Simply Success: How to Start, Build, and Grow a Multimillion Dollar Business the Old-Fashioned Way

by Jack Miller

If you dream of starting and running your own business, being your own boss, and living the kind of life you really want, there's no better way to succeed than to follow the advice of someone who has already been there and done that. In Simply Success, Quill Corporation founder Jack Miller shares the lessons he learned turning his small business into a nearly $700 million behemoth. Miller's story is a testament to what you can do when you work hard, reinvest in your business, and have a real passion for what you do.

But Simply Success isn't a book about Miller's business. It's about the lessons he learned—lessons you can use in building your own business—as he and his brothers built Quill from a one-man operation with a phone in his dad's chicken store to a successful business with more than 1,200 employees. This inspiring and practical guide gives entrepreneurs like you an inside look at the right way to build and run a successful business, from the nuts-and-bolts basics to long-term strategy. Miller presents deep insight on:

What it takes to be a successful entrepreneur

Keeping it simple to keep your business profitable

Building a vision and a long-term strategy to achieve it

Why customer service is the key

Forecasting and budgeting

Building a strong, healthy corporate culture

How to grow into a better, stronger leader

The art of surviving the ups and downs of business

You won't learn these real-world business lessons in any Ivy League MBA program. Simply Success isn't for people who are just in it for the money. It's for people who want to build a real business that offers customers real value—all while making a great living doing what they love. Even good business ideas sometimes fail. But with the principles and advice Miller shares in Simply Success, you'll have more than a fighting chance to achieve all your goals.

Small business and the entrepreneurial spirit form the backbone of America. Tomorrow's biggest and best companies will sprout from a handful of today's smartest small businesses. Will your small business be one of them?

240 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jason Braatz · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You cannot make more money investing somewhere else than you can investing in your own business."

"Only with financial stability and soundness as a base can a company provide for its employees."

and my all time favorite

"The good and talented people are our most important asset, and the untalented uncommitted people are nothing but a liability whom we would like to get rid of."

I love this book. It's written by a very old curmudgeon, who I insist must be crankier than all hell, and yet smart as a whip. His ex-business, Quill, which was purchased by Staples, provides for much of the wisdom in this book. To the reader, one gets the sense that this guy is a crabby old chap who didn't spend enough time at home - he admits it as such. He assuredly hates newly minted MBAs and doesn't like things that are premised from a derivative value. In other words, this is the entire old school handbook on how to create value, wealth, within the constructs of a business.

I don't have to agree with a book to like it; the questions I ask myself on every book I read is, 1. what thesis (or multiple theses are)/is the author putting forward, 2. can they substantiate it?
Can they provide examples of it or proof that their thesis works and 3. Is it purposefully overly technical to the point that it's not an enjoyable read?

This is a very easy book to read, and yes - Mr. Miller here is putting forth what worked for him giving specific examples from his tenure as the owner/CEO of Quill. He also narrates about things which didn't work and tries to tie them in, luckily not at the expense of his central point.

The reader may disagree in the style of prose (it's written by a cranky old man), or disagree with a point raised (retained earnings are the best way to finance growth), but everything about this book is - at all levels - correct. Meaning, you could replicate his recipe and become successful.

It's contrarian because much of the business community in 2020 now react to subjects like "tipping points," "lean development," "10x impacts," "B Corporations," "80/20," "disruptive technologies," "paradox of choice," (ad nauseum). The word salad has been part of the business world for a long time, perhaps introduced by Harold Geneen, some of the grandfathers of TQM, and can be found throughout Peter Drucker's work. So If you cut away the weeds - or cut away the words - the core principles of business are discussed here, in this book.

As a reader, especially in the business genre, you don't have to agree with the affirmatives from an author to know that you are still reading something worthwhile. Admittedly, much of Mr. Miller's advice is very basic and doesn't catch some of the nuance of innovation (the book: The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business is the bible there). That said, this is a solidly great book with a great number of reminders to anyone in management of the basics that we all tend to forget in our world of ongoing business jargon.

[Reid Petway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this is a good book with some good first-hand experiences. However, I felt like this book wasn't organized as well as it should be. I foresee myself viewing this book as a reference source.