Lessons From The Trenches: Practical Principles For Small Business Success

You didn't go to business school. You didn't have a mentorhanding you a roadmap. You figured it out the hard way — earlymornings, sleepless nights, and more than a few Fridays holdingyour breath waiting for payroll to clear.This book is for you.Drawing on three decades of hard-won experience — from leadingcustomer retention teams at a Fortune 500 telecommunications companyto founding and scaling service businesses to seven figures — ScottWaterman shares the ten principles that actually moved the needle.Not theory. Not research. What worked when the business was on hisshoulders and the mental load felt heavy.Ten principles. Straight talk. No fluff.You'll learn how to build systems that run without you, hire theright people the first time, keep books clean enough to command topdollar at exit, and raise prices without losing the customers worthkeeping. You'll find the metrics that actually matter, a realconversation about business continuity, and the honest discussionnobody else is having — about mental load, worry, and what itactually costs to build something real.These principles work whether you're a plumber, landscaper,cleaner, trades operator, or any small business owner who dependson people, systems, and customers to generate revenue. They camefrom the field. Not a classroom.I don't have all the answers. Some of these lessons I'mstill living. But if even one principle saves you from a cost Ipaid unnecessarily — your road will be shorter than mine.— Scott Waterman, U.S. Army National Guard Veteran Read more