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THE BOOK · LAUNCHES TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2026
The Second-Act Guide to Owning a Business and Building Real Wealth
You did what you were told: the degree, the job, the 401(k). Now you are doing the arithmetic on the next thirty years and the numbers do not work. This book is about the option nobody offered you: own something. Buy a business that already works, start one as a startup of one, stay in your job while you do it, or own a piece of someone else's deal.
Pre-orders open in November. Buy any format on launch day and get six months of the Owners Room free.
MICHAEL CROW
The Second-Act Guide to Owning a Business and Building Real Wealth
Hardcover · Paperback · Kindle · Audiobook
WHAT'S INSIDE
Most advice is for people who already own a business and want to grow it. This book is for the decision before that: which door fits you, and how to walk through it without walking off a cliff.
DOOR 1
Take over a business that already works. Customers, staff and cash flow on day one. The SEARCH process shows you how to find, value and finance one.
DOOR 2
Build from scratch, often as a startup of one. When you buy, you buy the answer. When you start, you buy the question. Here is when that is the right call.
DOOR 3
Keep the paycheck and still own something. Put money into someone else's deal: a search fund, a small-business acquisition, or operators you trust. You own a piece; they run it. Learn to read the operator, the terms and the fees first.
THE TOOLS
Twenty factors, ten about you and ten about the conditions you would be flying into. One honest number that tells you whether you are ready, ready with gaps, or not yet.
Ten questions that sort you into a door: own it yourself, own it with a partner, or invest. Two minutes, and it changes which half of the book you read first.
Self-analysis, External factors, Analyze, Resources, Capital, Home. The six-step process Michael uses on every deal, ending in a one-paragraph Buy Box.
The free tools go live with the book at ownyourlifebook.net. Newsletter readers get them first.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael started as a CPA at Price Waterhouse, then served as SVP and CFO of the international division of Security Pacific. He has bought and sold more than 25 companies, took National Investment Managers from 4 to 800+ employees through 25+ acquisitions, and built and exited a 5,000-unit apartment portfolio. Harvard Business School OPM. Licensed real estate broker. Twenty-five years in the cockpit.
"I've bought businesses. I've built wealth. I've also lost money and had deals fall apart even when I did everything by the book."
acquired and financed
companies bought and sold
employees built from 4
buying, financing and owning
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Own something. Five minutes a week on making the right ownership decision: buy a business, start one, stay in your job, or own a piece of someone else's deal. From Michael Crow, author of Own Your Life.
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