Out of the Weeds: The Genius Fix This Next Framework
In his book Fix This Next, serial entrepreneur and bestselling author Mike Michalowicz tackles a common struggle many business owners face—prioritizing what to work on next in your company. With so many potential projects, problems, and opportunities on your plate, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and spread yourself too thin. This leads to putting out fires constantly rather than making real progress. Michalowicz offers a simple but effective system to determine your business’s most pressing issues so you can focus your limited time and resources on the challenges that, when resolved, will provide the most significant impact and push your company forward.
As an entrepreneur who has founded and sold several multi-million dollar companies, Michalowicz has experienced the struggle of business priority firsthand. From this experience, he realized he needed a better system to guide his next steps and help him focus on the highest-leverage activities. The Fix This Next system outlined in this book is the result of that search, refined over years of testing in his various ventures. He now wants to share it with other entrepreneurs and business leaders so they can find clarity in the chaos of running a company.
A core concept Michalowicz introduces in Fix This Next is the Business Priority Pyramid (formerly known as the Business Hierarchy of Needs), which is a framework for thinking about a business’s evolving priorities and motivations as it grows and scales.
This hierarchy consists of five levels:
1. Sales
When starting, the most pressing priority is to generate sales revenue and attract customers. Without sales, no business can survive for long.
2. Profit
Once sales are steady, the next priority is dialing in profitability. A business must generate consistent profits to be sustainable.
3. Order
The third level is order, which refers to systematizing operations and improving efficiency. This involves establishing processes to streamline operations and reduce waste.
4. Impact
For established businesses, impact often becomes a central focus. Making a positive difference for stakeholders and the world becomes more important.
5. Legacy
Later in a business’s lifecycle, legacy planning becomes crucial to ensure the company vision persists. Ownership transitions, succession planning, and cementing brand reputation take priority.
Michalowicz recommends using the Business Priority Pyramid as a lens for setting priorities. Ask yourself, “Which challenge is closest to the pyramid’s foundation?” This should always be your priority. The book contains helpful exercises and templates to guide you through assessing your own priorities within this framework. A key part of the system is the Fix This Next evaluation, which will help you pinpoint what you need to fix next in your business.
In our distraction-filled modern workplace, it’s easy to lose sight of what truly matters for business success. Fix This Next provides a much-needed system to cut through the chaos and point your focus toward high-impact priorities. While simple in concept, Michalowicz’s framework brings much-needed clarity and direction.
I highly recommend “Fix This Next” for any entrepreneur or small business owner looking to move their business forward. The book concisely packages years of entrepreneurial experience into an actionable system for priority-setting and execution. Following this approach will help you spend your limited time on the projects that yield the greatest results rather than constantly fighting fires. The result will be a business that consistently advances towards its most important goals and a leadership team unified in purpose. This book truly provides a simple but game-changing mindset shift with the power to help any organization reach the next level.
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