Hi, I am Michel Goedegebuure, a.k.a. The 5X Guy.

I founded my company, ZingURbiz, to help manufacturing companies increase their margin by a factor of five or more. 

In 2000 I graduated from Delft University of Technology with a Master of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering. 

In the past 20+ years, I have worked in several production companies that were active in competitive markets producing technical products with demanding specifications, budgets, and schedules.

 

When I joined, they were all struggling financially due to the fierce competition, the variation in the products that they make, and the requirements put forward by the clients. 

These companies' (financial) struggle had a detrimental effect on the stakeholders; the managers, the employees, the suppliers, the clients, and the owners. 

As the general manager of these organizations, it was on me to lead the turnaround. 

My team, and their families, were all relying on me. 

Everyone told me that my mission was impossible. Many had tried and failed, they said. 

I have always loved reading. As a child, I ripped through books. When I became a student, I took an interest in business books. 

These days, I read a mix of fiction and 

I discussed what I read with friends and later, when I started working, with colleagues. I also tried to apply my newfound knowledge in my job. What worked, I expanded; when I failed, which was more often than not, I adapted until the process was successful.  

Despite many years of leading teams to better performance, I was not confident that my approach would work for entire companies.

You can imagine that I was insecure and nervous when I assumed my first position as the Operations Manager and later as the Managing Director. 

My doubts were unfounded! My team in The Netherlands turned loss-making projects profitable by reducing the cost per product by more than 25% using this approach.

Is this a one-hit-wonder? 

When I was ready to move to a new challenge, I accepted a position in Shipbuilding. This position was in Asia. Both the industry and region were new to me. 

I was concerned that my previous success was pure luck or my system only works in Europe. 

Again, my doubts and fears were unnecessary. 

My team drove the product cost down by 23% using the Quintuple (5X) Gross Margin Framework. In less than three years, the gross margin increased from 3% to more than 26%.

As mentioned before, I learned from reading and discussions, but primarily by application and testing.

I spent many hours learning; I did not keep a record, but I must have read hundreds of books. Add the time I spent trying, evaluating, and learning how to apply this knowledge effectively; I must have spent well over 10,000 hours developing the framework.

Lastly, writing a book is not easy. Overall, the book has cost me close to 1,000 hours to write, review, edit and review again. 

That time excluded the time spent by friends who also were kind enough to give me feedback to make the book what it is today.

As you can see, there is much time invested in this eBook. 

The book contains parts, each with chapters to go into the details of the topic in that part. 

Here is the table of contents of the book:

Part   1   Introduction

Part   2   Company Direction

Part   3   Change Management

Part   4   Leadership

Part   5   Trust

Part   6   Effectivity

Part   7   Gamification

Part   8   Continuous Improvement

Part   9   Next steps

Part 10  Acknowledgements

Part 11  References

Part 12  Recommended Reading

Part 13  Accelerate to 5X

Part 14  Copyright

Part 15  About Michel

If you order the book, you will receive a link to make an account in the members' area. There you can download the eBook in PDF format. 

In total, the book contains more than 190 A4 size pages. 

Parts two through nine contain practical and actionable methods and models that you can use on the same day. 

This theory, examples of my experience, and epiphanies alternate to bring the topics to life.

The order of the steps is relevant only for a few activities. You can apply the remainder of the teachings in your company as and when needed. 

The thing is, you are the specialist in your market, and you know your company best. It is, therefore, best for me to offer you the knowledge for you to apply in ways that best fit your leadership style and your company.

One of the bonus products you get with the book is the typical implementation schedule. 

In this document, the parts to perform in order are marked clearly. 

Yes, you get three bonus products:

1) a 30-minute video in which I explain the Quintuple (5X) Gross Margin framework structure.

2) An implementation checklist. With this checklist, you can make sure you don't forget anything

3) The typical implementation schedule

I have written the book for general managers of (production) companies to help them drive their organization's performance.

This is my first book, and I am not a native English speaker. If you expect a literary experience by reading the book, this is not the book you should buy.

If you are looking for a practical book full of actionable knowledge written by an experienced and seasoned professional, you will not be disappointed. 

I have several reasons for selling this ebook and offering my Quintuple (5X) Gross Margin framework. 

It is not easy to have a profitable business in manufacturing, mainly when you operate in a developed economy. Many moving parts need to be aligned to achieve a healthy profit. The management must be hands-on involved in strategic, tactical, and operational activities. 

The Quintuple (5X) Gross Margin framework gives managers a structure and a step-by-step method to drive performance in their teams. 

Applying my framework benefits all stakeholders of the company.

Management has fewer worries and can focus on business development. They are the envy of their peers in the industry.

Employees and contractors have an energizing, motivating, and safe workplace. They collaborate with all departments to achieve the same goal. Last but not least, they get rewarded for their efforts. 

Shareholders own a company that is highly profitable and grows fast. Their equity increases in value every year. 

Suppliers get the technical input that they need on time. Their invoices are paid on time. They improve their product together with your company; this benefits their business in the market. 

Governmental agencies achieve their goals on the company's safety, health, and environmental impact. 

I love the impact that my Quintuple (5X) Gross Margin framework has on the well-being of all people involved. 

Changing the lives of many people through the performance of their companies is what motivates me. 

I have discovered that the company turnaround process fascinates and energizes me. 

If I move to another company, I can only experience one turnaround at a time.

By offering my knowledge to General Managers of manufacturing companies, I can experience more turnarounds. 

By selling you my book for this low price, I hope to start building a business relationship where I help you achieve results faster and avoid the cost of failures. 

When I was leading companies, consultants contacted me regularly. 

They all claim to help achieve (almost) unbelievable results. 

None of them was willing to 'put their money where their mouth was', meaning that they put the risk on my company. 

I had to pay the full price and trust that they would deliver on their claims. They would say: "You have to trust me."

How can I trust someone who I just met? 

I believe that anyone making a claim must be willing to take the risk to prove that they can deliver on that promise. 

When I started ZingURbiz, I stuck to my principle. In the book, I give you everything you need to succeed, assuming that you apply the approach in a meaningful way for your company. 

I take a tremendous risk by selling the book at the low price that you see today. I take this risk because I think this will be an excellent start to a collaboration. 

My risk is that we may never achieve a deeper business relationship. 

Rest assured, if you buy my book, you have no further obligation. 

Here are the questions and concerns that I hear frequently and my responses:

It is difficult to answer this question without knowing more about your company. 

Yet, I dare to answer the question by saying: Yes, it is possible. 

How is it that I can say yes, without knowing the status of your enterprise? For several reasons: 

a) My team and I increased the Gross Margin by a factor of 9 in three years (GM from 3% to 26%). With more time, a higher multiple is certain. 

b) I have achieved similar results in several companies. That tells me that these results can be replicated by using the Quintuple (5X) Gross Margin framework.

I did not make large investments in all the companies that I managed. 

There are always small expenses to be able to work more efficiently. These expenses should easily fit in your yearly budget, e.g., replacing hand tools. 

Working smarter has yielded the results that I shared. 

Decreased costs per product caused the gross margin growth.

Typically, my teams have achieved a reduction in product cost of 25%. 

What will happen to your product's gross margin if you make it for 25% less? 

I have, indeed, only applied my framework in manufacturing companies. Hence, I market ZingURbiz to General Managers of manufacturing companies. 

At the core of my Quintuple (5X) Gross Margin framework, the best practices apply to all teams. They keep teams in large companies like FranklinCovey, Google, Facebook, and Apple agile and productive.

My team has applied the principles to office departments with tremendous results. And I used my leadership approach to a committee of the field hockey club of my kids and led that team to high performance. 

I am convinced that this approach works for services companies as well. 

Buying the book is not expensive. If you are a manager in the services industry, the risk of purchasing the book is limited. Give it a try and decide after reading the book!

ZingURbiz offers products from below US$ 10. Anyone can quintuple their gross margin after buying my ebook by applying the framework. 

For every company, the return on investment of US$ 8.89 is the highest they will ever see. 

I offer online training and several 15 months programs to help companies achieve their goals faster. If you want to learn more, you can schedule a video call on my website (www.zingurbiz.com). 

You can also buy the book and achieve extraordinary results without engaging me. 

At the top of this website, I shared the actual results that I achieved. 

I can understand that you are cautious. If I encounter an offer that sounds too good to be true, I am also cautious.

I put forward that you are not taking a large risk by procuring my eBook. I also offer a 100% money-back guarantee, see this section. 

After that, we can build a business relationship, if you are okay with that. 

Then you came to the right website. The eBook and the bonus product give you all the guidance you need. 

It is usual for general managers and business owners to have a full schedule. Improvement processes cost time and effort before the results show.

One of the first steps in the framework is to clear time in your schedule. 

You can save time by squashing common time wasters. 

The best is that you are starting the transition to a high-performing organisation at the same time already.

I have developed the 5x-margin framework in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Improving is only effective if people consider it part of their daily work. You are 100% correct that you do not want to leave this task to a dedicated team working outside of operations. 

Dedicated teams that large organisations implement support and consult the managers with their knowledge and experience.

It makes more sense to hire an experienced consultant to accelerate the change process in smaller companies.

ZingURbiz's mission is to help as many entrepreneurs as possible. 

I can only achieve that by helping you and moving on when you do not need my support anymore. 

My approach is to teach you and your management team how to lead the transition. 

Once you don't require further support from me, I am delighted to help other companies.

My framework helps business owners quintuple their gross margin. The framework is about aligning all activities to achieve your vision.

You are the expert on your industry and your company. I can merely help you to apply the 5x-gross margin framework.

If these FAQs did not include your answer, then please send your question to: info@zingurbiz.com