Finding the Sweet Spot: The Natural Entrepreneur's Guide to Responsible, Sustainable, Joyful Work

by Dave Pollard

"Now what am I going to do?" is a question many people ask—and leave unanswered—at critical potential turning points in their careers. Perhaps you’re a new graduate, but instead of lining up for a boring entry-level job at a big corporation, you wish you could start your own sustainable and responsible business. Or maybe you’ve been stuck in a job you hate for a few years, but you still dream of doing the thing you love and that you’re actually good at. Or maybe you’re a boomer and you’re ready for a second career, a personal venture that will represent a total change from what you’ve spent most of your work life doing. Whatever your situation, this is the book to help you get started. Finding the Sweet Spot explains how sustainable, responsible, and joyful natural enterprises differ from most jobs, and it provides the framework for building your own natural enterprise. You’ll learn how to find partners who will help make your venture successful, how to do world-class market research, how to innovate, how to build resilience into your enterprise, and how to avoid the land mines that sink so many small businesses. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to find the "sweet spot" where your gifts, your passions, and your purpose intersect. And make no our world needs your talent. The current economic system and the educational system that feeds into it have let us down and are destroying our planet. We need a blossoming of natural enterprises—connected, collaborating, and supporting ventures—to form a dynamic new natural economy. Is such a thing possible? Inventor, entrepreneur, and humanist Buckminster Fuller "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." Finding the Sweet Spot presents a new model. Use it to find the work you were meant to do, thereby helping to create the world we’re meant to live—and make a living—in.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Psychology

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2008

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I blurbed this book, writing: Have you been waiting for the moment to just frigging DO something about having a satisfying work life? Then pick up Dave Pollard's "Finding the Sweet Spot: The Natural Entrepreneur's Guide to Responsible, Sustainable, Joyful Work." Don't let your fears or objections stop you. Follow the path Dave lays out and you will not only make your life better, but you'll make the world a better place through the reflected joy of your own fulfillment and by meeting real needs with new business ideas. Do it!

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye opener! If you are starting a new business, hiring someone or seeking a job, this book will help you discover if you will be burnt out quickly or you will meet success. It may also help you define how your obit will read.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more like it. Finally a book that succinctly breaks down the step-by-step process of creating an effective and prosperous business endeavor. It should not only be read by anyone just starting out, but everyone already established who wants to make their business more rewarding (for everyone - even the community). The points made here seem almost irrefutable, but the drawback is the process is a long and difficult one. I don't consider that a criticism of this book, but rather of myself. Few people are truly cut out for business, but if you happen to be one of them, consider this book your manifesto. You (and everyone who works with you in any capacity) will be better for it.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a business book, so no stirring writing or anything like that, and it's hard to tell how useful it is without diving in fully, but Pollard has some interesting ideas about how we should work. It's just that gap between the theory and practice, as ever, that is daunting. He laid out a helpful method for considering your gifts and passions and how that might actually apply to work, but the hard work of thinking about business opportunities can't be done for you in any book. Definitely worth a read.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read but was hoping for more examples of real life entrepreneurs in the sustainable/green fields.

[Will Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for motivation.