Larry Winget - Dont Quit Your Day Job!: What You Need to Know Before You Go in Business So You Can Stay in Business

OTHER TITLES BY LARRY WINGET

Get Out of Your Own Way!

Success is Your Own Damn Fault!

The Politically Incorrect Success System

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO INTO BUSINESS SO YOU CAN STAY IN BUSINESS

LARRY WINGET

Published 2021 by Gildan Media LLC

aka G&D Media

www.GandDmedia.com

DONT QUIT YOUR DAY JOB. Copyright 2021 Larry Winget. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any manner whatsoever, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. No liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained within. Although every precaution has been taken, the author and publisher assume no liability for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Front cover design by David Rheinhardt of Pyrographx

Interior design by Meghan Day Healey of Story Horse, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request

eISBN: 978-1-7225-2609-2

10987654321

In this book, Larry Winget, the man they call the Pitbull of Personal Development, will tell you the truth about entrepreneurship and how to be a successful entrepreneur. True to form, what Larry has to tell you is quite a bit different from the traditional wisdom that you may have heard up until now.

According to Larry, the world is full of podcast speakers, so-called thought leaders, hustlers, and shysters, telling people to become entrepreneurs to attain financial freedom and achieve their dreams. These people promise grand results from proven methods. They say that if you find your passion and follow your dream, youll live a life of love and luxury.

Thats all baloney. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20 percent of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 45 percent during the first five years, and 65 percent during the first ten years. Is failure your dream? Is it your dream to lose your life savings and crush your familys future? If thats your idea of happiness, then quit your day job. Follow your dream and get ready to cry yourself to sleep at night.

As Larry says, people have been sold that old bag of hooey about what it takes to be successful. Passion is not it. Motivation is not it. Loving what you do is not it. Those things matter, of course, but barely. What matters is finding a problem and solving it; serving your customer better than your competition does; hiring and firing; managing your time, your resources, and your employees; knowing how to sell; knowing your numbers; and knowing what to do when it all goes to hell, because that is the only guarantee that there really is when starting your own business.

Just who is Larry Winget, and why is he qualified to advise you about starting your own business? Larry is quite an accomplished businessperson himself. He is a bestselling author, television personality, social commentator, and internationally acclaimed speaker. He has hosted his own television series on A&E, been featured in two CNBC specials, had his own PBS special, and is a regular contributor as a business guru on Fox News, Fox Business, and others news networks. He has also written six New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers that have been translated into over twenty languages, including Its Called Work for a Reason.

Larry is also the author of seven bestselling audio programs such as the Politically Incorrect Success System. Hes a member of the International Speakers Hall of Fame and has spoken to over 400 of the Fortune 500 companies. He was recently named one of the Top 50 Keynote Speakers In the World. Larry is known worldwide for being direct, caustic, irreverent, and in-your-face. He offers solid advice for improving your life, business, finances, and family. Not often will you find someone who can deliver solid information in such a humorous, thought-provoking, and transformational style.

In this book, youll learn that Larry is not against starting your own business or becoming an entrepreneur. He is against doing it the wrong way: with no plan, little preparation, and only your passion to rely on. Dreams dont come true. Plans come true.

Larry will give you a plan to prepare yourself for the harsh reality of running your own business so you can be profitablewhich is why you started your business in the first place.

Im a big believer in entrepreneurship. I believe it is the backbone of the entire financial structure of this country. We have to have entrepreneurship to keep our economy alive and thriving. However, most people who become entrepreneurs really should keep their day jobs. They need someone else to make sure the paycheck shows up on Friday. They are not responsible enough or prepared enough, they havent done their homework, they havent done the market analysis, and they have no business ever going into business; they need to leave it to someone else.

However, there is a small group that definitely ought to go out on their own, start their own businesses, start hiring people, create new products and services, deliver high-quality service to consumers, and make a great living doing it. But those people are in a minority.

Let me step back in time for you and discuss my own career journey, both as an employee and an entrepreneur. I grew up, maybe not dirt-poor, but at least dusty, in Muskogee, Oklahoma. I watched my mom and dad go to work every single day for many years. My dad worked for Sears for forty-seven years. My mom worked at a little retail store next door to the Sears store in Muskogee. I was used to the fact that every single day you get up, you get dressed, and you go to work. Then you come home, and you still work, because theres a lot to do around the place. I was used to seeing people work at a job for a living. That was just part of the way I was raised, and I observed that that was how it was done in my family and in all the folks I grew up around.

I did see people starting their own businesses from time to time. I saw lots of little stores and operations pop up throughout Muskogee over the years, and I thought it was interesting to see new places to eat and shop but I also noticed that a lot of them went out of business.

I realized early on in my life that there was one thing I could bring to the marketplace that most people werent doing (probably because they hadnt been taught), and that was willingness to do whatever it takes. I was willing to work, no matter how hard the work was or how much of it there was. I was used to seeing people work. I knew that when you worked hard, you were rewarded for it. It was a very simple concept: work hard, get paid. I understood that.

I asked my dad one time why he had been with Sears for forty-seven years. That was over twelve thousand days and I watched him go to work most of those days.