Book SummaryReady, Fire, Aim, by Michael Masterson

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Ready, Fire, Aim

In Ready, Fire, Aim, veteran entrepreneur, multimillionaire, and best-selling author Michael Masterson presents a strategy for building and growing a profitable business. According to him, successful, multimillion-dollar businesses progress through four stages of development, each presenting different challenges and objectives that entrepreneurs must prioritize to ensure continued growth and profitability.

(Shortform note: Masterson uses wordplay in the book title—changing the phrase, “ready, aim, fire” to “ready, fire, aim”—to underscore a critical principle: First launching and **marketing an imperfect product (“fire”) and then incorporating feedback (“aim”) can generate more sales...

Ready, Fire, Aim Summary Stage 1: Launch

During the first stage of business development, your priority is to successfully launch a single product or service into the market. During this stage, you put multiple versions of your offer on the market, all the while using trial and error to test and refine what it is and how you present it. In other words, rather than focusing your resources on perfecting your product or service before you launch it, you’ll focus your resources on testing and optimizing your marketing strategy. Masterson explains that de-prioritizing the perfection of your product or service and prioritizing its marketing improves your chances of long-term success in four ways. It enables you to:

• Lower your overhead costs by helping you test your assumptions about how profitable your product or service will be before you invest significant time and resources in its development.
• Create a more valuable product or service by helping you collect feedback on how to make it more appealing to potential customers.
• Improve customer engagement by helping you learn about which marketing and sales strategies resonate with your target market.
• Fund the ongoing growth of your business by...

Ready, Fire, Aim Summary Stage 2: Expand

Once you’ve pinned down your marketing strategy, determined which product or service version appeals most to customers, and successfully generated sales for this offer, you’ll be ready to expand your business and your earning potential. Achieve this by focusing your resources on creating a broader range of offers—targeting your existing market, new markets, or both—and marketing them to both existing and new customers. Masterson explains that this strategy improves your chances of long-term success by:

• Helping you acquire new customers across different markets
• Providing new opportunities for you to profit from your existing customers
• Generating more sales, increasing your profits, and providing a steady stream of income to fund the ongoing growth of your business

(Shortform note: Business experts agree that expanding your product or service line can attract a wider range of consumers and enhance brand awareness, resulting in increased sales and financial stability. However, while this...

Ready, Fire, Aim Summary Stage 3: Optimize

Once you’ve expanded your product lines and increased your profits, optimize your internal systems and procedures. Achieve this by structuring your management team to handle day-to-day business operations. Masterson explains that this strategy improves your chances of long-term success by ensuring that all business functions run efficiently without your direct attention. This reduces costs and increases productivity and profits. It also allows you to focus on pursuing opportunities that fuel the ongoing growth of your business.

(Shortform note: In addition to the benefits outlined above, efficient operations also ensure customer satisfaction, positive reviews, and a reliable source of revenue. Management experts Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles (Raving Fans) explain that customers form expectations based on their past transactions with a business—and they expect future transactions to be just as good, if not better. This means that businesses must set processes in place that allow them to provide a consistent and reliable...

Ready, Fire, Aim Summary Stage 4: Sustain

When you’ve structured your management team to handle operations, sustain your business’s long-term growth and profitability. Achieve this by relinquishing your role as CEO and instead acting as an adviser or investor for your business. Masterson explains that this strategy improves your chances of long-term success by enabling you to focus on high-level tactics that drive the continued growth of your business.

(Shortform note: Several business authors suggest that entrepreneurs can sustain growth by relinquishing their CEO roles. Jim Collins (Good to Great) suggests that great leaders build companies that can thrive without them—they achieve this by identifying and grooming successors to take over their CEO roles. Verne Harnish (Scaling Up) explains that entrepreneurs can free up time to focus on strategic planning by creating leadership teams that can take over day-to-day operations. Bo Burlingham...

Shortform Exercise: Generate Ideas for Products and Services

Masterson suggests that expanding your product or service line boosts your customer base, generates more sales, and funds the ongoing growth of your business. Let’s brainstorm ideas for potential offers.

Think of a best-selling product or service in your industry and consider ways to improve it—for example, by integrating new features or making it easier to use. Write down at least one idea.