The Facts of Business Life What Every Successful Business Owner Knows that You Don�t

IF YOU BELIEVE THAT:

• Being your own boss can be a great career choice
• Success is what you decide it is
• Doing what you have a passion and talent for can be very profitable
• Monetary risk, hard work, and new ideas should be financially rewarded
• Understanding the business basics every successful owner focuses on?and in what order?would be beneficial
• Success works for you only after you?ve worked for it
• Marketplace battles are won before they are played
• Knowing what owning a business is really like would make ownership success a lot easier
• Change can create great opportunities
• Knowing when to exit a business is as important a life and business decision as becoming an entrepreneur in the first place

THEN THE FACTS OF BUSINESS LIFE IS FOR YOU!

Written by a successful business owner with four decades of experience, The Facts of Business Life is full of real-world concepts that owners must use and embrace if they want to become and stay successful. This multiple award-winning book has been endorsed by some of America?s top business leaders, like Steve Forbes and Ken Fisher, and has been recognized as ?one of the best five business books of the year? and ?a must read for entrepreneurs or those wanting to be one.?

McBean begins with clear explanations and real-life examples of the seven Facts of Business Life that every successful business owner knows and executes consistently, including exactly what they are as well as how and when to use them. He then goes on to show how those facts impact on the five levels every successful business passes through, from ?Ownership and Opportunity? to ?Moving On When It?s Time to Go,? explaining that while the facts themselves remain the same, as a business becomes successful and moves through its life cycle, the way they are applied must change to fit changing circumstances.

But there are even more reasons why this breakthrough business book is a must read, including:

• Its principles are based on the author?s own experience in starting and running successful businesses in a variety of industries.
• It shows that the most successful businesspeople create profitable opportunities rather than wait for them to present themselves.  
• It enables readers to analyze the likelihood of their own success based on the characteristics most successful owners have.
• It reveals the #1 priority for all owners and their employees, and why every owner needs to continually focus on it (Hint: it?s not being profitable).
• It emphasizes that becoming successful is no guarantee that success will last, and that success itself can be a trap that eventually leads to failure.
• It shows that a business?s culture isn?t just a mission statement but also the processes created to operate the business and the employees who implement them.
• It discusses the steps that must be taken even before a business is started to increase the odds of its becoming a lasting success.
• It covers every step in a business? life cycle, including the last one, showing that the best time to exit a business is when you don?t have to, and that unless you pick that time, someone else will.

MANY BUSINESS BOOKS INCREASE THEIR READERS? KNOWLEDGE?THE FACTS OF BUSINESS LIFE NOT ONLY INCREASES THAT KNOWLEDGE, IT SHOWS YOU HOW TO TURN IT INTO PROFITS. 

Foreword xi

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xix

Chapter 1: The Facts of Business Life 1

The Facts 3

The Business Life Cycle 9

Chapter 2: The Five Levels of Business Success 13

Level 1: Ownership and Opportunity 17

Level 2: Creating Your Company’s DNA 22

Level 3: From Survival to Success 27

Level 4: Maintaining Success 32

Level 5: Moving on When It’s Time to Go 37

Chapter 3: Fact 1: If You Don’t Lead, No One Will Follow 45

Level 1: Ownership and Opportunity 50

Level 2: Creating Your Company’s DNA 56

Level 3: From Survival to Success 62

Level 4: Maintaining Success 72

Level 5: Moving on When It’s Time to Go 77

Chapter 4: Fact 2: If You Don’t Control It, You Don’t Own It 87

Level 1: Ownership and Opportunity 89

Level 2: Creating Your Company’s DNA 93

Level 3: From Survival to Success 98

Level 4: Maintaining Success 103

Level 5: Moving on When It’s Time to Go 111

Chapter 5: Fact 3: Protecting Your Company’s Assets Should Be Your First Priority 121

Protecting Tangible and Intangible Assets 125

Protecting Products or Services 126

Protecting People 127

Level 1: Ownership and Opportunity 129

Level 2: Creating Your Company’s DNA 134

Level 3: From Survival to Success 142

Level 4: Maintaining Success 150

Level 5: Moving on When It’s Time to Go 159

Chapter 6: Fact 4: Planning is About Preparing for the Future, Not Predicting It 167

The Elements of a Proper Business Plan 170

Level 1: Ownership and Opportunity 172

Level 2: Creating Your Company’s DNA 175

Level 3: From Survival to Success 179

Level 4: Maintaining Success 182

Level 5: Moving on When It’s Time to Go 187

Chapter 7: Fact 5: If You Don’t Market Your Business, You Won’t Have One 193

The Elements of Marketing 196

Level 1: Ownership and Opportunity 198

Level 2: Creating Your Company’s DNA 204

Level 3: From Survival to Success 212

Level 4: Maintaining Success 218

Level 5: Moving on When It’s Time to Go 224

Chapter 8: Fact 6: The Marketplace is a War Zone 235

The Products or Services You Sell 238

How Your Business Operates 240

How Your Business Competes—The “X” Factor 241

Level 1: Ownership and Opportunity 242

Level 2: Creating Your Company’s DNA 250

Level 3: From Survival to Success 256

Level 4: Maintaining Success 264

Level 5: Moving on When It’s Time to Go 272

Chapter 9: Fact 7: You Don’t Just Have to Know the Business You’re In, You Have to Know Business 279

Product 281

People 282

Accounting and Finance 283

You 284

Level 1: Ownership and Opportunity 285

Level 2: Creating Your Company’s DNA 293

Level 3: From Survival to Success 300

Level 4: Maintaining Success 307

Level 5: Moving on When It’s Time to Go 314

Conclusion 323

About the Author 325

Index 327

BILL McBEAN spent many of his nearly forty years as a successful business owner in the automobile industry where, among many other achievements, he purchased several underperforming dealerships and turned them into a successful business enterprise with yearly sales of more than $160 million. Since selling the company to the world's largest automotive retailer, AutoNation, McBean has been involved in several new businesses, including McBean Partners, an investment and business mentoring company, and Net Claims Now, which provides administrative services and support to the restoration industry.