The Cheaper, Faster MBA

I don’t generally look forward to reading how-to business books. I usually find them full of platitudes and outmoded common sense, lacking in wit and, worst of all, full of personalized advice that only applies to the author. I have recently come across a rare exception.

“You Don’t Need an MBA to Make Millions,” by Tim Moore with Carol Davis and Allan Gould, gets to the heart of why a business success or fails without boring the reader by talking down to him.

In case the name isn’t familiar, Tim Moore is, among other things, the founder and chairman of AMJ Campbell Van Lines, and this is his second book.

The self-titled “serial entrepreneur” is someone I have known for many years. He has always been a straight-to-the-point kind of guy, an honest rascal without the pomposity of many self-made men.

As I began to read the book, I felt something odd happening.

My mind floated back to grade seven, when my teacher used Friday afternoons to read out loud sections from “Call of the Wild” by Jack London. Back then, my first thought was that I could nap during the reading and get an early, rested start to the pending weekend. But, as London’s telling of wild and exotic tales of the North lay claim to my vivid imagination, I felt drawn in more and more each succeeding week and actually started to anticipate being awake those Friday afternoons.

In the same way, Moore’s new essays on his successes and, yes, failings in the business world hooked me. His re-telling of the awkward events as he started a business while still in university filled me with the same thrills and anticipation as those readings by my teacher. I laughed when he laughed, angered when he felt frustrated, and celebrated with him at his small but growing number of victories.

Jack London’s narrative of the frozen adventures of a mystical wolf in the Canadian North during the Klondike Gold Rush became true for me then simply, I later realized with a more adult mind, because I connected with that wolf as if I was that wolf’s lifetime companion, sharing the triumphs and tribulations along with that wolf.

In similar fashion, Moore slowly but surely draws the reader into his world, his mind and his soul. I felt privileged to be sharing his stories, as if we were both kibitzing about schoolboy antics over a hot chocolate and pie.

It’s a special gift that not too many business people have: that of being humble as well as proud. Indeed, it is this humility that cements a reader’s relationship with Moore and, as such, allows an easier understanding and acceptance of what he has to offer.

For one, he admits he has failed and failed miserably. The adventures of the midnight mover, the Barbados bushwhack over an investment property, the mishandling of the nursing home scheme and, worse still, the total botching of a succession plan within his own trucking company, all highlight the author’s admitted missteps.

Yet he lists not only these failures, but also the valuable lessons gleaned from the experiences. It is this direct link between personal misadventure and the lessons learned that makes this a personal handbook for any aspiring entrepreneur, including me.

These lessons are hard won, steeped in the old-fashioned but still relevant School of Hard Knocks. And Moore being the guy he is–an old fashioned entrepreneur who easily admits to bowing before no king or law (as an episode over unpaid parking tickets attests)–he wants you to know that he also had a helping hand or two on his way to becoming a millionaire.

In fact, he admonishes the reader to keep the faith in always being ready to help and praise others, especially his own staff, and having total respect for the customer.

I admit I’m prejudiced; I read every page. But believe a believer: Moore’s book “How To Be A Millionaire Without A MBA,” is a true self-help book, deserving of close attention and loyalty. And it’s a lot cheaper to buy and read this book than the thousands of grueling hours of study to earn a MBA; you get smarter a lot faster, too!

Mark Borkowski is president of Toronto-based Mercantile Mergers & Acquisitions Corporation, a brokerage firm specializing in the sale of privately owned businesses. He can be contacted at mercant@interlog.com.