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Competing for Revenue: Veteran Business Owner Shares a Framework for Growth
The former CFO of Perdue Farms and owner of Hardy Seafood, Terry Owens delivers a wealth of wisdom and strategies for entrepreneurs in his new book, "Business is Simple."
June 17, 2026
In his new book, Conway shares the three-part structure he developed while building businesses under pressure and navigating decades of competition, uncertainty, and growth.
Credit: Publish Your Purpose
2 min to read
"Many businesses fail because they lose focus on the fundamentals," says Author Terry Conway.
Credit: Publish Your Purpose
Nearly six million businesses are expected to launch this year, yet roughly half of all new businesses will fail within five years. Former CFO and veteran business owner Terry Conway believes many of those failures stem from losing sight of the fundamentals required to compete for revenue.
In his new book, Business is Simple: From a Family Cottage Business to World Processing and Markets, Conway shares the three-part structure he developed while building businesses under pressure and navigating decades of competition, uncertainty, and growth.
“Many businesses fail because they lose focus on the fundamentals,” Conway said. "You have to continuously improve the quality of your products, produce them at a competitive advantage, and surround yourself with people who know how to close the deals. That’s the essence of business.”
In Business is Simple, Conway details his three-part framework — based on principles shaped by decades of experience as the former Perdue Farms CFO and longtime Handy Seafood owner — and introduces “all-abouts”— bottom-line focal points designed to eliminate noise and keep each function of a business aligned around its core purpose.
“Core values are essential,” Conway said. “I like two: ‘Trust is the cornerstone of everything’ and ‘free flowing collaboration to innovate and use innovations for competitive advantages.’"
This time-tested methodology guided Conway’s own journey as he took the helm of Handy Seafood — a small company with one phone line and no plans for expansion — and transformed it into a thriving international business operating across 17 countries. In his book, he retraces the risks, fierce competition, regulatory hurdles, betrayals, and costly mistakes he encountered and how he overcame them.
Along the way, Conway navigates emerging markets across Thailand and India through a series of high-risk ventures and international expansion efforts that earned him the nickname “The Indiana Jones of the seafood
business.”
Part memoir, part business manual, part survival story, Business is Simple delivers a wealth of wisdom and strategies for entrepreneurs, business leaders, family-owned companies, and recent college graduates
— anyone looking for real-world applications of business principles.
“Testing the structure had many enjoyable moments,” Conway added. “The thrill of making it work, the joy of working with cultures in 7 countries, spreading the brand worldwide, and building longevity for the family made the hard work worthwhile. I hope this book helps propel your growth.”
The book which is published by Publish Your Purpose is available for purchase on Amazon.
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