The keys to better business from a thriving group of business
owners-the Amish
Business can be discouraging. According to US Department of
Labor figures, only 44 percent of newly-opened firms will last four
years. Amish firms, on the other hand, have registered a 95%
survival rate over a five-year period. And in many cases, those
businesses do remarkably well-as Donald Kraybill writes: ‘the
phrase ‘Amish millionaire’ is no longer an oxymoron.’ Success Made
Simple is the first practical book of Amish business success
principles for the non-Amish reader. The work provides a platform
of transferable principles–simple and universal enough to be
applied in the non-Amish world, in a wide variety of business and
management settings.
* Learn how to develop profitable and fulfilling enterprises as
Amish explain how to build fruitful relationships with customers
and employees, prosper by playing to strengths, and create an
effective marketing story
* Includes interviews with over 50 Amish business owners outline
the role of relationships in business and the importance of the big
picture-taking in long-term goals, the welfare of others, and
personal integrity
* Offers ideas on practical application of Amish business
practices to non-Amish businesses, with bullet summaries at the end
of each chapter reviewing the most important take-away points
With a focus on relationship-building and the big picture,
Success Made Simple offers business owners everywhere the tools for
better, smarter, more successful enterprises.
İçerik tablosu
Foreword ix
By Donald B. Kraybill
Preface: Unearthing the Secrets xiii
A Note on Names xix
1 Eye to the horizon 1
Cultivating a Vision and Thriving Through Crisis
2 Getting smart 27
Hands-On Versus the Hallowed Halls
3 Market-bound 49
Excelling at Sales and Marketing
4 Doing unto others 75
The Crucial Customer Relationship
5 Choosing up sides 103
Getting the Right People in Place
6 Fishing lessons 127
Empowering Your Most Valuable Asset
7 Around the edges 155
Honing an Efficiency Mentality
8 The big picture 183
Getting What You Came For
conclusion 205
Barn Raising
appendix 207
Research and Interview Methodology
Bibliography 211
Acknowledgments 215
About the Author 217
Index 219
Yazar hakkında
ERIK WESNER is an independent expert on the Amish and their business practices, and previously spent a decade as a sales manager and record-breaking salesperson at Nashville’s Southwestern Company. He divides his time between Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he has strong ties to the Amish community, and Poland, the country of his roots. He also writes the popular blog Amish America at amishamerica.com, covering Amish business, culture, and other topics.