David W. Miller II - Hard Knocks MBA: The Search For Job Satisfaction And Business Success

Copyright 2011, David W. Miller II

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

ISBN: 978-0-88144-106-2

H ard Knocks MBA is a prerequisite for anyone interested in the entrepreneurial path. I would recommend it to everyone with a dream to create something, whether a start-up or a corporate venture. David W. Miller II takes us inside the reality of the entrepreneurial experience, with rich, very personal, and extremely pragmatic insights. You feel what he felt as the ups and downs and peaks and valleys unfolded. And you come away enlightened. Dr. Michael Morris, Professor and N. Malone Mitchell Chair in Entrepreneurship, Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University.

David W. Miller II was a shooting star of success and failure in the automotive and restoration business. There has never been and there will never be anyone quite like him in our business. Take the lessons he shares to heart and be more successful for it no matter what business you are in. Read this book. Bill Smith, President, Unique Collision

If you buy one business book this year, this should be it. It will become required reading for all our employees going forward. The lessons inside it are timeless and should be shared with everyone in your organization. The clues to finding job satisfaction and business success lie within its pages. Chris Davenport, President, Today Lending

Youll never meet anyone as creative and fun to be around in business and marketing as David W. Miller II. He truly inspires everyone he meets. I hope this book allows him to share his message with business owners and managers all over the world. Im proud to call him my friend and marketing advisor. Julian Joy, President, Joy Partners

In business its hard to find the kind of common sense knowledge and real world experience contained in David W. Miller II and this book. They just dont teach real-world management lessons like these in college classrooms. I wish they did. Chris Harl, President, Panoak Oil and Gas Corporation

David W. Miller II did a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong during his run at Trinity Restoration. He won the INC. 5000 Fastest Growing Privately-Held Businesses in the U.S. and he lost everything in bankruptcy. $20 is a small price to pay to learn the priceless lessons he shares in HARD KNOCKS MBA. Buy this book. Jessica Powell, President, eMerge Interactive Media

T he journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. To my beautiful wife and best friend Heather thank you for always being there every step of the way on our journey through life together. I am truly blessed because of you. I love you more than youll ever know.. As long as we have each other, we have everything in this life. Thank you!

I would like to thank all the Trinity folks that came and went over the years. Most of you are still very near and dear to my heart and I could have never had such enormous success without you. Thank you! I know some of you somewhat blame yourself for what happened at Trinity. Dontmove on with your lives and only look to the future. Whats done is done. In fact, I like to think of it in these terms. The employees did the work and I provided the direction. In the end, it was the direction that killed us, not the work. Therefore I reserve all blame for myself and give all credit to the employees. The buck always stops with the boss. Remember the many good times we had at Trinity and smile.

I would also like to thank everyone that has helped me along the way in my lifes journey before, during and after the Trinity saga. Without you, I could have never found the courage and strength to tell my story, pass on my advice and actually write and publish a book about this whole ordeal. You know who you are. Thank you!

A debt of gratitude is due to my publisher, Peter Biadasz of Total Publishing. Peter is a good friend and mentor and I could have never started or finished this book without his help. Thank you for putting up with all my dumb questions and crazy ideas. I also have to thank my editor, Martin Coffee, for making everything read right. And of course I have to thank my volunteer reviewers, Ron Hoffman, Cameron Hutton and Heather Miller. Thank you all!

A special note of thanks goes out to Dr. Jeretta Nord, Dr. Michael Morris and my Oklahoma State University Entrepreneurship family.

And last, but definitely not least, I would like to thank the friends, family and Phi Taus who have supported me throughout this entire process, most importantly my tough-as-nails mother, Cynthia. Mom, you have always been there for me and I wake up every day ready to take on the world because of you. Youre the best. I love you. Thank you!

This book is dedicated to everyone crazy enough to organize and manage a business enterprise with initiative and risk for themselves or for someone else, and students and educators of students studying to do either of those, also known as entrepreneurs. May God bless you and watch over you during the fight ahead.

David W. Miller II

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.

Matthew 7:12 NIV

Some men see things as they are and ask why

I dream of things that have never been and ask why not?

Robert Francis Kennedy

19251968

A funny thing happened on my way to getting a famous person to write the foreword to this bookI learned another valuable lesson to share with every entrepreneur about partnering with other organizations and making sure to get everything in writing even when you have nothing but the best intentions at heart

When my publisher first suggested that my book might be better if it had a foreword by some famous person that I knew, to be honest I didnt agree. I thought the book would be fine without it. But I deferred to his experience and expertise and went ahead and sent an invitation to Chip Foose of televisions Overhaulin. Chip is the most famous car guy in the world, a very successful entrepreneur, I respect and admire him, and he happened to be at Trinity on our best day in 2007 when we held our Grand Opening. In short, he was the only choice for the job in my mind.

I was shocked and surprised to get a nasty email back from his wife, saying that she would never allow him to do it because she was still mad about the amount of money that was donated to The Progeria Research Foundation following our Grand Opening. Unfortunately we had a misunderstanding about the definition of net proceeds and the exact amount that should have been donated to the charity. I thought the issue had been long since settled, but apparently she didnt see it that way. I had no clue she was still upset 3 years later, none whatsoever.

You see when I decided to go after Chip Foose as the host and featured celebrity at our 2007 Grand Opening in late 2006 I had no idea what I was doing. I wasnt famous. I had never hired a famous person for an event. And I had never organized a big charity fundraiser. I assumed that the world-famous Foose Design organization would know how to handle such things and that they would tell me exactly what needed to happen. So I hit the Foose web site and emailed them my request. I heard nothing back. After a week I called the Foose headquarters and left a message. I still heard nothing back. After another week, I sat down and wrote an old school letter and snail mailed it to Chip.