I read The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz. I enjoyed the book and learned a few things. It was an easy and quick read, as the author’s writing style is more conversational with humor mixed in. This book is specifically geared towards existing small business owners who are in the B2B service segment; that is, they sell services to other businesses. That’s not to say that the reader who works primarily in B2B2C or B2C won’t learn from this book. It is still a worthwhile read, even if you are not in B2B. And, if you’re planning to start a B2B business, this would be a great book.
The aspect I most enjoyed about the book is that the author loads it with many stories from his own experiences as well as that of other businesses. Here’s the various industries that he covers: airlines, online retailer-jewelery, auto repair, construction, writing, telecom, financial planning, solar installation dog sitting/walking, web development, apparel, brewery, pharmaceutical, hunting/outdoor, nursing. I may have missed a few, but the point is that he tries to give the reader many examples from businesses in different industries to apply his principles.
The author has numerous exercises for the reader to do to apply the principles of this book in their business. You may or may not have come across different flavors of these exercises in the past but it’s still good to cover them here because they are based on this author’s background and experience, making them a little unique.
This book is a little similar to another book in the outcome it intends for the reader to gain based on applying the principles taught. That book is Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port. I am not recommending one book over the other, but both, because the principles taught in each book, while steering the reader to the same general outcome, are different based on the author’s background and experiences. Also, The Pumpkin Plan seems to focus more on using its principles to build a company with substantial revenues ($10+ mm) and employees, while Book Yourself Solid caters much more to the B2B consultant.
I rate the book a 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend business owners read it because I think most will learn from it and get a different perspective on how to approach some common business-growth challenges. It’s not a 5-star because I don’t see this as a revolutionary business book with new, game-changing ways.
My only real complaint about this book is that the Kindle version has some formatting issues.
