The 51 Fatal Business Errors and How to Avoid Them [Perfect Paperback]

Jim Muehlhausen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2008

Starting a business is easy! Successfully running a business can be a challenge. Jim Muehlhausen has traveled the country collecting best and worst practices from business owners. The 51 Fatal Business Errors provides a quick and easy format to learn from other business owner's successes and failures. Each error contains a real-life example and definitive action-steps needed to improve your business. The 51 Fatal Business Errors is not full of fancy theories or fluff. It is chock-full of real-world experience learned at the world's most expensive business school: The School of Hard Knocks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Anyone can own a business, to be a professional CEO, you need to practice the techniques taught in this book --John Murray, CEO, Counter Intelligence. I continually review my copy of the 51 Fatal Business Errors. As a business owner, there are many daily decisions that to be made.....it s nice to rely on such a great tool. --Jeff Hastings, President, I.S.E.. The 51 Fatal Business Errors is a power-packed and most useful tool. Different that many business books that try to draw the reader in with stories and case studies, this one simply hits fifty-one crucial areas that small business leaders need to be excellent in, shows the common error(s) that many CEOs make, and offers a solution for every one. Every business owner will find at least one idea in this volume that could make or save them thousands of dollars. --Dan Devling, President, Midland Radio Corporation

I continually review my copy of the 51 Fatal Business Errors. As a business owner, there are many daily decisions that to be made.....it s nice to rely on such a great tool. --Jeff Hastings, President, I.S.E.

The 51 Fatal Business Errors is a power-packed and most useful tool. Different that many business books that try to draw the reader in with stories and case studies, this one simply hits fifty-one crucial areas that small business leaders need to be excellent in, shows the common error(s) that many CEOs make, and offers a solution for every one. Every business owner will find at least one idea in this volume that could make or save them thousands of dollars. --Dan Devling, President, Midland Radio Corporation

About the Author

Over the past eight years, Jim Muehlhausen C.P.A., J.D. has traveled the country speaking to business owners as well as has personally coached hundreds of business owners in over 3000 face-to-face coaching sessions. Jim will now share a condensed, everything you need to know version of those 3000+ coaching sessions in this book. Before becoming a full-time business coach, Jim Muehlhausen became the youngest franchisee in Meineke Discount Muffler history. The first time he set foot in a store, he set the single-day corporate store sales record. He ended up with three successful locations and sold the businesses for a healthy profit. Jim then started a manufacturing company that he ran for nine years. In 1999 Jim s company was honored by Inc. Magazine and Michael Porter from Harvard Business School as the 53rd fastest growing company in the Inc. ICC 100.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Mulekick Publishing; 3rd edition (April 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981608205
• ISBN-13: 978-0981608204
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Muehlhausen CPA, JD has had articles feature in numerous publications including Businessweek.com, Entrepreneur, Inc., Indianapolis Business Journal, The Small Business Report, Undercar Digest, Washingtonpost.com, Digitrends and NAICC Legal Journal. His recent book has already sold over 10,000 copies. (The 51 Fatal Business Errors and How to Avoid Them, ISBN: 978-0981608204)

Jim graduated from Valparaiso University with a B.S. in Accounting, passing the CPA exam while still in college. While subsequently attending the Indiana University School of Law, he became the youngest franchisee in Meineke Discount Muffler history (1987-1991). After successfully selling that business, Jim founded an automotive aftermarket manufacturing concern. During his 9-year tenure, the company achieved recognition from Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School and Inc. Magazine in the IC 100 Fastest Growing Businesses. Jim went on to enter the CEO coaching business. He says, "This is the work I was born to do." Over the past eight years, Jim has personally coached hundreds of business owners in over 3500 face-to-face coaching sessions and has clients in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He has condensed the most valuable business lessons into his book "The 51 Fatal Business Errors and How to Avoid Them."

Jim serves on several non-profit and company boards of directors as well as serving as an adjunct professor of business at the University of Indianapolis.
Jim's speaking topics include: "The 51 Fatal Business Errors," Stop Hiring Your Competitor's Rejects,"The Perfect Business Model and How to Get It," and "The Pareto Trap: How Most Business Owners Spend 80% of Their Time on the Wrong Stuff."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reference manual for success, February 13, 2008

By 

G. Dabicci - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The 51 Fatal Business Errors... and How to Avoid Them (Perfect Paperback)

I was blown away by the content in this book. The 51 Fatal Business Errors is more like a reference manual for successfully operating a profitable business. As someone who has started and run several different businesses, I only have time for practical, real-world advice and ideas. 51 Fatal Business Errors definitely delivers in that regard. I highly recommend this book for any business owner or anybody who wants to become one, while avoiding the many pitfalls too many of us have tended to make.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 51 business errors and how to fix them. Which are afflicting your company?, October 4, 2008

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The 51 Fatal Business Errors and How to Avoid Them (Perfect Paperback)

If you play golf, you know that you cannot stand over the ball and fill your head with all the possible bad shots you might hit and expect to hit a good shot. In performance you must focus on what you are trying to accomplish rather than on what you might do wrong. However, when not in active performance it is good to analyze your performance for weaknesses, mistakes, and all the details you might improve. This book is for those times.

Jim Muehlausen provides a book for small businessmen (and women), especially entrepreneurs, full of common mistakes that can prevent your success and actually lead to business failure. This book has 51 common business mistakes and most of us who have worked in business have seen most of them made at one time or another. Maybe we have made a few of them ourselves.

Each mistake is explained in a paragraph or two, a brief real life example is given, and a solution for the problem is offered. About half of the problems also have boldface paragraphs where the author really gets in your face about this problem. A few of these problems contain a bonus that you can view on the web.

The author offers a subscription web service to help you improve you business that is based on this book. You don't need to subscribe to benefit from this book, but I thought you should know that the author will try to sell you that service as your read this book.

The book deals with errors that have to do with hiring, organization, selling & marketing, how you lead, common worst practices, and the errors that flow from trying to be the only one in your company who can actually do anything and then blaming everyone else when things go wrong.

I like this book and you might benefit from it, too.

No, I did not subscribe to the service.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book for reference, January 19, 2009

By 

Virginia B. Youngblood - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The 51 Fatal Business Errors and How to Avoid Them (Perfect Paperback)

This mercifully brief management book is full of excellent observations on managing. These are presented in a humorous, easily readable style.

I once had a person tell me there are no new management ideas, only new people using them. This may be true. "The 51 Fatal Business Errors" is very helpful in presenting observations that are worth considering adding to your management "tool kit".

The book is well worth the price.