Success Made Simple

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.

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