Story of My Book
Sweat the Small Stuff!
My name is Ram Lokan and I am the author of Sweat the Small Stuff! a book that will give you a different perspective on how to be successful in business. To be ambitious does not mean to only focus on the big things; instead you can grow your business by focusing on the details, and understanding the granular actions that make your business move.
Sweat the Small Stuff! explores the intersections of business, ambition, and leadership. I want the reader to come with me on a journey that took me from acquiring a business, growing it, and eventually selling it, and understand that what made my business successful was sweating the small stuff: understanding the small day to day issues that when solved, unleashed growth and motivated the entire team.
This is a story about how planning lunch every day for staff from 5 different cultures teaches you about team building; how handling a customer complaint on the price of corn flakes teaches you about the logistics of a supply chain spanning 9 countries; how promoting a cashier earns the trust of the entire company; and what showing up at the bakery at 5 a.m. to make bread teaches you about leadership. Sweating this small stuff made me a better manager and ultimately led to the growth of my business.
I wrote this book because I wanted to show a different perspective on ambition and becoming successful in business. Whether you are an ambitious college graduate thinking about your first job or an experienced professional wondering about your next move, I am hoping this book will give you a different perspective on what it takes to be successful in business. Future entrepreneurs, disruptors, innovators, will glean from this book the journey that lies ahead and how they can be more successful in growing their business by sweating the small stuff.
Ultimately, I hope that Sweat the Small Stuff! inspires reflection and fruitful dialogue, and makes people realize that ambition does not always mean doing something big. It can start by doing the small things. They might or might not be easy to fix, but those always lead to a very meaningful impact. So, sweat the small stuff!
The book - Sweat the Small Stuff!
The book is written in 4 parts.
Part 1 contains the introduction + Chapters 1-5. Here, I explain how and why I ended up in Tanzania owning a supermarket and the early challenges of acquiring and running this business.
Part 2 contains Chapters 6-10. This is where I learn more and more about the business and the people involved in running it. At this stage in the journey, I also apply management lessons on operations and leadership to learn the business.
Part 3 contains Chapters 11-15 where I explore how I used the lessons from Part 2 to grow the business, including expansion in a new country.
Finally, Part 4 contains Chapters 16-20 where I talk about some of the psychological costs of entrepreneurship and how I made the decision to sell the business.
What I Need & What You'll Get
This book will be published with New Degree Press. I set up the pre-order tiers to help cover the costs for publishing my book. Money raised will go towards the following:
- The Editor I will work with to revise and publish my manuscript in December 2020
- The Cover Design - the mockups you see currently are a placeholder!
- The Layout Design for the interior of my book (Physical Copy, Ebook formats)
- Copyediting - to help polish the grammar and spelling prior to publication
- Launch & Promotion efforts - when I ultimately publish this December
When I pre-sell 120 copies of my book, I will publish an eBook and paperback edition. When I pre-sell 150 copies, I will also publish a hardcover edition. When I pre-sell 200 copies, I will publish a hardcover edition and an audiobook.
I am also offering some exclusive rewards for people who pre-order my book now:
- You will receive a personally signed copy of my book when I publish
- A personal, handwritten thank you note for pre-ordering my book
- Your Name will appear in a Special, Acknowledgements section (“with Special Thanks to”)
- Early access to the Introduction of my book and some additional sections of my manuscript, with the opportunity to review it and give me early feedback
- The opportunity to help give me feedback and be involved in selecting my cover
- I will do a book topic/workshop seminar where I will share the experience of writing my book
About the Author
Ram Lokan is currently a Principal at Kasada Capital Management, a hospitality-focused private equity firm investing in Sub-Saharan Africa.
He is passionate about operating and investing in businesses in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa where he has spent the last ten years with a heavy bias towards real assets. He believes strongly that to be successful in these markets, you need an active investor/operator mindset and the willingness to be on the ground talking to people and understand the details.
When he's not pestering his local barista with supply chain questions, you can find him reading business and military history books, or discovering new beaches along the Indian Ocean with his wife.
For more information you can connect with Ram at ram.lokan@gmail.com and on LinkedIn.
Risks & Challenges
The biggest challenge with publishing a book is delivering the finished book to the backer, specifically my mailing of the book to you. I have eliminated this risk by building into the campaign the mailing and shipping costs of your signed copies to you within each pre-order tier (for North America and South Africa).
The risk of delivering the pre-sale copies of my book is contingent on the publisher we use. I will be working closely with New Degree Press to make sure we get the earliest possible ship date of the signed book copy to you. We will keep all pre-sale backers up-to-date as my book hits each key milestone and publishes. You will know when the copies of my book you pre-ordered are expected to ship.
Other Ways You Can Help
There are additional ways you can help, besides contributing. I’d appreciate your support in the following manner:
- Please share my Pre-sale Campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn with your friends, family and network. Please use #SweatTheSmallStuff and tag me as well as my publisher, New Degree Press so we can help amplify your efforts
- You can easily share my Pre-Sale Campaign page via Indiegogo at the top of the page
- Please share my book with 5 friends, family members, or co-workers who you think would enjoy it. You can do this as a text message or direct message on social media
Thank you so much for of all of your love and support!
Ram
