Florida International University
Book Report on The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowics
Robert Merlano
11/30/2016
Rmerl005@fiu.edu
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmerlano2
MAN 4802
Professor Nestor Villalobos
The basis of this book is wrapped around how to “pumpkin plan” your business. Honestly, it
really has very little to do with the gourd that it is named after but more about really focusing on
what your business is doing so that you can remove the less important things. The book is
referred to as the pumpkin plan because it helps you focus on the most important parts of a
business while making an analogy of how a “prize winning pumpkin” is grown. For instance,
the author talks a lot about clientele and how some businesses are struggling to get more
clients. Michalowicz explains that most often what happens is that your business will have some
great clients, some mediocre clients, and some bad clients. The bad clients are clients that cost
you a lot of time and money. The great clients on the other hand are not likely to give you any
trouble and are very easy to work with and therefore business with them gets accomplished very
quickly. Makes sense to me. Michalowicz says that you need to “fire” these clients; by getting
rid of the clients that cost you too much you will ultimately make your business more efficient.
Basically, if you cut away the bad clients you can spend more time helping the really great
clients. One real life example from the book is about an online jewelry store that listened to its
clients so that they could focus on getting the items that the good clients desired most. This book
lays out a very systematic way of thinking about your business. This new way of thinking about
business will help free up time and will most likely tear your current business plan apart so that
you may rebuild it to be leaner meaner than your old business plan with all the benefits of profit.
The overall plan is actually quite simple. First you must plant the prize-winning seed and by this
you must offer the best product or service for your customers. Then you must get rid of the
losers, which as I explained in my introduction means getting rid of anyone that is not one of
your best clients. Next, you must offer the winners with nutrients, these clients will feel
