Episode 134: Mike Michalowicz of "Clockwork"

Mike Michalowicz' new book, Clockwork, continues his tradition of writing VERY actionable books. While business books containing one great idea are published every week, Michalowicz' books are valuable because of the action they trigger. His Pumpkin Plan and Profit First strategies are part of our Incubator and Growth Phase curriculum, and Clockwork's "Queen Bee Role" has been the subject of great discussion in our private Facebook group.

First, we start with Mike's definition of the Entrepreneur's Survival Trap: doing the things that will help you survive the day, but won't grow your business. It's the rush to the "urgent problems" without considering the future we're trying to reach.

Then we talk about Parkinson's Law: how your tasks will always expand to fill the time you have. You'll always be busy. The key to success is to do the RIGHT things.

Mike said that he doesn't like the "grind" and "hustle" mentality that many business speakers push now. I agree (here's our post called "The Hustle Is A Lie."

Mike went into his "4-D Mix" - where an entrepreneur spends his time, between Doing, Deciding, Delegating, and Designing.

All of us know we need to spend more time thinking about our business; planning for growth; identifying and prioritizing opportunities. But we all get sucked into the daily delivery of our service. Mike gives us a great exercise to get more "Designing" time. He calls this the QBR: The "Queen Bee Role".

Mike explained how to get yourself out of daily Doing, Deciding, and then how to properly Delegate. Then we got into Design, and what you SHOULD be doing every day.