Not Just A Living: The Complete Guide To Creating A Business That Gives You A Life

by Mark Henricks

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 Just a Living , Mark Henricks explores the genesis of this cultural and social phenomenon and offers a comprehensive approach for assessing your own potential, taking the plunge, and building a business that helps you fulfill both personal and professional aspirations. Combining the authority of firsthand experience, colorful and engaging stories from the front lines, and a variety of diagnostic and planning tools, Henricks shows you how to determine whether the entrepreneurial route is right for you, recognize opportunities, overcome obstacles, plan your course, and launch and sustain your business-whether it's a solo venture out of your garage or a multi-million-dollar enterprise.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2002

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book focuses on what the author calls lifestyle entrepreneurs. These are small business owners that went into business for themselves for non-financial reasons. Here are the key lessons I learned:



- First off, many people start businesses for reasons similar to why I would do it (work for yourself, work with people of your choosing, better work life balance, having more fun in your work)

- Not all small business owners work 80 hour weeks

- It’s hard to get financing for a “lifestyle” type business b/c a bank is interesting in lending to companies with aggressive growth strategies



The first half of the book covers the stuff above, the 2nd half was more of a “how to” discussion, which I found less useful. If you wanted guidance on how to run a business, I probably wouldn’t use this book. It’s kind of a cursory review of the basics – like, you need to have track financials, have accounting systems, etc.