Gary Vaynerchuk passionately believes that now is the time to be cashing in on your passion, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. In Crush It! Gary gives you an insight into his story of how he built his personal brand with great success through Wine Library TV. Plus he shares tips and strategies for how you too can cash in on your passion.

If you are seeking inspiration and motivation to profit from your passion then this is a great book to start with. (It certainly inspired my wife to get cracking.)  Crush It! is very big picture but also includes some of the “How To”s.

Watch my brief video review below for a summary of the tips Gary shares for how you too can Crush It! and cash in on your passion.

You may also enjoy these related articles:

1. Making money writing about your passion
2. Try to make your passion a business
3. Protect your personal brand with your own domain name

• Tradespeople wanting to go out on their own
• Professionals wanting to start their own consulting business
• Those wanting to start a business to pursue their passions (e.g. to open a restaurant)
• And those who believe that owning their own business is the only way to get rich.

If you too dream of going out on your own or starting a business then I strongly recommend that you read “The E-myth Revisited” by Michal E. Gerber before you quit your job.

Or if you know someone who has the self-employment goal then please do them a huge friendly favour and forward this article to them now.

Preferably you need to read The E-myth before you succumb to what Gerber calls ‘the Entrepreneurial Seizure’. That’s the point where something inside your head resoundingly declares “I could do this for myself’, and from that point on your world is not the same.

The E-myth

The ‘E-myth’ is the myth of the entrepreneur. Gerber describes it best:

At the heart of the e-myth is ‘the fatal assumption’ that if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work. And the reason it is fatal is that it just isn’t true.

But the technician who starts a business fails to see this.

The real tragedy is that when the technician falls prey to the Fatal Assumption, the business that was supposed to free him form the limitations of working for somebody else actually enslaves him.

Self-employment enslaves many rather than frees them.

Now it’s not my intention to turn you off going into business. I do agree that many of the wealthiest people achieved their wealth by concentrating their risk and investing in their own business.

I want you to embark on that part of your journey with your eyes as wide open as possible to the realities of being in business. That is what Gerber does in “The E-myth”.

Inside The E-myth Revisited

The E-myth Revisited is written with a blend of traditional non-fiction text and parable. Gerber illustrates his points through the story of his client Sarah and her business “All About Pies.” This is a master stroke in getting the message across as Sarah experiences and expresses many of the emotions and questions that you do as you read the text.

If you’ve come across The E-myth after starting your business then you will likely relate to Sarah’s predicament. No matter how raw it feels stick with it as I promise you that the books also brings hope.

Part One of the book is essential reading for the aspiring self-employed person as you get an overview of the phases of business and some of the essential roles. One important distinction to grasp is the difference between:

• The Entrepreneur
• The Manager
• The Technician

And to realise that everyone who goes into business is actually the three roles in one. But the trap is that you start by operating too much in the technician role and neglect the important functions of the other two roles. Yet without completing the function of all three roles the technician becomes stressed and enslaved as mentioned earlier.

After reading part one pause for reflection and take a good hard look at your situation and motives.

Are you truly willing to do what it will take to be successful?

Your Primary Aim

You may have heard of self-employed people that their business is their life. The truth is that a successful business is not your life, though it can play a significantly important role in your life.

You need to decide what role that will be by considering what Gerber refers to as your primary aim. To me this chapter of the book is gold. In one sense you really should start here. But without having read the earlier sections you may be too dismissive and flippant in your answers.

To discover your primary aim Gerber suggests you ask yourself these questions:

• What do I value most?
• What kind of life do I want?
• What do I want my life to look like, to feel like?
• Who do I wish to be?

Those who have worked closely with me may not be surprised that I consider this chapter to be gold as it mirrors my approach to financial planning. The whole purpose of a business and of creating wealth is to facilitate the life that you want. So first you must start by defining what is most important to you.

If having reflected on your primary aim you decide your business aspirations are for the right reasons then read further into the book to learn what a successful business needs to look like.

Your Turn-key Operation – The Franchise Prototype

One of the big ideas in “The E-myth” is that every business can aim to be turn-key and operate in a methodical, repeatable way like the successful franchises such as McDonalds. Whilst many entrepreneurs may not ever plan to franchise they can still operate their business as if it were the prototype for a franchise.

The pay-off for creating a turn-key operation includes:

• Creating a real exit strategy. A well-run business that will continue to operate smoothly and profitably after sale is very attractive to buyers.
• More time for you in the other roles in your life. Plus your time in the business will be more enjoyable.

Enjoying being in business and then easily selling it for a bucket load of cash seems to be the aim of most aspiring entrepreneurs. So resist the temptation to dismiss this section just because you can’t imagine yourself as a McDonalds.

The essential business eye opener

Self-employment and a business can be extremely rewarding both personally and financially. Sadly for most it is not. Businesses can burn through your hard earned assets and strain your relationships to breaking point. You can end up in a place you never wanted to be and don’t know how to get out of. (Ask Sarah.)

Even if owning your own business is just a speck on the horizon I strongly recommend you promptly buy and read “The E-myth Revisited” by Michal E. Gerber.

You may also enjoy these related articles:

1. The Truth (And Myth) About Passive Income
2. Raise kids to be entrepreneurs
3. Manage your business brand on Facebook

My career crisis lasted much longer than I week. I had been getting progressively more miserable in my career as a petroleum engineer as I cycled through each placement on my graduate program with BHP Billiton Petroleum.

Then my 25th birthday arrived. This was a birthday that during high school had been one about which I had wondered what I would be doing. My life didn’t much resemble the high school fantasy.

My thoughts turned to one of the other future milestones – age 50 when I would have doubled my lifetime. I realised that I had worked with many people around that age who moaned about a lack of fulfillment and enjoyment in their jobs and careers. It suddenly dawned on me that if I continued my current path I would likely become one of those people at age 50.

Then I realised that if at age 50 I was one of those people and was still working in my first career as an engineer then my 50 year old self would want to go back and kick the butt of the 25 year old for not having the guts to do something about it.

That was my catalytic moment!

Finally I acted on the oft-repeated advice of my mentor at the time, Roger Dingle to read the book “What Colour Is Your Parachute?”

The job hunter’s and career changer’s bible

“What Colour Is Your Parachute?” by Richard Nelson Bolles is a fantastic resource. The first half you read and learn about some fantastic processes for identifying the job of your dreams. The second half of the book is systematic exercises that work through each element of a dream job including industry,  type of work, environment, responsibility, income, geographic location.

To complete the exercises you often start by thinking about what you have enjoyed in your life to date and methodically identify the characteristics that made it enjoyable. It takes time but the investment is worth it.

This is your fulfilling life we are talking about. Invest time now and you reap the rewards over your lifetime.

If you are pondering what career may be your passion then I strongly recommend you buy a copy of this book. Don’t borrow it from the library. Make the investment, write all through it and own the process.

If I had my time over I’d get help

Knowing what I know now I would go much further than the book. I should’ve also enlisted professional help with a career coach or counsellor.

But I was too tight! That ‘s the main reason I didn’t speak to a professional. I was young and didn’t yet appreciate the immense value of professional guidance. The biggest value is intangible but it is there in spades.

The value includes:

• Enlightenment – discovering what I didn’t realise I needed to consider.
• Clarity - filtering out the irrelevant and lasering in on what is applicable to my circumstance.
• Direction - a road map of steps to do next and even resources to access.
• Timeliness – discovering all of the above much sooner, quicker and easier than if explored on my own. Time is limited for all of us. I love it when others can accelerate my progress to greater success and fulfillment. That reward is immense.

It was tough but the rewards followed

I almost halved my salary when I changed jobs from working as engineer to a paraplanner. Plus I had the extra costs of funding my post-graduate study. Yes, that was hard.

But within two years I was promoted to a role with a salary package that exceed my former engineering package. And I was much happier.

You can do it too

I was able to handle the drop in income because I had been a reasonable saver and had planned ahead. You can do it to.

If you ponder a career change in your future life plan don’t let money be your hand brake. Start planning and saving now to have the financial resources to support you in pursuing your passion and a more fulfilling life.

Pursue your passions and wealth follows.

You may also enjoy these related articles:

1. Protect your personal brand with your own domain name
2. Try to make your passion a business
3. Why now is the time to cash in on your passion

It may be written with children in mind but both my wife and I agree that adults can eaily learn from it too. The book includes delightful illustrations by Julie that help to engage your children in the message and to make it memorable.

I love the book and highly recommend it as a gift for your children and for the children of your family and friends. (That’s what I have done, but I have to whisper as they are getting it for Christmas this year.) You can buy it online from Julie’s website which is: www.aforattitude.com

Give the gift of financial literacy – it’s like giving someone a division one winning lotto ticket.

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