Coach to the Contrary

Erik Wesner’s book, Suc­cess Made Sim­ple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Busi­nesses Thrive is a great read from start to fin­ish. When I picked up the book I imme­di­ately passed judg­ment on it by think­ing, “Oh, another book about how impor­tant cul­ture is, treat peo­ple with respect, blah, blah, blah.”

Not the case whatsoever.

This book engages you in ALL aspects of busi­ness: hir­ing, mar­ket­ing, sell­ing, prod­uct devel­op­ment, learn­ing, man­ag­ing, finance.

The Amish are con­sis­tently among the most suc­cess­ful U.S. busi­ness peo­ple. After 5 years, 95% of Amish busi­nesses are still going, com­pared to more than half of other new busi­nesses which evap­o­rate within the first five years.

Wow.

And we are not talk­ing mak­ing a few belts or trin­kets, sell­ing them at a road­side stand, and call­ing that a small busi­ness. Accord­ing to Don­ald Kray­bill, Ph.D., a senior fel­low at the Young Cen­ter of Eliz­a­beth­town Col­lege, “‘Amish mil­lion­aire’ is no longer an oxy­moron.” The Amish peo­ple con­duct and man­age over 9000 prof­itable busi­nesses across North Amer­ica in trades such as fur­ni­ture mak­ing, build­ing, and remodeling.

I was fas­ci­nated by Wesner’s adept expla­na­tion of their inher­ent com­mu­nity advan­tages and their cor­re­spond­ing road­blocks (such as avoid­ance of tech­nol­ogy and lack of legal protection).

There were two things that espe­cially res­onated with me:

1. Keep your life sim­ple. Main­tain low expenses and live beneath your means, as it will afford you greater oppor­tu­nity to risk and fail. In doing so, you stand a much greater chance of dis­cov­er­ing and liv­ing out your life purpose.

2. When you have earned a rep­u­ta­tion for qual­ity and ser­vice, you can com­mand pre­mium prices.

By liv­ing with and work­ing along­side the Amish, Wes­ner learned one of the great­est busi­ness lessons ever…

Your busi­ness, much like your life, can be a vehi­cle for some­thing more impor­tant and far greater.

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