Tom Golisano - Built, not born: a self made billionaires no-nonsense guide for entrepreneurs

This book is dedicated to the original entrepreneurs who helped build Paychex. They took the risks, and they made it work.

• Phil Wehrheim, Syracuse
• Robert Sebo, Cleveland
• Charles Wollmer, Miami
• Robert Beegen, Detroit
• Michael LoCurto, Los Angeles
• James Wayman, Boston
• Thomas Tracy, Washington, DC
• Kevin Dugan, Philadelphia
• Ronald Nowak, Atlanta
• Ronald Raab, Denver
• Thomas Beatty, Seattle
• Willis Hall, Phoenix
• Jack Hartland, Houston
• Gene Polisseni, Cincinnati
• Gloria Austin Golisano, New York City
• Henry Knapp, New Orleans
• Thomas Kubiak, Systems Engineer
• Gerald Reynell, Buffalo
• G. Thomas Clark, Chief Financial Officer
• ... and Marty Mucci, CEO, along with the 15,500 dedicated people who currently work for Paychex and who service our 670,000 clients and shareholders.

I am grateful to the many people who have helped turn Built, Not Born into a reality. Im especially thankful for all the entrepreneurs out there who launch new businesses every day. They are the bedrock of the American economy and the inspiration for this book.

I am immensely thankful to all the people I have worked with over the years at Paychex. Most of the lessons I share in this book were learned during my time building the company and working alongside so many talented individuals.

Id like to thank my coauthor, Mike Wicks of Kevin Anderson and Associates, for his tireless efforts. His commitment and passion for the project were inspiring. His contribution to the content and his ability to find my voice helped make the book both readable and accessible.

To Steve Pigeon, my friend and advisor, who worked with us every day during the writing process and whose contribution was invaluable: Id like to thank you for always being there for me.

Thank you, Kevin Anderson, for bringing Mike Wicks to me and for introducing me to Celeste Fine, my literary agent. Your guidance throughout the publishing process helped me navigate my way through the world of editors, agents, and publishers.

My heartfelt thanks go to Marty Mucci, Blake Gable, and Larry Quinn for reading each draft to ensure accuracy, and for making so many useful suggestions and notations. Your support helped make this a book of which I am truly proud.

To Naomi Whittel, without whom I may never have found Kevin Anderson and Associates and Mike in the first place: your marketing insights and wisdom, your ongoing support and commitment to this book, and, of course, your friendship mean a lot to me.

My special thanks to Matt Ray for his specific help in writing the section on understanding the various legal business structures companies can adopt.

My thanks to my very talented literary agent, Celeste Fine, and to my publisher, HarperCollins Leadership.

There is a difference between the business principles taught in academic institutions and those learned over many years of actually running a business. Both experiences have their place and value, and a good entrepreneur can learn from either perspective.

These days, you can also learn a lot from business books, some of which might take you months to read and absorb. And they may have something to offer small business owners, managers, or anyone interested in learning about business.

Built, Not Born, however, is a short book that is long on common sense, facts, advice, and business wisdom. Wisdom that comes from over five decades of starting new businesses, running a highly successful national corporation, mentoring entrepreneurs of all ages, and investing millions of dollars in small business enterprises. You can read this book in the time it takes to fly from New York to San Francisco. Ive cut out anything extraneous and focused on what I feel all entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial employees must know to succeed, backed by real-life, been-there-done-that experiences.

This book is targeted at those of you who are considering starting or buying a business, or those who are running a thriving businessor a struggling one. It is also written for entrepreneurial employees who want to run their department or division more effectively and more profitably.

From my one-page business plan to why employment may be riskier than entrepreneurship, from the importance of a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement to the power of a pregnant pause, you will discover the secrets of how I grew a business from a few thousand dollars to a multibillion-dollar enterprise with more than half a million customers. My aim is to help you become more successful and hopefully entertain you along the way.

Its your choice: you can spend the next few years working toward a master of business administration, or you can start your business life right now. In only a few hours, you will gain a thorough understanding of how to succeed in business. Thank you for picking up this book. Turn the page and learn the not-so-secret secrets to success.

If youve spent your hard-earned money to purchase this book, I think you deserve to know a little about the person who wrote it and how he came by all the business wisdom and advice it contains. Unlike many books on the market, none of what Ill tell you in these pages is theory. Im going to share with you what I learned when, with $3,000 and a credit card, I took a basic business idea and turned it into one of Americas largest and most profitable corporations.

My goal is to help you do things the right waythe first time. When you review the table of contents of this book, I hope you say to yourself, This stuff is important to me and my business. In Built, Not Born you wont find buzzwords, wild promises, unnecessary information, or hyperbole. What you will find is solid business advice that, if taken, will make your life easier and help you become more successful. Ill also tell you the stories behind how some of my key business beliefs took shape and describe the circumstances that led to my adopting them as my own successful business strategies.

The biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs is that most dont have the benefit of over fifty years experience mastering their trade, fifty years of making mistakes and finding ways not only to correct them but also to ensure they dont make them again. They havent fought their way through seemingly impossible challenges and dealt with idiots, phonies, and others who seem to delight in hampering their progress. Its this experience that I bring to the businesses I invest in, and now to those of you who read this book.

In todays ever-changing business world, where augmented reality (AR) is actually a thing, and there is an Internet of Things (IoT), I sought an old-school way of allowing you to invite me into your business: through the pages of this book. And incidentally, this book will never crash on youno blue screen of death, I promise. Just keep turning the pages and Ill be with you every step of the way. Of course, thats not to say you wont also hear me on a podcast in the very near future.

My advice will sometimes fly in the face of perceived business wisdom; in fact, it will often question standard practices and defy the status quo. Throughout my life Ive challenged the ways things are done in business, sports, politics, and philanthropy. Why? To increase my chances of winning in business and life while still offering a good deal for everyone. In this book, for the first time Ill share my no-nonsense, sometimes contrarian, principles and business approaches with you: the ones that turned the son of Sicilian immigrants from West Irondequoit, New York, into a multibillionaire.

Built, Not Born will give you an edge. It will tell you how to turn the odds of success in your favor, improve productivity and profitability, reduce risks, and avoid the many pitfalls lying in wait for unwary and inexperienced businesspeople.