This book is absolutely hilarious. It’s very insightful, witty and uses terrific humor to get a very valid and critical point across.

As Michalowicz puts it, TPE (The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur) is “The tell-it-like-it-is guide to cleaning up in business, even if you are at the end of your roll.”

The very beginning of the book is what hooked me: he compares a person sitting on the toilet, with little toilet paper and having to make due with nearby resources, to the entrepreneurial mind and spirit.

I emailed Michalowicz, introducing myself and asking for permission to quote this magnificent section of his book (I asked for permission because it’s more than just two sentences… and I wanted to meet the man making me laugh out loud). He responded before the end of the day with an “Absolutely!” His response was sincere… I’m that much more of a fan now.

Here’s the quote:

“The less you have of something critical, the more important it becomes and the more wisely you use it. This is true with everything — love, food, money, and even (or especially) toilet paper.

Have you ever been doing your business with your pants hugging your ankles and, when you are ready to wrap things up, notice that you are extremely low on toilet paper? Don’t deny it! You know exactly what I am talking about. Three tattered sheets of TP hang off the edge of the cardboard roll, mocking you.

This is a crappy position to be in (pun intended). There are only two or three options. You could call for help, which is WAY too embarrassing, but is an option. Of course you could do the humbling, hunched shuffle of shame and pray you find a roll somewhere nearby. That’s horrible, but it’s an option. The final option, usually the best option, is to manage with what you’ve got. And when you apply your entrepreneurial mind, you quickly recognize you have more than a mere three sheets.

Here’s the play-by-play. You go with the final option and decide to manage. Let’s be honest: you have reputation for using more than three sheets. You gotta see what else you can… wait a minute. Ah ha!!! Yes! The wastepaper basket! Like a master gymnast performing a two-handed straddle over a pommel horse, you hold yourself up and stretch your leg out. Just… far… enough. With your leg quivering from the strain, you precariously hook your toes over the garbage pail and start dragging it in. ‘Come to Momma. Come to Momma,’ you repeat over and over in your head.

Time to examine your newly found treasure trove: A used snot-rag. Good, very good. A Q-Tip. Oh, the inhumanity! Usable, if you must. A few cotton balls. OK, you can work with that. And… dental floss? No way! You draw the line at dental floss. So with three sheets of TP, a few cotton balls, a used tissue and a little poking around with a Q-Tip, you walk out fresh as a daisy ready to face the world. Of course, you don’t reload the toilet paper for the next guy. Let him learn the hard way!

The story doesn’t end there. The next time you visit the john, you check the TP supply immediately. With a ready supply, you tear through the paper like it is going out of style. Within a few weeks of ‘the incident,’ though, you return to your old ways without a fleeting thought of being caught short-handed. Sure enough, before long you get caught again with your pantaloons kissing your ankles and an empty roll, praying you won’t need the dental floss this time.

Do you see the amazing entrepreneurial lessons here? In the most challenging, most human moment of all, we demonstrate our infinite ability to pull ‘miracles’ out of the trash. When we literally have no option to just get up and walk away, we find a way to get the job done. With three sheets, some wastepaper basket scraps and possibly a torn up cardboard roll, the impossible becomes very possible.”

See why this book is awesome?!?

Just wanted to share