December Book Review.
Profit First - Mike Michalowicz.
3.5/5 Stars
The first thing you need to know is, I listened to the audiobook first. I inhaled it within 48 hours.
Actually, I borrowed the audiobook from my local library and listened on the Libby app, so if that's not a money win to kick this off I don't know what is.
And secondly, a month later I ordered the hardcopy anyway. Because it was still resonating with me and I was so keen to set up this framework from the very beginning of my business journey.
Mike clearly knows his stuff when it comes to business banking (and just generally in business I'd assume). The Profit First Principles give big "Barefoot Investor" energy and I'm a barefoot gal from way back, so this was right up my alley. I have had a complicated relationship with spending since I got my first 'keycard' at the age of 13 or so. In fact, I think the $500 I had painstakingly saved via Dollarmites (IYKYK) throughout primary school was gone within months of that shiny plastic arriving in the mail.
All this to say that the book keeping side of business ownership was… concerning… to me. However, Profit First popped up in my Instagram feed (as all great marketing does!), I gave it a go, and I'm glad I did.
The principles make sense. The four profit first principles are built around some pretty sound psychological theory on habit building and the primacy effect which really resonated with me. From the five foundational bank accounts to get started to the 'every tenth & twenty-fifth' transfer schedule, it’s the basic roadmap I needed to boost my confidence enough to just start. Does it mean I will actually make any money? Who knows! But if I do, I have a plan on how to manage it, make sure tax is taken care of and that my accountant won't hate me next July.
Mike's writing (or story telling if you do the audio version) is engaging, easy to follow and doesn't make you feel stupid. At times it did feel a bit repetitive and salesy, but in my view that didn't over take the message because the basic principles were sound and made sense to me. It also didn't feel salesy in the way that some experts do, when they focus so heavily on how their method solves your problems (and providing evidence of that) that they forget to actually… solve the problem.
If you're managing a small business or just getting started, it could be for you. If you are trying to manage your in's and out's with personal accounts or just one or two business accounts and you can't tell what you can spend or what should be squirrelled away for tax time - this book is for you!
Rating this is tricky for me, because I'm primarily a fiction gal. So for a non-fiction, financey book it's a 4/5 from me.
But as a BOOK compared to all other BOOKS I like to read, it's… 3.5/5
