You Call the Shots and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy Used
Used - Acceptable See details
$3.91 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
You Call the Shots: Succeed Your Way-- And Live the Life You Want-- With the 19 Essential Secrets of Entrepreneurship
 
 
Start reading You Call the Shots on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

You Call the Shots: Succeed Your Way-- And Live the Life You Want-- With the 19 Essential Secrets of Entrepreneurship [Hardcover]

Cameron Johnson (Author), John David Mann (Author), David Bach (Foreword)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover --  
Paperback $15.78  
MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged $18.99  
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $20.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Book Description

January 9, 2007
Why work for someone else when you can call your own shots, pursue your dreams, and find success on your terms by starting your own business? So many people end up bored with their jobs, stuck in the corporate grind, never following their true passions. As wildly successful young entrepreneur Cameron Johnson shows, you don't have to live that way. We've entered a new age of entrepreneurship, with the Web making it easier than ever to start and run your own company. As Johnson's remarkable story reveals, the entrepreneurial way of life is a great way to make sure you love what you do -- and it offers the potential to achieve extraordinary success by following your gut instincts and going for what you really want.

What about the risks? Don't you need lots of money? Don't most start-ups fail? Johnson shares his essential secrets to entrepreneurial success that show you how he got into the life at very low risk, and, with very little money, took an idea that excited him and ran with it, achieving great success and satisfaction with businesses he loved. He didn't have an MBA; he didn't even have a college degree. But he had learned the simple yet vital secrets he reveals.

Cameron Johnson is a seriously happy entrepreneur who started his first business when he was nine with $50 and a home computer. Before he'd turned twenty-one he'd started twelve successful businesses and was offered $10 million in venture capital to grow his hot Web company CertificateSwap.com -- praised by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the Web businesses helping the tech industry get its groove back -- even bigger. He has never taken out a loan or racked up any debt, and every one of his businesses has been highly profitable -- so profitable that he made his first million before graduating from high school, and he's put away enough cash so that he could retire today. But that's the last thing on earth he'd want to do; he's much too happy starting up new companies.

Through the story of his own impressive career so far, in You Call the Shots, Johnson takes you behind the scenes of entrepreneurial success and empowers you to hit the ground running with your own great business idea, no matter how young you are or how little money you have to invest.



Editorial Reviews

Review

"You Call the Shots is for everyone committed to following their dreams. Cameron Johnson thoroughly outlines the strategies it takes to remove obstacles to entrepreneurial success. This book is essential reading for anyone with a passion for life." -- T. Harv Eker, founder and president of Peak Potentials Training, Inc., and author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

About the Author

Cameron Johnson had started, run, and sold twelve successful companies by the time he was twenty-one. His business successes have been featured in Time, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, USA Today, and many more publications, as well as on the Today show and Good Morning America. When he was fifteen he became an advisory board member of a Tokyo-based company, and his autobiography, 15-Year-Old CEO, published in Japanese, became an instant bestseller. He has consulted to Fortune 500 companies and spoken at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Every one of his businesses has been a success, even in the worst days of the Internet bust. As a college freshman, he started CertificateSwap.com, an online marketplace for gift cards, which was a runaway success and for which he was offered $10 million in venture capital. He lives in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Free Press (January 9, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 141653606X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416536062
  • Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1 x 8.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,379 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

45 Reviews
5 star:
 (30)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (45 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Young serial entrepreneur's great list of 19 secrets of entrepreneurship that wanta-be entrepreneurs should rotely memorize!, December 25, 2007

I found this to be a very good book. I highly recommend it! Just as the title promises, this book provides 19 chapters, or 19 "secrets," of entrepreneurship. The chapters include:

0. Introduction
1. Put yourself out there
2. Start small
3. Make money work for you
4. Look close to home for great ideas
5. Balance work with life
6. Surround yourself with great people
7. Make yourself your brand
8. Don't be afraid to negotiate
9. Make your own tough decisions
10. Adapt or die
11. Find great mentors
12. Seek out new knowledge every day
13. Use the power of the press
14. Stick to your guns
15. Get experience on the ground
16. Never underestimate the value of your customers
17. Creatively build on your experience
18. Remember what it's really all about
19. Be the entrepreneur you want to be

This book is very well written. And it is organized very well, too. I appreciated the inclusion of the appendix at the end of the book that provides tips for getting started that most wanta-be entrepreneurs will devour. Each chapter makes a point that the author presents to us using examples from his life experiences. He is a son in a long line of entrepreneurs or self-employed. And he seems to take to that lifestyle and mindset very well.

I noticed this book in B&N on Christmas Eve and picked it up. I thought the chapter headings were wonderful. And I suspected I could recommend this book to many of my SCORE clients who are overwhelmed with trying to put together a business plan for a small business they want to start. When I got home I logged onto Amazon to see if many people there had reviewed this book. Usually I don't review a book if it has more than 10 reviews because I wonder what's my review going to add. Turns out there were 22 reviews posted. Wow.

I'm posting this review anyway because I find it easier to recommend a book to my SCORE clients if I post a review for it. And I definitely want to recommend this book to my clients from time to time. I believe it to be an important book. Also, the Table of Contents is not posted for this book. So my review which includes a listing of the book's 19 chapters should help anyone purusing the reviews learn a little more about it. 5 stars!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Customer Service: It's About Removing Obstacles, January 15, 2007
By 
Anita Ashland (Madison, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
This review is from: You Call the Shots: Succeed Your Way-- And Live the Life You Want-- With the 19 Essential Secrets of Entrepreneurship (Hardcover)
Because every business is, ultimately, a Customer Service business, regardless of the product or service that is sold, I enjoy reading books written by entrepreneurs because there's a chance I'll learn something new about Customer Service. You Call the Shots by 22-year-old Cameron Johnson fits the bill.

Johnson started 12 online businesses - each one lasting a year or so - before age 21. That alone is interesting and any teen who is remotely interested in business or frustrated with traditional schooling should read his story. It's a painless way to learn about venture capital, public speaking, public relations, surrounding yourself with mentors and finding business ideas that don't require start up money. The appendix is loaded with helpful resources as well as a link to his website where there are yet more resources.

For me, the most interesting part of the book was the chapter about his work experience at his father's Ford dealership, Magic City Ford, in Virginia . The dealership has been in his family for four generations. His favorite part of high school was his part-time job as the internet sales person at the dealership, even though he was making a ton of money from his online businesses. When he was 19-years-old the General Manager promoted him to General Sales Manager, leap frogging him over adults who had worked there longer than he was alive. Yes, he was that good. In 2004 their sales were double what they were the year before even though most other dealers in the nation had reduced sales that year.

How did he do it? He was innovative. He stopped advertising in the newspaper and used that $200K per year to create bonuses and incentives for the sales force. Most of all, he was successful because of superior customer service. "One of the most important things I've learned about selling -- no matter what you're selling, whether it's a Ford Explorer, a start-up to a VC firm, or tomatoes to your neighbor -- is something my father taught me: what you're really doing is helping people remove all their obstacles." So, if a customer said he couldn't make a decision until he talked to his wife, Johnson would offer to drive the car to her right then so she could decide. If a customer said he really wanted the car but wished it had a six-disc CD changer, Johnson would offer to install one for free. If a customer didn't want to put $500 down Johnson offered to make the down payment for him.

In a few years I'll have to purchase a new mini van and will now have high expectations from the sales person. If I am unsatisfied locally, who knows, maybe I'll find myself buying online from Magic City Ford.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An Instant Classic!!!, January 22, 2007
This review is from: You Call the Shots: Succeed Your Way-- And Live the Life You Want-- With the 19 Essential Secrets of Entrepreneurship (Hardcover)
As an entrepreneur who has read more than a hundred books on the subjects of "Business", "Marketing", "Sales" and "Advertising"... I rate this "You Call The Shots" masterpiece in my top 5. This Kid's practical, "common sense" approach to starting, running and growing a business is a refreshing change from the books that pack the shelves of "Business" sections in libraries and bookstores everywhere. The innovative approach to customer service, employee motivation & management, customer follow-up, mentor resources, as well as the "ingenious" advertising & marketing strategies that are detailed in this book make it a "must read" for anyone who is already in business or who is considering starting a business. I cannot recommend it enough.

The appendix of this book alone is worth the purchase... as it is loaded with numerous "priceless" resources that most entrepreneurs would kill for.

So incredibly brilliant, educational & insightful is this book, that it wouldn't surprise me if in the near future it becomes "required reading" at all the top business schools in the country.

It is truly... that essential!

Pete Kaczynski (Springfield, MA)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
make your money work
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Magic City Ford, Virginia Tech, Beanie Baby, Michael Dell, Beanie Babies, Cameron Johnson, New York, Donald Trump, Surround Yourself, United States, Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Get Experience, Great People, Make Yourself Your Brand, Look Close, Bill Gates, Roanoke Times, Ford Motor Company, Start Small, Use the Power of the Press, Certificate Swap, Make Your Own Tough Decisions, Put Yourself Out There, Tommy Kho, Find Great Mentors
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject