Seize the American Dream: 10 Entrepreneurial Success Strategies [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Jim H. Houtz (Author), Kathy Heasley (Author), Karla Olson (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

You Can Seize the American Dream!

Whether you are already an entrepreneur, working to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit within your company, or just thinking about starting your own business, this book will help you realize your dreams and make a real difference in your life and the lives of others. Unlike the aspirations of generations before us, the American dream today is more about entrepreneurial spirit than it is about security. This book dispels the myth that entrepreneurs are good only at starting companies, and provides the strategies and the inspiration that will help you leave your mark on the world and change things for the better. Seize the American Dream offers the tools you need to act on your passion, build a solid and effective organization, and realize financial freedom in the process.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Personable and penetrating, belongs on the desks of anyone with an abiding interest in the forces of shaping success. --The Book Reader, Fall/Winter 2002-3 Page 48

Seize the American Dream is the winning formula. All the ingredients are here for any size company, a no-nonsense approach to leadership. --Ruth Ann Marshall, President, MasterCard International

This book teaches people how to surrender their good ideas with solid business practices that are clearly defined and actionable. -- Doug Ducey, President & CEO Cold Stone Creamery

From the Inside Flap

Seize the American Dream Dispels Myths and Provides Hope to Entrepreneurs Everywhere

We have all heard it again and again:

Entrepreneurs are good only at starting companies; they are terrible at running them.

Entrepreneurs are great idea people, but are terrible managers.

Sadly, it is these myths that keep many of the world’s most creative and inspired people from pursuing their dreams. That is, until now.

Seize the American Dream: 10 Entrepreneurial Success Strategies is a book for entrepreneurs and people who yearn to build or grow a business, improve lives, and achieve financial freedom. Whether you are a company of one or one thousand, the strategies in this book take you from dream to reality using actionable methods that have proven successful in businesses nationwide. The contents are the result of a 30-year entrepreneurial experiment called CyCare. Houtz started this company in 1967 with $1,500 and ten shares of IBM stock and sold it in 1996 for $276 million. His experience with CyCare was a proving ground for what did and did not work. Companies using the successful strategies Houtz developed are achieving similar results today.

This is not a book of theory, and it is more than a how-to book. It combines no-nonsense advice with proven business methods that you can put into practice immediately. You’ll learn how to recognize opportunity, get your idea off the ground, secure financing, build your business, and much more. Seize the American Dream is the new guidebook of entrepreneurial business management and the must-have tool for lasting business success.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: JaGrand Ventures; illustrated edition edition (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971701202
• ISBN-13: 978-0971701205
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,383,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Houtz, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author, former CEO and Washington watcher believes that the problems our nation and the world face today can be solved, not by government programs, but by entrepreneurs. From our reliance on foreign oil to our out-of-control healthcare costs to our challenged education system to our faltering economy, Houtz sees American ingenuity through entrepreneurship as the answer. Houtz believes entrepreneurs will be the ones who develop the products, the services and the innovations that will save our world, unless of course, big government gets in the way. Houtz' mission is to stop our government from stacking the deck in favor of special interests, and instead promote free-market competition. He sees his role as one of enlightening a new breed of entrepreneurs to the Washington shenanigans that can crush their businesses. He considers it his job to inspire these men and women to stand up for their futures.

A lifelong entrepreneur himself, Houtz was the founder of CyCare, the nation's number one group practice management software company that he sold to HBOC in 1996. Today he works with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies to help them grow their businesses for their own gain and for the survival of our nation. Jim accomplishes this through his interactive website JimHHoutz.com, which covers news on entrepreneurship, business building and government policy affecting business. He also is in the process of releasing chapter by chapter for free on his website his new book Grow the Entrepreneurial Dream: How to Take Your Business from Start Up to World Class which follows on the heals of his first and highly acclaimed book Seize the American Dream: 10 Entrepreneurial Success Strategies. His third book, Saving America: Common Sense Solutions to Washington Nonsense, which is due out in May tackles the eight biggest issues we must solve and poses entrepreneurial solutions for each of them. It simplifies and prioritizes our challenges and provides common sense solutions that are actionable by people who know how to take action...entrepreneurs. Together, the website, the books, Jim's outspoken yet thoughtful demeanor packs the power we need as a nation to move forward in our new century