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)

Mike does a great job of engaging the audience with stories and facts about how to help your business.

What is unusual, is that he gave a warning about why he curses in the book at the beginning. First of all the cursing was not offensive to me. Second, I appreciate the warning because it was respectful to the reader. After third, he is just very entertaining and his personality comes out through the book it makes me want to read the rest of his books as well. Thanks, Mike. Great job.

book review

very well written and very relatable!!! will listen to again and implement the homework given!!!

A simple concept that most of us need to hear.

The Pumpkin Plan is a book that I will reread about once each year. It's a great reminder of how important it is to find your ideal clients and focus on them.

This book gives us permission to let go of our worst clients, even if we sacrafice revenue in the short term.

Also, the referral program in this book is genius. I highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed the book and its nuggets of advice

I really enjoyed this book. I am an entrepreneur looking to absorb information about making my small business, a successful business.

definitely worth a listen

Read the first two chapters

This book is primarily just a repetitive reinforcement of the first couple chapters, not that the first couple chapters are bad but it is definitely dragged out.

Gold

Absolutely gold. Check out his other books!! I loved profit first. Love the fact that he’s real.

Inspirational

Full of innovative ideas and new approaches for looking at business. As a new independent business owner, this book clarified strategy for me.

awesome read!

very much enjoyed the straightforward style Mike has. extremely useful suggestions to grow any business.

Entertaining and informative

I love listening to Mike read his book because he sounds like he’s just talking to you in person. His expressions and commentaries make listening to his book entertaining and informative. I’m going to listen to his other books for sure!

AMAZING

It's like Mike somehow got into my head, analyzed my business, then gave me the blueprint to solve my problems. I can't wait to use the pumpkin plan.

Loved this book

Loved it so much goty creative juices flowing and will implement my own PP with my new company

A Must Have Read/Hear for any Entrepreneur

Very Helpful book with great ideas and plans to make things easier for you yourself and to make your Business more successful and Profitable.. I already done a few thing outlined in this book and can see the results after just a few weeks...
Also I like that the author reads it himself as sometimes audio books sound very boring but not Mike's books.... Fix this next Is the next audio book I'm gonna listen to... Again thank you for writing these great books Mike michalowicz
Greetings from Ireland

A must for all small businesses

I will be listening to this again and taking notes this time. I love how Mike has added to his original book with extras. No thrills or fancy strategies. Choose your pumpkin and focus on it! I have already made minor adjustments and recommended to all my self employed friends.

A really eye opening story of 'how to' !

Really enjoy this book, very insightful and I will be reading it again, and passing it on to those who I know will benefit.
I fully plan on trying out these ideas and going to the site for the pumpkin planning essentials.
His jokes are funny, but some do drag out a little, (my Brit humor prefers dry whit) but I mostly enjoyed them ... It was like listening to a story of success from a heartfelt friend. Defo a good read.

Great listen, highly recommend!

For all you business owners caught on the hamster wheel this is a must read. Offered great clarity on where my business was heading, time for change!

Excellent Book

Great book to listen to and is read by Mike himself. A must read for entrepreneurs