The Hot Tub Manifesto: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Having It All

by Cheryl Biron, Louis Biron

Overview

SUPPORT YOUR DREAM LIFESTYLE!

Cheryl and Louis Biron have done it, and so can you!

In The Hot Tub Manifesto, Cheryl and Louis share how they very intentionally assessed where their life was headed, and made several pivots, reinventing themselves and their business. They went from executives on the fast track up the corporate ladder to successful entrepreneurs with the freedom to enjoy their dream life, while their company, One Horn, was named among New Jersey’s 50 Fastest Growing Businesses and North America’s 50 Fastest-Growing Women- Owned Businesses!

Part One, “Beginnings and Growth” shares their journey from corporate executives into entrepreneurship, featuring their pivots, growth, and great results.

Part Two, “Building Best Practices” provides practical advice for scaling up and automating your business to maximize both productivity and growth potential, while maintaining work-life balance.

Part Three, “Life Lessons” offers thoughts on broader issues such as family priorities, succession planning, and pragmatic suggestions for working side-by-side with the person who is your partner both in business and in life.

You, too, can craft your business to support your dream lifestyle and the freedom to pursue what is important to you!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780997415797
Publisher:	Highpoint Executive Publishing
Publication date:	09/19/2017
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Cheryl Biron started her post-MBA career on the fast track in marketing at corporations like Procter & Gamble. In addition to founding and running One Horn Transportation with her husband Louis, through LexaGen Freedom Accelerator, her business growth coaching practice, she works with other CEOs and their leadership teams to help their companies grow, scale, and create a culture of action and accountability. Cheryl has been named among New Jersey's Best 50 Women in Business. She earned her BS at Cornell University and her MBA at e Wharton School.

Louis Biron initially took his MBA on the corporate fast track, consulting at a McKinsey spin-off, then running divisions of Brink's and Wind River Environmental. With Cheryl, he leveraged his experience in trucking, process reengineering, and IT to purchase and grow One Horn. Through Stratebo Technologies, he now is monetizing the software he created to run One Horn's back office. Louis earned his B.Eng. at McGill University, his MS in computer design at the University of Montreal, and his MBA at HEC in France.

Table of Contents

Foreword By Verne Harnish . v

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

A Note from Cheryl and Louis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

PART ONE: Beginnings and Growth 1

Chapter 1: Corporate Execs 3

Chapter 2: Buying One Horn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Chapter 3: A Tale of Two Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chapter 4: From Surviving to Thriving . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Chapter 5: Freight Model: Building The FAM 43

Chapter 6: Scalable Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Chapter 7: Blue Ocean: The Birth of The

Corporate Agent Model . 61

Chapter 8: Diversifying the Family Interests . 69

PART TWO: Building Best Practices . 81

Chapter 9: Now That You’ve Grown, Who Does What? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Chapter 10: Automate It! 91

Chapter 11: Outsourcing 99

Chapter 12: The Marketing Triad: Social Media, Publishing, and Awards . 107

Chapter 13: Strategic Thinking 117

Chapter 14: Act, Act, Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Chapter 15: Treasury Management:

How We Manage Cash Flow.........Daily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Chapter 16: Managing Business Credit . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Chapter 17: Have Scanner, Will Travel 151

Chapter 18: Prioritize, Organize,

Bundle Best Practices 159

PART THREE: Life Lessons 169

Chapter 19: Woman in a Man’s Industry . 171

Chapter 20: It’s Trucking, Not Our Calling 181

Chapter 21: All In The Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Chapter 22: Married Couple Working Together . . . 195

Chapter 23: We Still Avoid Buses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Bonus Chapter: The Kids’ Perspective 211

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Editorial Reviews

“Stop saying ‘one day’ and start saying ‘today.’ In The Hot Tub Manifesto, Cheryl and Louis Biron, give you the exact steps to design a business that makes life easier, richer and better. Time to pop the champagne!” – Mike Michalowicz, author of Profit First

“Successfully positioning and scaling a business is challenging! Doing it while creating a balanced, quality lifestyle is even more challenging. Cheryl and Louis have ‘been there-done that’ with great success, and share their wisdom in this book. By reading The Hot Tub Manifesto, you’ll learn the secrets to not only making business better but also making business and life work better. The Hot Tub Manifesto is a must read! – Caryn Kopp, Chief Door Opener

“I love reading the stories of how real entrepreneurs built their businesses. Louis and Cheryl have given entrepreneurs a great gift by sharing their story and the lessons they have learned. A great read for any aspiring entrepreneur!” – Greg Crabtree, author of Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits

“Over the past couple of years, I have had the opportunity to get to know and observe Cheryl’s commitment to excellence in business, and a life lived passionately, with her family at the center. This book chronicles the story and principles of achieving freedom through entrepreneurship, in partnership with her family, without having to compromise dreams often associated with a ‘scarcity mindset’. This is the road less traveled, lived out in reality.” – Keith Cupp, CEO, Gazelles International

From the Publisher