Owner Shift

Mike Malatesta

Being an entrepreneur is hard. Being a successful one is a long shot. The stress makes you feel like you’re fighting everything at once. Regulations. Red tape. Employees, vendors, and customers. Even family and friends, sometimes.

But what about yourself?

All too often, entrepreneurs become their own worst enemies, designing systems that keep them stuck without even realizing it. When that happens, it’s easy to blame the lack of progress on other people. They’re not helping you. They’re the problem.

Owner Shift is the no-holds-barred, breakthrough story of Mike Malatesta’s own journey through excitement, pain, grit, and mistakes—showing you how to take back your power, evaluate your business objectively, and claim the future you want.

When it feels like the world is against you, Owner Shift reveals the Five Words that can reignite your fire—making you a better leader, attracting new levels of success, and helping you accomplish more than you ever thought possible.

Press & Praise

Scott Mautz, Founder & CEO, Profound Performance, author, Leading from the Middle | Find the Fire | Make It Matter

Ever stop before you feel like you really got things started? Yeah, me too. You're not alone, as entrepreneur, writer, and podcaster Mike Malatesta illustrates. Ride along for Mike's own narrated journey. Filled with insight, not the obvious, with vulnerability, not infallibility, Malatesta's crisp writing is laced with lessons worth learning.

Art Bell, Co-Founder, Comedy Central, author, Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humor

If you're a fed-up entrepreneur questioning whether you should go back to working for the man or hang in there in the hope of finding the right path, then you'll find Michael Malatesta's book indispensable. Through clear, concise, and jargon-free writing, he guides us through his own entrepreneurial journey, exploring all the frustrations, setbacks, and grief that every would-be entrepreneur faces and ultimately experiences. Want to know how to get through your own entrepreneurial journey and reach the promised land? Read this book, then keep it on your night table until you're successful. You won't find a better mentor anywhere than Mike Malatesta.

Al Weiss, CEO, Weiss Advisors Retired President of Worldwide Operations for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts

The glory of the overnight success is all too prevalent on today's business bookshelves. There's a reason for this; those stories sell. But the dark secret is this—overnight success is a myth. Mike takes us on his personal entrepreneurship journey that's anything but an overnight success. That's why Overshift is essential for any entrepreneur fighting the good fight. It's honest, transparent, and wickedly enjoyable.

Mike Malatesta started his first business in 1992, seven months after being fired from a company he had dreamed he might lead one day. Over the next twenty-two years, he helped run, lead, and grow that startup, selling it for more money than he could have imagined.

The creator of the How’d It Happen podcast, Mike is deep into his second startup and an active early-stage investor. His mission is to help as many entrepreneurs as he can to create companies that improve people’s lives and, maybe, the world.

Mike lives in Wisconsin with his wife, Jamy. He’s active in YPO, Abundance 360, and Vistage Worldwide. Connect with him online at mikemalatesta.com.


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