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Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself Hardcover – August 21, 2018
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It’s possible. And it's easier than you think.
If you're like most entrepreneurs, you started your business so you could be your own boss, make the money you deserve, and live life on your own terms. In reality, you're bogged down in the daily grind, constantly putting out fires, answering an endless stream of questions, and continually hunting for cash.
Now, Mike Michalowicz, the author of Profit First and other small-business bestsellers, offers a straightforward step-by-step path out of this dilemma. In Clockwork, he draws on more than six years of research and real life examples to explain his simple approach to making your business ultra-efficient.
Among other powerful strategies, you will discover how to:
- Make your employees act like owners: Free yourself from micromanaging by using a simple technique to empower your people to make smart decisions without you.
- Pinpoint your business's most important function: Unleash incredible efficiency by identifying and focusing everyone on the one function that is most crucial to your business.
- Know what to fix next: Most entrepreneurs try to fix every inefficiency at once and end up fixing nothing. Use the "weakest link in the chain" method to find the one fix that will add the most value now.
Whether you have a staff of one, one hundred, or somewhere in between, whether you're a new entrepreneur or have been overworked and overstressed for years, Clockwork is your path to finally making your business work for you.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPortfolio
- Publication dateAugust 21, 2018
- Dimensions6.21 x 0.89 x 9.33 inches
- ISBN-109780525534013
- ISBN-13978-0525534013
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“If there will ever be a patron saint for entrepreneurs, Mike Michalowicz is surely a top contender for the position. He has personally been through every point of the entrepreneurial roller coaster, which gives him the credibility to speak to entrepreneurs in the kind of honest language they want to hear. Avoiding the airy, high-altitude maxims so common in other books, Clockwork is chock full of practical and relatable advice. It reminds entrepreneurs why they set out on the adventure and offers them a toolbox to take with them.”
- Simon Sinek, Optimist and author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last
“Clockwork is a how-to-manual for helping a small business owner achieve the purpose of owning a business – time and financial freedom. Masterful job Mike!”
- Gino Wickman, author of Traction and Creator of EOS
"When your business runs like clockwork, you can finally go off the clock! In this fun book, Mike shows how you, too, can achieve the dream of an enterprise that thrives while you enjoy all life has to offer."
- Laura Vanderkam, author of Off the Clock and What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
"Clockwork teaches you to own your business rather than run your business. It will give you more free time, more automated cash and more freedoms to be yourself. I'm grateful for this easy to implement system."
- Donald Miller, author of Building a StoryBrand
"Does it feel like your business owns you rather than you owning your business? This is the book that will help you build a business that works for you -- rather than the other way round!"
– L. David Marquet, Captain, US Navy (retired), author of Turn the Ship Around!
"Are you drowning in work? Many — if not most — entrepreneurs are barely keeping their heads above the rising tide of tasks demanding their attention. What if you could design your business so that you could climb above the grind and focus on just the work you really want to do? In Mike Michalowicz’s newest book, he sets out a seven-point plan for doing just that. Read CLOCKWORK and take the first step towards taking back your life.”
- Daniel H. Pink, author of When and Drive
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 0525534016
- Publisher : Portfolio; Illustrated edition (August 21, 2018)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780525534013
- ISBN-13 : 978-0525534013
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.21 x 0.89 x 9.33 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #355,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #31 in Business Facility Management
- #316 in Time Management (Books)
- #2,330 in Entrepreneurship (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

By his 35th birthday MIKE MICHALOWICZ (pronounced mi-‘kal-o-wits) had founded and sold two multi-million dollar companies.
Confident that he had the formula to success, he became a small business angel investor… and proceeded to lose his entire fortune. Then he started all over again, driven to find better ways to grow healthy, strong companies. Mike has devoted his life to the research and delivery of innovative, impactful entrepreneurial strategies to you.
Mike is the creator of Profit First, which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. He is the creator of Clockwork, a powerful method to make any business run on automatic. He is the author of Fix This Next, an instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller, The Pumpkin Plan, Surge and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. His newest book, Get Different, teaches entrepreneurs how to creating marketing that can't be ignored.
Today, Mike leads two new multi-million-dollar ventures, as he tests his latest business research for his books. He is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and business makeover specialist on MSNBC. Mike is a popular main stage keynote speaker on innovative entrepreneurial topics; and is the author of Get Different, Fix This Next, Clockwork, Profit First, Surge, The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.
Fabled author, Simon Sinek deemed Mike Michalowicz “…the top contender for the patron saint of entrepreneurs.”
Mike is also a guest lecturer for collegiate entrepreneurial programs such as Babson, Boston College, Columbia, Copenhagen Business School, Emerson, Harvard, Penn State, Pepperdine and Princeton. His books are in the core curriculum for entrepreneur students at Pepperdine, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford University, and universities across the country. His books have been translated into over 27 languages.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book's advice and strategies helpful for improving business efficiency. They describe it as a well-written, easy-to-understand guide with practical frameworks to streamline and structure their businesses. Readers find the book worthwhile and worth reading if you want success in your business. The book helps them focus and reclaim their time. It's described as an entertaining and engaging read with actionable steps.
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Customers find the book's advice helpful for improving business efficiency. They appreciate the practical strategies and tools for delegating and implementing systems. The book provides useful guidance on creating, refining, and growing a business.
"...He has achieved his goal of Curing Entrepreneurial Poverty with his practical step by step methods of extracting the Profit First and making your..." Read more
"...We all agreed that it was incredibly insightful, and we are all 100% committed to protecting and nurturing the new "Queen Bee Role" of our business...." Read more
"...Integrating the Profit First framework and focusing on systems and process execution, the author gets you yo recognize the Queen Bee roles in your..." Read more
"...They are completely different, but both super useful. Mike's superpower is practicality...." Read more
Customers find the book easy to read and well-written. They appreciate the approachable content, practical advice, and down-to-earth language. The book is packed with highlights and pages worth of notes. Readers also mention it's a must-read for business owners and solopreneurs.
"...I got many pats on the back from Mike Michalowicz as I read his excellent book, “Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself.”..." Read more
"...A good read and a necessary perspective for most entrepreneurs." Read more
"...Mike, thanks for another brilliant book. I'm looking forward to emailing you before my first 4 week vacation since starting my business." Read more
"...The concept is simple: take a 4 week vacation from your business and completely disconnect from your business both physically and mentally...." Read more
Customers find the book's business strategy practical and helpful. It provides a good framework for streamlining and structuring their businesses. The concepts are simple and easy to understand, making them easy to implement. The book presents complex business principles in an accessible way that makes reading enjoyable.
"...Michalowicz as I read his excellent book, “Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself.”..." Read more
"...Integrating the Profit First framework and focusing on systems and process execution, the author gets you yo recognize the Queen Bee roles in your..." Read more
"...Mike's superpower is practicality. He makes sense, and you can actually implement his ideas...." Read more
"...Thank you for this book and your actual guide on how to try your guidance...." Read more
Customers find the book worthwhile for small businesses. They say it's the best small business book they could read and provides motivation. The chapter on the 4Ds is worth its weight in gold, providing the motivation needed by entrepreneurs and business owners.
"...I order each of Mike’s books twice, and it is totally worth it!..." Read more
"...Definitly worth the investment to get the audio version (because listing to him is half the fun) AND the hardback for future reference." Read more
"...Thanks Mike for another awesome book that guides business owners like me in the direction that we want to be headed!" Read more
"...So, yes, this is definitely worth reading AND taking action on, if not for anything but to save your sanity and build a legacy." Read more
Customers find the book helpful for focusing and reclaiming their time. They appreciate the refreshing approach and easy-to-read style. The book helps them gain a new perspective and focus on what matters most. They report positive changes in their offices and businesses, with the QBR exercise being an amazing aha moment.
"...by step methods of extracting the Profit First and making your business run like Clock Work. Boom!..." Read more
"...His down-to-earth style and actionable steps to; create, refine and grow a business really spoke to me...." Read more
"...to earth language, and generally human approach to this work was super refreshing and made the book easy to read...." Read more
"...gives a much better "how" to systematize your business and focus on what matters most...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book. They find it entertaining and engaging, with useful information presented in a fun way. The author challenges readers to try new things and gives them challenges to complete.
"...The author actually gives you something to try...." Read more
"...It is spot on. It is actionable and fun in Mike's typical style...." Read more
"...Clockwork is a fun, fast read, but is also stock full of useful information and challenging implementations...." Read more
"...I love the challenge of a four week vacation, though panic over me as I write it, and also that there is a plan to get there in these pages" Read more
Customers find the book provides actionable steps and solutions to create, refine, and grow a business. They say it's easy to read and use the action plans right away. The strategies in the book help automate your business and resolve problems on autopilot.
"...My favorite part of the book so far is that each chapter has an action step that Mike encourages you to take immediately...." Read more
"...His down-to-earth style and actionable steps to; create, refine and grow a business really spoke to me...." Read more
"...It is spot on. It is actionable and fun in Mike's typical style...." Read more
"...strategies to not only resolve those problems, but put the solutions on autopilot...." Read more
Customers find the book practical and actionable. They appreciate the examples, realistic timelines, and brain-teasing activities. The book helps them schedule their time effectively.
"...This one give you a realistic timeline and expectation for WHEN you'll be able to free yourself from the burden and reap the rewards of removing..." Read more
"...the others is more KPI driven with examples, as well as a way to measure how much time you are spending each day on different types of tasks..." Read more
"...It's that good. Clockwork is practical, relevant, and incredibly actionable in real businesses, and it's a perfect complement to Profit First as a..." Read more
"I highly recommend the clockwork book, it’s the best guide to get out of your business the right way, thanks to this book I’m so close to take my..." Read more
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It's the missing manual to entrepreneurial sanity.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2018Mike Michalowicz has done it again! Every entrepreneur dreams of the day when their business will take off, when they can cash in, and when they can live on the beach while their business runs itself.
Unfortunately, 70 – 80% of all business fail within 10 years! My first business only lasted 4 years before ending in bankruptcy, repossession, and foreclosure. Since 2010, I have been looking for a way to get back into a business that makes sense.
Mike has solved our entrepreneurial problems! He has achieved his goal of Curing Entrepreneurial Poverty with his practical step by step methods of extracting the Profit First and making your business run like Clock Work. Boom! What else could you need in your business?
As an added bonus, Mike is super funny! You won’t get bored with this business self-help book! I order each of Mike’s books twice, and it is totally worth it! Download the Audible version so that Mike is sharing the stories directly to you, and then highlight the hardback. You will want to be totally immersed in this content, and implementing the steps in this book has an ROI of less than 15 seconds. I am totally serious, buy it twice!
Don’t just keep this secret to yourself, share it with the world! Business owners know other business owners. Instead of whining about your stresses over a beer at the bar, you could be celebrating your victories together at the beach while your business is making you money.
To enjoy the level of freedom that you wanted from your business, you have to set it up to run like Clock Work!
5.0 out of 5 starsMike Michalowicz has done it again! Every entrepreneur dreams of the day when their business will take off, when they can cash in, and when they can live on the beach while their business runs itself.The Cure for Entrepreneurial Poverty
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2018
Unfortunately, 70 – 80% of all business fail within 10 years! My first business only lasted 4 years before ending in bankruptcy, repossession, and foreclosure. Since 2010, I have been looking for a way to get back into a business that makes sense.
Mike has solved our entrepreneurial problems! He has achieved his goal of Curing Entrepreneurial Poverty with his practical step by step methods of extracting the Profit First and making your business run like Clock Work. Boom! What else could you need in your business?
As an added bonus, Mike is super funny! You won’t get bored with this business self-help book! I order each of Mike’s books twice, and it is totally worth it! Download the Audible version so that Mike is sharing the stories directly to you, and then highlight the hardback. You will want to be totally immersed in this content, and implementing the steps in this book has an ROI of less than 15 seconds. I am totally serious, buy it twice!
Don’t just keep this secret to yourself, share it with the world! Business owners know other business owners. Instead of whining about your stresses over a beer at the bar, you could be celebrating your victories together at the beach while your business is making you money.
To enjoy the level of freedom that you wanted from your business, you have to set it up to run like Clock Work!
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2019As a businessman who has spent a lot of time think about building a well-run company, I felt like I got many pats on the back from Mike Michalowicz as I read his excellent book, “Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself.” I have spent decades trying to live the Peter Drucker mantra, “Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.” And now having read “Clockwork,” I have come to appreciate how smoothly Mike has taken this concept and laid it out for everyone to use.
Early on in the book, Mike introduces the concept of the Queen Bee Role. He writes, “Identify the core function in your business that is the biggest determinant of your company’s success. Within every company there exists a single function that is the most significant determinant of the company’s health. It is where the uniqueness of your offering meets the best talents of you and/or your staff.” Just spending time thinking about your company to figure out what your QBR really is will help you to understand where you have been wasting resources and where you should be investing in your business. Mike provides the tools to help you discover your QBR, so as a result of reading the book you should be able to figure out this core concept. But don’t think it’s easy. Most heads of companies can present a compelling argument to explain why every single part of their business is crucial: Without marketing no one will find us; without a sales team, no one will buy from us; without a production squad, we won’t produce our products; without our managers, no one will run the show, etc. When a company constantly thinks everything is important, it will never be able to excel. Mike writes, “The biggest cause of business inefficiency is variability. The more services you provide to a wider mix of customers, the more variability you have, and the harder it becomes to provide extraordinary and consistent services.” So business owners should stop trying to do everything, and figure out their Queen Bee Role.
For myself, as the head of cross-border financial services firm, I identified my firm’s QBR as communication with clients. The better we can communicate with the most important people for our business (the clients), the better we can understand them and they can understand us. By communicating with them, we can make sure that they have realistic expectations for their portfolios, understand the risks of the investments, and can feel confident that they will have a secure financial future. Moreover, since so much of our business comes from referrals, we really need to make sure that there is no better company in the world than us at communicating with our clients. With that as the main goal, every other division of the company works to support that QBR.
Mike is a great author whose easy going style makes readers want to give his ideas a try. Anyone who follows his methods will discover that their businesses can really start to run like clockwork.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2018I purchased this book on a recommendation from my business Mastermind group. My husband and I had read Mike's "Profit First" and it's made a huge difference in the life of our business, so purchasing his next book was a no brainer! I am about halfway through the book, and it's already made an immediate impact on our business decisions.
Over the past year, I had started feeling burned out as an entrepreneur. As a business owner, I am managing a team of 10 (or 11? or 12? how many team members do I have now?), and it was becoming unwieldy. I'd already taken the step of hiring an operations manager, but as an entrepreneur I was still unsure of how to organize my business so that I can take days off or extended vacations. Enter "Clockwork!"
My favorite part of the book so far is that each chapter has an action step that Mike encourages you to take immediately. For example, in the first chapter, he encourages you to email him your commitment to taking action. I did so, and he actually wrote me back! In another chapter, he tells you to download free worksheets to use in a time-tracking exercise for one week. I am three days into tracking my time, and it's already giving me really great insight into how I spend my time on my business. In another chapter, he gives you an exercise to do with your team. My staff members and I met on Zoom, and together we did the post-it note exercise. We all agreed that it was incredibly insightful, and we are all 100% committed to protecting and nurturing the new "Queen Bee Role" of our business. Getting my staff on board with this Clockwork plan has been a completely unexpected bonus of implementing this book.
Tip: give yourself permission to read one chapter at a time and absorb it and follow through, before moving on to the next. I'm reading about 2 chapters per week about this pace, and I'm gaining so much from the process.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2022A variation on the theme probably best represented by Gerber’s E-Myth series. Integrating the Profit First framework and focusing on systems and process execution, the author gets you yo recognize the Queen Bee roles in your organization, protect and feed them, and allow the business to operate without your intervention. The last chapter, how to schedule a 4 week vacation, is the capstone exercise. A good read and a necessary perspective for most entrepreneurs.
Top reviews from other countries
- Jamil B.Reviewed in Canada on September 25, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Great practices for entrepreneurs who want to enjoy life beyond work and leave the grind behind
If you are a business owner or an entrepreneur who wants to live life outside of your business, this book should fit right with you.
Mike walks the reader through various concepts and practices to promote detaching the owner from the operations and how to make sure that systems are always in place to ensure business continuity. One of my favorite concepts in the book is what he calls the Queen Bee Role (QBR) which focuses on the most important task any one business should do and how to make sure it is protected.
Putting aside the benefits of the approaches presented in the book, I really enjoyed the read. Mike's writing is funny and personal while still getting to the point; reading felt like a friend is talking to you. Having read his other book, "Profit First" and I am currently reading "Fix This Next", this closeness with the reader is consistent across his work.
I think any entrepreneur and business owner looking to stop the consistent daily grind and who wants to focus on living a full life, devoid of stress, should consider reading "Clockwork" and applying the detailed practices and strategies he offers throughout the book.
I've greatly enjoyed the read.
-
Mato GatnikReviewed in Italy on June 28, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Molto utile
Consigli pratici, il libro molto utile per ogni imprenditore.
- Puneet AggarwalReviewed in India on June 8, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Beware! This book turns you over into a new leaf
This book is worth a fortune. Because as entrepreneurs we keep toiling ourselves but have forgotten the rhyme or reason on why we started in the first place. I discovered Mike Michalowicz after a podcaster mentioned him and he's the Man. I've seen all his videos. If you want your people to own your business and transform it into an automatic machine which is spewing out your objective while you are watching your kids play at a beach, CLOCKWORK is the thing you need.
Mike has defined it beautifully with his 4D and QBR system.
Thanks Mike, you've changed my life .
-
MilyMooReviewed in Germany on December 24, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr glücklich
Tolles Buch wie erwartet und das Cover ist von sehr guter Qualität, so dass es nicht leicht beschädigt werden kann. Sehr glücklich
- Elliott PorterReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Another superb business book by Mike
I purchased this book whilst reading Mike's previous title 'Profit First'. 'Profit First' got me hooked on Mike's wisdom and teaching style and as a result of the effect on my business that is happening from working through 'Profit First', I wanted more of Mike's business wisdom. The reviews are also 5 star for 'Clockwork'. I can see why, and it's another 5 stars from me.
Working through 'Clockwork' is, of course, a commitment, but nothing of value comes along with ease. Mike's describes every element of 'Clockwork' and it all just makes sense. It's eye-opening but also simple when you follow his guidance.
I won't give anything away in this review ( as i didn't in Profit First review ) as I recommend this book to every business owner. Buy yourself a copy and learn from Mike. The humour in the book alone will lift your day.
I wrote the next two sentences for my 'Profit First' review but I am repeating them here as they are also relevant for this title.
This book is written by a genius businessman that has been there, done it and now has the kindness and generosity to share his wisdom and knowledge with us business owners. This is real advice, from a really clever guy that is proven and not a fly by night wannabee. If you need proof, watch Mike's talks on YouTube.
Thank you, Mike, for sharing your skill and knowledge. It's making a world of difference to my business and I'm still working through your books. Thank you.