How to Catch a Mouse with No Cheese

by Donnie P.

How to Catch a Mouse with No Cheese is written for people who either have been in business for up to a year or are interested in starting a business, but do not have money. It discusses five life-changing principles that will help you succeed. Each principle has its own basis for preparing you to get your business up and growing with no money. So whether you own a fledgling business or plan to start a business this is the book for you.

Genres: Business

145 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2014

About the author

Donnie P., an entrepreneur and native of Jeanerette, Louisiana, realized early in his professional business career that he was equipped with the necessary drive and determination that would allow him to start businesses—from the ground up—without any money.

Today, with over 20 years of experience, Donnie P. is guided by his unwavering faith in The Creator and desire to develop business platforms that will uplift others. Donnie P. is currently founder and CEO of OSD Group LLC, which is a cannabis dispensary owner/partner of Greenleaf Dispensary in Houma Louisiana and The Still and Tubman Foundation a non-profit designed to help the needs of students and entrepreneurs in our community who unfortunately cannot afford school supplies and for entrepreneurs that need financial literacy and experience in running a business, and Blastoff Business Coaching a business designed to help struggling entrepreneurs succeed in their market place. He launched A Caring Home Services’ national franchise rollout in the middle of 2012. In August of 2013, he sold his first of many franchises to Karl and Beverley Stephens, LLC out of Nashville, Tennessee. A Caring Franchise was sold in 2019

In 2014 Donnie P. Authored his first business book titled “How to catch a Mouse with No Cheese” is written for people who either have been in business for up to a year or are interested in starting a business, but do not have money. It discusses five life-changing principles that will help you succeed. Each principle has its own basis for preparing you to get your business up and growing with no money.

Since the launching of Donnie P. book “How to catch a Mouse with No Cheese” has sold worldwide in the following Countries of: United States of America, Germany, New Zealand, France, India, Canada, and Great Britain.

Now he has launched his second book “Health and Wealth Is Always Green” How I went from Elderly Care to Cannabis Industry. It discusses the steps for entrepreneurs to get in the Cannabis industry and be successful in fulfilling their business goals and dreams. You can find him at: www.donniepofficial.com

Reviews

[Julie Baswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

In How to Catch a Mouse With No Cheese, the author relays his entrepreneurial experience of starting a business with no money, and expounds that the reader can do the same. He begins with explaining exactly what he did, and then goes on with how his first business failed, but from circumstances beyond his control. It was unpreventable, but his point was that it was successful, he just wasn’t mature enough to plan ahead. The take away was that you should always start your business with the foresight to plan an exit strategy.

I agree with following the five principals he laid out, faith, truth, self-awareness, self-discipline, and service. In following these tenets, you will start off with a strong foundation for your business. I believe that it will give you the added benefit of respect in the business world, something to strive for. I liked the author’s suggestion to make a reference notebook. This is something I’ve never thought of before. The things he described to put in it made complete sense. To me, this was the best advice in the entire book. That, and taking stock of your non-monetary assets. Again, that included things I never would have thought about.

[Gloria Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book with all kind of ideas to help you be all you can. Entrepreneur experience helps you and guides you through how to make your life richer.. Well written and interesting.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are starting or thinking of starting your own for profit business How to Catch a Mouse With No Cheese should be in your reading materials for learning everything you need to look into to get your business started. It breaks down multiple business models for for-profit businesses and gives helpful information and charts about each type of business. The author also discusses issues he had in working with those business models and lists the pros and cons about each one.
Let me start off by saying this book didn’t meet the description as I read it. It sounded like there was going to be insight into how to run a business with some regards to religion, particularly Christianity and it’s lacking quite a bit in that area. I guess I was expecting Bible verses being brought into business principles and so forth but that doesn’t happen. There is some discussion about morals and values which I deduced was the faith aspect to the book but it still wasn’t what I had hoped to read. Likewise, I felt the author could have brought more colorful and detailed descriptions from his own businesses to what he was talking about. I felt like I was reading more checklists and tables that I was in the way of actual experience. The author did give a general statement about his business and how it related to what he was talking about. For example, his first business was in the public sector and relied heavily on Medicare and Medicaid for funding the business. Without going into detail we learn the business eventually closed because there was no longer any support for it within those health care systems. The book would have been much more fascinating if he had given narratives of his examples rather than just telling us it happened. The old writer’s most common editing phrase can be used here: show don’t tell!
That said, I found this book quite helpful. I am working on applying for a business loan and I found many questions and a good bit of the insight will help me put together a much better business proposal. It also made me think about different areas in my business that I haven’t given much thought to that clearly need to be addressed. The questions under each section as well as the tables would be extremely helpful to anyone laying down the foundation to their business and how it should run. There were various business models included even franchising and multiple resources to help any new business owner know where to start. The author laid out several values and characteristics to help business owners succeed when they do not have the money to start up a business and places they might look to negotiate how to get their business going based on keeping these values and characteristics. It was very creative and gave me some new ideas on how to kick-start my own searches for capital.
I have to give the book a four star review just because I wish there has been more showing and less telling; I was eager to hear more about the author’s own business ventures and because I think the description was slightly misleading as far as actually discussing Biblical principles applied to business ventures. That said if you are looking for a book to get your started as you being a business venture especially if you’ll be trying to secure loans or startup capital and need to develop a solid business plan this is an excellent book to have at your side. It highly motivated me and I can’t wait to get working on the additions to my business plan to submit for more grants for my business with all the extra descriptions, plans, and well thought through ideas that this book gave me so I can be clearly and precise in my business plan. It was more helpful than most of the books I checked out that showed how to write business plans. This is a nugget of gold for any business owner.

[Kathy Heare Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book during a Goodreads giveaway. I am under no obligation to leave a review or rating and do so voluntarily. I am paying it forward by passing this book along to a business organization that offers business skills, hope, and dreams to be used in their ministry.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a basic look at a beginner's guide to starting a business. It really doesn't have much more to offer then a freshman business course but it has the advantage of being outlined and in simple language. It takes a good look at what to do but not much on how to do it.
This would be a good book for someone contemplating whether they really want to start their own business.
I was given a free copy of this book for review.

[Maria Lucia Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

Greatly written and developed. Being able to learn different aspects of a subject coming from personal experiences is an incredible way to connect with the reader. Recommended!

[Michelle Olms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[C K P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more optimistic than our current circumstances merits.

[Reginald Rideaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by my uncle so kinda biased

[Noreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ideas for starting or improving your own business. My favorite part of the book was the page of questions that leaders should ask themselves everyday. I also enjoyed the section, "Read With a Focus on Growth and Survival".