Book Summaries

03 Jul

Posted at 05:00h in Book Summaries, Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Self-Guided Education by

Josh Kaufman Personal MBA

"See the sad thing about a guy like you, is in about 50 years you’re gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you’re gonna come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One, don't do that. And two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin’ education you coulda' got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library." - Matt Damon as Will in Good Will Hunting
**Important note: Today we're talking about one of my favorite topics: practical education. Be sure to read to the end for two free tools I created for you all to download and use. They go hand in hand with this post and video. Enjoy!

To Go to Business School or Not?

It's a question I used to ask myself a lot. And one I'm constantly asked by others. About seven years ago Josh Kaufman was faced with that very dilemma. He felt like he wanted (and perhaps needed) to get an MBA in order to move his career forward. The problem was he didn't want to spend two years and over $100k in debt to do it. He also doubted how practical such a solution would be. So instead, he went Good Will Hunting-style and proceeded to spend the next two months living at libraries and book stores. In those first two months he read over 200 business books. Since then he's gone through closer to 1,000. He then tested and cherry-picked the most fundamental and useful content. He also estimates he saved himself about $150,000.

11 Jun

Posted at 19:36h in Book Summaries, Entrepreneurship, Life on Your Terms Interviews by

chris guillebeau 100 startup

"Your possibilities are unlimited, but it all begins with the deliberate choice to think differently."

— Chris Guillebeau

Can a Startup be Less Risky than a Normal Job?

I spent some time with Chris Guillebeau last week hearing some pretty interesting ideas - his answer to the above question was one of them. He was on tour for his new book, The $100 Startup, which recently hit #3 on the WSJ and #6 on the New York Times bestseller lists. His message is powerful and he does a damn good job turning some conventional wisdom on its head (where most of it belongs :)). Chris has done more positive work for the area of creative careers and living life on your terms, than possibly anyone else out there - through his Art of Non Conformity site, The World Domination Summit, Travel Hacking Cartel and The $100 Startup, aside from all kinds of charity work and mentorship. I have no idea how he does it all.

05 Oct

Posted at 05:00h in Book Summaries, Career & Purpose, Emotions & Happiness by

Conquer Fear

"Ninety percent of life is just showing up."

~ Woody Allen

About a year ago I sat down for tea with a friend and mentor of mine, Mary Jaksch, co-founder of A-List Blogging Bootcamps and Good Life Zen. I was ecstatic. Thanks to what I had learned (and diligently applied) from her and Leo Baubauta via their friendship and their blogging club, my business had grown by nearly 1,300% in the previous nine months. I had arranged time to meet with Mary because I wanted to talk about what was next - my big plans for the year to come. This is something I routinely practice with all my models in any space that I'm passionate about improving. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I prefer to seek out the folks that can teach me how to roll the one that already works perfectly well. As we were chatting ideas and next steps, we got to talking about pitfalls and things to watch out for in the business. I wanted to make sure I didn't run into any easily-avoidable brick walls... Then Mary looked over to me and said, "Scott, there is one thing over all others that's the biggest risk to your online career at your stage. Do you know what it is?" I was all ears...