The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line is the book that tells you how to become successful in life regardless of education level or how much you've messed up in the past. It helps readers develop the elemental skills of business, leadership, and life.

This book is for:

▪ The high-powered executive made redundant by pandemic-inspired cost-cutting, now seeking a refresher course in what made her successful in the first place.

▪ The unemployed teen who aspires to become a wealthy entrepreneur but has no idea where to start.

▪ The recent graduate who just can't seem to find a job in the toughest employment climate in decades.

▪ The burnt-out manager who realized, during the lockdown, that she's dying to change careers, but who is overwhelmed by the challenge of starting over.

Author Michael Contento knows it's possible for them, and you, to become successful because his story is less likely than anyone's. He didn't go to a fancy school. In fact, he didn't even finish high school. And yet, as the CEO of a fast-growing managed-services IT firm and a director on the national board of Big Brothers Big Sisters Canada, among many other ventures, he's successful by any measure.

How did Michael go from being a problem for the boss, to running things for the boss, to being the boss, to owning the holding company that hired the boss? He followed a set of basic principles that can be used by anyone to achieve success.

At the heart of this method is the concept of D2: Deliver simplicity, drive growth. Once you're done this book, D2 will guide every business interaction you have.

But deliver simplicity isn't the only imperative required to achieve success.

Among the fundamental principles that this book will deliver to readers are such insights as:

1. Your time is too valuable for Game of Thrones.
2. 2. Don't say "can't" to the boss.
3. 3. Take the word "kiss-ass" out of your vocabulary.
4. 4. Communicating is about what they hear, not what you say.
5. 5. There's no such thing as a dead-end job.

Finding success difficult to achieve in business, leadership and life? The problem isn't that you went to the wrong school or that you're not smart enough. Instead, the bottom line is that you need The Bottom Line-the primary elements required to win supporters, communicate your ideas, overcome obstacles and sell deals. Read this book-and you'll learn to deliver simplicity, achieve success, and never quit.

For more resources and supplementary materials related to the book, visit deliversimplicity.ca.

Michael Contento is the entrepreneur who other entrepreneurs consult for advice, in part because he achieved his success the old-fashioned way. The youngest boy in an Italian family of six children, Contento did not have the benefit of an MBA, a post-secondary degree or even a high-school diploma. Instead, he worked his way up as an hourly worker making minimum wage to his current role as the CEO of My Blue Umbrella, a 30-employee IT-services company with $10 million in revenue and a 15% compound annual growth rate. Today, Contento delivers simplicity in the form of tech management and consulting services to some of Canada's highest-performing companies. His leadership of the Maple Leaf chapter of the Trust X Alliance, Ingram Micro's elite association of IT firms, won the group its first-ever chapter of the year award in 2014. Also the CEO of a chain of pharmacies located across the Greater Toronto Area, Contento owns and manages a large portfolio of real estate. His registered charity, Do Amazing Things, empowers the disadvantaged to fulfill their career ambitions. He is a national director at large for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada. Find him on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/myblueumbrella/. or www.deliversimplicity.ca