Philosophy
Michalowicz has lectured at US and international universities, keynoted corporate gatherings, authored books, published articles for national periodicals, and made national television and radio appearances as an expert discussing entrepreneurial concepts and approaches he terms as a "Toilet-Paper Entrepreneur". This name is derived from the following analogy paraphrased from Michalowicz's book:
Have you ever been in the bathroom only to realize there are a mere three sheets of toilet paper left...but somehow, often with the help of the trashcan remnants, manage to make it work? This is how a Toilet Paper Entrepreneur runs their business... they make do with what they have, pull "miracles" out of the trash and make more and more with less and less.
The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur philosophy is based on the notion that not only can one start a business with fewer resources, but that having fewer resources can actually work to your benefit . For example, having fewer resources can force the business to address an issue in highly innovative ways versus simply spending money blindly to solve it.
Michalowicz's writing and interview style is blunt honesty, speckled with humor. In an interview with Inc. magazine, Michalowicz was asked, "How to balance work and family life". His response was:
- "You don't. And the fact that you are asking this before you have even put in your first five years with a new business, means that you probably are not cut out to be an entrepreneur."
Read more about this topic: Mike Michalowicz
Famous quotes containing the word philosophy:
“It is not easy to make our lives respectable by any course of activity. We must repeatedly withdraw into our shells of thought, like the tortoise, somewhat helplessly; yet there is more than philosophy in that.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A religion so cheerless, a philosophy so sorrowful, could never have succeeded with the masses of mankind if presented only as a system of metaphysics. Buddhism owed its success to its catholic spirit and its beautiful morality.”
—W. Winwood Reade (1838–1875)
“If you look at history you’ll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)