The Mogul Mom Features…Mogul Dad Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur!

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Literally. 

Last fall, I had the opportunity to review The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. As I began reading it, I got the sense that it was written for a young, single, male entrepreneur and almost tossed it onto the pile of books stacked in my half bathroom. That’s the place I do most of my reading since it’s too small for my children to barge in & interrupt me.

I emailed Scott Bradley, the PR guy for The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, and told him that I wasn’t sure how appealing The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur would be to mogul moms. He invited me to interview Mike Michalowicz so I could ask him just that. 

Like I did, I think you’ll find The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur is, in fact, a perfect book for mom entrepreneurs for two big reasons–it cuts to the chase with targeted, step-by-step advice AND it shows you how to start & build your business while respecting precious commodities in any mogul mom’s life: time & money. 

Mogul Mom readers can get the foreword and the first chapter of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur FREE by signing up on The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur website! 

Enjoy the interview with Mike!

TMM: First, would you give us your background information—how you started, decided to write TPE and how many children you have?

MM: Most important first… I have 3 children, two boys and a girl.  I am crazy about my kids and my wife.  I love being married and think (scratch that), know, it is the best part of life.  In regards to my background, I started my first business after I drank a few too many beers, and believed I was smarter then my boss.  I believed that I was smarter than my boss, and that “any idiot” could build a company.  I quit the next morning, and quickly learned that “any idiot” cannot do it.  It takes a lot more sweat, smarts and raw commitment to succeed than I ever imagined.

After years of effort (mostly a panic driven fear to make enough money to survive – and put food in the mouths of my wife, son and me), the business started to really take off.  I subsequently sold it, built a new company and sold that, and launched a third recently that invests in startup businesses.  As I worked with more and more entrepreneurs, I realized there were the same questions being asked.  All these entrepreneurs wanted a strategy to grow their business, and the vast majority were trying to do it with very little money.  That was my inspiration for a book.

TMM: At first glance, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur seems to be written for a young, single, male entrepreneur with its “colorful” potty language. But if given a closer look, TPE is loaded with great information & advice for mom entrepreneurs. Would you tell us how Mogul Moms can benefit from TPE? In my opinion, TPE is great for mom entrepreneurs because it gives step-by-step advice that can be implemented quickly & affordably—time & money are precious commodities in a mogul mom’s life.

MM:  I wrote the book as if I was talking to my best friend who wanted to start her own business and was looking for real advice and experience – not academic theories, but real hands on, brutally honest truth.  I wanted the book to feel like a friend who puts their arm over your shoulder, tells you the way they see it, wants to help you every way they can, and is enabling and supportive.  That’s what my best friends have done for me, and that is what I wanted to do for the reader.

The funny thing is, I thought that the consumer was going to be young males mostly… but it’s not.  It is in fact women in their 30′s , 40′s and 50′s.  The feedback is that the book’s style is refreshing… that it is nice to have a guy that doesn’t talk down and pander, but enables the reader.  I think Mogul Moms benefit greatly from this approach… they  hear the straight, hard core facts and whatever clicks with them they can keep and use, and whatever doesn’t can be trashed.  The edge, the swears, the humor in the book was not to be offensive, it was simply to be real. When I have conversations with my best friends, that’s the way they talk and it’s the way I talk.  It is way more real, to me, when a book reads the way I have a conversation.

TMM: What’s next for you & The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur?

There are quite a few nexts and I am kinda waiting to see exactly the way the river flows before I swim forward.  I have been approached to do some more television, have been asked to write another book, and to do more hands on stuff (seminars, presentations, etc.).  The bottom line is that I will continue to be an advocate for the scrapper entrepeneur… the woman that grows a business based more on sweat and smarts, than on cash and connections.

I am actually so impressed with what is going on with the women entrepreneurial community that I am looking to do a lot more work in that area.  I will definately be writing a book about women entrepreneurs specifically.

TMM: How else can Mogul Moms connect with you? Do you have a blog? Are you on Twitter?

MM: Yes, I have a very active blog and love comments, discussion and guest bloggers. Please join the party! www.ToiletPaperEntrepreneur.com/blog .  I am also on Facebook (look up Mike Michalowicz) and on Twitter under @TPEntrepreneur.

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