The One Minute Entrepreneur: The Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business

The One Minute Entrepreneur was a fantastic book. It give great insight into what it takes to excape the corporate world and live your dream of owning your own business. I work with Entrpreneurs every day and the pitfalls they talk about are right on target.

I agree with the other one-star reviews - Blanchard's "one minute manager" was a fantastic book - a completely new way of managing presented in a thoughtful, concise manner. His other books (Gung Ho, Raving Fans, etc.) are also well done, so I was VERY dissapointed with this text. The characters are hokey, and the "plot" is very cliche. Additionally this book does not add anything to the body of material that is out there regarding entreprenrship. The tagline "The secret to creating and maintianing a successful business" is much better illustrated through Tim Ferriss' "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich".

Twenty years ago I read a "quick read" in the cornerstone of the "One Minute..." series; "The One-Minute Manager". Ken Blanchard's book took a so - so manager, and guided him into a successful leader of staff.

Now 20 years later, just as I am jumping out on my own, Ken puts another guidepost out there for me to follow. This is a must read for anyone that has the dream, drive, and goal of being in business for themselves. Thanks Ken for all the great books over the years, you have made a difference in many lives with your work.

Fables can be an effective way to communicate if the fable is based on something that everyone can relate to. If you make a living getting paid thousands of dollars for speaking just a few minutes, you'll really relate to this book. Oh, you don't do that? I guess the fable won't work as well if you run a pizza shop, clean drains, or sell bicycles.

The book's second problem is that the authors are trying to cram in too much information. The One Minute Manager had three points in it. This book has dozens. As a result, you get lots of lists that you won't quite understand unless you've read all the other books referenced here.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, my advice would be to skip this book and read something about what someone has done in your line of business that's not being duplicated near where you are. You'll understand that kind of book much better, and you'll get more benefit from your reading.

I think that the wonderful Ken Blanchard is spreading himself too thin if he thought this was a well-done book that would help millions of entrepreneurs.

Compared to some of his previous books this one really disappoints. The story is told as a hokey narrative (as is Blanchard's style) of the hapless protagonist as he struggles to start his career in sales and then start his own business. It quickly dissolves into a shameless ad for a half dozen or so motivational speakers and fellow authors. Very little meat on the bone. Each chapter ends with a list of a few folksy hints and tips our hero learns, but they are often not well developed or supported in the story and add little to this boring shallow book. Pass on this one. For a good getting started in business story with better take-aways read Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace by Ricardo Semler.