“Contrary to popular belief, my experience has shown me that the people who are exceptionally good in business aren’t so because of what they know but because of their insatiable need to know more.” So says Michael Gerber in the international bestseller The E-Myth Revisited – Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.

And if you are only going to read one business book, this is it!

Imagine if you never had to advertise, or promote your business, or go out of your way to find new customers ever again. Imagine if you could rely on new customers contacting you and it was up to you whether you wanted to work with them or not. And imagine if you could concentrate all your efforts on providing the best possible customer service.

That’s exactly what Dr. Paddi Lund achieved with his dental practice. In his book, “Building the Happiness Centred Business”, he explains the steps he took to transition from a “money-centred business” to a “happiness-centred business” that turned out to be more profitable and a lot less effort.

Every business depends on customers coming back - most businesses simply can’t afford to attract each new customer from scratch. So why is it that we put all our effort into getting the most profit out of the customer today and do nothing to get the get the customer to come back tomorrow? And what exactly should we be doing today to get the customer to come back again and again?

The difference between business success and failure today depends on our ability to provide high quality products and services as efficiently as possible. Most businesses achieve these results through people: employees, contractors, agents and others. So it stands to reason that success or failure depends on how well we manage our people. But what exactly can business owners do to motivate people to be more productive?