The Pumpkin Plan

A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field

By: Mike Michalowicz

Narrated by: Mike Michalowicz

Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Each year, Americans start one million new businesses, nearly 80 percent of which fail within the first five years. Under such pressure to stay alive—let alone grow—it’s easy for entrepreneurs to get caught up in a never-ending cycle of "sell it—do it, sell it—do it" that leaves them exhausted, frustrated, and unable to get ahead no matter how hard they try.

This is the exact situation Mike Michalowicz found himself in when he was trying to grow his first company. Although it was making steady money, there was never very much left over, and he was chasing customers left and right, putting in 28-hour days, eight days a week. The punishing grind never let up. His company was alive but stunted, and he was barely breathing. That’s when he discovered an unlikely source of inspiration—pumpkin farmers.

After reading an article about a local farmer who had dedicated his life to growing giant pumpkins, Michalowicz realized the same process could apply to growing a business. He tested the Pumpkin Plan on his own company and transformed it into a remarkable multimillion-dollar industry leader. First he did it for himself. Then for others. And now you. So what is the Pumpkin Plan?

• Plant the right seeds: Don’t waste time doing a bunch of different things just to please your customers. Instead, identify the thing you do better than anyone else and focus all of your attention, money, and time on figuring out how to grow your company doing it.
• Weed out the losers: In a pumpkin patch, small, rotten pumpkins stunt the growth of the robust, healthy ones. The same is true of customers. Figure out which customers add the most value and provide the best opportunities for sustained growth. Then ditch the worst of the worst.
• Nurture the winners: Once you figure out who your best customers are, blow their minds with care. Discover their unfulfilled needs, innovate to make their wishes come true, and overdeliver on every single promise.

Full of stories of other successful entrepreneurs, The Pumpkin Plan guides you through unconven­tional strategies to help you build a truly profitable blue-ribbon company that is the best in its field.

Includes exclusive author commentary throughout the audiobook and a bonus author interview at the end of the program.

©2012 Mike Michalowicz (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Every page, every chapter, as I read this book, I asked myself, ‘Michael E. Gerber, how come YOU didn’t think of that?’ Just remarkable! Just absolutely a remarkable book. A pumpkin! Who would have thought? Every one of you—entrepreneurs, business owners—read it! Do it now!" (Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth and creator of the E-Myth Evolution)

"Another great read from Mike Michalowicz! Mike’s off-the-cuff sense of humor and business savvy ensure that The Pumpkin Plan is a book that entrepreneurs should read for years to come." (Guy Kawasaki, author of Enchantment and The Art of the Start)

"Hard-hitting advice aimed directly at the entrepreneur who is stuck being a wandering generality instead of a meaningful specific. Plenty of seeds worth planting." (Seth Godin, author of We Are All Weird)

Exceptional

Game changer, the steps in this book are actionable and effective. I did the work of applying them and it works. Highly recommend this book.

field of dreams of pumpkins galore

Mike has packaged a nice range of interesting examples that supports the easily understand pitfales coupled with several how-tos for accomplishing ongoing business with an insightful perspective lead your thinking.

Starting your own business can be full of many challenges that are unforeseen, He presents insights to support the needed ongoing cleaning step to keep it running smoothly. No book is perfect this is a solid investment of time.

absolutely love this book. Helps get me motivated

absolutely love this book. Help me get motivated and keeps me focused on growing the business

Amazing book

This book was amazing. I love Mike Michalowicz! He’s so inspirational and knowledgeable ! I highly recommend this book, you will learn so much.

Great addition to profit first

This is the second book I get for Mike and it's been great listening to his ideas. Love the book and a great addition to the theory of profit first.

Listener Respect

Great listen & production regardless of the value you take from the author's advice.

Great insightful book

Mike really did an awesome job at writing this book. There are a bunch of great ways to better a business in any field. He shares stories about people that I’m sure many can relate to and implement in their own businesses. This is the second time that I’ve listened to it, and I got even more out of it than the first time.

Several Years Later…….

I listened to this book a few years ago after listening to Profit First. It took me a few years to make changes, I now have a business that I can fully Pumpkin Plan. Thanks for the priceless guidance, and the 2022 refresher course!

Great narration!

Great narration, the authors charisma comes through within the presentation and makes it dynamic and relatable.

New favorite author

Now I haven’t yet implemented the plan but I will. I appreciate the plenty of examples from different business genres.