This would be a great book for a student taking college level business classes. It provides relevant information that is said in a new way that may be more relatable for many readers.

Taking the financial and business advice of someone who was only able to retire early because they earned enough to be filthy rich is a bit like asking the underpant gnomes about what to do with your sock drawer. Did someone say survivorship bias?

The audiobook was well narrated, and it was an interesting premise! A few years ago, I worked with a coach that was very focused on creating systems, and it was a new way of thinking for me - I'm much more 'big picture', people-oriented and creative. So I was drawn to this book, as a more detailed understanding of the creation of systems and benefits it could bring to my life and organisation. It didn't disappoint! I recommend for those looking for ways to provide more structure in their lives.

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Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less by Sam Carpenter & Josh Fonger in which the author explains his system for running several successful businesses. Mr. Carpenter is a successful businessman.

Reading business books primarily gives me at least one good tidbit for my work life and/or personal life. Somethings which I never realized, or by the same token, never thought about that makes a difference. Working for small and big businesses, in both public and private sectors have allowed different view points. Some of the author’s points rang bells which I found to be very true based on my experience. For example: either run a business or be a key employee, but not both.

Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less by Sam Carpenter & Josh Fonger hasn’t added anything new to my knowledge. The premise is simple: cut down complex jobs to manageable tasks and work those. Something us computer programmers have been doing for decades. Granted, it is applicable to almost every industry, and life itself.

The author gives real life examples from his business and others. Curiously, one of the examples he gives is a checklist for his company that must be filled when they hire someone. All items have to be checked for a person to get the job.
Why curious?
One of the items is that the person can’t be fat. They won’t be hired even if they check all other boxes.
Nonetheless,there is prejudice against fat people (but even so, certainly not against any laws), it takes some balls though to put in writing. Incidentally, it’s not “exactly” what he says, but that’s the way it is being interpreted.

With this in mind, are preachy parts in the books (don’t drink coffee, etc.), that felt strange. Indeed, in a book that preaches “what works for you”, it was certainly out of scope. That being the case, it goes hand-in-hand with the “fat” point above, I have no issues with either being included in the book, but I found it strange from a business perspective.

There was nothing new, for me at least, in this book. Certainly it was worth a listen, but keep in mind that the author wants to sell the services of his consulting company (not a hard sell though, which is good). For others hearing, or reading, his ideas might be enlightening and worth the trip. Tim Underwood’s narration was professional and clear.

This audiobook at first sounds a bit repetitive and too long, but the author warns us at the beginning and explains why he wrote the book this way. Anyway, I find the audiobook Work the System to be very good. It is a mix of a business how-to book and an author's personal story. In this story, he describes how he incorporated strategy from this book into his business.

The narration of Tim Underwood is great. It sounds as the author himself is reading the book to you, and it suits this type of audiobook.

I would recommend this book or audiobook to all (small) business owners. Although, it is possible that some (successful) business owners have these things under control and won't see much value in this book.

Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this! All opinions are my own.

The best thing about this book is that it gives insight in to one man's discoveries, successes and failures in running a business. Sam Carpenter is passionate and confident in telling his experience. I thought the title suggested some sort of trickery, but it really refers to developing, refining and executing a series of systems and procedures to make your business a high functioning, less stressful machine. Not much that was 'new' to me, but always good to hear how someone else works their way through the process. We can always learn by listening to others. New and/or struggling business owners would probably benefit the most from this book.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm really torn on this one. I think if you've taken a college level business class or two there is a good chance this is going to be redundant and boring for you. If you haven't, you may enjoy it and actually glean something from it.

I’ve been running my own business for almost 30 years now and I can tell you, seeing things from another’s point of view is essential to keeping your business successful. You can’t only take your own advice and run things your own way without feedback from others.

Sam Carpenter’s “Work The System” has some interesting ideas. Not all of them are new, fresh or unheard of, but any business owner or self employed person will find some good ideas in here.

I first listened to this as an audiobook. I then realized I wanted to have the Kindle version to make some highlights and notes to go back to. You never know when you may want to incorporate something new.

Keep an open mind, especially in business. Try out other’s successful tools if you haven’t already and see how they work for you.

Special thanks to Greenleaf Book Group Press, Sam Carpenter and NetGalley for this ARC.

#WorktheSystemFourthEdition #NetGalley

Tim Underwood did well with the narration of this audiobook. I enjoy listening to the audio versions of business book to get a feel for what they are about since I can listen during my commute. Do any of you listen while on your way into the office?

Work the System tells you that you need to focus on making systems and making sure you keep working on them as things don’t work. Taking action right away will help you keep things up to date and help you save money and time later on. Definitely worth the read. I will be working though the ebook I ended up with from Goodreads giveaways.

Sam explains what he means by systems and describes with stories the things that go wrong when you do not have good systems in place. If you have systems in your business that aren’t working or you’re not sure why your business is not do as well as it was or should be or as you would like it to then pick up this book. It is practical and pretty easy to follow advise.

Businesses need operation systems in place so that everyone knows what to do even when the boss isn’t around. If you do not have well working systems then your business will never be at it’s highest potential. Sam says in his book something that I took as “if your business can’t run without you gone then it’s not a good system.” If you are a business owner your whole goal is to make it work for you not to make more work for you. The point of wanting my own business is so that I can make my own schedule and have money coming in when I’m not physically working. So this spoke to me.

I would definitely recommend this book to every business owner but also to managers and persons of authority in a business who might have a way to implement systems in a business. I know many business owners who would benefit from reading this book and taking action but alas, not everyone will take advise. That is the downfall of many business owners. They think they don’t need help or that they don’t need other peoples opinions. It would be a shame if that were you and your business. So go get this book today!

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I was not a fan of this book.

For me, it is an entire book about a man who doesn't know how to run a business drone on and on about trying to figure out a way to change. Well, he finally learned about systems. The actual method to the madness is working as a system. Set up things to help ease your job like, get this, auto pay FROM THE BANK.

I mean, come on. Not as I thought it would be.