Entrepreneurs are visionaries -- but most are lousy managers. Successful entrepreneurs know this and turn over the management of their companies to a skilled manager that can work as their sidekick and enable the companies to reach the goals set by the owners. This book is based on over forty years of assisting entrepreneurs realize their visions. It explains the skills needed to manage growth, whether starting a new company or making an existing company grow to the next stage. It is not specifically a guide for entrepreneurs, except to tell them what skills they need to look for in the person that manages the companies they envision. The skills that are taught range from basic to very advanced and cover every important subject that the author has seen in four decades of hands-on management and training. There is also a separate section describing some of the humorous and not-so-humorous situations he has faced and the types of entrepreneurs he has worked with. The book is deliberately written in a smooth, flowing discussion style, with numerous anecdotes scattered throughout that emphasize the points being made. Originally written as a desktop manual for his clients that they could use as a reference source while building their companies over a period of years, at the request of the clients it has expanded to this full-sized book, but kept its easy-to-read format. It includes many of the planning and forecasting models that the author developed for his clients. Business owners who have read it say they love the unique stories, but also love the ease with which they can find ways to address problems in building their companies. Michael Atchison, MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington, had intense training in his first management position as an internal trouble-shooter in one of AT&T's subsidiaries, then expanded his skills by studying every subject that he thought would be relevant in being able to run a large company -- from finance and accounting, to marketing, administrative management, strategic planning, economics, and operations. Later, he applied his skills to International Banking, rising quickly to the level of department manager in a major bank. For the last four decades he has devoted his life to assisting entrepreneurs build their companies both domestically and internationally. During this time he has been a public speaker, had his own radio talk show, become a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and has served on the boards of several firms. He is heavily involved in nonprofit organizations in the Houston area.
About the Author: Michael Atchison, MBA, is the optimum sidekick for entrepreneurs. He doesn't fit an easy description. In his own words, if he is talking to a business owner who perceives that he needs help with his marketing program, Mr. Atchison doesn't mention that he is a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and can set up and manage an accounting department. Likewise, if the owner perceives that he has problems in Accounting, Mr. Atchison doesn't tell him that he is a trained cinematographer and has produced TV commercials. Or that he can walk through a manufacturing plant and tell the owner what most of the machines in there do, or that he can sit down with a project manager and scrutinize a formal production schedule, or that he has been a radio talk-show host in the Boston/Providence market, or that he was on the board of the International Transportation Management Association in Houston or even that he has taught corporate finance in college. Born and raised in a low-income family in Fort Worth, he was told by his father at the age of 11 that if he ever wanted more than a roof over his head and enough food to live on, he would have to earn it himself. So at the age of 14 he had three twice-a-day municipal paper routes, his own car and a helper, and has never been out of work since then. After working his way through ten years of college, Mr. Atchison now looks back on experience in communications, international banking, construction, sales and marketing, steel processing, heavy equipment manufacturing, shipping, power plant maintenance, hotel management and a host of other industries. It is out of all of these experiences that he now has published a book titled "An Entrepreneur's Management Sidekick" that lists in great detail all of the skills needed to manage a rapidly growing successful company. Mr. Atchison lives with his wife of more than fifty years in a suburb of Houston and continues to consult with companies that need his assistance.