Mike Michalowicz

In Clockwork, Michalowicz outlines a seven step strategy for a business owner to move from "doing work" to "designing a company for others to do the work." The author proposes a 4 week contiguous vacation, with a total digital disconnect, as the ultimate test of a business that can run itself. According to the author, the seven steps to a business that runs on automatic is: 1. Analyze the 4D mix, 2. Identify the QBR, 3. Protect & Serve the QBR, 4. Capture Systems, 5. Balance Resources, 6. Focus your strength on consumers who benefit the most, 7. Break the dependency on the owner. On Clockwork’s dustcover, Simon Sinek “nominates Michalowicz as the patron saint for entrepreneurs.”

Released on August 21, 2018. by Portfolio an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Michalowicz is founder and former CEO of, Provendus Group, a growth accelerator that facilitates rapid growth in early stage companies by utilizing techniques from Michalowicz's books. Provendus Group was wholly acquired in 2016. Terms were not disclosed.

Originally released on July 4, 2014. Revised & Expanded edition release on February, 2017 by Portfolio an imprint of Penguin Group. Profit First is a perennial global Top 20 Book, in the category of Personal & Business Finance, according to the weekly ranking by Publishers Weekly."Category Bestsellers July 9 2017". Publishers Weekly.

Released July 2012 by Portfolio an imprint of Penguin Group.

In the book, the author identifies the four core methods to running a profitable business, and is derived from an article he published in The Wall Street Journal on December 10, 2010. Profit First relates the application of Parkinson's Law to how we spend and/or conserve money. The book further explains that with an understanding of our behavior, as defined by Parkinson's Law, we have the ability to bring significantly profitability to our business using four specific methods. Profit First relates the application of Parkinson's Law to how we spend and/or conserve money.

The four core methods Michalowicz identifies in Profit First, and are derived from the healthy lifestyle habits are 1. Use Smaller Plates (the concept of having multiple "small" accounts to manage money intended for different purposes), 2. Eat Vegetables First (the concept of taking profit first, then owner's pay, then taxes, and lastly using the remainder for expenses), 3. Remove Temptation (make your accumulating profit, tax and under funds difficult to access and view and you will be less tempted to "steal" from yourself), 4. Use A Rhythm (manage the books twice a month, specifically on the 10th/25th to get a keen sense for cash flow).

In September 2008, Obsidian Launch released Michalowicz's book The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. The book has subsequently been translated into multiple foreign languages, such as Spanish, Korean, Czech, Japanese, Polish, Simplified Chinese and Russian. The irreverent book is an entertaining hard-edged read mixed with valuable business lessons from an experienced entrepreneur.

Michalowicz is a native of Boonton, New Jersey, where he attended Boonton High School. He graduated from Virginia Tech with two degrees, one in finance and one in management science. He launched his first company, Olmec Systems, at the age of 24, in August 1996. During his tenure at Olmec, he was recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as The Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Michalowicz completed MIT's 'Birthing of Giants' entrepreneurial program in 2003. The program is sponsored by YEO (Young Entrepreneurs Organization) and Inc. Magazine, and is facilitated at MIT facilities by professors, lecturers and entrepreneurs. He sold the company through a private transaction on December 31, 2002. On January 1, 2003, he launched his second company, PG Lewis & Associates (PGLA), which grew to national prominence by 2005, by completing large data forensics projects for historically significant court cases including the Enron collapse. PGLA was acquired by Protiviti, a division of Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI) on March 1, 2006. Terms were not disclosed.

Michael Michalowicz (born September 19, 1970) is an American author, entrepreneur, and lecturer. He is the author of five business books including Fix This Next (April 2020), Clockwork (August 2018), Profit First Revised & Expanded (February 2017), Surge (May 2016), Profit First (July 2014) , The Pumpkin Plan (July 2012) and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (September 2008), is an advocate of a business philosophy by the same name, and is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He is the "Business Rescue" segment host for MSNBC's Your Business. He hosted the reality television program called Bailout!.