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The Self-Managing Company: Freeing yourself up from everything that prevents you from creating a 10x bigger future.
In my Strategic Coach(R) workshops, I'll draw a circle on the white board, and in the center, I'll write, Self-Managing Company.
I'll say to the group, You don't know exactly what I'm going to say about this, but right off the bat, how many of you want one of these? Every hand in the room goes up.
Every ambitious entrepreneur in the world wants to have their own Self-Managing Company.
This 60-minute book will provide you and your Unique Ability(R) Team with the eight crucial entrepreneurial mindsets necessary to make this a daily, exciting breakthrough for the next 25 years and beyond.
I'll say to the group, You don't know exactly what I'm going to say about this, but right off the bat, how many of you want one of these? Every hand in the room goes up.
Every ambitious entrepreneur in the world wants to have their own Self-Managing Company.
This 60-minute book will provide you and your Unique Ability(R) Team with the eight crucial entrepreneurial mindsets necessary to make this a daily, exciting breakthrough for the next 25 years and beyond.
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
80 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 20, 2020
112 people are currently reading
237 people want to read
About the author
Dan Sullivan
73 books328 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Dan has over 35 years’ experience as a highly regarded speaker, consultant, strategic planner, and coach to entrepreneurial individuals and groups.
He is author of over 40 publications, including The Wall Street Journal Bestseller: Who Not How, The Great Crossover, The 21st Century Agent, Creative Destruction, and How The Best Get Better®. He is co-author of The Laws of Lifetime Growth and The Advisor Century.
Dan is married to Babs Smith, his partner in business and in life. They jointly own and operate The Strategic Coach Inc., with offices in Toronto, Chicago, and the U.K. New workshops are also being held in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Dan and Babs reside in Toronto.
Dan has over 35 years’ experience as a highly regarded speaker, consultant, strategic planner, and coach to entrepreneurial individuals and groups.
He is author of over 40 publications, including The Wall Street Journal Bestseller: Who Not How, The Great Crossover, The 21st Century Agent, Creative Destruction, and How The Best Get Better®. He is co-author of The Laws of Lifetime Growth and The Advisor Century.
Dan is married to Babs Smith, his partner in business and in life. They jointly own and operate The Strategic Coach Inc., with offices in Toronto, Chicago, and the U.K. New workshops are also being held in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Dan and Babs reside in Toronto.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 8, 2022
Sounds so simple
Dan Sullivan is a master of taking a new look at how to be an entrepreneur. What I have found is this book can be read by various types off people. If you simple want to see the concepts and quickly absorb them - read the comics (illustrations).
This book brings to light concepts that are covered at a deeper level in related books. This is a great first read…
Dan Sullivan is a master of taking a new look at how to be an entrepreneur. What I have found is this book can be read by various types off people. If you simple want to see the concepts and quickly absorb them - read the comics (illustrations).
This book brings to light concepts that are covered at a deeper level in related books. This is a great first read…
July 3, 2023
Entrepreneurs enjoy starting new ventures but then dream about how they can run themselves while turning a profit. Dan Sullivan’s short book, “The Self Managing Company” offers his ideas on how to pursue this goal as well as other aspects of our lives.
He writes, “It’s the greatest freedom to be able to focus on one thing completely without feeling that you should be doing something else.
His points include:
• Your most important goal for the rest of your entrepreneurial career is to have all of your activities be in the Fascinating & Motivating zone, and spend none of your time, attention, or energy in the Irritating or Okay zones.
• A lot of Irritating activities only exist because of unconscious habit. Maybe they were necessary at one stage of your company’s development, but now, perhaps nobody should be doing them—certainly not you. And if you can’t eliminate them entirely, you can at least outsource them to someone else.
• You can break down their time (entrepreneurs) into three different energy states I call Free Days, Focus Days, and Buffer Days. Focus Days are show time or game time. Entertainers, athletes, and great entrepreneurs focus on doing their most important activities for a short period of time and operate at an extraordinary level of skill and resolve that most people can’t.
• Buffer Days are just for practice, rehearsal, or preparation for these Focus Days. And Free Days are 24-hour periods of no work-related activities, where the purpose is simply rejuvenation.
• Expanding your freedom of time. Expanding your freedom of time is essential to having a Self-Managing Company. The more you’re freed up to concentrate totally on what fascinates and motivates you, the more your company can grow.
• My number-one formula in life is that your eyes only see and your ears only hear what your brain is looking for. Once I decided to choose the age I’d live to, I suddenly started picking up on information from the frontiers of longevity science, life extension science, and life extension technology.
• A solution to avoid this is to continually increase the number of friends you have who are younger than you are, keeping in mind that you can take anyone of any age seriously as an individual because of their Unique Ability and what they uniquely bring to the table, regardless of their age.
There’s a lot of simple common sense in this book. While it may a stimulating book for someone who is embarking on their own entrepreneurial path, others may find it as somewhat simplistic.
He writes, “It’s the greatest freedom to be able to focus on one thing completely without feeling that you should be doing something else.
His points include:
• Your most important goal for the rest of your entrepreneurial career is to have all of your activities be in the Fascinating & Motivating zone, and spend none of your time, attention, or energy in the Irritating or Okay zones.
• A lot of Irritating activities only exist because of unconscious habit. Maybe they were necessary at one stage of your company’s development, but now, perhaps nobody should be doing them—certainly not you. And if you can’t eliminate them entirely, you can at least outsource them to someone else.
• You can break down their time (entrepreneurs) into three different energy states I call Free Days, Focus Days, and Buffer Days. Focus Days are show time or game time. Entertainers, athletes, and great entrepreneurs focus on doing their most important activities for a short period of time and operate at an extraordinary level of skill and resolve that most people can’t.
• Buffer Days are just for practice, rehearsal, or preparation for these Focus Days. And Free Days are 24-hour periods of no work-related activities, where the purpose is simply rejuvenation.
• Expanding your freedom of time. Expanding your freedom of time is essential to having a Self-Managing Company. The more you’re freed up to concentrate totally on what fascinates and motivates you, the more your company can grow.
• My number-one formula in life is that your eyes only see and your ears only hear what your brain is looking for. Once I decided to choose the age I’d live to, I suddenly started picking up on information from the frontiers of longevity science, life extension science, and life extension technology.
• A solution to avoid this is to continually increase the number of friends you have who are younger than you are, keeping in mind that you can take anyone of any age seriously as an individual because of their Unique Ability and what they uniquely bring to the table, regardless of their age.
There’s a lot of simple common sense in this book. While it may a stimulating book for someone who is embarking on their own entrepreneurial path, others may find it as somewhat simplistic.
January 23, 2021
The chapter about longevity stands out
While this is a business book, I found the most value in the concept of setting your own "target age" that's a lot more than the standard 80 or so years. The idea is you prime your mind for a certain target age and your body responds to it accordingly - whether it's 80 years or 156 (the author's target).
From a business standpoint, there are some good time and work management tips. I particularly liked the idea of Focus days and removing irritating tasks from your agenda every quarter.
The only reason I give 4 stars is that much of the content sounds like a business seminar from the 1980s meant for chiropractors in Texas. Dan Sullivan is an OG in the game I guess but I've always found this style of communication out of sync with me personally.
Overall, a good and quick read to get you motivated and think more strategically about your business.
While this is a business book, I found the most value in the concept of setting your own "target age" that's a lot more than the standard 80 or so years. The idea is you prime your mind for a certain target age and your body responds to it accordingly - whether it's 80 years or 156 (the author's target).
From a business standpoint, there are some good time and work management tips. I particularly liked the idea of Focus days and removing irritating tasks from your agenda every quarter.
The only reason I give 4 stars is that much of the content sounds like a business seminar from the 1980s meant for chiropractors in Texas. Dan Sullivan is an OG in the game I guess but I've always found this style of communication out of sync with me personally.
Overall, a good and quick read to get you motivated and think more strategically about your business.
November 10, 2023
Great read with clear ideas for growth.
Top takeaways:
- The company should manage everything that’s predictable.
- How Existing cash flow is made is predictable through sales and marketing and fulfillment so you can focus on NEW INNOVATION FOR CASH FLOW.
ABC MODEL: Goal is to spend your time in C
- A: Activities you dread
- Eliminate these activities every quarter
- B: Activities that are neutral
- Delegate and automate these every quarter.
- C: Activities you find FASCINATING AND MOTIVATING
- Spend all your time here
THE GAP AND THE GAIN:
- GAP: Measure against future ideal (unhappy)
- GAIN: Measure against past growth (happy)
KEY 3:
- Each night create a list of 3 wins from the day.
FREE DAYS, FOCUS DAYS, AND BUFFER DAYS: Allows no distractions
- FREE DAYS: FOR REJUVENATION AND ARE BOOKED FIRST
- FOCUS DAYS: FOCUS ON 3 MOST IMPORTANT MONEY MAKING ACTIVITIES FOR PRODUCTIVITY.
- BUFFER DAYS: CLEAN UP, REHEARSALS, DELEGATION, THINKING, PREPARATION
Top takeaways:
- The company should manage everything that’s predictable.
- How Existing cash flow is made is predictable through sales and marketing and fulfillment so you can focus on NEW INNOVATION FOR CASH FLOW.
ABC MODEL: Goal is to spend your time in C
- A: Activities you dread
- Eliminate these activities every quarter
- B: Activities that are neutral
- Delegate and automate these every quarter.
- C: Activities you find FASCINATING AND MOTIVATING
- Spend all your time here
THE GAP AND THE GAIN:
- GAP: Measure against future ideal (unhappy)
- GAIN: Measure against past growth (happy)
KEY 3:
- Each night create a list of 3 wins from the day.
FREE DAYS, FOCUS DAYS, AND BUFFER DAYS: Allows no distractions
- FREE DAYS: FOR REJUVENATION AND ARE BOOKED FIRST
- FOCUS DAYS: FOCUS ON 3 MOST IMPORTANT MONEY MAKING ACTIVITIES FOR PRODUCTIVITY.
- BUFFER DAYS: CLEAN UP, REHEARSALS, DELEGATION, THINKING, PREPARATION
August 22, 2021
Simple and practical
This book is full of simple and practical ideas for anyone who wants to grow their business, expand their possibilities and multiple their income, step by step. I loved pictorial explanations at the end of each chapter.
This book is full of simple and practical ideas for anyone who wants to grow their business, expand their possibilities and multiple their income, step by step. I loved pictorial explanations at the end of each chapter.
June 23, 2022
Quirky, actionable high level ideas
This book was weird in a good way, but that's where the enjoyment ended for me. A couple tips, tricks, and ideas but this book didn't have the depth to have a big impact to realize the promise of the title.
This book was weird in a good way, but that's where the enjoyment ended for me. A couple tips, tricks, and ideas but this book didn't have the depth to have a big impact to realize the promise of the title.
January 21, 2026
Great way to think about your company. Do you really just have a high-paying job and think it’s a company, or do you have a company that flourishes on its own?
August 19, 2022
I want to have one :) A good summary of how to use the mindsets from Dan Sullivan in real life situation, and how they help and build each other.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews