Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing: No-Nonsense Rules from the Ultimate Contrarian and Small-Business Guru

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Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing: No-Nonsense Rules from the Ultimate Contrarian and Small-Business Guru (eBook) Pub. Date: 9/15/2009 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
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Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing: No-Nonsense Rules from the Ultimate Contrarian and Small Business Guru Pub. Date: 9/7/2010 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
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Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing: No-Nonsense Rules from the Ultimate Contrarian and Small-Business Guru Pub. Date: 9/15/2009 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
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Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing: No-Nonsense Rules from the Ultimate Contrarian and Small Business Guru (CD - Library - Unabridged CD) Pub. Date: 12/28/2009 Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.

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Overview

When small- and medium-sized business owners first hear George Cloutier's rules, they often think he's a madman. His controversial rules for doing business—rules that aren't taught at Harvard Business School—include:

The best family business has one member.
Weekends are for working, not playing golf or coaching.
Never pay your vendors on time.
Wear your control freak badge with pride.
Quit denial: if your business is failing during a recession, it's your fault.

As the founder and CEO of American Management Services, Cloutier has emerged as "the leading advocate for small business" (Reuters), having spent over thirty years guiding business owners through the tough choices that line the road to profitability. He and his company have worked with more than six thousand companies, averting certain ruin for some and generating seemingly impossible growth and profitability for others.

Cloutier graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School, but the lessons in this book aren't from there. Unlike his classmates, most of whom headed straight to Wall Street, Cloutier has been on the docks at 2 a.m. counting heads of lettuce for food distributors to make sure nothing would disappear without a waybill. He's spent long, overnight hours in truck stops, making sure sticky fingers stayed out of the tills. Cloutier and his colleagues at American Management Services become personal pitt bulls to the CEOs who hire them, doing whatever it takes to bring their clients' businesses back into long-term profitability.

Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing is the long- overdue wake-up call for 23 million small- and midsize business owners across America. This book serves up the hard-boiled, unadulterated truth to aspiring and established entrepreneurs, without apologies. His no-nonsense advice may be hard to hear at times, but it works.

Editorial Reviews

Booklist

“Packed with client examples and a no-nonsense attitude. Many of his regulations will amaze, shock, and awe small-business owners... Harsh ways to work? Yes, yet all his principles are founded on a success that’s hard to argue with.”

Publishers Weekly

This slim but forceful debut by turnaround management expert Cloutier serves as a wakeup call for small business owners who have been hit hard by the recession. “Don't blame the economy,” he writes. “Recession or no recession, if your small business is failing, it's your fault!” Cloutier dishes out tough love in pithy chapters that introduce his 15 “Profit Rules” (e.g., “Love your Business More than Your Family,” “The Best Family Business Has One Member” and “Teamwork Is Vastly Overrated”). While Cloutier's provocative pronouncements seem designed for maximum shock value, each rule relies on practical business principles: maintain tight controls, pay for performance and focus on sales at all times. This blunt work will not be for the timid business owner afraid to re-evaluate operations, planning, compensation or family dynamics. For those ready to focus on profits, though, Cloutier's book is loaded with valuable advice on how to get back on track and stay in the black in any economic environment. (Sept.)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780061832857
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 9/15/2009
Pages: 192
Sales rank: 566,253
Product dimensions: 5.80 (w) x 8.40 (h) x 0.90 (d)

Meet the Author

George Cloutier is a CEO, coach, speaker, and TV commentator who has been seen on Fox Business News, ABC's 20/20, CNBC's Squawk Box, MSNBC, and Bloomberg Television. He has successfully worked with 6,000 business owners in 400 industries and has been profiled by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, USA Today, and Fortune Small Business.

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crossword_lover

Posted January 24, 2011

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Best thing since sliced bread

This book will give you the long overdue kick in the butt that you and your company have been needing. This book is fluff-free and full of top-notch business excellence. I couldn't recommend it any more.
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SFERRA33

Posted November 9, 2009

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The Real Deal

Having worked for George at American Management Services in sales for 11 years I am uniquely qualified to review this book. I can personally attest that George doesn't just preach his "Profit Rules" for business success; he lives by them, as do his disciples at AMS. Working in outside sales for the company I lived by performance while witnessing literally dozens of non-performing salespeople die for lack of satisfactory results. Many of these were truly good people but that wasn't the point, results was - still is - and always will be.

On the sales side, I personally conducted over 3000 meetings with business owners while working with AMS. Of course they weren't all failing enterprises and, if your business is truly succeeding right now, this may not be your most relevant read. However, if you are like the countless number of business owners I met with who are not earning what they believe they're worth, are not effectively controlling but rather feel controlled by their businesses, and suspect they may be getting in their own way, then this book belongs on your must read and reference list. Sure, there's plenty of tough talk here and it's doubtful the majority will agree with all George prescribes - this is serious medicine for the serious condition of business mediocrity and failure and I think many will find it a tough pill to swallow.

However, one thing is certain, George and the Mosca brothers at AMS are the real deal and if you can handle the hard truth and commit to a proven process, you can achieve new levels of personal success and profitability from your business.
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Anonymous

Posted October 5, 2009

Don't waste your money

You need to go back on the docks and count heads of lettuce.
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Posted January 19, 2010

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