Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing: No-Nonsense Rules from the Ultimate Contrarian and Small Business Guru

When small- and medium-sized business owners first hear George Cloutier's rules, they often think he's a madman. His controversial rules for doing business—rules that aren't taught at Harvard Business School—include:

The best family business has one member.

Weekends are for working, not playing golf or coaching.

Never pay your vendors on time.

Wear your control freak badge with pride.

Quit denial: if your business is failing during a recession, it's your fault.

As the founder and CEO of American Management Services, Cloutier has emerged as "the leading advocate for small business" (Reuters), having spent over thirty years guiding business owners through the tough choices that line the road to profitability. He and his company have worked with more than six thousand companies, averting certain ruin for some and generating seemingly impossible growth and profitability for others.

Cloutier graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School, but the lessons in this book aren't from there. Unlike his classmates, most of whom headed straight to Wall Street, Cloutier has been on the docks at 2 a.m. counting heads of lettuce for food distributors to make sure nothing would disappear without a waybill. He's spent long, overnight hours in truck stops, making sure sticky fingers stayed out of the tills. Cloutier and his colleagues at American Management Services become personal pitt bulls to the CEOs who hire them, doing whatever it takes to bring their clients' businesses back into long-term profitability.

Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing is the long- overdue wake-up call for 23 million small- and midsize business owners across America. This book serves up the hard-boiled, unadulterated truth to aspiring and established entrepreneurs, without apologies. His no-nonsense advice may be hard to hear at times, but it works.

"This slim but forceful debut by turnaround management expert Cloutier serves as a wakeup call for small business owners who have been hit hard by the recession. 'Don't blame the economy,' he writes. 'Recession or no recession, if your small business is failing, it's your fault!' Cloutier dishes out tough love in pithy chapters that introduce his 15 'Profit Rules' (e.g., 'Love your Business More than Your Family,' 'The Best Family Business Has One Member' and 'Teamwork Is Vastly Overrated'). While Cloutier's provocative pronouncements seem designed for maximum shock value, each rule relies on practical business principles: maintain tight controls, pay for performance and focus on sales at all times. This blunt work will not be for the timid business owner afraid to re-evaluate operations, planning, compensation or family dynamics. For those ready to focus on profits, though, Cloutier's book is loaded with valuable advice on how to get back on track and stay in the black in any economic environment. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Twice named by the US Conference of Mayors as Small Business Advocate and Entrepreneur of the Year, George Cloutier offers this take-no-prisoners manifesto on how to run a business with only one thing in mind: profitability. Hard-hitting, prescriptive chapters, coupled with illustrative anecdotes, make this a useful bible for those hearty business owners looking to climb the ladder of success. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Cloutier offers tough love for entrepreneurs and a controversial message that's perfect for these tough economic times: profits aren't everything; they're the only thing.

George Cloutier is the co-chairman of Partner America, a partnership between Cloutier's company and the nation's mayors. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has twice named him Small Business Advocate and Entrepreneur of the Year. Tulane University named Cloutier Social Entrepreneur of the Year for his work bringing back small business in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He is also the CEO of American Management Services,a consulting firm that specializes in small- and midsize businesses, where he has brought over six thousand small businesses across four hundred industries from the brink of bankruptcy to double-digit profits through a hard-working, no-nonsense approach. He is a coach, lecturer, speaker, and regular commentator on national television. He has been seen on FoxBusiness News, ABC's 20/20, CNBC's Squawk Box, MSNBC, and Bloomberg Television, most recently as a pundit on the economic crisis. Called the "Turnaround Ace" by BusinessWeek, he has been profiled by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, USA Today, and Fortune Small Business.