Creator Science with Jay Clouse

#236: Mike Michalowicz – How the author of Profit First stays lean by licensing his ideas [Greatest Hits]

Creator Science with Jay Clouse

Show Notes

Mike Michalowicz is the author of ⁠Profit First⁠, which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit – Creator Science is one of those companies. Profit First has helped me develop sound financials for my business.

He’s also the author of Clockwork, a powerful method to make any business run on automatic, and seven other books as well.

With more than 500,000 book sales, all of Mike’s books have the same goal – to help small business owners and eliminate what he calls “entrepreneurial poverty.” Simon Sinek has called Mike “…the top contender for the patron saint of entrepreneurs.”

This conversation is divided into halves:

The first half explores Mike’s unique model as an author. For each book Mike writes, he partners with a third party to license the frameworks from his books and serve as the done-for-you service provider. This is super uncommon and part of why he’s been so prolific while running a very lean team. So we dig into how that works (and what he’d do differently if he were starting over today).

The second half of the conversation is all about writing books. Mike has published nine books since 2008 – including 7 in the last 8 years. So we dig into how he determines what ideas to turn into books and how to write them so quickly.

⁠Full transcript and show notes⁠

Mike's ⁠Website⁠ / ⁠Twitter⁠ / ⁠Instagram⁠ / ⁠YouTube⁠ / ⁠LinkedIn⁠

***

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE

→ ⁠#176: April Dunford – How self-publishing a book exploded her client service business.⁠

***

ASK CREATOR SCIENCE

→ ⁠Submit your question here⁠

***

WHEN YOU'RE READY

📬 ⁠Creator Science Newsletter⁠

🚀 ⁠Get CreatorHQ⁠ (creator operating system)

🧪 ⁠Join The Lab⁠ (private membership community)

🧞‍♂️ ⁠Get a Personalized Offer⁠

***

CONNECT

🐦 ⁠Connect on Twitter⁠

📸 ⁠Connect on Instagram⁠

💼 ⁠Connect on LinkedIn⁠

📹 ⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠

***

SPONSORS

💼 ⁠View all sponsors and offers⁠

***

SAY THANKS

💜 ⁠Leave a review on Apple Podcasts⁠

🟢 ⁠Leave a rating on Spotify Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from Creator Science with Jay Clouse

Oct 20, 2026

My guest is Dorie Clark, a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, 4-time Thinkers50 honoree as one of the world's top business thinkers, and longtime faculty member at Duke and Columbia Business Schools.

Oct 13, 2026

My guest is George Blackman, a YouTube scriptwriter who got his start writing full-time for Ali Abdaal and has since written scripts for creators from 30,000 to over 10 million subscribers.

Oct 6, 2026

My guest is Jessica Lackey, founder of Deeper Foundations and author of Leaving the Casino: Stop Betting on Tactics and Start Building a Business That Works. She helps coaches, consultants, and service providers build expert-led businesses on strong foundations.

Sep 29, 2026

David Altizer is the co-creator of Thumbnail Academy and has quickly become one of the most sought-after thumbnail designers around. David’s clients include Kurtis Connor, Jolly, Max Fosh, Hayden Hillier Smith, and now me.

Sep 22, 2026

My guest is Tamara Grominsky, founder of PMM Camp — a private, application-only membership for senior product marketing leaders with 280+ members.

See all episodes →