Not Just a Living: The Complete Guide to Creating a Business That Gives You a Life

by Mark Henricks

Book Overview

As people have come to yearn for more fulfilling and creative work, many are realizing their dreams by leaving the corporate life behind and creating businesses around the things they love. In Not... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738208124
• ISBN13: 9780738208121
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book on Lifestyle Entrpreneurship

I thought this was an excellent read on a subject that has gotten little attention, Lifestyle Entrepreneurship. Part One of the book explains the difference between Lifestyle vs. Classic entrpreneurship and offers an alternative to those wishing to work for themselves, but without having to build a business.Part's Two and Three covers such topics as getting started, funding, people and technology. For those that have read other entrepreneurial books, these topics have been covered before, but the author gives a concise treatment of each topic.Finally, what makes this a good read is the author's writing style which is easy to read and concise, as demonstrated by the book length. The book should serve both as a first read on lifestyle entrpreneurship and reference manual to get started.

First factual account from the freelance world ...

Wow. This would appear to be the first book I've ever read on freelancing that is actually based on fact (and I have every freelancer book that exists in my library).The most profound thought in the book is the "job security" thing: Henricks is a freelance writer, has been highly successful as such, and this is the way he sees day-job employment security, per se: "'... Job security' is one of those phrases that, like `serious fun' and `exact estimate,' tries to combine incompatible concepts. The truth is, in general, there is no such thing as a really secure job ... Just ask the former employees of companies with longstanding no-layoff policies, such as IBM and Delta Airlines, who wound up getting laid off ... Let's consider the chances that I (Henricks), for example, am going to be laid off this week. In a typical year, about 20 percent of the people I worked for during the previous year stop working with me. Including brand-new customers I didn't work with a year earlier, I lose a client, on average, about once a month. So the chances I'll lose one this week are somewhere around one in four. But am I really insecure? Not really. Because after I lose that one client, I'll still have a dozen or so left. The chances may be good that a small measure of insecurity will visit me soon. But what are the chances that in one stroke I'll lose all my clients, the equivalent of an employee losing his one and only source of income? The chances are poor. It's never happened, or even come close to happening, and I don't expect it ever will ..."Here's another quote:"... Even more striking was the effect on my lifestyle. I've worked as many or as few hours as I deemed necessary. I attend virtually no meetings. My commute is measured in feet, not miles. I wear a tie so rarely that when I do, it often takes several tries to get the knot right. I've gotten paid for indulging my love of reading, as a book reviewer. I've been sent on fabulous travel adventures, all expenses paid. I receive, gratis, piles of high-tech gadgets from the companies that want me to consider their products in articles and books about technology trends. And I get paid to do all this. My lifestyle is part of, and is funded entirely by, my earnings as a **lifestyle entrepreneur** (a relatively new word in the freelance world)."The general premise for Henricks' book is that freelancing - in whatever direction you happen to take it - does not have to be about starving to death (or worrying about paying the rent). He details honorable freelance professions, entrepreneurship, and creating or purchasing small businesses - and talks about "joining the ranks of the 20 million American small and home-based business owners" that exist today.He doesn't go into the mechanics of any particular profession - Henricks is a freelance writer - but his book isn't about writing. Rather, he talks about practical details that allow people to spend their lives doing something they enjoy outside of a corporate Dilbe

Do You Wannt to...or Do You Have to?

As I read this book, I was reminded of Socrates' observation that "the unexamined life is not worth living" and of Thoreau's assertion that many people "live lives of quiet desperation." If either or both describes your current situation, Hendricks offers information and counsel which can be of incalculable value to you. The origin of the word "entrepreneur" is a late-19th century French word meaning "one who undertakes." Today, we think of entrepreneurs as those who undertake risks. Obviously, a decision to leave a "job" to seek opportunities elsewhere can be perilous. It should also be noted that many of those who are self-employed are miserably unhappy, and, that many of those within an organization are enthusiastic, indeed passionate about their "job." Henricks makes a critically important distinction between standard of living and quality of life. Moreover, the latter refers to both personal and career issues. He provides rock-solid advice, anchored in a wealth of his own real-world experiences. obviously, he is a thoughtful and caring person. His counsel is practical, expressed with no-nonsense eloquence. The questions Henricks poses, in my opinion, are far more important than any of the answers he provides. Years ago, Rod Steiger was asked if young people sought out his advice. "Oh yeah, sure, all the time. And I always ask them the same question: 'Do you want to be an actor or do you [in italics] have to be an actor?' The longer it takes them to answer that question, the less likely they'll ever make it." Not everyone feels compelled to create a business. Fair enough. But surely everyone can "undertake" to obtain more than a paycheck for their labors; to take prudent risks; in Tennyson's words, "to strive, to seek, to find" a higher, more fulfilling quality of life. How easy it is to become hostage to what Jim O'Toole characterizes as the "ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Henricks urges his reader to free herself or himself from such confinement. It is no coincidence that, year after year, the most highly admired companies (e.g. Southwest Airlines) are also the most profitable. Each has a culture in which the "lifestyle entrepreneur" (Henricks' term) is strongly encouraged, not merely tolerated. Who will derive the greatest benefit from this book? Those who now live unexamined lives of quiet desperation. Once having read this book, many of them may be unwilling and/or unable to free themselves from the "ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." But at least, thanks to Henricks, they will have completed a rigorous process of self-examination. Does he provide a map or a blueprint for personal fulfillment? No. Rather, he provides a mirror and a compass which, for many of his readers, will be of incalculable value.

Not Just a Book!

With a title as alluring as "Not Just a Life", a reader might justifiably anticipate a life changing read - and the author does not disappoint. Mark Henricks demonstrates a writing style that is rarely seen in business books. You will not be thumbing ahead to calculate how much longer until the end of the chapter on this one. If you are unhappy with your work go buy a copy. If you have a displaced friend buy a second copy. It could change their life.

A must-read for those contemplating becoming their own boss

Nine years ago, having achieved a level of business success after receiving an MBA from an elite American B-school, I faced the cold realization that my days in the corporate world were numbered. I admittedly have little tolerance for political/bureaucratic b.s. And I view "face-time" for face-time sake a stifling de-motivator. My motto has always been to "let my work speak for itself."Yet I was ambivalent even as I finally--if not hastily--took that classic "take-this-job-and-shove-it" plunge. I was happy to leave the maddening pace of corporate life behind. But I was petrified at the prospect of crafting a livelihood on my own. Reading "Not Just a Living" would have greatly eased my anxieties if it only were available all those years ago. As a firm believer in karma, I now feel compelled to share this excellent resource with anyone who's teetering on the brink of becoming a lifestyle entrepreneur.Mark Henricks' concise, well-written book successfully targets two broad groups of entrepreneurs-in-waiting: Those who have entertained the thought of becoming their own boss yet need handholding before making that leap of faith; and those who are ready to make the move but seek a roadmap to achieve their vision. Both sets of readers will come away from the experience exceedingly satisfied and energized.The book's particular strength is the author's liberal peppering of real world examples of small business successess...as well as failures. The latter is refreshing to see. After all, Mr. Henricks would have been negligent--not only as a journalist, but as a lifestyle entrepreneur "evangelist"--if he failed to expose the downsides of striking out on one's own. Not everyone is cut out for self-employment.Finally, it is Mr. Henricks' candid sharing of his personal trials and tribulations along his road to lifestyle entrepreneurial success which lends absolute credence to "Not Just a Living." The lucky reader will be rewarded by a writer who knows of what he writes and expertly writes of what he lives.