings and streamlining your business (or life, as I'll demonstrate.)Mike Michalowicz takes a "bro" tone, puts his arm around your shoulder, buys you a drink at the bar and dishes the secret to living the good life, the easy way.As we enter this new year, it's a book well worth taking a look at, here's why.First - Mike doesn't just tell you what to do, he gives you practical steps for actually doing it. Every chapter ends with a 30 minute action plan - how to put that piece of the plan to work on 30 minutes or less. As a business owner who is always overwhelmed, underwater and trying to catch a break, or at least a breath - being able to take action in under 30 minutes and get that rush of accomplishment is absolutely critical. It builds confidence and lets us know right away that yes, we can do this.Second - Mike takes the time to give both real world examples of people and businesses who have rocked each step of the plan, as well as craft industry specific examples of the Pumpkin Plan in action to demonstrate not only that the plan can work for any type of business, but also ways that it might work. He flexes his imagination in a way that shows us multiple paths that we could take to grow our own giant pumpkin of a business (or life).Third - And this is where Mike's book, for me, went from "just another business book" to the business book I'll be recommending to everyone who could use a little boost, nudge or step up in life this year - Mike does the one thing that no one else I've read has been brave enough to do - he gives us a detailed, direct plan for killing your darlings.Darlings are those customers, clients, people (or in writing - sections of prose) who are sucking your time, energy, brain power, money or other resources and not delivering any return on that investment.As an entrepreneur from a long line of entrepreneurs this is something I know we all need. Again, in business and in life and in writing. To be successful by any measure we have to get rid of the "drainbows" as my husband calls them. But how? How do we know who to keep and who to cut? And... How do we cut the soul-suckers without burning the bridge completely or pissing them off and having them turn on us? This is the small business owner's dilemma. We know we can't be all things to everyone, but how do we say no to money?I'm not going to tell you Mike's plan - I'm only going to tell you that I am implementing it actively right now. I started with Facebook - culling that crazy herd. Now I'm going through my client list. His steps not only make sense, they are a validation of everything I believed when I started my business, but started to neglect in the quest to say yes and serve more people. As Mike reminded me - "More isn't better. Better is better." Don't understand? Get the book. And then get started killing your darlings and streamlining success.Ostensibly a book about growing your business - there is much more to be gained in the Pumpkin Plan than just a successful business and more time and money on your hands.Disclaimer - Mike gifted me a copy of this book after he read my review of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. Because I'm in the middle of a re-branding and re-structuring of my business, I accepted the gift but warned him I'd be brutally honest in my review. So... Here's the brutal piece of the review - While the bro-down tone might work for some, I found it a little overly chummy and grating. I don't know this guy from Adam and I kind of resented him thinking we were pals. However, after a while it kind of clicked - that's just who this guy is. The Pumpkin Plan is written in his voice, and he just happens to be one of those outgoing nice guys who really would buy you a drink at the bar and tell you how you too could be living the good life, because after all, shouldn't everyone be happy?
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I loved this book! Fun to read, straight to the point, great advice.
—bigdixon
Fantastic- Great hands on advice for the every day Entrepeneur
—CallerOfTheWild
